"Exemplary response to a Monday morning emergency"

I have long suffered from a cross-over toe but on Friday last the pain changed from chafing to something in the joint, the foot swelled and went red and walking became extremely painful. I phoned the surgery at 8.30 am on Monday morning and was fortunate enough to be first in the queue.

The receptionist took my details and immediately passed me on to Triage, saying that I would be phoned before 11 am.

In fact, the doctor phoned me back within minutes and immediately made an appointment for me - at 10 am with another doctor.

He examined my foot and was clear I had an infection.

He counselled against the operation that I feared unless the infection were not to go or to return repeatedly.

He gave me a prescription for Flucloxacillin which my partner took to Landys and I was able to take the first dose by 10.40 am.

Two hours from my call to treatment seems to me not just to be five stars but almost beyond belief in these days of inadequate resources.

I would add that this is not an isolated example.

My parents, both aged 93, are patients of the surgery and the treatment they receive is consistently superb. There are repeated home visits and nothing is too much for the doctor and her team. Although my parents live in a wardened block, they have their own flat and live independent lives (supported by carers and their family).

I don't think it's going too far to say that I don't believe they would both be alive today, let alone enjoying privacy and independence, were it not for PHGH Doctors.

As someone who has enjoyed a career in which health, isolation and care have been writ large as major aspects of the pastoral. I think that gives me sufficient background and experience to say that the determination of PHGH Doctors to aim for the highest possible standards in primary care - despite the appalling pressures that the NHS is currently under - makes them an exemplar and model for others to follow. I apologise for the length of this comment but I have been wanting to say this for a very long time.