The Jobbing Doctor keeps it deliberately low-tech as he heads out on home visits.
Normally, on Mondays, I will have two or three visits to do. I think I am quite old-fashioned in that I like doing my rounds.
I don't travel around in a horse-drawn hansom cab, but in many other respects I am doing the same job that was described in the time of Conan Doyle, Brett Young or AJ Cronin. I used to have a really whizz-bang doctors' bag with all sorts of fancy gear in it. But that disappeared when my car was stolen, and I have consciously replaced it with a Gladstone bag.
I don't keep much in my Gladstone bag. A stethoscope, a diagnostic set, a thermometer and a sphygmomanometer. I have pens, envelopes, headed notepaper, and a prescription pad. I have some gloves and KY Jelly. And that's really about it. Most of the stuff I had in my whizz-bag bag was for when we did out-of-hours. Not any more.
I do carry with me some Penicillin G, and syringes and needles (never used).
But as I walk up the drive, with my bag and my earnest expression, I am Dr Finlay.
Jobbing Doctor Jobbing Doctor
