with that as well. Your body produces more oestrogen when you’re overweight.’
Judy looked upset. ‘It’s not as if I sit there watching TV all night, stuffing my face with doughnuts and burgers.’
‘No,’ he replied carefully, ‘but your body’s less efficient as you get older, so every year after you hit forty you’ll need to exercise more and eat less to stay at the same weight. Which is totally unfair, but I guess at least it happens to all of us.’
‘Can I suggest something?’ Laurie asked. At Marc’s nod, she continued, ‘I’m about to set up a project for some of our patients who are having problems losing weight. It’s not a judgemental thing, it’s looking at ways we can support you better and help you. Would you like to come along and see what’s on offer?’
‘After all the diets I’ve been on, it’s worth a try,’ Judy said. ‘All right.’
‘Great. I’ll put you down on my list, and I’ll get in touch with more details later in the week,’ Laurie said.
Marc printed out the prescription, signed it and handed it to Judy. ‘I’ll get Phyllis to ring you and make an appointment as soon as I hear back from the sleep clinic.’
‘Thank you, Dr Bailey.’
‘Pleasure. And I meant what I said. If you’re worried about something, no matter how silly you think it is, come and see me. If it’s something you don’t need to worry about, I can tell you so you can stop worrying—and if it is something to worry about, then by telling me we’ve got a better chance of catching it early, which in turn means that treatment will be easier for you.’
‘I will.’ She looked relieved. ‘Thank you, Dr Bailey.’
‘My pleasure.’
Marc saw the rest of his patients up to the mid-morning break, then glanced at Laurie. ‘Dare I ask if I passed muster?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘It wasn’t a test. It was a chance for me to observe how you do things, and maybe learn from you. But, since you asked, yes, you have the skills I’d want my trainees to have. You put patients at their ease, you talk to them in layman’s terms, and you’re a definite improvement on that locum.’
‘Thank you. Though, from what I’ve heard this morning, just about anyone would be an improvement on that locum.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘So how did Mrs Reynolds know about your training?’
‘This is a small town, Marc. Everyone knows everything.’
‘Right.’
He sounded slightly tense—wary about living his life in a goldfish bowl, maybe. She smiled. ‘It’s not being nosey, it’s caring. It’s being part of the community. Talking of which, my pet project might be useful for you. Obviously you don’t need to lose weight, but it’ll be a quick way for you to get to know a lot of people in the town.’
‘So what does it involve?’
‘Let’s grab a drink, and I’ll explain.’ In the staff kitchen, she made them both a coffee, then chose a corner chair. ‘We have quite a few patients on the obesity register. I’m looking at trying to stop them developing diabetes or having a CV incident. It’s not all about diet—a few of them have brought in food diaries, and they’ve already made all the simple switches and are eating sensibly.’
‘What about exercise?’ Marc asked.
‘That’s what I think the problem is. They already have work and family commitments, and they put their own needs way down the list and they don’t think they have the time to exercise.’
‘So we have to change their mind sets first.’
‘Exactly. A friend of mine at the university is doing a study on the effects of diet and exercise in people over thirty-five. He can lend us activity monitors, so we can get our at-risk patients to wear them for a week and we can show them a baseline of what they actually do, and then we look at how they can boost their activity, when and where.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘I thought we could repeat the monitoring at three-month intervals to see how the activity patterns of our patients have changed, and tie that in with weight, blood glucose and cholesterol checks. It’s a win-win situation. My friend Jay gets people in his target group for his study, and we get to help our patients. And the monitors won’t cost anything, so Leigh won’t be on my case about budgets.’
‘Ah, the joys of budgets. The key to getting people to do regular exercise is to find out what they actually enjoy doing,’ Marc said.
She was pleased that he’d hit the nail on the head. ‘That’s why I want to get the local gyms and sports clubs involved, to set up taster sessions and beginners’ classes. Once our patients find out what they enjoy doing, then we talk them into having an exercise buddy who goes with them to whatever the activity is.’
‘So they feel they can’t let their friends down and they stick to a programme,’ Marc said. ‘That’s a really good idea.’
‘Sam says you have an interest in sports medicine.’
‘Yes.’ Though Marc didn’t volunteer any information about himself or what experience he had in sports medicine, Laurie noticed. Clearly he preferred to keep himself to himself. OK. She could work with that. She’d seen how he was with patients, and that was more important.
‘So would you like to be involved in the project?’ she asked.
‘I can’t really say no, can I?’
‘Of course you can. I understand if you’re too busy.’
He looked thoughtful, and for a moment she thought he was going to say no. Then he nodded. ‘OK.’
‘Thank you. When’s a good time for you for a meeting?’
‘After surgery?’ he suggested.
Not when she had a pile of paperwork and then had to take the dog out and do the school run. ‘Is there any chance you could make an evening meeting at my house?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Your house,’ he repeated.
‘Because I’m a single mum,’ she explained. ‘It’d be a lot easier for me to discuss work with you at my place after Izzy’s gone to bed. If that’s a problem for you, never mind—I’ll ask my mum to babysit.’
Something in her tone told Marc that wasn’t her preferred option. ‘But you’d rather not?’
‘Mum helps me out quite a bit as it is,’ Laurie admitted. ‘I try not to ask her unless it’s really desperate, because it’s not fair to keep relying on her.’
Discuss the project at her house.
A family home.
It was something Marc had shied away from for the last couple of years; since the accident, he’d quietly cut himself off from friends who had children. But right now it didn’t look as if he had much choice in the matter. Given that Laurie had already
