when you don’t know if there’s going to be one.’
Alice nodded in sympathy. ‘I know what you mean. There are staffing problems to contend with, and you were thinking about doing something to brighten the place up a bit, weren’t you? I suppose that will have to be put on hold now.’ She frowned. ‘Actually, I meant to ask you how the interviews for the Senior House Officer went last week, but it slipped my mind when we were talking about the old gentleman you met in the park. You were worried about him, as I recall.’
‘Yes, I was. In fact, even now, some days later, I still find myself thinking about him. I only met him for a short time, but he was such a lovely man. I can’t help wondering if his grandson is taking proper care of him, but it seemed to me that he must have been more concerned about his business interests than looking after his grandfather’s welfare.’
‘To be fair, he did come as soon as you called him.’
‘Yes, I suppose that’s true.’ Louise picked up a file from the table and glanced through it. ‘As to the interviews, things didn’t go all that well, as it happens.’ Her mouth made a brief downward turn. ‘There weren’t any candidates who had sufficient paediatric experience, as it turned out, and those who were well qualified made an excuse and dropped out. I expect they heard about the threat of A&E being closed down and thought better of their applications.’
‘That’s going to make life difficult for you, isn’t it?’ Alice was frowning.
‘It will be hard on all of us,’ Louise murmured. ‘We all have to take on the extra workload, and yet there could be months of uncertainty ahead of us. We won’t know for some time whether the closure will go ahead, because today’s meeting is just the first stage of proceedings. The proposal has to go through the review process, and all the options for change have to be considered by various committees before a final decision can be made.’ She pulled a face. ‘Though, the way people in charge have been talking, it sounds as though it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion. How do you fight a steamroller when it’s bearing down on you?’
She studied the file, analysing the notes made by the triage nurse, and then went over to the light box to check the X-ray film that accompanied the notes. ‘I think I just about have time to go and look at this next patient,’ she told Alice. ‘She’s a twenty-two-month-old infant who’s been vomiting for the last few days, poor thing. After that, I’ll be off upstairs.’
She sent a quick smile in Alice’s direction. ‘It’s good to have you working with me here in the A&E unit, Alice. I always feel that I can rely on you. Things seem to run that much more smoothly when you’re around.’
Alice’s mouth curved. ‘I’m glad to be here, although I must say I do like the variety of alternating between the children’s ward and A&E.’ As an afterthought, she added, ‘Though whether the children’s ward will survive without A&E is another matter. It seems to me that we’re all going to be looking for new jobs.’ She made a face. ‘It looks as though we’re counting on you to defend the territory.’
‘I’ll do my best.’ Louise left her to organise the transfer of samples to the laboratory and went along to the treatment room, where her patient was waiting with her mother. The child was lying on a bed, looking frail, and her mother was sitting beside her, holding the little girl’s hand.
‘Hello, Mrs Watson,’ Louise said in a friendly fashion, going over to the bedside. ‘I’m Dr Bridgford. I understand Millie has been unwell for a few days, is that right?’
The child’s mother nodded. ‘I think she’s getting worse. Apart from being sick, she keeps crying, and she just isn’t herself. I think she must be in pain.’
‘I’ll take a look at her.’ Louise gently checked the infant over, speaking to her all the while in a soft voice, trying to put her at ease. The little girl was lethargic, though, and her eyes had a sunken appearance. She was fretful and when Louise examined her tummy there appeared to be some tenderness there. ‘Does that hurt? I’m sorry, baby. We’re all done now.’
She covered the infant with the sheet once more. She wanted to soothe Millie and let her know that she would take care of her, but first they had to find out what was causing the problem.
‘There certainly seems to be some tenderness in her tummy now,’ she told the mother. ‘We’ve taken blood tests and done a chest X-ray, but we still don’t have sufficient information at the moment to be able to make a correct diagnosis. There is some sign that there is pressure at the base of her left lung, but there could be a number of reasons for that.’
‘Do you think it’s an infection of some sort?’
‘I don’t think so. She’s not particularly feverish, and there are no indications of wheezing to point in that direction, but we’ll know more on that score once we get the results back from the lab. In the meantime, I’m going to order some more tests, including an abdominal X-ray so that we can get a better idea of what’s going on. She’ll be given a barium drink to swallow so that everything will show up on the X-ray as the fluid passes through her intestines. The procedure won’t cause her any pain but it will help us to discover if there’s anything amiss.’
Mrs Watson still looked anxious and Louise comforted her, saying, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll find out what’s causing the trouble.’
They spoke for a little while longer, and then Louise gave Millie an encouraging smile in the hope that it would help to reassure her. There was still no reaction from the little girl. The child was miserable, clearly too ill to respond.
Louise started to write out the test forms for the nurse in attendance.
‘I’ll leave that with you, Jenny, if I may?’ she told the nurse. ‘Will you let me know the results when they come through? I’ll be in a meeting with management, but you can bleep me.’
Jenny nodded. ‘I will.’ She was a reliable young woman, with fair hair swept back into a ponytail and blue eyes that missed nothing. Louise knew that she was leaving the child in good hands.
To the mother, Louise added, ‘If you have any questions, just ask our nurse here. She’ll be able to tell you anything that you want to know.’
‘Thank you.’
A moment or two later, Louise was ready to make her way to the top floor room where management was holding its meeting. She stopped off in the doctors’ lounge to pull a brush through her long hair, satisfied that it gleamed with health and was pinned back satisfactorily with a couple of clips. She added a light touch of lipstick to her mouth, and then smoothed down her skirt and checked that her cotton top was neat beneath the light jacket she was wearing. The jacket nipped in at the waist, making the most of her slender form, and she contented herself with making a last adjustment to the collar before she felt confident that she looked all right.
A few minutes later, she tapped on the door of the conference room and took a deep breath to steady herself before walking in.
‘Ah, Dr Bridgford, do come in.’ The chief executive of the hospital Trust board rose from his seat to greet her. ‘I’m so glad that you’ve managed to find time to come and join us. We do value your input.’
She acknowledged him in a friendly enough manner, although inwardly she absorbed his remarks with a fair degree of cynicism. Since he was the one who had instigated the call for closure, she wasn’t about to go overboard with enthusiasm for anything he had to say, was she?
‘I
