With the NHS under pressure, it is easy to see doctors (if you can actually get to see one…) as the detached and privileged functionaries of a rather unwieldy and overloaded system. It is easy to forget that these individuals have their own histories of illness, trauma or emotional pain, as well as their own idiosyncrasies and blind spots, and that they are working under trying conditions, within a framework designed by politicians, using computer software that can perpetuate stigma and social inequality. You don’t have to pity them, just understand why they are what they are.
