How education must reawaken empathy

Editorial. Unless you are a visiting your local general practice clinic where you may be recognised by friends and neighbours, it is unlikely that you will come away from a modern health service with the feeling of having had a warm and empathic encounter with a nurse or doctor. As a patient in an outpatient clinic, one needs to endure time that undulates between long waiting times, with single, brief and hurried encounters with clinicians.