‘So, this is Christmas*, and what have you done, another year over…’

How apt are John and Yoko’s lyrics for Australia’s GPs at the end of 2021, indeed, what haven’t we done this year, and what can we expect in the “new one just (about to) begin.”

You, my friends and colleagues, have been the quiet achievers of the health system in 2021. During last summer we used the ‘phoney war’ phase of the pandemic to prepare for the inevitable arrival of endemic COVID-19.

We prepared our practices and staff. We become adept at risk-assessment, at donning/doffing PPE, and completed the gruelling vaccination training requirements.