When I was a pharmacist, I knew that look of bemusement you got from patients, the specific look that says: ‘What are you doing? Print the sticker, put it on the box and hand me the goddamn drugs.’

Patients often think pharmacists are deliberately taking their time with a straight­forward task.

We rarely had time to talk in-depth with patients while going through the 50-step process of dispensing that we learned over four years at university.

But when I was a pharmacist, I didn’t appreciate that doctors also have to process their own 50 steps.