The Doctor's Family Secret. Joanna Neil

      ‘None at all.’ The last thing she needed was to admit to Nick that she was having difficulty treating a patient. He placed a lot of emphasis on treating patients with respect. Pain sometimes made people unreasonable, he had said, and it was their job in A and E to look beyond a person’s critical or tetchy comments.

      ‘Really?’ he said drily. ‘I heard someone shouting. Are you having trouble with a patient?’

      ‘It’s nothing that I can’t handle,’ she said tersely.

      ‘I’d still prefer it if you’d told me what’s going on,’ he persisted. ‘It’s late at night, and we’re busy in the department. Tempers get frayed, and things can easily get out of hand.’

      Laura grimaced. He thought she was going to mess things up, didn’t he? That wouldn’t go down well. Tom Edwards had been easygoing and tolerant, but Nick was a different animal altogether. Over these last few weeks, while he’d been in charge of A and E, he had made it clear that he liked things to run smoothly, and he was keen on keeping the department up to full speed.

      ‘I won’t let that happen.’

      ‘You came on duty tonight to help out because we were short-handed, didn’t you? This isn’t your usual shift.’

      ‘That’s right.’ She looked at him steadily. ‘What difference does that make?’

      ‘It means that you haven’t had much of a break between shifts, and I know that you haven’t had a coffee-break for some time. I think you should go and get one now.’

      ‘I’m in the middle of treating a patient, or had you forgotten?’

      ‘I’ll deal with him.’

      Laura shook her head. ‘I would prefer to do that myself. It’s a matter of professional pride.’

      His mouth crooked in a half-smile. ‘You can be a very stubborn woman at times, can’t you?’

      ‘I prefer to use the word independent.’ She moved away from him towards a cupboard. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I need to get some supplies.’

      He watched her go, and Laura turned her attention to getting the irrigation equipment. It took her a few minutes to find what she needed, and when she returned to the cubicle where she had left Wayne Golding, she was startled to see that Nick was already in there.

      ‘I hope you understand what I’ve been saying,’ Nick murmured, giving Wayne a narrow-eyed look. ‘That’s a nasty infection, but Dr Brett will clean it up for you and make arrangements for a follow-up appointment. Now I have other patients to attend to. Goodbye, Mr Golding.’

      Wayne looked uncomfortable, and Laura wondered what on earth had been going on. She sent Nick a questioning glance, but he simply swept determinedly past her and went to check on another patient.

      Wayne was subdued as she washed out the wound on his hand, and he made no murmur when she carefully taped a dressing in place. The change in his attitude was remarkable, and Laura had no idea what had brought about the transformation. He even thanked her when she passed him on to a nurse who would arrange his follow-up appointment.

      The whole episode puzzled her so much that she went in search of Nick. He was treating a pneumothorax, and she assisted him until they were both sure that their patient was out of danger.

      ‘Would you like to tell me what you said to Wayne Golding?’ she asked as they cleaned up afterwards. ‘He was a different man when I went back to treat him.’

      ‘I heard what he had been saying to you, so I simply told him that his behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated. The doctors and nurses in A and E have a difficult enough job to do, and they deserve respect. I made it clear to him that if he couldn’t control his temper and behave in a reasonable fashion, I would ask Security to remove him from the premises.’

      Her jaw dropped. ‘You really said that? But I thought you would blame me for not handling the situation efficiently and sending him on his way.’

      He frowned. ‘Why on earth would you think that?’

      ‘Things have been so different around here since Tom was taken ill, and I’m not always sure that I’m doing the right thing. The triage system is different, and the working rotas have changed. We assess patients, treat them and mostly we send them on their away more quickly than before, but it isn’t always possible.’

      ‘Don’t you think it’s a good thing that we’ve made the department more efficient?’

      ‘Yes, I do, but the changes have happened so quickly, and I’m not sure whether you expect one hundred per cent efficiency. I’m not certain that that’s attainable.’

      ‘Then perhaps we should get one thing straight at the outset. I value the co-operation of all the staff in A and E. Everyone has worked tremendously hard to make the department function efficiently, but it could be that I’ve been concentrating so hard on getting things off the ground that I haven’t made it clear to everyone how much I appreciate what they have done. I need to remedy that.’

      Nick frowned. ‘I still don’t understand why you didn’t come to me with any of your doubts.’

      She made a wry smile. ‘I’m just a junior doctor here, remember. I value my job and I don’t want to rock the boat unnecessarily.’

      ‘Laura,’ he said in a dry tone, ‘I’m here to support you in what you do. If you have any problems, you should bring them to me. You’re not expected to manage things on your own. We work as a team. That’s one of the fundamental characteristics of working in A and E.’

      ‘Maybe, but you always seem to expect perfection. It’s sometimes hard to live up to the standards that you set.’