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Much of what we treat in general practice isn’t life threatening. Just as winter brings an endless stream of coughs, most of which are not pneumonia, when I’m duty doctor at this time of year I spend a lot of time reassuring people that their insect bites aren’t infected or encouraging them to go to their pharmacy for any future hay fever treatment. My medical skills are more needed when trying to work out if an older patient’s swollen ankles are simple dependent oedema exacerbated by the heat, an adverse effect of their antihypertensives, new onset of heart failure, or even nephrotic syndrome. These are the things I trained for, and even the hay fever appointment often leads to an opportunistic medication review, a blood pressure check, or a catch-up about more serious, long term conditions.