A patient not ‘dead drunk’ but with ‘that look’

It is a winter’s cold weekday evening and the emergency department has, some time ago, lost its fight to be in any control over the patient load.

In spite of the pressure, you – an experienced GP – are writing those tedious comprehensive patient notes, when the duty emergency medicine consultant calls for ‘back up’ for an arrest as he rushes past the ambulance entrance, with agitated ambulance officers and a trolley-bound patient in tow.