One last observation. The patient diary’s origins among the needles and tubes of Danish wards had nothing to do with laboratories, Big Pharma or international conferences. It was not an invention of consultants, surgeons or doctors. Nurses came up with it, repurposing an everyday item, making it the epitome of a front-line, grass-root, hands-on solution: pragmatic, compassionate, effective – and cheap. They invented a new genre of notebook writing, the therapeutic diary which the beneficiary has no part in composing; turning a plain page into a place of hope, empathy and compassion. It must be
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