Worse than that, actually, I discovered holes in our mattress so large that last year's flu-fuelled hallucination in which rats waited Somewhere Very Close By to eat my mouldering remains seemed on reflection possibly not such a hallucination after all. Nevertheless it's a very comfortable mattress, and I'm loath to part with it, despite owning it for 24 years.

It was expensive when I bought it, but on a per year basis it's been very cheap. I can go so far to say that, given the choice between Legolas the Elf on a new mattress (women will understand) and my rat-eaten effort, mine would win every time (obviously the presence of my wonderful husband, now reading this, reinforces this view a thousandfold). The familiar is loved and if it's perfect for the job, its value is almost without measure.

There's a message here about patient care, of course, because patients also like the familiar and trusted, particularly when it's proved worthy and reliable over years and is still working for them. This is why mine stay loyal even now that I'm starting to look a bit dog-eared and the ones in the Darzi clinic have no wrinkles. This is why continuity matters to the people who actually come to the doctor, more than to those who feel they might need to come one day, but haven't yet (who understandably rate access more highly, but haven't had reason to want the same doctor twice).

I hope those in Westminster understand. If UK general practice offers the best - and best value - primary care in the world, then they should fight to keep it strong. If everyone else in the world wants GPs like ours, shouldn't they? Other members of the primary care team may be cheaper than us per hour - but if you try to replace the whole team with just one part of the team then it doesn't work.

Still, what to do about the holes? After some discussion about what the cleaning lady thinks of the deficiency in our mattress budget, we turned it upside down. You can't see the holes at all now, and it's just as comfortable. The hole they've made in the practice budget hasn't been quite so easy to hide, but we'll manage.

• Catch up with Mary's Road to Revalidation blog