Fascinating. The changes there haeve been in medical provision in Street are huge, and they haven't finished yet.

Dr Merrick told the Street Society last night how the location for the Vine Surgery was chosen - they had considered a site down by the Brue at first - and how the original Vine Cottage had been preserved as much as possible. The building was restricted in size by government regulations, so the doctors had to fund some of it themselves. Now it has become inadequate, and an annexe is to be started in January, which will house NHS dentists and alternative therapies. Interesting. I go to Bridgwater for my NHS dentist at present, so I'm definitely interested in getting on the books of a local dentist.

I wonder if my excellent chiropractor will move to the Vine. It seems to me that Osteopaths and Chiropractors ought to have been brought within the NHS decades ago. With all respect to my sister-in-law and all other dedicated physiotherapists, there are some back problems that really do need the specialist expertise of the osteopath or chiropractor.

The new Glastonbury hospital is on schedule, Dr Merrick said, and should open next year as planned. He has looked round it, and is very impressed by the facilities. Surprisingly, it will have only 36 beds, fewer than the Butleigh and Wells cottage hospitals it is to replace. But apparently the GPs are doing such a good job keeping people out of hospital, doing blood tests and minor operations and so on at the surgery, that we won't need so many beds. I wonder.

One intriguing photo Dr Merrick showed was of their first computer, which cost �10,000 and had as much memory as the small memory stick that the good doctor took from his pocket and flourished between thumb and forefinger last night. They were told at the time that 64 Mb was all they would ever need. Ho, ho! In fact many of his predictions about future changes at the Vine depended on computer technology, from instant diagnosis by a specialist miles away, to the down-to-earth matter of announcing your arrival at the surgery and being told when your turn to see the doctor has arrived.

Those were just a few bits that stuck in my memory from a really good talk.