Featured Video
Death, dying, and love with Iona Heath
Iona Heath, past president of the RCGP, talks further about how we handle death during the pandemic. She expresses concern at the blanket exclusion of relatives as people die from COVID-19 and how we are handling it in the current crisis. She worries we will see a “legacy of traumatic bereavements” and the importance of touch in dying and of human love.
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Coronavirus articles
Reflections on working with care homes during COVID-19
The vulnerability and medical complexity of our care home residents means their clinical care is often challenging. However, with the emergence of COVID-19, the scale of this challenge has increased significantly with primary care support becoming predominantly remote and care homes asked to take more clinical responsibility than they have previously.
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We had to create a monster
We had to create a monster. A monster so huge, and so terrifying that we were sufficiently motivated. So, we the shielded, are being asked to move from essentially no risk, to an undefinable, unguaranteeable low risk situation. I am immensely thankful to be considering moving back home, but I am fearful, apprehensive…
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COVID-19, Orwell and the media
Well-respected epidemiologists predicted, from the outset, that the societal, economic and psychological harm from the unprecedented COVID-19 lockdowns was likely to be far greater than the perceived risk of death. However, such views were lost in the narrative of fear that predominated the early discussions on the matter and treated like an Orwellian thoughtcrime.
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COVID-19, primary care and paediatrics — winter is coming
Immediate action is needed to consider how we deal with the surge in ‘hot’ paediatric patients this winter. We need to make it clear to parents that GPs and A&E are open for business and create a safe, easily accessible system by which children can be seen face to face to minimise any risk of increased harm.
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Innovation in primary care: BJGP COVID-19 Clinical Solutions
The BJGP has been publishing brief reports on innovations on the BJGP COVID-19 Clinical Solutions rapid communications platform. There are now around 30 reports sharing good practice, new processes, and practical ideas to help improve care during the pandemic.
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More videos
Racism can be overt and subtle. Here’s what we can do.
Carter Singh is a full time GP partner at Willowbrook Medical Practice, Nottinghamshire. An ‘expert-by-lived-experience’ in racial inequality, it is this passion that motivates him to challenge discrimination, inequality, and marginalisation in the NHS.
Read MoreHelping patients decide on return to work during COVID-19
Dr Tony Williams is a consultant occupational physician and discusses their evidence-based tool that helps patients understand their risk and vulnerability. GPs can use it in the consultation to calculate a “Covid-age”.
Read MoreCOVID-19: The success of Asian countries
Professor Donald Li talks us through some of the reasons, detailed in his editorial, co-authored with Chak-sing Lau, for the relative success of Asian countries in managing COVID-19.
Read MoreCOVID-19: The improving situation
Professor Azeem Majeed from Imperial College in London talks through the current situation. New infections are much reduced and he discusses the track and trace programme that is now working, though not as well as we might like. Everyday practice is not back to normal just yet.
Read MoreFive principles for pandemic preparedness
Professor Michael Kidd is a GP and Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Australia. He talks through five principles for dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and pandemic preparedness.
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Recent articles
Retirement and managing the ‘peridoctorpause’
Ed Warren is a retired GP. He notes that a feature of getting older is that you have more opinions and are convinced that others want to hear them. He reflects on the ageing process, cognitive biases, coming to terms with his “own journey into dotage and oblivion”.
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Global primary care: the privilege of being in the NHS
During the wintry January and February months, I had the pleasure of spending three tropical weeks in the vibrant city of Lagos, Nigeria. My experiences were enjoyable and enlightening, however I increasingly became aware of the power of the NHS and the privilege of its general practitioners. I felt an unfair advantage over our colleagues who were limited within their health, social and economic system.
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Is this really doctoring?
The opportunities to treat more and more patients in less and less time is the unspoken aim of the improving of technology. But as we move into this future, we must continue to courageously ask both ourselves and our employers; is this really doctoring and who is really benefitting?
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Opinion
Push your buttons
Cumberlege: Responding to those who suffer medical complications
The Cumberledge report puts forward the case for radical reform. Dealing with those who have by our actions sustained loss and pain, even as a recognised complication of a necessary procedure, can be exceptionally challenging. It is important to be able to identify and recognise the feelings that we experience in response to this scenario in order to be able to cope with them and avoid transference to the patient.
Clinical
Help with the day job
Green Fingers, Pink Puffers? A speculative view on hypersensitivity pneumonitis and domestic garden waste
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a form of interstitial lung disease caused by the repeated exposure and immune sensitisation to organic dusts and certain industrial agents. The circumstances of lockdown may increase the exposure of the public — and waste management workers in particular — to the antigens that trigger the farmer’s lung form of the disease.
Innovation
Bright Ideas too
Grabbing the digital innovation bingo ticket in 2020
When reading articles on digital innovation in the NHS audiences are finding that they need to update their editorial bingo ticket. Classics like culture change, interoperability or costs remain. But any self-respecting writer must now include something on how the NHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a greater impetus for digital transformation in primary care.
Research
Get some evidence
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy — not just ‘morning sickness’
New research published in the BJGP from Professor Roger Gadsby and his team at the University of Warwick has highlighted how 'morning sickness' is not an appropriate term for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. Professor Gadsby suggests we need to "dump this unhelpful term morning sickness" and stop trivialising the condition.
Long Reads
Take a deeper dive
BJGP Long Read: A valedictory note on my retirement
Claire Stillman is a recently retired GP who spent 30 years in Scottish general practice, the last...
International
Distant horizons
GP in crisis: how does European family medicine compare?
Mary McCarthy is a GP in Shrewsbury., She is on the GPC and is interested in comparative health...
Book Reviews and Arts
Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams
Angel of Death by Gareth Williams provides a very comprehensive history of smallpox and vaccine development, which has parallels with the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Trainees and students
Here is how we prepare the next generation of GPs for remote consulting
We anticipate that after the pandemic, the modus operandi of general practice will be changed, for the better. Once the dust has settled, the lessons learnt from remote consultations should be communicated to the next generation.
News
Podcast interview with BJGP Editor, Professor Roger Jones
Rajiv Chandegra is a GP, passionate about holding impactful conversations. He interviews Professor...
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