BJGP Life – The home of general practice and family medicine

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Teaching medicine with art: a show and tell

12 September 2026

I have, at times and where appropriate, introduced different aspects of the humanities but find that art and poems provide, for the students, a short and often stimulating awareness of everyday life and illness.

Cervical screening inequality: can self-sampling close the gap?

Self-sampling will not solve everything. But it is a step towards a programme designed for the people who need it most, rather than the people easiest to reach; prevention only works if the people most at risk can realistically access

11 September 2026

Keeping patients safe from suicide in general practice: every GP can make a difference

Sohrab Panday and colleagues provide a number of resources GPs can use to help protect patients from suicide ...

10 September 2026

For those whose primary is to care

As the quiet hum of computers wake before the sun, May you have the conviction that your work is never in vain... Eugenia Lee raises an ode to general practice

9 September 2026

Opinion and Clinical

Clinical·Opinion

Changing cannabis: What GPs need to know about modern potency and young adult use

Cannabis is no longer a uniform product. Increasing THC concentrations, the emergence of concentrates and vape cartridges, and changing patterns of use among young adults have important implications for assessment in primary care.

8 September 2026

Opinion

Building trellises and growing vines

We have built many trellises without first considering that how we go about this has a profound effect on the vine. By default, we have defined a good life as one that is simply as long and comfortable as possible...

7 September 2026

Opinion

The acceptable stimulant

"One morning, while happily sipping my aromatic coffee, a colleague looked over and remarked, 'You do drink a lot of coffee'. I dismissed the comment immediately. 'Surely not,' I thought, 'I'm well within the recommended daily caffeine intake.' Or was I?"

3 September 2026

7

Clinical·Opinion

Time to stop condoning the drink: Why GPs should abandon alcohol neutrality

"You're only an alcoholic if you drink more than your doctor." What once stood as a nod to alcohol fuelled medical school nights out - and possibly poorly developed coping skills - should now land as a confession of professional failure.

2 September 2026

Opinion

The face before the case: Levinas and the family physician

The face is the presence of the other who addresses me before I have fully understood them. It is a call. It says, silently and insistently: do not reduce me to an object, a category, or a case. In this sense, ethics

1 September 2026

Opinion

The meaning of joy

Joy is apparently not simply the passive absence of burnout, but a proactive presence of purpose, autonomy, safety, belonging, equity and camaraderie. Emilie Couchman explores the possibilities.

29 August 2026

Editorial comment·Opinion

To see the universe through the eyes of another

Whether through direct experience, through learning, or though seeing wisely, we can see with other eyes. In 'Life and Times' this issue we aim to expand your horizons.

28 August 2026

Opinion

Medicine and the media: Why my uncle’s 1985 message matters more than ever

Good medical practice already requires doctors communicating publicly to check accuracy, declare competing interests and not present opinion as established fact. Yet few of us have been trained to meet that standard in 30 seconds of video.

27 August 2026

Opinion

The fit note does not belong in general practice, but the cure must not be worse than the disease

Get it wrong and we reach the worst possible outcome: more workload back on GPs, less clinical expertise for patients, more cost for employers, and no better outcomes for anyone.

25 August 2026

Book Reviews

Book review·Opinion

Generalism in clinical practice and education, edited by Sophie Park and Kay Leedham-Green

What is a generalist? Why should this matter in medical education? Sophie Park and Kay Leedham-Green have co-edited an ostensibly free medical textbook with loads of practically useful answers.

4 mins read

Book review·Opinion

The ethical clinician, by Daniel Sokol

This book is a masterfully succinct demonstration of how to use the four principles of bioethics and allied concepts in practice, its power lies in Daniel Sokol's compelling storytelling.

4 mins read

Book review

The Quantum Gene, by Brian McKinstry

This is a plot involving geniuses, billionaires, governments, spies, academic skullduggery, corruption and eco-terrorism... solid beach reading.

2 mins read

Book review

Magnifica Humanitas: On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence, by Pope Leo XIV

The central message of the encyclical is that humanity, with all its greatness and weakness, must never be replaced or surpassed. Technology should remain a tool that serves human beings, not a force that defines or controls them.

3 mins read

Book review·Opinion

Your health as the climate changes: Disease and death on a warming planet, by Scott G Fraser

This book is informative and shocking but also surprising. It quite literally brings home the biggest global health threat of the 21st century (so far).

3 mins read

Arts·Book review

Exhibition review: A Second Life by Tracey Emin

"Emin, through her art, has converted the chaos generated from sexual abuse and poverty in early life into a beautiful lens for us to understand ourselves and our patients better." - Hector Watson and Elizabeth Walton review Tracey Emin's A Second Life, exhibiting at Tate

3 mins read

1

Book review

Self-defence: A myth busting guide to immune health, by Daniel M Davis

...our immune system is a complex and story-laden set of ideas with implications... Naturally, all manner of amusing and occasionally annoying myths abound. There is 'healthy' and enjoyable approach to immunity in this book.

3 mins read

Book review

Book review: The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919–1939

The Labour government of 1945 acted on the Beveridge report and, amongst a raft of achievements, created the welfare state and the NHS. However, the seeds of these accomplishments were planted earlier, during the morbid age.

7 mins read

Book review·Opinion

My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Sally Hayden

'My Fourth time, We Drowned,' challenges us to be human. As doctors we have the unique opportunity to address the injustices described in the book at an individual level.

5 mins read

Book review

Book review: The Golden Rule: Lessons in Living from a Doctor of Ageing

The Golden Rule is a 'lesson in living from a doctor of ageing' and it is full of hidden gems and pearls of wisdom from Lucy Pollock's ability to acutely observe beyond what is and isn’t being said. It exudes warmth and intelligence.

4 mins read

International

Arts·International

Teaching medicine with art: a show and tell

I have, at times and where appropriate, introduced different aspects of the humanities but find that art and poems provide, for the students, a short and often stimulating awareness of everyday life and illness.

4 mins read

Clinical·International·Opinion

Chronic subdural haematoma: reflections from a super-aged society

In an aging society, chronic subdural haematoma, increasingly sits at the intersection of ageing, falls, frailty, medication, and functional decline. A clinical reflection from Japan.

3 mins read

International·Opinion

Enough of complaining at the coffee break – It is time for action!

Advocacy is not a rock star on stage; it is a choir. It is every primary health care organisation, every family doctor, pulling in the same direction. My dream is that family medicine becomes a standard participant in every health policy conversation...

4 mins read

International·Opinion

Medical tourism: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Medical tourism doesn’t reduce NHS workload. It splits it. The funded, planned, well-resourced part of care happens elsewhere. The complications, the uncertainty, the chronic follow-up land back in general practice. Without warning. Without resource. And without anyone having agreed to it.

4 mins read

International·Opinion

Wielding a double-edged sword: how can learners use AI well in reflection?

Dialogue with a supervisor is precious, but there are physical limits to how often and how long it can occur. AI was always available, ready to work through my reflections whenever I needed.

3 mins read

Long Read

Oblivion, Ageing, Disability, and the Quiet Architecture of Erasure

BJGP Long Read

At 75 years of age in New Zealand, David Hill has to renew his driver’s licence. He considers how what would seem to be just a routine administrative act carries a deeper meaning because it is not just about safety but about scrutiny and suspicion

9 mins read

What we count, and what we miss: a case for measuring GP workload differently

BJGP Long Read·Bright Ideas and Innovation·Opinion

The publisher of the national workload metric is telling us the metric is incomplete -the number that drives contract negotiations, workforce planning, commissioning, and the political conversation about general practice. We're managing a workforce crisis with a yardstick its own producers admit cannot do the

6 mins read

The ethics of looking after family and friends, a call for more helpful guidance and education

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

Being a doctor when a loved one is ill can be a very difficult place to be. Guidelines do not generally reflect the reality on the ground and in the main emphasise the negative aspects of intervening. Monica Aquilina reflects on the issues...

9 mins read

5

Ambivalent care: when patients feel unheard and unsupported

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

As a clinician, do you find it challenging to treat patients with symptoms that are difficult to understand, explain or manage?

11 mins read

Medical societies in the 19th Century: How they influenced general practice

BJGP Long Read·Stories

Many of these societies may be historical relics, but their contribution to the development of general practice in the nineteenth century should not be forgotten.

7 mins read

Trainees and students

When good doctors fail exams

AiT·Opinion

One lesson many trainees learn too late is that medicine cannot be our entire identity ... Because when our entire identity depends on our performance, every setback becomes a crisis.

4 mins read

Between FOMO and FOBO: A GP’s Search for “Enough”

AiT·Opinion

No matter how much we carry out, there is always somebody doing something bigger. And if we are not careful, we begin to measure our worth against impossible standards.

3 mins read

1

Teaching the art of noticing – a poem

AiT·Arts·Opinion

I noticed that you started the conversation ... before she sat down...

1 min read

1

AI detection in GP training – A hidden burden on supervisors

AiT·Opinion

As generative AI tools become more powerful and accessible, concerns about the authenticity of reflective writing are growing. Can we recognise AI‑generated text? How do we know whether a reflection is truly a learner’s own thinking?

3 mins read

Personal Protective Equipment (A Poem)

AiT·Arts·Opinion·Stories

The clinell wipes held in emerald green... They’re for my body... But what the hell Is there for my soul? A poem.

1 min read

BJGP Interviews

BJGP Interviews Podcast

BJGP TV | Research

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BJGP conference highlights, 2026

Visualised podcast – BJGP Top 10

BJGP Top 10 research 2025

BJGP Research & Publishing Conference 2026

Qualitative research: key theoretical concepts – preview

Qualitative research keynote at BJGP conference 2025

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Trainees and students

BJGP Interviews

BJGP Interviews Podcast

BJGP TV | Research

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BJGP News and Editorial Comment