Andrew Papanikitas is Deputy Editor of the BJGP.
To (and from) those who are celebrating Easter this Sunday 20th April 2025, I wish you a happy Easter.
Easter is celebrated in communities around the world as the central event of the Christian calendar. As an adult, I am mystified by the more secular (commercial) phenomenon that is the consumption of eggs made of chocolate. As a child, like so may other things, it made perfect sense (no explanation needed for chocolate). And then we have the epi-phenomenon, the Easter egg hunts that will no doubt be occupying many children today as adults hide small (again chocolate!) eggs for children to find… and this brings us round to the perennial tradition of the Easter Egg as a surprise or hidden feature in television series (what is the plural of series again?) and movies (sometimes also in commuter games). To find the Easter egg in a movie you often have to wade through the credits, which lengthen in proportion to the CGI special effects and lavish locations. You may then be surprised by a revelation not included in the main movie… perhaps the villain escaped to fight again, perhaps new characters have assembled to herald a sequel. I’m not going to make you sit through 15 minutes of credits for these Easter eggs.
To find the Easter egg in a movie you often have to wade through the credits, which lengthen in proportion to the CGI special effects and lavish locations.
The last couple of weeks have offered some highlights that I would like to draw your attention to. A couple are very apt at a time where many world faiths focus on mortality and renewal. “Many general practitioners consider spirituality to be relevant to their patients’ health and important to primary care. However, our research showed that a number of GPs worry that addressing this issue is unscientific.” Alistair Appleby offers 4 approaches. Ahmeda Ali shares her experience of pregnancy loss and invites us to see and to live with our grief and that of others, “Even in her absence, Alma continues to teach me. She taught me to honour sorrow, to sit with discomfort, and to model vulnerability with dignity. Her name means soul—and truly, she has changed the soul of my practice forever.”
The last couple of weeks have offered some highlights that I would like to draw your attention to.
We are reminded that illness is a problematic concept, often neither understands no agreed upon. Peter Toon considers how these debates inform why we define a condition as illness rather than another type of problem, and the implications of this. Elke Hausmann offers a critical review Suzanne O’Sullivan’s new book ‘The Age of Diagnosis’ and takes issue with her characterisation of Long Covid as a psychosomatic condition, worrying that such a characterisation will be a reason to withdraw treatment of support from those who need it.
For those who have had their fill of reflection and are just after the humorous ‘fondant eggs’ of the last month, Ben Hoban tells the story of a GP who decides to upgrade her consultation model, a classic but ageing piece of hardware. Dave Mummery offers a satirically dystopian view of everything that could go wrong with Integrated neighbourhood teams (soundtrack is included). Beware, our last two Easter eggs may make you laugh but hopeful they will make you think as well…
Regardless of whether this is a time of prayer, rest, or a search for confection, I hope that the holiday brings some renewal.
Featured Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Sadly it wasn’t a satire or dystopian- this is the reality