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BJGP Life

BJGP Life

The BJGP is the world-leading primary care journal. At BJGP Life we add multi-media comment and opinion for the primary care community.

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Reading the meter

On the other side of the desk was someone I could only describe as grey. I’m not talking about their clothes or hair, or even their skin colour, although in fact it was oddly difficult to put a finger on any of
24 August 2026
5 mins read

Boiling Point

In a poorly known car park, a drenched man fights for his life. Years of consumption have left his body on the brink.
20 August 2026
1 min read

Desire Paths in Patient Care

Desire paths in primary care, are those informal, patient-driven routes through services that emerge outside of prescribed systems. They highlight the importance of communication skills in shaping access and experience.
19 August 2026
1 min read
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Nine to Five

And yet, somehow, work — the thing that most adults spend the majority of their waking hours doing — often gets treated as an afterthought. A background detail.
18 August 2026
8 mins read

In Minor Keys: the 61st Venice Art Biennale

"Should countries whose leaders were indicted for war crimes be allowed to use the soft power of culture at the world’s biggest visual art festival?" – Will Norman reviews this year's controversy-laden Venice Art Biennale
15 August 2026
3 mins read
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Dr Valdez is coming

‘Morning, friend. How do you like our new médico? He only got one kind of medicine, but he ain’t too proud to take it himself, a real man of the people.’ Henry nodded cheerfully at the young man, then looked more seriously
11 August 2026
8 mins read

When patients disappear between systems

When patients are deducted following boundary changes or service reorganisation, who confirms continuity has been successfully re-established elsewhere? Are current systems sufficiently equipped to identify patients who fail to reconnect with care following deduction from a practice list?
10 August 2026
3 mins read

The ‘Not-a-paradox’ of primary care

Non-GP Specialists follow the guidelines for the conditions on their speciality more often than GPs. And yet, the patients of GPs get the better outcomes, at lower cost and more fairly. How can this be?
7 August 2026
2 mins read
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When good doctors fail exams

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.
6 August 2026
4 mins read
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Overheard at a possible future cafe

Ursula le Guin wrote a book called Changing planes in which the mind-altering properties of airports enable bored passengers to travel to other planes of existence, but independent coffee places work well for me.
5 August 2026
6 mins read

Healthcare at street level

Our job is certainly clinical, although in terms of the skills that make it distinctive, it perhaps resembles more those of teachers, social workers, and police officers than others in healthcare.
20 July 2026
4 mins read
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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.
9 July 2026
4 mins read
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A Thorny Issue

Despite John Fry's adage that says common diseases are most frequent, I encountered many rare conditions during my thirty years of practice. This medical rarity just happened to involve my daughter’s foot and occurred after I retired.
3 July 2026
2 mins read
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