The BJGP is the world-leading primary care journal. At BJGP Life we add multi-media comment and opinion for the primary care community.
Most people have never heard of Derek Parfit. He was a moral philosopher whose reasonings have probably influenced the way many of us (the non-philosophers who are stuck in the foothills of the mountain) think today. Terry Kemple reviews a new biography.
The wolves in the forest that frighten human beings are now at last being accurately named: poverty, homelessness, hunger, unemployment, domestic abuse, adverse childhood experiences. Humans like sheep have a basic need to feel safe. They can’t function well until that need
So, as the ‘choose well’ guide tells us, they have to judge whether a condition is ‘serious’, a fall is ‘minor’, an emergency is ‘real’, an injury ‘non life-threatening’, and care is needed ‘urgently’.
In this episode, we speak to Joe Hutchinson about the impacts of general practice closures.
“And yet you followed them anyway,” replied Med AI Assistant version 3.0, or Maeve, as Raymond called her, or rather, it (he had to remember to stop anthropomorphising her, it!). “With a 100% concordance rate,” Maeve added in a light feminine voice
This is Jolyon Maugham: erstwhile homeless teenager, rags-to-riches tax lawyer, agitator, social media influencer and King’s Counsel with attitude. His arguments about why societal conflicts increasingly need legal recourse deserve careful scrutiny. The profession needs to understand his playbook.
"In January of this year I had the privilege of visiting the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. [...] It was a reminder that the workforce and training challenges we face in the UK are not bespoke to the NHS. We are
"We regularly face a level of demand that we don’t have the resources to meet. We gradually downgrade our aspiration from thriving to functioning to surviving, and our only options look like pushing through or getting out. Simply going on as we
A recent BBC Panorama ‘expose’ of private ADHD clinics suggests that some online providers are over-diagnosing ADHD following inadequate clinical assessments. Patients are increasingly turning to private providers both out of pocket and through right-to--choose arrangements, and ultimately, GPs may be asked
In this episode, we speak to Dr Faraz Mughal about clinical factors and characteristics of men who see their GP before death by suicide.
"I predict that, by June 2025, all GPs will be using some form of LLM-powered co-pilot in their day-to-day practice ... Used (and regulated) correctly, these tools will enhance patient care, improve GP working conditions, and relieve pressures on general practice in
"Morale in general practice has never been lower, and I can say that having been a GP for 37 years. In all this adversity and negative press, the care has carried on regardless, even allowing pockets of brilliance to shine through. We
"The result is this honest, insightful, and compassionate book. It’s a guide to, and guide through, the hidden curriculum of untaught competencies without which a new doctor’s life can become a Kafka-esque nightmare of self-doubt" - Roger Neighbour reviews The Bleep Test:
With recent polling in the UK putting Labour significantly ahead it seems likely that they will form our next government. It is sensible, therefore, to pay close attention to Labour policy suggestions for the NHS.
What are the personal and human factors that most motivate and anchor our best healthcare? What best nourishes and sustains both patients and healthcarers to endure together life’s most difficult challenges? This book answers such questions with luminous and engaging clarity.
In this episode, we speak to James Sheppard about the development and validation of the STRATIFY-AKI tool
Nada Khan finds two hidden 'shelves' of GPs who might bolster the primary care workforce: the shelf with locum GPs, and the shelf of academic GPs. What is the contribution to the GP workforce of these shelves of GPs, and how might
Womb is an unashamedly feminist book exploring anatomy, science and history related to the female genital tract.
Mindlines are not just internalised instructions for what to do. Mindlines are what we share, including the facts we know and the issues we care about. Because of their link to our professional identity, mindlines are also who we are. Trisha Greenhalgh
Can we still reasonably describe ourselves as generalists, doing a bit of everything, or are we on the road to re-branding ourselves as specialists in primary care?
General practice can play a major role in assisting in raising awareness and supporting primary prevention, early identificationand intervention of domestic abuse, argues Vasumathy Sivarajasingam
The people factors are the strongly positive aspects of the job. But the logistical working conditions must improve for the future of the specialty to be sustainable. Five academic clinical fellows itemise the issues and set out a manifesto for change.
In this episode, we speak to Gillian Doe and Rachael Evans about breathlessness diagnostic pathways and management in general practice.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS, and it is timely to consider the post-1948 story of general practice, and what we can learn from the past to make the future more propitious than it appears. Edin
Yet, from speaking to other women with this condition, I have learnt that it is often their GP that they consult with first, asking: why are my periods lighter since my miscarriage? why have my periods stopped? Could something be wrong, as
Daws quietly subverts our need to make things better and move on, which often makes the consulting room door a revolving one. The alternative is simply to listen, to our patients and ourselves, with a view to enabling change rather than forcing
Fourteen years ago, I watched the drama-documentary-animation hybrid film: The Age of Stupid. This is set in a climate-ravaged 2055, and features a last-surviving human who has been entrusted to archive human records. He is reflecting on news footage demonstrating the devastation
ChatGPT threatens to significantly harm the educational attainment, as well as the intellectual life, of students of medicine and the subjects that compliment it. This poses a serious threat to the ability of such students to deliver safe and effective care once
In this episode, we speak to Jen McLellan and Sultana Bi about the care of menopause amongst ethnic minority women.
Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, tells us ‘there is no ready-made batch of GPs waiting to be plucked off the shelf to ease the pressures on the workforce...’ In the bookcase of doctors coming to the rescue of general practice,
Mark Tan offers short reflections on negative descriptors in the International Classification of Diseases 2010 (ICD10)
Immediately following the second World War, an Australian GP (Joseph Collings) observed 55 English practices. His damning report was published in the Lancet in 1950. One must only catch a glimpse of the news to realise that GPs are clearly still working
Richard Armitage uses ChatGPT to interview an AI simulation of the 'Father of Western Medicine.'
On any given day, GPs diagnose and treat, listen, validate, interpret, advise, support, and advocate. A large part of what we do, though, is indirect, by linking patients with various other parts of the healthcare system.
In this episode, we speak to Dr Gail Davidge and Dr Brian McMillan about patient online access to their records.
In an era where difficulties in GP recruitment and retention are having significant impacts on the workforce, will knowing the ‘value’ of a GP give us any clues as to the projected cost in terms of loss to the system if that
‘Dahlia and Carys’ can be read simply as a romantic thriller with kidnapping, daring rescues from active war zones and theft of antiquities. However, its strength lies in its exploration of some hard-hitting contemporary issues including sexuality, the fear engendered by the
Evidence collected by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the World Health Organization in recent months shows that mental health, rehabilitation and the population's access to health services are the top priorities and issues to be addressed. Oleksii Korzh unpacks the
Rabia Aftab advocates that exercising these three Es (Expectations, explanation and empathy) in our consultations offers a path to better satisfaction for GP and patient alike.
In this episode, we speak to Professor Jon Emery about a trial to support targeted colorectal cancer screening.
