"The cost-of-living crisis is descending like a dark cloud and its heavy weight is palpable. As a Deep End GP, every day I see the real impact poverty is having on my patients ... "
Seeing patients once and referring them for imaging offers advantages to busy GPs and busy patients alike, but given the tendency of any test to throw up results of unclear significance, wouldn’t we simply be delegating the management of uncertainty en masse
Topical corticosteroids remain the mainstay treatment for atopic eczema in the UK. However, it is evident from literature searches, and from communicating with dermatologists, that patient or parental underuse, non-compliance, and steroid phobia have been major concerns for some time. This lay
Richard Armitage finds that general anaesthesia is in fact quite unlike sleep in its most fundamental components.
We shared four YouTube links to commercials from department stores and supermarkets of Christmas past and present –We asked all the group to view all of the short films in advance and then discussed them with members taking it in turns to
My love for those who could not help themselves was fuelled by passion,
As medicine became my way of helping them with care and compassion.
Recent data suggest on average 13 600 beds in NHS hospitals across England are occupied every day by patients whom doctors say are ‘medically fit for discharge’. Is it that simple? Here, Peter Levin delves into the complexity of the term 'medically
Occasionally, the worlds of media and healthcare can clash in a way that has pronounced consequences in the real world. Whilst the media may intend to inform, they invariably end up influencing a somewhat frenzied, albeit predictable, behaviour in the public.
We talk to Dr Kitty Worthing about the reasons why practice staff feel reluctant to register undocumented people in general practice.
Assessing the effectiveness of each charitable project and directing financial donations to the one that ranks highest is certainly a task of gargantuan proportions. Richard Armitage explains.
Moral Leadership in Medicine provides a vital account of how the needs of patients and the aspirations of professionals are translated into actions beyond the bedside and should form part of any debate on the future of healthcare.
New research by Kathryn B Cunningham and colleagues presents three key elements concerning the process of connection in indirect route social prescribing schemes (those involving link workers). Here, the authors summarise their findings ...
NHS chiefs and policy-makers should be cautious about assuming that diverting patients to the private sector will take pressure off the NHS and reduce NHS waiting times.
Today is my third “Cancerversary..." I am so lucky to be working in a great practice. With a supportive team – clinicians who truly care. But I just don’t know if this is enough...
We talk to Prof Paul Little about prescribing (or not) antibiotics for children with uncomplicated chest infections and the rise of antimicrobial resistance.
Internet shutdowns are government interventions motivated to intentionally disrupt access to, and the use of, online information and communication systems. These measures pose a novel and growing threat to various elements of global public health.
Sherifi has not written a history per se but a rigorous reflective account of NHS general practice, with relevance to the practitioner and policymaker alike ...
"When [the animation was] presented at a recent Mesothelioma UK Patient and Carer Day, attendees broke into spontaneous applause" – Sarah Hargreaves and colleagues present two new tools to aid in early-stage engagement with palliative care for patients with mesothelioma
Why have poverty and fuel poverty become medicalised? We know that social determinants of health shape and drive health outcomes. Poverty and fuel poverty are increasingly positioned within a biopsychosocial model of medicine and health.
Antimicrobial resistance is developing rapidly and threatens to outstrip the rate at which new anti-infective agents are introduced. There are now, however, more than 250 antibacterial compounds isolated from natural sources. Here, Simran Patel and colleagues examine some of the leading contenders.
We talk to Nishadi Withanage about preconception care in general practice and the results of their systematic review of interventions in practice for men and women.
Uptake of national screening programmes suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, but how are uptake numbers faring post-pandemic? Richard Armitage presents the data ...
As FIFA excitement reaches fever pitch, it’s squeaky bum time for health care services already struggling with long wait times, capacity issues and a workforce crisis.
"He is not a man we would ever know or like, but he is interesting" – Terry Kemple reviews Henry 'Chips' Channon: The Diaries, Volumes 1–3 edited by Simon Heffer
To help patients to live well with long-term conditions, Megan Coverdale proposes that there are 3 levels of change that must be targeted within primary care to collectively reform the management of chronic illness
We attend reputable GP-training events and feel confident that the training delivered will be up to date and relevant. And yet, there's something about menopause where all this somehow falls apart.
We talk to Mai Stafford about continuity of care in different ethnic groups and the implications for policy and practice.
In 1946, the Constitution of the World Health Organization defined health as 'a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'. Ever since, this definition has been widely criticised and many alternatives have
While various definitions of health have been offered over recent centuries, the search for an enduring and completely satisfying definition has proven frustratingly elusive. Richard Armitage wrestles with one of the most recent and promising definitions.
This book focuses on Dr Elizabeth Blackwell in America, and Dr Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson and Dr Sophia Jex-Blake in England and explores the difficulties they faced in forging their way in medicine.
In my early years of practice, I thought the very act of named diagnosis was a victory. As time has progressed ... I have grown to realise that this semantic box does not in itself contain the cure, and sometimes, can contain
"On my clinical days, I focus on the micro-level of health care. Thinking about the macro-level of things, including the politics of it all, tends to send my heart rate up when I am in the thick of clinical practice. Am I
Social prescribing: Fiaz A Hussain and Feryad A Hussain present the experiences of a group facilitator with extensive experience of running community groups, offering patient feedback, highlighting the challenges of implementation at the coalface, and offering a number of considerations for GPs
We talk to Dr Laura Armitage about why we should measure night-time blood pressure to diagnose hypertension
While no GPs or other celebrity doctors have featured on the cast of any previous I’m a Celeb series, it seems far from impossible for such an event to transpire. Richard Armitage ponders...
The clocks going back as we descend into winter each year generates an additional hour that we generally choose to spend asleep. A poignant philosophical reflection on time.
"This book is a beautiful representation of what is wonderful, difficult, complex, and rewarding about our job" – Hannah Milton reviews 34 Patients: What Becoming a Doctor Taught Me About Health, Hope and Humanity by Tom Templeton
I’d imagine that a fair few of my colleagues can relate to the fact that most days, I feel like a walking, talking pie chart, cut up into colour-coded segments. Are we so lost in the political drive to provide access, that
In an age of mass-production and commodification it is not surprising that the governmental response to our increasing losses of doctors is to recurrently and rhetorically press for greater production and wider recruitment. But in doing so are we avoiding deeper human
We talk to Pauline Williams about help seeking in women with symptoms of gynecological cancer and her recent systematic review in this area.