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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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How doctors learn not to listen

Students learn that ambiguity is risky, uncertainty should be resolved, and experience must be rendered legible through diagnosis. They learn to apply the gaze, filtering out the “noise” of life to find the signal of disease.
21 January 2026
3 mins read
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Tea and two sugars

"You done the second best job you could have, James, and for that, I'm eternally grateful." ...I don't think that many would take solace from that statement above, but I did.
16 January 2026
6 mins read
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When normal tests end care too early

Medicine is remarkably effective at identifying disease. Yet when symptoms persist without a clear diagnosis, it often falters—not because knowledge is lacking, but because legitimacy quietly evaporates.
13 January 2026
3 mins read
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Monty Hall for doctors

Three doors are visible to the audience, behind one of which is a car; behind the others are two goats, presumably sedated to stop them giving themselves away...
12 January 2026
5 mins read

Every gap is an educational gap

"Recently I saw Ted and Rachel. They were living temporarily in a share house as they had recently been made homeless. Ted is a happy man despite his current circumstances, but has diabetes that is not well controlled. He takes his medication,
9 January 2026
2 mins read

Seeing double

Alongside them is another person, invisible and nameless. This is the person shaped by fear, experience, and memory; by what they have learned it is safe to say, and what it costs to say more.
8 January 2026
2 mins read

Sparking Up

A moment to spare, what else to do but spark up the screen, taking a deep breath of the hot smoke on offer.*
6 January 2026
1 min read
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The three-body problem

The physics of Cixin Liu’s alien world make it a hazardous place to live, and the consultation can sometimes also feel like a minefield of hidden agendas, competing interests, and impossible choices.
5 January 2026
5 mins read
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The machine that goes ping

But who cares? Well, it is a distraction, an overload of trivial alarm signals from a built in buffoon while I am trying to drive a car on a dark winter evening in the rain.
3 January 2026
3 mins read

Dwelling in uncertainty: the GP’s expertise

Expertise in general practice blends knowledge, skill, judgement, and relationships. It’s less about certainty than managing uncertainty with care. True expertise integrates evidence, intuition, reflection, and empathy; it develops through both formal training and the hidden curriculum. Ultimately, it’s a dynamic, lifelong
30 December 2025
3 mins read
1
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Notes from a Doctor

A reflective poem from Gen Wong, "Mum said kids are doing fine, stickers I gave were like gold. But now iPhones are the shine — smiling at her, I felt old."
27 December 2025
1 min read
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General Practice 179: a doctor, a lawyer, and an artist

"On 29 November 2025, I visited an installation created by the artist, Charlotte Mann. For a few short weeks, before the house was sold, Charlotte curated an exhibition that summarised an exceptional family in their home, 179 Burnt Ash Hill, SE12. The
26 December 2025
7 mins read

Two’s company, three’s a crowd: AI in the consultation

"Traditional models and analyses of the general practice consultation have assumed it to be a dyadic relationship between doctor and patient. However, the arrival in the consulting room of an increasingly human-like third party in the form of artificial intelligence means that
22 December 2025
9 mins read

A poem: nativity

Many around the world celebrate hope at Christmas, with the birth of a baby. This poem explores a mother's very different experience, yet despite it all, her song is underpinned with the same tremulous hope...
18 December 2025
1 min read

Why face-to-face still saves lives

Remote consulting is excellent for repeat prescriptions, routine results, straightforward infections in the young and well, and selected mental health follow-ups. But general practice is not primarily populated by the young and well..
15 December 2025
2 mins read
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Stranger Within: Poems & Prose, by Blair Smith

Blair Smith was a GP for twenty years before he became a professor and then a consultant in pain medicine. This lovely book reflects all these aspects of his career as well as his own personal cancer experience.
13 December 2025
1 min read
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Doctor, heal thyself

In general practice, we often prescribe the advice we fail to follow: to rest, to take time away from work, to protect boundaries. Small acts of humanity can blunt the edges of an unforgiving system. But lasting change will depend on the
11 December 2025
3 mins read

Fragmented care: a hidden cost of diabetes management

If general practice is to remain the cornerstone of chronic disease management, we need to be part of efforts to reconnect care - not by taking on more work, but by having a clearer voice in how systems are designed around patients.
10 December 2025
3 mins read

Position vacant

"I’m getting too old for this. Every year it’s the same: I tell them I’m retiring, and everyone’s upbeat and all end-of-an-era and don’t-you-worry-we’ll-be-fine; then a week before Christmas, the emails start coming in, and they’re not fine, and it’s all a
3 December 2025
3 mins read
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