The BJGP is the world-leading primary care journal. At BJGP Life we add multi-media comment and opinion for the primary care community.
Socially excluded populations have some of the worst health outcomes relating to mortality, morbidity, service use and, more recently, COVID-19. A group of 5th year Medical Students at the University of Edinburgh tell us what they are doing about it.
Evidence suggests that exercise is the most likely intervention to help people living with pain. Encouraging people with pain to exercise has always been considered a challenge. Chris Davis describes an innovative project that shows us how this can be done.
We become accustomed as GPs to time being broken up into 10-minute blocks. Time, what was once fluid, is now a regimented 'slot', but to the patient the consultation extends beyond its walls. Exploring the perception of time from both the clinician
We have all come across many patients who suffer psychologically, in the last stages of their life, often with a crisis of meaning. Emma Presern reviews the recent evidence on psychedelic therapy.
Winston Churchill defined Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. Dr Harald Lipman was Medical Attaché to the British Embassy in Moscow in the 1980s. Jim Brockbank reviews his memoirs.
Lockdown has affected not only patients and doctors, but will affect the future of general practice itself. Maxwell Cooper gives us a heads up.
Anita Campbell brings us up to date with the activities of the RCGP Later Career and Retired Members (LCARM) Group.
Dr Jo Parsons tells us about the findings from a systematic review into which patients miss appointments and why.
The NHS must keep all records until 10 years after a patient's death. With paper records taking up valuable space, retired GP and primary care notes summariser Nigel Masters asks, is it finally time for us to take a 'destructive step' and
Trust is an essential part of the doctor–patient relationship, but how is it formed, nurtured, and perhaps most importantly, broken? Dr Sheena Sharma writes openly on her own experience of trust, both as a GP and a patient, and at an individual
Anxious and depressed people become preoccupied with their stressors. And if you are worried about covid then social media has become a great place to get more worried. Daniel James is getting concerned about the harm that may be caused by social
Our special series: General Practice after Covid-19. What have our colleagues said? Here are links to all of the articles.
Amanda Howe reflects on Albert Camus’ 1947 novel “The plague” and finds it remarkably relevant for our time.
Wither GP after Covid? For Peter Toon, if healthcare is to flourish as an activity which promotes human flourishing and produces internal goods such as knowledge, skill, joy and love, not subject to a “zero-sum” rule, then an interpretive function must be central.
Research scientists spend an appreciable amount of time considering how they can best collect the data needed for a given study. Perhaps, as we return to some sort of new normal, GPs need to do the same as we evaluate the changes
New NICE guidelines suggest that patients with chronic primary pain should be withdrawn from ‘addictive’ analgesic and benzodiazepine medicines – and that ‘non-addictive’ antidepressants should be the only pharmacological option ‘recommended’. For Marion Brown this scenario is fraught with problems - might it
General Practice after Covid: is there a role for retired GPs in the post-covid era? Ashley Liston says yes!
Pamela Martin listens in to a future GP recruitment interview.....
Dr Jean-Pierre Laake and Prof Willie Hamilton join us to talk about a randomised controlled trial that targeted groups to encourage them to attend for possible cancer-related symptoms.
Advance care planning conversations for people likely to be in the last year of life are often not easy. Charles Daniels offers us “the 4 W’s + 1” - a straightforward tool for having difficult advance care planning discussions.
General Practice after Covid? For Asif Yaseen it means having a few face to face clinics a week with the rest of the appointments being remote.
Dr Dick Bijl reviews Peter C Gøtzsche's newest book, which claims to be able to "help patients with mental health issues survive and come back to a normal life", exploring in detail the harms of psychiatric medication.
What do we want of doctors beside biomedical science? David Zigmond cautions us that post Covid, we risk replacing the doctor's human heart with an immured, mechanical one that can count but cannot value.
Not many of us expect to be working for the NHS for 50 years. Zarmina Rayaz reports on a remarkable colleague, and tells us what what keeps him going.
Working differently has certainly brought some challenges but also some unforeseen opportunities and scope for innovation. Vasumathy Sivarajasingam shares her vision for the future.
The "Defeat Depression" campaign of the 1990s told us that anxiety and depression were caused by a “chemical imbalance in the brain”, and that SSRIs were safe, effective and non-addictive. We now know that virtually every part of that narrative is untrue.
Dr Riitta Partanen joins us to tell us more about a study looking at GPs' insight into discontinuing long-term antidepressants.
There will be many challenges for the NHS once the worst of the pandemic has passed. Judith Dawson suggests that honesty will be the best policy.
What should general practice do to help young people in the post-Covid world? Richard Churchill tells us not to ask ourselves, but to ask them. We should involve young people in the re-design of services.
We all have elderly patients who are becoming unsteady on their feet, maybe a little lonely, or worried that the next step might be a Care Home. Here a relative tells us about a possible win - win situation that has benefitted
Richard Armitage sees remote home monitoring for non-communicable diseases including atrial fibrillation, asthma, hypertension and diabetes, as a major opportunity for primary care.
We have all had to endure social distancing for nearly a year now. Peter Aird urges us over the coming months to look to leave social distancing behind – in all its forms. Let’s look to sit down with, and care for,
The editor, Euan Lawson, is joined by Associate Editors, Sam Merriel and Tom Round, for some conversation on highlights from the April 2021 issue.
BJGP Life put out a call for articles on the theme of “General Practice after Covid-19“. During the rest of April we will be publishing the best of them. These articles advocate many different paths, some mutually contradictory, so do read them
How should General Practice change after Covid? Julia Darko suggests five lessons and five ways for general practice to move forward.
Jane Roberts finds that a day of clinical work can feel like having your head pummelled in a washing machine. She tells us about how she deals with stress by her practice of yoga.
Professor Sir Michael Marmot talks about Julian Tudor Hart and the role of GPs "natural allies" in his work to tackle social determinants of health.
Rosie Marshall shares her very personal journey though burnout. She concludes that only through recognising and validating our humanity and our lack of resilience are we likely to seek appropriate support or begin to effectively change underlying systems.
Rachel Lightfoot, a medical student at Trinity College, Dublin, shares her experience of hope as she takes her part in a local vaccination clinic.
Modern Wales was built on the production of coal, though with it brought great losses: harsh working conditions, industrial pollution, and tragic disasters, such as that which occurred at Aberfan. With the Welsh government's proposal to ban coal, Rhodri Evans provides a
