What will you do if ALL of your admin, reception and managing team are absent due to being possible COVID contacts? Rubia Usman survived, and tells us how she did it.
What will the state of the nation's health be when Covid is over? Fatima Nadeem warns us that it is not looking good, and gives us some practical suggestions.
The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the detrimental effects of long-term loneliness. Niha Hussain gives us a useful mnemonic to help us to ask about support networks when taking a history, and continue to help us to direct patients to use a wider
The editor, Euan Lawson, is joined by Associate Editors, Nada Khan and Tom Round, for some conversation on highlights from the February 2021 issue.
Raising public awareness of Domestic Abuse (DA) is the first step forward in our battle to combat the detrimental health consequences of the abuse. Vasumathy Sivarajasingam offers some vital practical advice and excellent resource links to help us to identify and help
Chronic primary pain is a relatively new concept. Ensuring its definition is consistent within new guidelines is key. Here, members of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain provide a number of observations on the use of drugs in chronic pain management,
Referrals for specialist dementia assessments, substantially decreased in April 2020 and May 2020, coinciding with the first COVID-19 lockdown. Richard Armitage examines yet another issue arising from service disruption due to covid.
According to the NSPCC most child sexual abuse in the UK isn’t reported, recognised or prosecuted. In 2020 there have been fewer opportunities for the signs to be spotted. Katie Barnett helps us to understand the devastating consequences of child abuse in
Spiritual health can be stigmatised, and doctors may be uncomfortable with the topic. Orla Whitehead discusses her own investigation into doctors' spiritual health in a time of Covid.
Professor Jane Gunn discusses research into a self-administered tool for depression. This RCT showed that 'Target-D', a person-centred clinical prediction tool and e-health platform matching management options to prognosis, results in greater improvement in depressive symptoms at 3 months than usual care.
Richard Armitage reminds us that children may suffer lifelong effects from bullying, as a less visible complication of the current Covid pandemic.
Raj Khanchandani reviews "Heart of the Nation: Migration and the Making of the NHS", an online exhibition curated by the Migration Museum.
Professor Jane Gunn talks about a randomised controlled trial, Target-D, that aims to match the best treatment to people with depression.
If we believe that vaccination is the way out of the Covid-19 pandemic, then Julia Darko tells us we must first address the elephant in the room......
Editorial comment. Today we publish two articles exploring why the intention to be vaccinated against Covid-19 is very significantly lower in some of the ethnic minority population, many of whom are at greater risk from the disease.
A recent survey found that 72% of black and 42% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people say they were unlikely to have the vaccine. Samar Razaq explores the reasons why.
Olivia Baker brings us a special Burns' Night report on Robbie Burns lesser known career as a medical commentator.
"For those embarking on new fellowships, The Leadership Hike will provide a valuable reference source" — Prof Joanne Reeve reviews The Leadership Hike by Amar Rughani and Joanna Bircher, a new insightful book exploring the role of leadership in primary care, and
Surely, medicine has advanced greatly over the last 50 years? David Zigmond asks what have we lost in the relentless tide towards ever-greater specialisation and packaged healthcare.
Might the pandemic already be slowing down? Samar Razaq looks at the figures.
In June 2020, the RCGP published a statement of solidarity acknowledging the enduring problem of structural racism and recognising the need for change in the form of tangible action. Julia Darko explores the problems and offers a practical way forward.
Why have there been so many more Covid-19 deaths in the UK than in France? Peter Toon, with a foot in both countries, explores the reasons.
Though the COVID-19 vaccine is reported to have no side-effects, it's introduction has resulted in great anxiety and perhaps even anger for some. Dr Afiniki Akanet, GP and author, writes on the complex emotions felt by those who have been prioritised for
Patients do not experience epilepsy as "just another illness". Graham Cooper reviews a book by Professor Ian Bone that helps us to understand epilepsy both a disease, but also as a patient's lived experience.
John Brooks takes us to a little known Gaudi building, El Capricho in Comillas, northern Spain. But were Gaudi's amazing powers of observation and creativity partly a result of his childhood arthritis?
In Oncology clinics, during Covid-19, patients usually have only one person with them and may be asked to make treatment decisions in a few minutes, often in a corridor. Alistair Appleby makes the case for “enhanced consent” with time, counselling and additional
Garth Funston talks about the role of chest X-ray in early lung cancer diagnosis and new research highlighting a potential source of delay of diagnosis.
Raj Khanchandani reviews a book describing a family of eight generations of GPs. Quite a history, with some surprising parallels for us today.
Dr Garth Funston talks about new research investigating how quickly people with symptomatic lung cancer had a pre-diagnostic chest X-ray.
Once the urgency of Covid is over, let us remember our core skill as GPs - listening to our patients. Charles Todd reminds us that every patient encounter is unique.
The UK government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been slow, incompetent, and irresponsible, most notably in regards to delivering effective and realistic communication. Judith Dawson reflects on the current state of affairs, where far too many competent adults are choosing to
The MHRA has clarified that the Oxford AZ Covid vaccine does not require a 15 minute wait by the patient following vaccination. Dr William Ridsdill Smith and colleagues describe an innovative proposal for a drive through Covid vaccination clinic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK was a dramatic reduction in both the number of Two Week Wait referrals being made by general practitioners, and the number of patients being diagnosed with and treated for cancer. The return now to baseline
We all want 2021 to be a better year! It's not too late to make a new year's resolution. Prithvi Dixit and David Salman help us to get into a better exercise regime.
We hope for better things in 2021. But not everyone in our society is so hopeful. Mo Stewart argues that austerity measures, added to social policy reforms, are leading to those in greatest need now living in fear.
Daniela Strelchuk and Prof Stan Zammit talk about their paper that explores the experiences of GPs in identifying patients at risk of psychosis.
Prof Stan Zammit and Daniela Strelchuk talk about people at risk of developing psychosis.
Have rapid recent advances in IT, and the necessary Covid restrictions, rendered traditional face-to-face medical consultations largely redundant? David Zigmond shares two views on this and leaves us in no doubt about his own conclusions.
2020 has at least seen us start to tear down the weeds and thorns of racist power structures within our society and our profession. Roghieh Dehghan asks whether we have yet grasped the roots, and shows us how we might move forward
2020 has been a grim year for patients and doctors alike. As we approach 2021, weary but hoping now to put our efforts into a mass vaccination program, John Travers, a GP registrar in Dublin, gives us his personal reflection on the