“This pandemic, and now the attack on WHO, is going to set countries back decades”. Richard Horton talks through the worrying impact on health systems throughout the world as WHO faces the prospect of losing 20% of its funding. He offers advice
Over the past few years we have heard a lot about burnout, about the importance of looking after ourselves and our teams, and about the impact feeling burnt out can have on our patients as well as ourselves. How do we bring
Professor Brian McKinstry talks us through the science of remote consultations and the findings of his research. Certain types of consultations, like ones related to mental health, are well suited to video consultation. He also talks about groups where there may be
The differences between US general practice and GPs in the NHS could not be more stark. The NHS supports the ability for GPs to adapt to changes, even catastrophic ones, without threatening to bring the entire system down. Once we are beyond
Dr Ambra Abate talks about her clinical experience in Northern Italy in her practice of 1800 patients. Around 360-370 patients were unwell at one time and they faced severe pressures. Read more at www.bjgplife.com/COVIDItaly.
For decades, digital health has promised to help address many of the challenges of primary care. Digital-first approaches, using either telephone, video or online technologies to deliver care, have the potential of improving efficiency and patient safety, and reducing health inequities by
Dr Clare Gerada, former Chair of the RCGP, talks about her experience with COVID-19. Visit PractitionerHealth.nhs.uk if you need health advice and support — they are there for all GPs and medical students and retired doctors can now also take advantage of
Ambra Abate MD is an Italian doctor working at Ambulatorio Polispecialistico Casazza in northern Italy. He describes his primary care clinical experience with COVID-19.
Dr Hajira Dambha-Miller is the editor of BJGP Open. BJGP's open access online journal is calling for COVID-19 research: Rapid reviews, preliminary work, protocols, research briefs, opinion, or policy pieces are welcome with fast decisions on all submissions.
The NHS put out a call for all recently retired doctors and nurses. There is however another potentially untapped resource. Many GPs are well but self-isolating due to household members. Learn more about volunteering to work at home and with NHS 111.
Rather than re-invent the wheel, the GPs at Penshurst Gardens Surgery are utilising the established Kübler-Ross stages of grief in an innovative way to help diagnose COVID mental health problems and explore the available options to guide personalised, compassionate care.
The government has highlighted patients most at risk in the COVID-19 pandemic due to their physical health problems. In primary care we will also be aware of patients who are particularly vulnerable due to social circumstances. We know that women involved in
Iona Heath, past president of the RCGP, talks further about how we handle death during the pandemic. She expresses concern at the blanket exclusion of relatives as people die from COVID-19 and how we are handling it in the current crisis. She
Is the best strategy to strike hard and wipe out the pandemic early in a country or to let it go on and flatten the curve until herd immunity develops? The Swedish strategy is based on thorough information and gentle advice trusting
Azeem Majeed is Professor of Primary Care and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London and he is a world-leading primary care epidemiologist. In this short video he talks about the changing epidemiology of COVID-19
Like many, I’ve always had a slight mental block with telephone consulting as there is so much value for the both the patient and the doctor in real contact. However, I want to take a positive approach to change, and be part
We propose the following near telemedicine protocol for GPs – a modified version of that recently proposed by Gunasekera for ophthalmologists.
Dr Stephen Bradley talks about some of the concerns of managing vulnerable patients during the COVID-19 crisis. Homeless patients, people who use drugs, asylum seekers and refugees have particular needs that are particularly challenging to meet just now.
Upon hearing the World Health Organization report° that a novel coronavirus had caused a respiratory illness in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, I didn’t think it would have much of an effect on me as a GP working in inner city London. How
Professor Joe Rosenthal talks about undergraduate and postgraduate education in general practice. Students have now been withdrawn from all medical placements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Let me introduce myself as the incoming editor of BJGP. What a time to start! Someone must have pressed the fast forward button — our medical world has started spinning at ever increasing speed and seems barely in control. Meanwhile, the rest
Trisha Greenhalgh is Professor of Primary Care Health Science working with the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford. She talks about the evidence around video consultations and how the research can help GPs and nurses consult safely and with
Jason Sarfo-Annin is a GP Registrar and ACF in Primary Care at the University of Bristol. he role of GP registrars during the pandemic will be important. Registrars will be at varying levels of comfort with telephone triage and they are now
Dr Dave Triska is a GP who has come up with a simple design for PPE face protection that was featured on Channel 4 news. We would always recommend using standard PPE but this video offers an insight into Dave's process for
Samuel Trethewey is a Clinical Research Physician working in general practice in Cornwall. His interests include clinical research and combatting medical misinformation online. Kathryn Beck is a Research Nurse and coordinates the running of clinical trials at a general practice in Cornwall.
Dr Sonia Kumar is Director of Primary Care Education at Imperial College London. She takes us through some of the radical changes in undergraduate medical education in the past few weeks with COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to pose an unprecedented challenge to the NHS’ provision of healthcare over the coming months. Epidemiological modelling predicts a burden of disease at least 8-times greater than current critical care capacity... Practices across the country, including Somerset’s
Dr Komal Chadha talks through her experience as a salaried GP in London as the daily work of general practice dramatically alters.
Lebanon diagnosed its first case of COVID-19 on February 21, 2020. After one day, policy makers launched a massive educational campaign to educate the public on how to prevent this virus. A week later, closure of nurseries, schools and universities was in
Azeem Majeed is Professor of Primary Care and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London and he is a world-leading primary care epidemiologist. In this short video he talks about the impact of COVID-19 generally
One of the other customers, a regular like me who knew I was a doctor, rushed in to save me: ‘No, no. This lady is doing good work in this country.’ I surely am. I work for the NHS during the COVID-19
Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Dr Steve Mowle, RCGP Honorary Treasurer, talk about COVID-19 and personal protective equipment.
Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Dr Steve Mowle, RCGP Honorary Treasurer, talk about COVID-19 and the challenge ahead. "We do have to remember though, this is the biggest crisis that we have probably ever had
This guide, written by Roger Neighbour and experienced senior colleagues, is an aide-memoire for clinicians conducting telephone consultations to assess and advise patients concerned they may have coronavirus.
Many practices are now using or considering using alternatives to face-to-face consultations because of concerns about Covid-19. Important new information and guidance is now available to support video consultations. Produced by researchers at the University of Oxford, the document covers five key
When I first qualified as a physician associate (PA), I had no intention to work in general practice, at least until later in my career. I was unsure of the impact a PA could have in a GP setting prior to the
Claire Stillman is a recently retired GP who spent 30 years in Scottish general practice, the last 20 of which were in Glasgow. bout eight months ago I wrote an emotional, angry rant about why I was leaving general practice. It was
he British Journal of General Practice is a leading international primary care journal, publishing high-quality research with clinical impact worldwide. Here we highlight some recent papers and their clinical impact. 1. Detecting multiple myeloma Koshiaris et al. Universities of Oxford and Exeter,
Naomi Adelson is a GP working in Birmingham. e probably make an unusual sight at the side of the river: four 20-something women, carrying mud-spattered rucksacks, scrambling over the wall and into the refugee camp. We edge our way along the narrow
Rajiv Chandegra is a GP, passionate about holding impactful conversations. He interviews Professor Roger Jones, Editor-in-Chief of the BJGP. Roger has been in the role for almost a decade and the BJGP has risen to be the world’s leading primary care journal.