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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.

Book review: Kaiser Frederick’s Throat

"In this historical novel, Mike Pringle, former Royal College of General Practitioners Chair of Council and President, has written a gripping tale of how professional and political rivalry led to the mismanagement of Queen Victoria’s son-in-law with devastating consequences ..."
6 August 2025
1 min read
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The absurdity of GP funding in Wales

"The premise of this formula (Carr-Hill) is very reasonable and fair. Sadly, it doesn’t always work, partly due to at least two anomalies in the formula. To understand this, we’ve had to employ a fair degree of nerdery as the formula is
28 July 2025
3 mins read
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Your brain on ChatGPT – one for the journal club!

The researchers coined the term "cognitive debt" to describe how LLMs spare the user mental effort in the short term but generate long-term costs including diminished critical thinking, reduced creativity and independent thought, increased vulnerability to bias and manipulation, and shallow information
23 July 2025
3 mins read
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Samples (poem)

Our patients leave the room yet now some of them left behind. To be taken elsewhere, a fraction of body now extracted from mind.
22 July 2025
1 min read
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On not being paternalistic

...maybe thinking of ourselves as being maternalistic acknowledges existing authority, and allows us to aim for our patients to thrive, to be in control of their destinies, guided by caring, wise professionals.
21 July 2025
2 mins read
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A poem: Heart failure.

Using a narrative based approach can also enrich our own perspective and give us boldness to hold back from encasing patients in the tight algorithms that chronic disease management is often associated with. Becca Quinn offers a reframing poem.
16 July 2025
1 min read
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Is it time to retire the digital rectal exam?

"The British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) has called for the exam to be omitted from primary care’s assessment of prostate cancer. Asking, ‘Is it time to retire the DRE?’ allows for reconsideration of patient assessment with a view to improving patient
30 June 2025
5 mins read
1
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I knew her smile…

A knock on the door. First patient of the day. “Hello… come in,” I say. I didn’t recognise the name, But I knew her smile. A poem by Rahhiel Riasat
26 June 2025
2 mins read
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Ethical Erosion

As a profession, our inability—or perhaps reluctance—to step back and reflect on practices that may need to change has no doubt contributed to our ethical erosion. But we are capable of change and reform both individually and collectively...
23 June 2025
5 mins read

A Story is a Deal, by Will Storr

To echo the book’s strapline, I would urge anyone who needs to lead, motivate and persuade to read A Story is a Deal and put into practice many of the learnings that Storr provides in this practical and compelling book.
21 June 2025
2 mins read
1
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Madness of Sense and the Sense of Madness

A reflection on the madness of sense and the sense of madness. Anuj Sean Chathley captures the demoralising and costly effects of healthcare funding cuts in poetry. "...these changes do not save. They spend — time, money, morale, and sense."
18 June 2025
2 mins read
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