The BJGP is the world-leading primary care journal. At BJGP Life we add multi-media comment and opinion for the primary care community.
Billed as ‘seven steps to save general practice and safeguard our NHS’, the manifesto reflects the policies the RCGP believes political parties need to take on board to ‘save’ general practice ahead of the next general election. Nada Khan does some unpicking...
This poem by Kathleen Wenaden is the one she doesn't want to write. It is one that 'needs to be written, deep down, lived'.
I remember the early days when I wanted to transition. Before I could be referred to a gender clinic, I was required to see a psychiatrist to be assessed that I did not have a mental illness. I refused to see a
Peter McNelly is a mental health nurse and David Fowler is a practice manger in Northern Ireland. They argue that mental health practitioners can be a valuable addition to the multidisciplinary team, if sensibly recruited and deployed.
Naomi Craft and Sue Morrison trained in end of life coaching in 2015, delivering workshops between 2016 and 2020 exploring loss, mortality, and the self in both personal and healthcare contexts. Here, they describe the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the
In this episode, we speak to Dr Monica Molinaro about the moral distress experienced by family doctors.
Richard Armitage tasked Claude-2 (an AI chatbot) with summarising the updates in the General Medical Council's Good Medical Practice 2024. Within 10 seconds Claude had provided a concise, extensive, and reliable summary ...
"... van Tulleken destigmatises obesity." - Hana MO Elhassan reviews Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
For something that should be completely unthinkable in our workplace, it is a disturbing truth that sexual misconduct is rife within the NHS. Nada Khan investigates.
When we talk of doctor and patient, we instinctively see both as very separate groups, but stripped back of language and assumed meaning, there ultimately sit two human beings in the same space. The person sitting in the chair telling their story
The General Medical Council’s requirement in its updated guidance Good Medical Practice for doctors to be kind has caused some consternation. How does being kind fit into a professional framework, and is it a luxury or a necessity? Ben Hoban reflects.
In this episode, we speak to Dr Sharon James about raising awareness of interconception care for women between pregnancies.
Richard Armitage pits three AIs against each other to see which performs the best when subjected to MRCGP-style examination questions ...
This would mean exploring the ideas of Israelis and Palestinians at mass level, listening empathetically and impartially to concerns from both sides, and establishing the realistic expectations of each cohort. A fair, kind, and honest approach...
As a GP, do you consider yourself the living embodiment of practical virtue? Or just an ordinary doctor struggling to do a decent job for as many hours as the day provides? You could argue that there is really no great difference
People with chronic pain need personalised care – an approach offering patients choice and control over their mental and physical health, basing care on what matters to them personally, and focusing on individual strengths and needs. It is possible.
Chris Bird and colleagues held a workshop in March 2023 with parents, paediatric nurses, GPs, paediatricians, and engineers to identify problems associated with measuring oxygen saturations in infants and young children in primary care. Here they present their findings ...
The Prime Minister has proposed new legislation to end cigarette sales to those born on or after 1 January 2009. Is the proposed smoking ban as good an idea as it seems?
In this episode, we speak to Mr James Bailey about socioeconomic differences in uptake of FITs.
In her poem, Kathleen Wenaden describes the inequality she sees in her Hackney practice. She considers too burnout and the strain of working in general practice. But is there nevertheless some positivity to be found here?
The way we talk about mental ill health can end up creating a linguistic black box which we see but cannot see inside. How then can we know what to expect from our distressed patients, and how best to help them? Ben
Kathleen Wenaden looks back at the struggles and successes of her Hackney practice, and of how the work of the staff interweaves with the lives of the patients. She considers too the reinvigorating power of creativity and nature as ways for GPs
"Mukherjee's prose really does instil in the reader an awe for what life is [...] It needs to be read and savoured." – Elke Hausmann reviews The Song of the Cell: The Story of Life by Siddhartha Mukherjee
I don’t know the answer. But I think I’m feeling the same. I’m exhausted, but I won’t tell you that. It’s a conveyor-belt of emotions. Next customer please! Except this is not transactional. You have a story, and it’s my job to
Ahmed Rashid explores: Ethnic minority maternity experiences, colorectal resection, foreign medical aid, weight stigma and the lives of billionaires
In this episode, we present a summary of our recent RCGP conference workshop on continuity of care.
To understand childhood aggression, it is important to understand the neuroscience behind the reactions displayed by children. Hannah Milton reviews an unofficial guide for parents.
In Medical Generalism—Now!, Joanne Reeve extends her concept of the creative self. And she argues that the fundamental challenge for the contemporary primary care clinician is to honour the patient’s creative abilities and provide the kind of flexible, tailored care that allows
Primary care mental health is a fundamental part of general practice, delivering care to many more people than specialist mental health services, and yet there is limited documented history of its development. We sought to address this gap in the narrative by
In this episode, we talk to Dr Nish Jayasooriya about ulcerative colitis treatment in young people.
As a GP and medical student... we wanted to see whether patients experience experiencing homelessness could also reap the benefits of nature prescriptions.
'A relational way of working, thinking and designing is one that creates possibility for change, one that creates abundance – our capacity for relationships, like love, is infinite.’ Emilie Couchman reviews a call for radical reform
"[Within the book] there are eloquent lessons for individuals, GPs (and their teams), and policymakers – if they are listening." – Emma Ladds on Phil Whitaker's 'What is a Doctor? A GP's Prescription for the Future'
Maladaptive daydreaming is a relatively new concept in the field of psychology experienced by an estimated 2.5% of the population. Sara Noden analyses this proposed mental disorder and the implications for clinicians.
This book is important for GPs to read because domestic abuse is common and leads to longstanding health issues for women, children, and men. Robust evidence and research are interspersed between individual stories that illustrate the variety of forms that abuse can
Giles Dawnay reflects on the tension between left and right brained view of life and how this might affect the general practitioner's clinical gaze.
In this episode, we talk to Dr Lizzie Emsley and Dr Eszter Szilassy about domestic abuse and the general practice response during the Covid pandemic.
Lucy Chiddick argues that promoting school attendance is a complex task, best done by those with appropriate expertise. Where GPs engage with the issue there should be appropriate time and care, recognising that there are many drivers of absenteeism and that attendance
Ilyich’s life story made me reflect on the extent to which I'm satisfied with my own life...I've often asked the question that Tolstoy confronts his readers with here: is there more to life than this? Luke Allen reviews this classic novella.
Modern democracies try to tolerate most differences in opinions. Many differences may not matter too much, but some like pandemics and climate change are existential problems that affect everyone, and agreement on their cause and how to respond should benefit us all.
