"This book is terrifying, informative, stimulating, and educating to every member of the medical and nursing profession. It is extensively researched, has a massive bibliography, and, most importantly, it is well written and well worth reading — in spite of some truly
Re-reading my review, I can tell that I was very careful even then not to present this approach as a 'cure' for Long Covid, but as a promising approach to manage symptoms better while waiting for a cure ... However, I have
For years, the UK has inaccurately perpetuated the notion that British farming is among the most sustainable globally. Shireen Kassam, Christelle Blunden and Matthew Lee argue why this is not so, and the impact this may have on public and planetary health.
"The body does not generate the mind but is a process of self-localisation of the mind itself ..." – Armando Henrique Norman explores the usefulness of idealism as a valid philosophical principle to guide family physicians in their daily practice.
a book which has had the same impact on the language of healthcare as George Orwell’s 1984 has had on the language of politics. Illich did not invent terms such as iatrogenesis and medicalisation, but he was the first to synthesize them
Identifying the mind as a source of the body's pain can help a patient make great strides towards taking control of their health and reducing the impact chronic illness has on their day to day lives. Paul McNamara and Ella Butterworth explore
Clearly in some GP Practices no robust thought has been given to having a Mental Health Practitioner (MHP), or their role and scope of practice. Those GPs who have requested and take 'ownership' of the MHP, are best placed to integrate them
Despite regular reports about ‘improving the diet of the population’, little has changed. Eight years ago less than a third of people ate five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, and that figure hasn’t budged since. Chris Newman suggests that GPs
What (if anything) happens when we die? This is a question that human beings have been pondering since time immemorial. Paul McNamara and Craig MacKay reflect on a family story of near death experience.
Is holistic part of being good or just a part of being a GP? GPs work in a complex adaptive network interacting in many interconnected ways with wider society. Terms like ‘whole person’, ‘holistic’, and even ‘ecological’ may fail to completely grasp
...let’s talk a minute about what needs to happen so that the development and use of something like a patient passport can be done in a meaningful and inclusive way. It seems right that we talk about it here, as primary care
My first go at introducing stories into my own teaching was through the work of Rita Charon. But when I tried to introduce some of these concepts to my teaching, I was less successful. Family therapist and GP John Launer offers an
there is a lot of conflicting information about menopause, its treatments, and how GPs will or won’t support women through this stage. With menopause ‘influencers’ and messaging from some specialists inconsistent with guidelines, sifting through the different options and safety profiles can
We walk a tightrope in medicine, balancing every day the unique and complex needs of individual patients with the standardised requirements of the rule-book that governs their care. There is danger in tipping too far in either direction. Ben Hoban makes us
Should we be talking and thinking about ‘fighting’ cancer? An answer may lie in distinguishing a ‘healthy’ fighting culture …
The concept of ‘choice’ and how people are exposed to risk factors for illness is not as simple as those crying, 'Nanny state!' would suggest.' Nada Khan gives food for thought...
As we gear up for winter, should we be identifying and trying to proactively manage patients to prevent unplanned hospital admissions? Nada Khan examines the NHS England guidance.
Putting aside the questions of who will do this additional work... and where the money to enable it will come from, there appears to be a potential role for AD plasma biomarkers in primary care...
The idea that we can learn from our mistakes until we eventually stop making them is beguiling and clearly contains some truth. It also obscures a larger truth, however...
The winning papers reporting research utilising a range of methods, highlight a range of clinical problems (insomnia and IBS) and highlight important system phenomena (patient safety and continuity), providing learning for the next generation of doctors, including GPs.
Tudor Hart’s warnings of what might happen in the health system from 2010 reach us in 2024 in the form of accurate predictions. Read this book if you’re interested in better clinical care, better health policy and a better society, even if
"... this platform of online case-based discussion allows doctors a safe space to develop and discuss cases seen by them in their clinical practice, thereby obtaining constructive feedback from experienced educators as well as peers."
What do I need to understand to commission and work with systems for healthcare that involve automation, machine Learning and artificial intelligence, in an ethical and trustworthy way? This briefing outlines some key principles for healthcare stakeholders.
Amongst the changes, you may have missed the decision to cease funding the newly qualified GP fellowship program.
Richard Armitage reminds GPs to think about medications prescribed outside the primary care setting especially when thinking about new symptoms, changes to medication or medication reviews.
Ben Hoban reflects on the necessity and risks of reductionism in medicine. The tension between parts and the whole is a necessary part of whole person medicine
What can we do in primary care to prevent cardiovascular complications of pre-eclampsia? Rebecca Wheater provides a number of suggestions ...
Is it better to think of patients as a body and a mind, or as a single entity that has both physical and conscious attributes? Alistair Appleby invites us to reflect.
Newly-qualified GP John McCullough seeks wisdom from established GP and rural medicine lecturer Tim Sanders. It feels like a tough time to enter General Practice – has it always been this way?
The Appleby review is ostensibly a response to claims made on social media that there has been a substantial increase in suicide rates in current and recent patients of the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.
"I asked ChatGPT to write me 100 words on the potential uses of AI in UK general practice, and it instantaneously churned out the above. I am simultaneously amazed and terrified!" Paul McNamara ponders the role of AI in his professional lifetime.
The inappropriate transfer of work from secondary care in particular is a well-recognised problem which seems difficult to address. Ben Hoban wonders if this reflects a broadly political change in the goals of British healthcare.
In the second of two articles on NHS funding formulae, Rodney Jones looks at trends in death and the implications for cost pressures on the NHS. Why can’t government funding take into account the well-established nearness to death (NTD) methodologies, ending the
"Non-medically qualified practitioners of medicine are not new. One may look at two spectacular examples of the contribution by these colleagues, Hamilton Naki and Mamitu Gashe ..."
Peter Toon and colleagues call on the new UK government to re-evaluate the market-driven ethos in which the NHS has been managed. Is a new GP Charter overdue?
Here, Rodney Jones looks at the allocation formulae that distribute money and resources to England’s Integrated Care Boards. He examines the hidden assumptions behind the formulae and asks why nearness to death has never been incorporated into the calculations.
The whole of modern general practice in the UK rests on both the electronic healthcare record and networked services for requests and results. Brendan Delaney reflects on the Crowdstrike outage of July 19th 2024
Paul McNamara and Yoosuf Ibrahim argue that is imperative for GPs to highlight the increased risk of overdose associated with street valium use, given its unpredictable composition, to individuals struggling with drug dependency. Additionally, efforts should be made on disseminating knowledge about
If all we have to offer are platitudes and cures, we will be stuck forever trying to eat the elephant in the room, a possibility in theory, but rarely in practice. If we can understand and engage with our patient’s point of
How has increasing workload impacted on GPs, and our sense of providing safe care to our patients? Nada Khan finds that research into workload and safety suggests an association between wellbeing, burnout and patient safety.
