With high infection rates and the prevalence of numerous demotivating influences on vaccine uptake, a programme which focusses on negating the controllable barrier of inaccessibility is essential, argue Paul McNamara and Scott Wylie.
Whereas discussions surrounding death and dying or discussions about sexuality are ordinarily recognised as a taboo, and approached as such, this is not the case for grief. This is precisely why it could be argued that this can even be regarded as
"It is March 2021. We’ve endured two lockdowns and a year of remote learning. We should be holding our Easter awayday for the GP registrars... but instead I am peering into my laptop. But in a miracle of communication, an artist on
I reflect on the journey to (and from) the BJGP conference. Sometimes the writing is already there, and only needs a home. Sometimes it needs an invitation... Writers for (BJGP) Life, I look forward to hearing from you!
The door is barely opened. ‘I’ve a bone to pick with you’, wheezes Mick through the widening gap ...
Something shifted in my head, and I heard the sound of a penny dropping in a bank vault deep underground. I rummaged around in my desk for the Campbell-Frank Analyser and applied the scalp electrodes and mask with trembling hands.
Heidi, Annie, Tali, Suki, Lindy. These were the grammatically feminine names of electronic scribes being presented by a grid of entirely male CEOs or company representatives. Shier Ziser Dawood unmasks some Stepford Scribes.
Ponder this: The causal link between our actions and any outcome may be dubious, but the relief we feel at having done something, especially when there is an improvement of some kind, is so strongly reinforcing that we tend to ignore this.
Compassionate care helps us stay connected through our feelings and actions to the human aspect of medicine. And when that feeling is lost, it degrades our sense of who we are as clinicians. Nada Khan considers diagnoses and treatments for compassion fatigue.
We consider teaching medical ethics in conflict zones to be an act of solidarity and a profound commitment to addressing global health inequities. By nurturing ethical reasoning and fostering collaboration, initiatives like this play a crucial role in rebuilding resilient healthcare systems
Worsening health inequality as an unintended consequence of trying to improve access must not be ignored. Sarah Burns weaves a cautionary tale.
Paul McNamara and Khalid Abdalla reflect on sauna therapy for the treatment of chronic disease.
Martyn Hewett and Paquita De Zulueta consider some of the changes that would need to be introduced to safeguard against the most prominent ethical difficulties arising from a change in the law on physician assisted dying.
As the net zero agenda gains prominence within the health sector, NICE guidelines are still not providing clinicians routinely with material to help decision making, argue Emma Radcliffe and Sophie von Heimendahl .
Three years of war have tested the very limits of Ukraine’s healthcare system. Yet, they have also revealed an extraordinary capacity for resilience, adaptation, and innovation. As the war continues, investing in primary care remains essential—not only for health but for hope.
The incidence of throat cancer, particularly oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, is rising, with a worrying prevalence in the younger population. Callum Higgins and Paul McNamara examine the possible causes, and their implications.
This challenges the notion that clinical interactions should be structured according to a strict division between diagnosing disease and understanding the patient’s broader illness experience.
In the same way there is an unsettling parallel in the rise of obesity and ultra-processed food from the 1970’s onwards, the rise of faster and more invasive digital technology seems to link with a decline in mental health. Giles Dawnay discusses
What exactly is this smell of poverty? It is so pervasive. I recognise it in an instance. This perfume should be called “Deep End”, and it gives every encounter with poverty a visceral olfactory dimension. Jen Foell reflects.
If it is difficult to agree what exactly we mean by health, it is perhaps unsurprising that we also approach unhealth in a number of different ways. Ben Hoban reflects on the meanings of 'unhealth.'
Family medicine, by its very nature, often serves as a crucial counterpoint to the potential overreach of the purely biomedical model. Yuya Yokota reflects on the benefits of applied phenomenology to the GP consultation.
A recent House of Lords report puts the blame for rising obesity squarely at the feet of the food industry, stating that marketing of unhealthy food products has created an ‘obesogenic’ food environment. Nada Khan investigates the broken food system.
Despite the legal and professional requirements to treat individuals with SpLDs without disadvantage, alongside evidence supporting earlier diagnosis & supportive strategies, the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (COGPED) still do not recommend screening of GP Registrars (GPRs) at the commencement of
"The Deep End project demonstrates change can be made by practitioners working together to advocate for primary care to be at its best where it is needed most. As a professional group, we hold more power than we realise. If we do
"I have often relied on John Driscroll’s three ‘Whats’ when giving feedback on BJGP Life submissions and undergraduate coursework: What happened? So what? What now? I invite you to keep these questions in your head as you survey our articles. How will
High-quality GP conferences should raise their standards and report on their 'triple bottom line' — the economic, social, and environmental impacts and outcomes.
In the hope that we can reflect on not losing the foundations of medicine, but also hold with conviction the new tools that we have been given with which to help and to heal.
Perhaps we can characterise these two kinds of practice as representing either efficiency in providing a high volume of appointments or effectiveness in making each appointment count for more... Ben Hoban reflects.
A means by which participants can make some sense of their threads... And nurse the ends of their unravelled stories. The healing ...Is in the weaving.
Primary care has been identified as the stage in the skin cancer pathway with the greatest potential for the use of AI to increase early detection. Richard Armitage raises some issues.
Perhaps it is my patient population, my personality or perhaps it is true of all General Practice, but I notice that nearly all my consultations touch on mental health in some way. Whilst reading the book, I have managed to accept the
"... we’re in a situation where we understand the importance of patient narratives, but if we talk about this in these terms to policymakers and even some of our specialist colleagues, we’ll be dismissed as chin-stroking hippies, unable to do proper medicine."
The thread that runs through the debate, however, seems to be a genuine desire on both sides to help people who are suffering, and the conflict between opposing views reflects not a greater or lesser degree of care, but rather the familiar
Doctors are repeatedly referred to in the proposed legislation, and they are clearly essential in delivering the assisted dying process, but has anyone really considered the impact on those doctors? GPs are arguably the most likely profession to provide assisted dying services,
GPs have a duty to be well-informed about the issues regardless of whether we are conscientiously pro, anti, or neutral. We anticipate publishing many articles around this topic, and the specifics of the bill, and we welcome the opportunity to ensure primary
The primary goal of BJGP Life and BJGP Life &Times is to develop a BJGP community — a virtual agora, the forum of classical times that translates across time and space as the debating room, the public house, the workplace coffee room,
Luke Sayers reflects on what the movie 'Gladiator' has to teach General Practice. We must win the crowd... before it's too late.
Kez has an embarrassing problem. He has tried a cream that maybe worked in the past but not now. He needs the doctor, he thinks. He rings the surgery...
In October and November 2024, Brian Lambert spent six weeks volunteering as a ‘medic’ at the Mavrovouni refugee camp on Lesvos, working for the Dutch charity the Boat Refugee Foundation (BRF).
Last year we shared some party games. This year I'd like to share a concept for conversation. You could share it or leave it in the background of your psyche as the news and issues of the day mingle with the miscellanies