With recent polling in the UK putting Labour significantly ahead it seems likely that they will form our next government. It is sensible, therefore, to pay close attention to Labour policy suggestions for the NHS.
Nada Khan finds two hidden 'shelves' of GPs who might bolster the primary care workforce: the shelf with locum GPs, and the shelf of academic GPs. What is the contribution to the GP workforce of these shelves of GPs, and how might
Can we still reasonably describe ourselves as generalists, doing a bit of everything, or are we on the road to re-branding ourselves as specialists in primary care?
General practice can play a major role in assisting in raising awareness and supporting primary prevention, early identificationand intervention of domestic abuse, argues Vasumathy Sivarajasingam
The people factors are the strongly positive aspects of the job. But the logistical working conditions must improve for the future of the specialty to be sustainable. Five academic clinical fellows itemise the issues and set out a manifesto for change.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS, and it is timely to consider the post-1948 story of general practice, and what we can learn from the past to make the future more propitious than it appears. Edin
Yet, from speaking to other women with this condition, I have learnt that it is often their GP that they consult with first, asking: why are my periods lighter since my miscarriage? why have my periods stopped? Could something be wrong, as
Fourteen years ago, I watched the drama-documentary-animation hybrid film: The Age of Stupid. This is set in a climate-ravaged 2055, and features a last-surviving human who has been entrusted to archive human records. He is reflecting on news footage demonstrating the devastation
ChatGPT threatens to significantly harm the educational attainment, as well as the intellectual life, of students of medicine and the subjects that compliment it. This poses a serious threat to the ability of such students to deliver safe and effective care once
Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, tells us ‘there is no ready-made batch of GPs waiting to be plucked off the shelf to ease the pressures on the workforce...’ In the bookcase of doctors coming to the rescue of general practice,
Mark Tan offers short reflections on negative descriptors in the International Classification of Diseases 2010 (ICD10)
Immediately following the second World War, an Australian GP (Joseph Collings) observed 55 English practices. His damning report was published in the Lancet in 1950. One must only catch a glimpse of the news to realise that GPs are clearly still working
On any given day, GPs diagnose and treat, listen, validate, interpret, advise, support, and advocate. A large part of what we do, though, is indirect, by linking patients with various other parts of the healthcare system.
In an era where difficulties in GP recruitment and retention are having significant impacts on the workforce, will knowing the ‘value’ of a GP give us any clues as to the projected cost in terms of loss to the system if that
Slight changes in phraseology can dramatically alter the central meaning of a vitally important principle. By “consenting the patient” instead of “seeking meaningful consent,” the right of our patients to be involved in choices about their treatment and care... is exchanged with
Andrew Papanikitas introduces the articles in this Month's Life and Times, and reflects on the meaning of 'Crisis' as it applies to global general practice
Evidence collected by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the World Health Organization in recent months shows that mental health, rehabilitation and the population's access to health services are the top priorities and issues to be addressed. Oleksii Korzh unpacks the
The population’s patience and tolerance for error seems to have reduced, and we have forgotten what it is to be human. This feels like a dangerous threat to professions that thrive on human interaction.
The reporting of a limited set of nationally important diagnoses, some risk factors and some quantitative measures leaves a lot more of the work invisible. It is this invisible work that holds the health system together, argues Tim Senior.
"More validation should be given to the therapeutic benefits of listening closely and bearing witness to somebody’s suffering." – Rupal Shah and colleagues continue their hermeneutic series, focusing on the importance of relational care in general practice ...
Alongside Germany, GPs in the UK experienced some of the highest levels of stress, with 71% of GPs saying that their job is ‘extremely’ or ‘very stressful’, with stress levels increasing by 11% since 2019. Nada Khan discusses…
The effects of the earthquakes on child health in Türkiye are substantial, multifaceted and, without urgent intervention, deeply enduring throughout the life course. Richard Armitage reports from the scene.
The independent contractor model for general practice is one of the under-rated aspects of the NHS that rarely hits the headlines. It is particularly important for our professional autonomy and business flexibility.
s anyone else doing the maths here for parents needing to juggle childcare costs for one or more children? What happens when the cost of childcare outstrips salary? Nada Khan runs the numbers.
Teams are the talk of the town in practice transformation circles. They are extolled as the solution for many of our deficiencies– from chronic staffing shortfalls to employee burnout. This extended essay by David Loxterkamp gives a perspective from American primary care
When we use a computer scoring chart and tell a patient they have depression and need medication or even psychological therapy we locate the problem firmly in the brain of one individual. Does this prevent the wider solutions?
The place of Medicine in our imagined future, science fiction, tends to be defined by technology. As in science fiction, so in medicine there is a constant tension between the technological and the human, what is possible and what is desirable.
"Practice[s] may need to appreciate that by trying to protect one group of staff, they may be exposing another group to vulnerabilities." - Adnan Saad reflects on subconscious gender discrimination in primary care
…the sparsely populated rural and remote areas of affected provinces, coupled with the precarious and earthquake-damaged transport infrastructure that supplies them, has allowed the construction of very few formal displacement sites within these areas.
Is the ‘human touch’ aspect of care necessary? Perhaps not. But does it change patient experience? For sure. And does it take much time? No. I refuse to believe it would add delays and hinder efficiency. The front-line role of reception and
Will this delegation from Australia be successful in ‘stealing’ GPs away to Australia? For those who have been weighing up the options, it may well act as their trigger point to leave, but not without the context of the other push and
Careful, caring and person-centred application of guidance is required to ensure patients benefit from, and are not harmed by, healthcare. I’d like to talk about Joan, an 86-year-old lady who had rarely visited the surgery. We threw the guidelines at her...
In the surgery, patients still express the hopelessness of their lived reality: lives built around sitting; exercise options that are difficult to access geographically and financially; and the cheapest food options too often the ‘wrong’ choices...
In the First and Second Ages, medicine was transacted between individual patients and doctors at times of illness. The Third Age, in which we find ourselves currently, is associated with the development of a much bigger picture in which this is no
"The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 7 million people since February 2022. The UK Government has responded by issuing 219 400 visas for Ukrainians through sponsorship schemes. One year on, we feel there is value in reflecting on the health needs
Now imagine, that for the majority of cases being presented, the consultant condescendingly - and unnecessarily - adds, at the end of the majority of cases, that they had been diagnosed and managed wrongly by the 'incompetent' GP prior to coming to
...After a long day being your child’s GP, I come home. I get a few tantrums, followed by a cuddle 10 minutes later. I am a mum, just like you.
Are GP practices equipped to respond to the current mental health crisis? Here, Jonathan Coates and Nick Hartley reflect on a recent pilot of the role of GP clinical psychologists in primary care - "an experienced, senior clinician independently handling undifferentiated presentations
Inhaler prescribing alone accounts for approximately 3% of the NHS’s carbon footprint. Unsurprisingly, this has been targeted by Greener NHS as a priority area. Here, Emma Radcliffe describes a number of success stories of practices reducing their metered dose inhaler (MDI) prescribing,
The first planned strike action will take place for 72 hours in mid-March and will see junior doctors stepping away from their wards, surgical theatres, outpatient clinics, and indeed, for GP registrars, their practices. How do junior doctor strikes impact on general