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Opinion - Page 11

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Monty Hall for doctors

Three doors are visible to the audience, behind one of which is a car; behind the others are two goats, presumably sedated to stop them giving themselves away...
12 January 2026
5 mins read
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Radical Help by Hilary Cottam

'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
15 October 2023
5 mins read

A game of two halves?

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.
11 October 2023
3 mins read
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Rethinking continuity

If we look at continuity without considering the wider context of general practice, we may find ourselves being swept out to sea as we gaze longingly back at the beach. Ben Hoban helps us to reflect on the really useful elements of
4 October 2023
3 mins read
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The great NHS heist

The argument is that, for decades, ‘business friendly’ governments have been allowing private interests to extract vast fortunes from the NHS and that over time the service has been increasingly reformed to make it ready for corporate takeover. This would make our
30 September 2023
2 mins read
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‘What is a doctor?’ by Phil Whitaker

The title, ‘What is a doctor?’, neatly articulates a contemporary query. As the multidisciplinary team (MDT) becomes increasingly complex with additional moving parts, the role of the doctor becomes ever more difficult to describe. The memory of the ‘family doctor’ is fading.
23 September 2023
3 mins read

It’s more than just a white line!

"Reflecting with a new appreciation of how cycling infrastructure can be done, it’s clear our system needs an overhaul." - Callum Leese writes on the importance of advocating for the development of cycling infrastructure in the UK ...
22 September 2023
2 mins read
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Doctor who?

In clinic last week, a patient called me by my first name – this was the first time I have experienced this in primary care, and for some reason I found it quite jarring. ...there seems to be very little evidence on
21 September 2023
3 mins read
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The Kobayashi Maru test

A number of storylines within the Star Trek franchise refer to a combat simulation in which a stranded starship, the Kobayashi Maru, must be rescued, but in which any attempt to do so inevitably results in failure. Ben Hoban can relate...
15 September 2023
3 mins read
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Martha’s rule

Merope Mills’ description of the death of Martha, her 13 year old daughter, is a raw and harrowing account of the mistakes doctors made that led to Martha’s deterioration and ultimately her death. Nada Khan evaluates the concept of a Martha’s rule,
14 September 2023
4 mins read
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Expediency

So the NHS is in crisis. Again. Saul Miller argues that there is a thread that runs through all of these. It is the thread that is labelled expediency or short-termism.
11 September 2023
3 mins read
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What is the right response to COVID?

Some of us will welcome this opportunity to shine a light onto the events that took place in the early stages of the pandemic.  But what is the right way to look at our response to COVID, and what’s happening in other
30 August 2023
6 mins read

How to make a decision

It seems unlikely that these things can be reduced to a few simple bullet points, and yet, it’s hard to resist the allure of the headlines, with their subtext that the universe obeys a hidden code, and that if we only pay
27 August 2023
3 mins read
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‘We want them infected’ by Jonathan Howard

But being on one pole of a restrictions-versus-protections continuum is a long way from swallowing undiluted anti-vax Kool-Aid, isn’t it? ... Surely, being lukewarm on masking doesn’t mean you’re going to deny the evidence on vaccines?
23 August 2023
5 mins read
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Rewiggling General Practice

Tim Sanders views the “rewiggling” of the Swindale Beck in the Lake District as a metaphor for a need to nurture and cherish core aspects of generalism, continuity and relationship-based care within the role of the GP
18 August 2023
2 mins read
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Facing both ways

General Practice, then, shares the values of both the dinner date and the mobile phone, and this is reflected in the way patients consult differently depending on context, preferring ease of access for simple acute problems and continuity of care for complex
16 August 2023
3 mins read
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The white screen of death is back again?

Nigel Masters has a déjà vu experience as he looked onto the ‘White screen’ of a newly registered patient and finds empty allergy fields, problem lists, consultations and immunisation screens.
14 August 2023
1 min read
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