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Opinion - Page 16

Small acts. Deep knowing

Presence is not a soft skill. It is the core technology of general practice. In a world of algorithms and assembly lines, our most powerful clinical instrument remains our capacity to know our patients as human beings.
1 April 2026
4 mins read

A radioactive chalice?

Seeing patients once and referring them for imaging offers advantages to busy GPs and busy patients alike, but given the tendency of any test to throw up results of unclear significance, wouldn’t we simply be delegating the management of uncertainty en masse
28 December 2022
3 mins read

It’s the sun wot won it

Occasionally, the worlds of media and healthcare can clash in a way that has pronounced consequences in the real world. Whilst the media may intend to inform, they invariably end up influencing a somewhat frenzied, albeit predictable, behaviour in the public.
21 December 2022
3 mins read

3 years on…

Today is my third “Cancerversary..." I am so lucky to be working in a great practice. With a supportive team – clinicians who truly care. But I just don’t know if this is enough...
14 December 2022
4 mins read
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Internet shutdowns: a threat to public health

Internet shutdowns are government interventions motivated to intentionally disrupt access to, and the use of, online information and communication systems. These measures pose a novel and growing threat to various elements of global public health.
12 December 2022
2 mins read
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There’s something about menopause…

We attend reputable GP-training events and feel confident that the training delivered will be up to date and relevant. And yet, there's something about menopause where all this somehow falls apart.
1 December 2022
6 mins read
5

Mind the gate on the way out

In my early years of practice, I thought the very act of named diagnosis was a victory. As time has progressed ... I have grown to realise that this semantic box does not in itself contain the cure, and sometimes, can contain
25 November 2022
2 mins read

Papering over the cracks

"On my clinical days, I focus on the micro-level of health care. Thinking about the macro-level of things, including the politics of it all, tends to send my heart rate up when I am in the thick of clinical practice. Am I
24 November 2022
3 mins read

Fragmented

I’d imagine that a fair few of my colleagues can relate to the fact that most days, I feel like a walking, talking pie chart, cut up into colour-coded segments. Are we so lost in the political drive to provide access, that
18 November 2022
3 mins read

SAS doctors – the solution to the GP workforce crisis?

The growing SAS workforce, and the stalling growth of the GP workforce, combined with warnings of a mass exodus from the profession, has clearly got people thinking.  The GMC report suggests that the solutioninvolves shifting the SAS workforce into general practice.
10 November 2022
4 mins read
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A tyranny of nouns

Doctors are inordinately fond of nouns. By and large, patients come to us not just with nouns, but with stories which include them but are driven along by verbs, words of action, backed up by adverbs, pronouns, and so on...
4 November 2022
4 mins read

Social media and young people: a dilemma

Social media has transformed the ways we live as a society, forever altering the ways in which we communicate and relax. And this abrupt change to social discourse which has gradually developed over thousands of years is having implications for young people.
2 November 2022
2 mins read

SNOMED CT: working smarter, not harder

General practice needs to become more efficient while improving care quality and safety. How can we do this? SNOMED CT holds some of the answers, but many practices are unaware of its full potential ...
28 October 2022
3 mins read

Musical musings: GPs should be the orchestra

Of course the GP has always in a way been a 'conductor' between different hospital specialists, co-ordinating treatments and providing holistic care, but the unique role of the GP is rapidly being broken up into its constituent parts, through the PCN system
13 October 2022
3 mins read
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