Integrated neighbourhoods are a collaborative effort of health and social care providers, as well as voluntary/non-statutory organisations, which aim to improve the health and wellbeing of residents and service users. Afsana Bhuiya, Seher Kayicki and Faha Iqbal outline what we know about
What do you do to help switch off after a busy clinical day? Read? Paint? Brick-lay? GP and post-CCT Fellow, Sophie Ingham, reveals her surprising discovery of D.I.Y as a therapeutic tool during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We doctors are pretty smart, yes? Chris Tiley identifies three critical areas of understanding that we need to get straight.
Missing the gymn or pool? Or just Covid enui? James Douglas challenges us to try wild swimming!
There is a growing research interest in doctor's "gut feeling" about diagnosis in consultations. But Covid has radically changed our consultations. Can our gut feelings catch up?
Marion Brown and Stevie Lewis urgently remind us to make sure we are not mistaking antidepressant adverse effects and/or withdrawal issues for medically unexplained symptoms, functional neurological disorders or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Isn't it great to know that with evidenced based practice we will always get it right? Charles Todd reminds us of a few home truths.
Should bereavement leave be a dependant on Employers' goodwill? Bert Leysen and Johan Wens survey the current situation in Europe and suggest a better way.
Anna Gordon reminds us that refugees are people like us, but in desperate need of our humanity.
Competing patient, family medicine and psychiatric perspectives complicate the management of distress and mental illness general practice and call for resolution. K. S. Jacob suggests some ways forward.
Some GPs seem invincible, gliding through their entire careers with a minimum of alarms. How do they do it? Retired GP, Ed Warren, muses on attitudes worth cultivating during a career as a GP.
During the current Covid-19 pandemic, operating procedures to deal with face-to-face consultations in primary care in the United Kingdom were clear in the need of separating services for patients with symptoms of Covid-19, and for shielded patients needing care. Pablo Millares Martin
Migrants are widely recognised to have complex and diverse health needs, but recent reform within the NHS includes the introduction of healthcare charges for many of them. These may create pressure on GP services, increase the disease burden and widen health inequalities,
We see the refugee crisis remotely, on our TV screens. Dr Peter von Kaehne decided to do something to help. We need to hear his story.
Many clinical situations force patients into disempowered vulnerability. Judith Dawson reflects on the etiquette of dressing and undressing within the consultation.
Many former GPs may want to move along a different career pathway, but when they retire from clinical work they encounter barriers. Mona Aquilina argues that we need to harness and leverage the skills and energy of these doctors and she gives
Advances in medicine have led to major improvements in end-of-life care. But when a patient dies should doctors be aware of any factors in funeral care that can help the relatives? Dr Sarah Jones, a doctor turned Funeral Director, and Dr Julie
Community palliative care delivery is changing dramatically in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. But what of the unintended consequences of such rapid change? Ben Bowers and his co-authors examine key issues.
Primary care is changing at an unprecedented pace and the COVID19 pandemic has shown how being adaptable is vital to the future of general practice. Ria Agarwal and Sarah Mitchell ask whether Physician Associates may provide a way forward for end-of-life care
Editorial comment - today we publish two articles on current challenges in palliative care and possible ways forward. Compare and contrast!
This year Covid-19 has been a backdrop to profound human loss. Anupma Parihar reflects on the role of patients' narratives in preserving the dignity of our our patients within the consultation.
The COVID 19 pandemic has resulted in a dramatic shift from face- to-face to remote consulting within general practice. But how will this impact ongoing patient care? Victoria Tzortziou Brown, Simon Gregory and Denis Pereira Gray examine the evidence.
As doctors we are committed to justice and an end to discrimination. So surely sex discrimination in medicine is a thing of the past? These four medical students from Kings are not so sure.
Afrosa Ahmed reflects on a telephone consultation that will change her patient's life forever. She missed the ability to reach out physically to her patient as she took in the news. We are human beings, who support one another in the consultation.
We are all hoping for a Covid vaccine that works. But even if we get one, will it be that simple? Ramiro Gilardino and Victoria Malek-Pascha consider five critical issues.
Why is the injustice of racism still an open sore in western culture? Paul Main takes our exploration forward with his review of two forceful books.
For a patient, time with their GP is everything; time to explain, connect, and trust. For the GP, time is just as essential. Not only for improved patient care, but for reflection on the enormous and constant changes to the profession. In
We are embodied social beings. We thrive on nurturing relationships. Touch forms a key part of those relationships in everyday life but is also a powerful form of communication for clinicians, allowing for wordless dialogue, presence and embodied empathy. Paquita de Zulueta
30 years ago we were told we were not treating pain adequately. There was a push to give people more analgesia. So, armed with our opioids and gabapentinoids we went and we medicated. But peoples' pain got worse. Katie Barnett examines what
Asthma treatment has improved markedly over recent years. But James Oxley wonders why we are not taking action to reduce environmental pollution from discarded inhalers.
Numbers have no voice. We, however, give them meaning. Using numbers we can twist the narrative to suit the point we want to make. Following his spectacular rise on social media Samar Razaq investigates the dark arts of manipulation, politics and statistics.
The UK Government’s Gear Change policy heralds a ‘bold vision for cycling and walking’, and has been a welcome development amidst the recent headlines of sadness and uncertainty. Heather Jones examines what is needed to make such a vision work.
While demand for services increases, the NHS continues to experience a significant workforce crisis. To help pool resources the NHS Long Term Plan aims to integrate services across sectors, but what will need to be done to ensure that the delegation of
The Citadel, a 1937 novel by A. J. Cronin, explores the themes of social and health inequalities, drawing from his personal experiences working as a doctor in Britain’s pre-NHS era. The protagonist, newly qualified and virtuous Dr Andrew Manson, begins his medical
Who would have wanted to be a lead clinician in Public Health England at the start of the pandemic? Judith Dawson finds that trying to balance the population losses against individual and economic loss is an impossible job. But in a typical
The primary care workforce has been right at the heart of the response to COVID-19, working hard in new and rapidly changing circumstances to ensure patient care continues to be provided to all those who need it in the community.
David Misselbrook discusses how two books, To Kill a Mockingbird and Sacred Hunger, have helped him understand more about why Black Lives Matter matters and have given him his own refresher course in racism.
General practice is well-positioned to identify and intervene in the wider determinants of health. Many of the ingredients are already in place: registered patient lists, extensive data, and the ability to engage both proactively and opportunistically with patients. But primary care’s responsibilities
Judith Dawson reflects on the draft NICE guidelines for the management of chronic primary pain. There is widespread use of ineffective and addictive pain medication of questionable benefit. However, implementing any change will depend on a cohesive approach across primary and secondary
Despite ‘seeing’ more patients remotely, we are becoming more isolated, living our lives in lonely clinics and solitary consultations. The art of medicine becomes abstract, doctors and patients united in their separation.
Under the Prevent policy, NHS Trust staff are trained to spot signs of radicalisation and refer cases to the government. Within a systemically racist social system this policy succeeds only in targeting minority groups and those who are most vulnerable. The abolishment
