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Opinion - Page 25

Every gap is an educational gap

"Recently I saw Ted and Rachel. They were living temporarily in a share house as they had recently been made homeless. Ted is a happy man despite his current circumstances, but has diabetes that is not well controlled. He takes his medication,
9 January 2026
2 mins read

Life is a dance: Blaming it on the boogie

Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. Recently The Guardian, and others, reported that doctors were alarmed that an online test which estimated cardiological health revealed that 78% of adults had a heart age older than their chronological age and were,
25 September 2018
4 mins read
2

A coffee-break conversation about part-time working

Luke Allen is a GP academic clinical fellow at Oxford University. A coffee-break conversation about flexible part-time working and relational continuity Sam (early-mid career GP): Hey, can I grab you for a minute to talk about my hours? Charlie (senior GP partner):
21 September 2018
6 mins read
2

And I guess that’s why they call it the blues

Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. Like the one whose taste in music veers consistently and increasingly away from societal norms and thus is destined to spend too much time sat in darkened rooms accompanied only by an empty bottle
14 September 2018
3 mins read
1

Prof Kamilla Hawthorne: GPs must focus on community-led care

Professor Kamila Hawthorne explores how NHS Wales can reprioritise its resources to better support and use the skills of its GPs to lead innovative, community-led care.  It has been a long, hot summer for general practitioners – in more ways than one.
6 September 2018
5 mins read

Do we care about sadness?

“All men seek happiness, this is without exception”. So wrote Blaise Pascal in his Pensées. But despite his assertion, and our best efforts, too many of us, it seems, find only sadness. In such circumstances we may well feel useless, but that's
18 July 2018
4 mins read
1

Aristotle and general practice: What do good doctors do?

Aristotle had it right when he asserted in his 'Metaphysics' that 'Those who wish to succeed must ask the right preliminary question'. More than 2000 years later, doctors would do well to listen to his advice. Before adopting each and every new
14 June 2018
4 mins read
1

Advanced Access – a step in the wrong direction

Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. If the recent film ‘The Darkest Hour’ is anything to go by, Winston Churchill would have liked a ‘Drinks by the Dram’ Advent Calendar – available last December on Amazon for a shilling short
31 May 2018
4 mins read
1

Is reflective practice safe?

Chloe Webster is a 4th year medical student, a yogaholic, creative writing enthusiast, and an aspiring future GP. You can read more of her articles. Back then, reflection didn’t really mean anything. It was just another word branded and thrown about through
28 May 2018
3 mins read
1

Life, Interrupted

Life was simple last summer. I was a happily busy wife and mother, enjoying work and keeping fit. I was in good shape, having lost a little weight, and felt great. Until one day when I developed a fever and myalgia. Looking
23 May 2018
2 mins read
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Why do you want to be a GP? The one question we don’t ask

The first question to practise before a job interview; the one we all know will make an appearance…right? Well, not if you’ve chosen to pursue a career in general practice. Whilst my colleagues were preparing evidence of their accomplishments and practising expected
18 May 2018
2 mins read
4

Life on the other side… my patient journey

Being a patient has certainly made me think a lot. About everything. From the constant waiting, to the unanswered questions, the consultation process, the umpteen tests that get ordered as a snowball effect (turns out once you start seeing doctors, we like
26 April 2018
7 mins read
10

25 tips on managing complaints: A personal defence strategy

Vernon Needham has been a GP partner, trainer, and police surgeon amongst many other roles in a varied career. He continues to work with the Wessex Deanery Professional Support Unit. Here he offers 25 tips for managing complaints and forming your personal
23 April 2018
3 mins read
1

The Uncomfortable Professional

The professionalism of general practitioners continues to be undermined as increasingly we are treated as naughty children who need to be brought into line. We need to make collective decisions on how to practice based on what we know as GPs to
27 February 2018
4 mins read
7

The Needle in the Haystack

Specialty bashing is not new or uncommon in the NHS. It is particularly directed at those training in general practice and has been a known problem for many generations. Despite a call for change, undermining of this specialty continues to haunt the
20 February 2018
3 mins read
6

Tough times for doctors and the best case fallacy

When the going gets tough, what about those who don’t feel tough enough to keep going? Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. Recently I watched the BBC adaption of ‘Little Women’. Despite the fact that it wasn’t the kind of
16 January 2018
6 mins read
3

Why I am still fighting for general practice

Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. GP practices are closing at an alarming rate with more and more GPs abandoning the profession as workload rises exponentially and recruitment continues to struggle to keep up with the number of
8 December 2017
7 mins read
1

Managing ‘medic mum guilt’ as a GP

Mehwish Sharif is a salaried GP in West Bromwich and does locum sessions in the Black Country. I recall thinking about a 5 year plan after completing GP VTS. The plan was quite simple, achieving a good work-life balance between personal and
21 November 2017
3 mins read
3

Jerry cross the Mersey: Hunt at the RCGP Conference

Jacket off, shirtsleeved, roving the stage, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt must have said "The truth is…" three times in the first three minutes of his RCGP Conference speech in Liverpool this Thursday. By the standards of recent Tory party speeches this one
13 October 2017
3 mins read
5

Sick leave in general practice

On my journey to being a grown-up GP, I completed placements in four different practices as a junior doctor (FY2, ST1, ST3 and ST4). As you might imagine, each placement introduced me to a host of intriguing colleagues – both clinical and
20 July 2017
1 min read
2

A GP’s experience of the Grenfell Tower fire

Ahmed Kazmi is a GP at Exmoor Surgery in West London. He is also a stand up comedian and his next shows will be used to fundraise for the dispossessed. For tickets go to: www.doctorahmed.net and to donate: www.justgiving.com/doctorahmed. He is on Twitter
16 June 2017
2 mins read
2

My story of everyday scholarship in general practice

Faraz Mughal is a GP in Birmingham and the RCGP Clinical Fellow in Children and Young People’s Mental Health. He is on Twitter: @farazhmughal Making scholarship part of my daily practice contributes to the intellectual challenge and enjoyment of my work in general
26 April 2017
2 mins read
1

General Practice: The Game of Inches

Anybody who was a fan of movies, sports, or Al Pacino in 1999 is probably familiar with Pacino’s famous ‘game of inches’ speech. Pacino was playing the part of coach to a struggling American Football team and it was with this speech
29 March 2017
2 mins read
1

Book Review: The State of Medicine by Margaret McCartney

The State of Medicine is an eloquent, passionate, comprehensive, and, in many ways, dispiriting overview of the repeated damage inflicted on the NHS at the whim of successive governments. The frustration of the author, a GP from Glasgow, pours from every page,
13 January 2017
1 min read
1

Just how successful are STPs likely to be?

The NHS in England is going through a process called Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs). As the NHS England website describes “each system will produce a multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan showing how local services will evolve and become sustainable over the
10 January 2017
4 mins read

Obituary for St James Church Surgery: the death of a practice

St James Church Surgery 1987-2016: the demise of small General Practices A personal celebration and lament David Zigmond Small general practices used to be very common and mostly popular. Yet due to healthcare policies they are now increasingly rare and almost extinct.
30 November 2016
5 mins read
3

A short break for tribalism, war and dodgy goddesses.

Bahrainis are migratory, especially during the annual Ashoora holiday. Ex-pats and locals alike flee the country, squeezing through Bahrain’s easygoing airport like a cork from champagne. Cyprus is beguilingly close, so there we landed for a couple of days R and R.
8 November 2016
3 mins read
2

Medicine in an Age of Empires

I recently attended a talk at the hospital post-graduate centre where the speaker introduced herself as the hospital’s new ‘heart failure consultant’ rather than the new cardiologist. This set me thinking, as many things do, about the strange nature of secondary care
26 October 2016
2 mins read
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