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Opinion - Page 3

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Is it time to retire the digital rectal exam?

"The British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) has called for the exam to be omitted from primary care’s assessment of prostate cancer. Asking, ‘Is it time to retire the DRE?’ allows for reconsideration of patient assessment with a view to improving patient
30 June 2025
5 mins read
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I knew her smile…

A knock on the door. First patient of the day. “Hello… come in,” I say. I didn’t recognise the name, But I knew her smile. A poem by Rahhiel Riasat
26 June 2025
2 mins read
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Ethical Erosion

As a profession, our inability—or perhaps reluctance—to step back and reflect on practices that may need to change has no doubt contributed to our ethical erosion. But we are capable of change and reform both individually and collectively...
23 June 2025
5 mins read
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Madness of Sense and the Sense of Madness

A reflection on the madness of sense and the sense of madness. Anuj Sean Chathley captures the demoralising and costly effects of healthcare funding cuts in poetry. "...these changes do not save. They spend — time, money, morale, and sense."
18 June 2025
2 mins read
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Artificial Intelligence… or not?

You might be thinking, why is this important anyway? Who cares whether it is a human doctor or a computer algorithm that is writing the article? Well, I suppose that is one of the defining questions of our time currently in the
16 June 2025
2 mins read
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Delete after reading

All advice under Emergency Health Regulations is in line with current evidence and best practice and is therefore in your best interests. Acting against your own best interests is ... therefore prohibited. A Hoban dystopia.
6 June 2025
2 mins read
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The Clock Ticks Differently Now

We competed not for praise, but for endurance. For the longest call. The bloodiest shift. The boldest procedure. A hundred hours a week? A badge of honour. In those halls, medicine was not a career. It was a covenant. Poem by Anuj
5 June 2025
1 min read
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Stay in your lane?

If the goal of medicine is the promotion of health and treatment of disability, illness, and disease (let’s think of this as our lane?), then things are going to get complicated.
30 May 2025
4 mins read

The shame of patient complaints

For some reason, which of course you later regret, you check your work emails. There is an email ...with the subject title “Patient complaint.”
29 May 2025
4 mins read
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A new GP feeling at sea

Alongside the elation and excitement of reaching Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) however, is a feeling of being somewhat cast adrift.  There is a distinct lack of celebration and more importantly perhaps, a distinct lack of support.
19 May 2025
3 mins read
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The psychosomatic self

If the only reason a doctor labels symptoms as psychosomatic is that they can’t come up with a better explanation, they might as well blame the fairies at the bottom of the garden... Ben Hoban will make you think!
14 May 2025
5 mins read
3
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Clinical courage

Clinical courage is a term that has emerged in the field of rural general practice, particularly in Canada and Australia. Caroline McCarthy reflects on how it manifested for her.
8 May 2025
3 mins read
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The days of small things

...I sensed that they also lived in a different dimension of time. The soft chattering of the patients waiting and sitting on the grass outside the clinic had an unhurried acceptance of just waiting. Storied reflection from rural general practice in South
5 May 2025
5 mins read

It is time we talk about the duties of a patient

"... while patients' rights have been well-defined, the corresponding duties of a patient are rarely articulated [...] Just as doctors must adhere to professional standards, patients should be expected to fulfil certain duties — to themselves, healthcare professionals, the health system, society,
24 April 2025
5 mins read
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An Easter egg from BJGP Life

'To find the Easter egg in a movie you often have to wade through the credits, which lengthen in proportion to the CGI special effects and lavish locations...' Some Easter reflections and highlights.
20 April 2025
2 mins read
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