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Opinion - Page 4

How long does general practice take?

"... to my surprise, I’ve become the sort of doctor that has been in the same clinic for 20 years. I’ve never been bored, I’ve often been anxious, and I’ve been privileged to witness some of the most amazing and some of the
8 April 2025
2 mins read
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Access to general practice

The Health Foundation has recently identified that the public’s first big priority across the NHS is to make it easier to get an appointment at their GP practice. Nada Khan explores what meaningful access looks like in general practice.
7 April 2025
6 mins read
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What is Illness?

Peter Toon considers how public debates inform why we define a condition as illness rather than another type of problem, and the implications of this.
4 April 2025
10 mins read
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Getting an upgrade

Taking a look at her consultation model feels like the least painful of her goals to try and get done, and so she takes hold of the flaking metal handrail, slowly breathes in and out to centre herself, and walks down the
3 April 2025
4 mins read
2
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Write for (BJGP) Life

I reflect on the journey to (and from) the BJGP conference. Sometimes the writing is already there, and only needs a home. Sometimes it needs an invitation... Writers for (BJGP) Life, I look forward to hearing from you!
22 March 2025
6 mins read
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Narrative failure

Something shifted in my head, and I heard the sound of a penny dropping in a bank vault deep underground. I rummaged around in my desk for the Campbell-Frank Analyser and applied the scalp electrodes and mask with trembling hands.
10 March 2025
4 mins read
1
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Illusions of control

Ponder this: The causal link between our actions and any outcome may be dubious, but the relief we feel at having done something, especially when there is an improvement of some kind, is so strongly reinforcing that we tend to ignore this.
7 March 2025
5 mins read
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Adolescent screening for digital diabetes

In the same way there is an unsettling parallel in the rise of obesity and ultra-processed food from the 1970’s onwards, the rise of faster and more invasive digital technology seems to link with a decline in mental health. Giles Dawnay discusses
17 February 2025
4 mins read
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Deep end – The scent of poverty

What exactly is this smell of poverty? It is so pervasive. I recognise it in an instance. This perfume should be called “Deep End”, and it gives every encounter with poverty a visceral olfactory dimension. Jen Foell reflects.
14 February 2025
5 mins read
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Ripples on a pond

If it is difficult to agree what exactly we mean by health, it is perhaps unsurprising that we also approach unhealth in a number of different ways. Ben Hoban reflects on the meanings of 'unhealth.'
13 February 2025
4 mins read
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Fixing our broken food health system

A recent House of Lords report puts the blame for rising obesity squarely at the feet of the food industry, stating that marketing of unhealthy food products has created an ‘obesogenic’ food environment. Nada Khan investigates the broken food system.
6 February 2025
6 mins read
2
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Systems Update (A poem)

In the hope that we can reflect on not losing the foundations of medicine, but also hold with conviction the new tools that we have been given with which to help and to heal.
29 January 2025
1 min read
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Narrative medicine

A means by which participants can make some sense of their threads... And nurse the ends of their unravelled stories. The healing ...Is in the weaving.
21 January 2025
1 min read

Stories and medical records

"... we’re in a situation where we understand the importance of patient narratives, but if we talk about this in these terms to policymakers and even some of our specialist colleagues, we’ll be dismissed as chin-stroking hippies, unable to do proper medicine."
10 January 2025
2 mins read
2
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Irresistible and immovable values

The thread that runs through the debate, however, seems to be a genuine desire on both sides to help people who are suffering, and the conflict between opposing views reflects not a greater or lesser degree of care, but rather the familiar
8 January 2025
4 mins read
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