In October and November 2024, Brian Lambert spent six weeks volunteering as a ‘medic’ at the Mavrovouni refugee camp on Lesvos, working for the Dutch charity the Boat Refugee Foundation (BRF).
Biological causality for T4 monotherapy not working for some is now established. We can’t now attribute the 10%–15% of people with hypothyroidism not feeling better on T4 as wimps, laggards, or requiring psychological attention. Sarah Cathcart Evans reflects from personal experience of
The Eisenhower matrix is an eponymous task management tool attributed to the late US President which helps to organise and prioritise tasks by urgency and importance, so you can focus on getting the most urgent and important things done first. So, am
There’s much to be said for novellas – short novels you can read in a couple of evenings, without the commitment needed for a blockbuster. If you’re looking for a great example, I’d recommend The Shooting Party by the Russian dramatist Anton
We cannot manage without models, but it is easy to forget that they are not the same as reality, and that their utility depends not just on their ability to provide a sense of congruence, but on the degree to which they
There has been significant debate recently around how best to name the newest healthcare profession to seek regulation under the umbrella of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Cathal Gallagher reflects on the legality of the title 'Doctor'.
The Lancet recently published a series on the menopause. GPs are consulting with large numbers of women around this time of life and will no doubt welcome a major medical journal addressing an area of rising need. Ellen Fellows argues that there
The greatest challenge was a general practice one: not making a definitive diagnosis but to triage, having to decide what was safe to watch and wait, what could be managed with resources onboard the ship, what needed to be seen on land,
I have recently read ‘Too Many Pills - How too much medicine is endangering our health and what we can do about it’ by James Le Fanu... So, this is my new purpose in life - to create opportunities to have open,
The results of this survey are depressing yet unsurprising – GPs are thoroughly aware of both their increasing workloads and helpless inability to satisfy the relentlessly growing demand, despite our best efforts.
My husband and I visited my ancestral village home in the state of Bihar. I was visiting my village after 25 years and could see the obvious changes – both the progress and ongoing challenges.
Thinking about patients,’ is a classic text, first published in 2001, that applies sociology and psychology to medical practice. I first read it in 2011 while doing a PhD in medical education, and wondered how I had missed it.
It used to be just in the context of type 1 diabetes, but the little white circles on people’s upper arms seem to be more ubiquitous, and it’s clear that the use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is shifting from a medical
There was a feeling that politicians and health service planners had failed to understand the nature of general practice and its purpose in relation to health. The articles in this month’s Life and Times address the nature and purpose of general practice
Nick Wooding offers some football-inspired reflections on good general practice as a team sport.
Train-tracks approaching the horizon appear to converge, although in reality, they remain equidistant. UK General Practice finds itself on a train journey along tracks which seem to do the opposite: the further down the line we look, the more they diverge. Should
Investigations themselves can throw up results that are difficult to interpret, and they may reveal abnormalities of uncertain significance. To highlight these issues to our patients would constitute more ethical practice, would foster greater patient empowerment, and could result in a frame
I found this an inspiring, uplifting play about one of my heroes – the Welsh firebrand and father of the NHS, Aneurin “Nye” Bevan – vividly brought to life by another Welsh hero, the actor Michael Sheen.
With the weight loss effects of semaglutide and other GLP-1 agonists so widely reported in the press and social media, it’s not just people with obesity and weight-related comorbidities that are asking about it. But ask they will, so what we can
"Confidence in the future of NHS primary care is thin right now. My resilience suddenly really matters. Are the two linked?" asks Saul Miller.
Why Can’t I See My GP charts an ever- changing medical speciality. From the times where GPs practiced in their own homes, to the NHS crisis we face today, Cumbrian GP Dr Ellen Welch takes us on the journey of our National
I first read his 2014 book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies five years ago, which convinced me that the risks which would be posed to humanity by a highly capable AI system (a ‘superintelligence’) ought to be taken very seriously before such a
I’m running late, the daily mantra of a working GP ... I’m running late, not an uncommon sight to see ... I’m running late, stuck behind a tractor on my commute ... I’m running late, the laptop has some updates to compute.
The clinician who has seen the patient has now “off-loaded” their uncertainty on to the broad shoulders of the GP who has to now carry this “surrogate uncertainty” along with all their other worries for the day. It is true that GPs
GPs feel they are increasingly managing increasingly risky mental health patients, with rising frustration that their referrals are being rejected. Just as in general practice, CMHT teams are facing their own challenges in not having the workforce or capacity to meet those
Notwithstanding the corny connection to a fictional character, and the 'old school' approach to confidentiality, this is a charming and authentic memoir. An anecdote is by definition an unpublished story - and Martin Stagg has converted his anecdotes into 'ecdotes.'
You may recognise the frustration and anger that surface when resources run short; fractures in infrastructure become apparent; staff are scarce, undertrained and approaching burnout; protocols written by distant bureaucrats fail to reflect the realities you are seeing on the front line;
Having... been ‘critiqued’ for writing in too-detached a style, I was intrigued to see how a creative writing approach would change the process of reflection. As part of a self-selected module in ethics education, I took part in a one-day course on
"In this article, we offer four perspectives from patients and healthcare professionals with the aim of reminding ourselves of the challenges faced by some of those affected ... "
Whilst medicine exists as social science on a socio-political level, it also has deep roots in interpersonal relationships. Medicine as social science is public and political, but it is personal too. In general practice this is widely understood and must not be
"While a free press is vital to hold those in control of public services to account for their performance, and media coverage of A&E pressure might helpfully deter patients without a relevant clinical need from attending, media coverage — particularly that with
"I remain fascinated by, and grateful for, the excellent research that sheds light on all aspects of our work and the lives of our patients. As I hang up my pen, I take this opportunity to tip my hat to all those
Lavina Sakhrani-Clarke learns how to be ill and the importance of recovery.
...cognitive bias sustained public faith in the medical profession long before doctors had the tools to truly alter the course of an illness. These forces did not disappear the moment that working therapeutics arrived - meaning we remain enthralled by own salves
Seventeen per cent of UK households experienced food insecurity in 2023, with cases of rickets, scurvy, and malnutrition on the rise. Are we facing a revival of Dickensian-era diseases?
‘Wherefore’, meaning ‘For what reason’, is one of the most fundamental questions we must ask in medicine. Tasneem Khan applies this idea to trauma-informed care.
Is there 'One Big Thing' that GPs do? Or does it emerge out of all the things that GPs do?
Nurse Bernadette Millwood, in the final year of her career, is interviewed by her daughter Dr Sinead Millwood, a newly qualified GP in the first year of hers. What can we learn about primary healthcare going forward into the future?
Is general practice the platypus of medical specialities?
Medicine: Right Idea, wrong science? Should critical realism be the new science of medical practice?
Alistair Appleby introduces critical realism as a philosophical foundation for medical science and primary healthcare
Do the ARRS roles lead to GP clinics filled with increasing complexity, and what are the other contributory factors? Nada Khan looks at the evidence.