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Opinion - Page 7

A secret medicine

The intervention takes less than a minute every day - and done at scale would be safe and as cheap as chips. Imagine that existing good quality evidence showed that it is 10 times more effective than the current NHS Health Check
20 July 2024
4 mins read
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Everything happens in the context of a relationship

I don’t need to tell a GP audience this, but it’s always worth a reminder. For us GPs the relationship is everything. Outside GPs this doesn’t seem widely understood. Everyone will agree that relationships are crucial, but usually in a way that
15 July 2024
2 mins read
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Myriads of deities

In Japan, there is a saying that deities disguise themselves as difficulties and offer trials to those who have true courage and strength. My supervisors taught me that when we are overwhelmed and troubled by complex problems, we should respond with sincerity
8 July 2024
2 mins read
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Cautionary tales

Stories entertain us, but on a deeper level, they also help us make sense of our experience; they are cultural vectors, transmitting the values and wisdom of one generation to the next. The proper use of power is a common theme in
4 July 2024
3 mins read
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Digital ‘Diabetes’

Most jobs now involve a screen and being online. "What does this new reality do our minds and brains?" is a question yet to have enough evidence to answer. However it is fast becoming clear that we are no happier or healthier
20 June 2024
4 mins read

Capital advantage

The idea of history repeating is historically recurrent. It goes back to the ancients, so there must be something in it. A case in point is the UK’s recent infected blood scandal ...
17 June 2024
3 mins read
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Medicine, patients, and the law

Andrew Papanikitas reviews and reflects on a good critical sourcebook on the law for GP trainers and trainees looking to flesh out a case-based discussion or tutorial, as well as for the GP looking for reading in response to a patient unmet
13 June 2024
3 mins read

The political determinants of health

“Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine at a larger scale." Mavin Kashyap invites us to think politics as a UK General election gets closer.
10 June 2024
4 mins read
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The magic ingredient

In a time of unprecedented pressure on health professionals, especially on GPs, how do we hang onto the magic ingredients that make those brief consultations count? A poem in answer.
9 June 2024
2 mins read

Medical examiners in death certification: an open letter

Edin Lakasing and Shalinee Patel believe that this system offers poor value for public money, will needlessly increase practice workload, and risks having a corrosive effect on the trust fundamental to the relationship between healthcare workers and families.
5 June 2024
4 mins read
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Addressing addiction

So my big reveal was that I was a doctor. That is to say a human being who'd been to medical school and was employed in delivering healthcare, not someone who'd been born with supernatural skills to look into other people's souls
3 June 2024
4 mins read

Is it cruel to be kind? An open letter.

Kindness is a disposition that can’t be policed and which grows out of care, attention and connection. To suggest it can be enforced and regulated for is a mistake, explain Rupal Shah and colleagues.
29 May 2024
2 mins read
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What is GENERALISM? (The acronym)

Making explicit the roles and activity of the General Practitioner has many benefits. It enables others to recognise, value and utilise our work. The acronym is GENERALISM!
18 May 2024
1 min read
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“Unlucky” patients

Hannah Milton reflects on the neuroscience of trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how this can lead to what is termed ‘latent vulnerability’.
17 May 2024
3 mins read

‘Normal worries’ or mental illness? (Sick note Culture)

What are 'Ordinary' worries? Elke Hausmann reflects in the light of recent announcements by the prime minister about taking sick note prescribing away from GPs, with the argument that 'normal worries' are being wrongly medicalised as mental illness, also using that to
16 May 2024
2 mins read
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Sick notes and ‘Culture’

To be fit for work, a person must be capable of more than simply carrying out in isolation the tasks required by their role: they must be able to do so repeatedly, to a consistent standard, and in a way that represents
15 May 2024
4 mins read
1
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What makes science possible?

...an apparent paradox makes science possible. At least two conditions are necessary, and they appear deeply contradictory. The first is that the universe must be governed by consistent physical laws, the second is that humans in general, and scientists in particular, must
10 May 2024
3 mins read
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