Category: General practice / family medicine, UK

There are certain questions I really hope patients don’t ask me these days in general…

The head of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has defended going public about…

Before 1979, being a GP required no postgraduate training. After completing medical school and a…

Power cuts were thrilling in the 1970s: the schools closed early, we cooked on a…

Internal guidance from NHS England—as reported by the Health Service Journal1—indicates that patients who decline…

On 29 September the Guardian reported that England’s new health and social care secretary, Thérèse…

This week I learnt that England has the second highest income inequality in Europe, and…

A new plan for the NHS was unveiled last week by the recently appointed secretary…

My son started school this September, and I’ve been reflecting on what it’s been like…

Bank holidays are always a bit of a headache in general practice. The demand from…

As reliably as the sun rising in the east and September bringing a new school…

Like most doctors, I’ve got a few type A personality traits. I’m ambitious, I take…

The recent suicide of a Surrey GP has been blamed on the “overwhelming” pressure of…

Who doesn’t have a sense of déjà vu about further restructuring of the NHS? Integrated…

Most doctors enter their training with a desire to help people. When a patient asks…

The Treasury has agreed to look at one quirk of the NHS Pension Scheme that…

Senior officials have insisted that there are no plans to scrap the GP partnership model…

Sometimes my job seems impossible. I’m trained to treat individuals with physical and mental health…

More than a quarter of GP and practice nurse posts in England could be vacant…

This month the government published Gordon Messenger’s independent review of NHS leadership.1 One key finding…

The BMA must organise the withdrawal of general practices from England’s primary care networks by…

The review into the case of Manjula Arora—a GP who was given a one month…

The Care Quality Commission is reviewing material surfaced by an undercover BBC investigation that claimed…

Immigration rules are threatening the supply chain of newly qualified GPs, a committee of MPs…

Doctors giving evidence to MPs have defended the independent contractor model of GP partnership, arguing…

My appraisal this week led me to reflect on the highs and lows of general…

On 8 June the government published the findings of an independent review into health and…

The covid pandemic has had a massive impact on elective care. The National Audit Office…

There has been much disquiet in GP circles about the treatment of Manjula Arora, firstly…

Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) can expect to see more research and support for the…

A GP who was found guilty of 54 sex offences against female patients over three…

A GP has been suspended for a month after it was ruled that she had…

Some GPs will face pension tax bills of almost half their post-tax income this tax…

It’s been 10 months since the initial report of the Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard1…

GPs should consider offering patients with insomnia the Sleepio app as an effective and cost…

Most of the time, being a GP is a deeply satisfying mixture of being useful…

Patient satisfaction with family doctor services in Scotland fell sharply during the covid pandemic, a…

That question topped the 3 May front page of the Daily Mail—a tabloid newspaper not…

The newspapers owned by DMG Media (including the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday)…

The recent changes to covid-19 restrictions indicate a new phase of the pandemic, where we…

I recently attended a workshop exploring the effects of switching to a “remote by default”…

When I started out in general practice I made very few referrals to consultants working…

Politicians and their parties obviously embrace ideology, but problems as serious as preventable disease and…

GPs’ leaders and Jeremy Hunt, former health and social care secretary for England, joined forces…

The NHS, local government, and other agencies must work together more closely to improve services…

The unsafe workload of general practitioners needs to be reduced to prevent an exodus of…

Sometimes I cover the practice reception for an hour to make time for staff training….

Review after review has concluded that one key weakness of the NHS is that it…

GPs have received updated guidance on providing healthcare to people coming from Ukraine.1In a bulletin…

Technology and in particular the NHS App should become the new “front door” to the…