Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with Dr Anne Connolly, a GP with a special in Gynaecology, trained hysteroscopist, and founding member of the Primary Care Women's Health Forum, where she just stepped down as chair in 2023. They speak about the importance of raising awareness about women’s health problems such as heavy menstrual bleeding, how underappreciated it can be, and the impact it can have on women’s lives. They then use cases to illustrate the assessment and management of heavy menstrual blee...
Jan 17, 2024•43 min•Ep. 125
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Mahindra Chincholkar, a consultant anaesthetist and Clinical Director Manchester and Salford Pain Centre. They take a detailed dive into the concept of pain and chronic pain, and then Mahindra explains his stepwise approach to assessing and managing chronic pain through the use of an anonymous case. Greater Manchester healthcare professionals have collaborated to design the Greater Manchester Pain Management Resources Hub that gathers helpful tools and resources ...
Jan 03, 2024•44 min•Ep. 124
Doctors Sara and Lisa discuss the podcast episodes over the year. We talk about our longer term learning points, how the year has gone and what's to come. ___ We really want to make these episodes relevant and helpful: if you have any questions or want any particular areas covered then contact us on Twitter @PCKBpodcast , or leave a comment on our quick anonymous survey here: https://pckb.org/feedback Email us at: primarycarepodcasts@gmail.com ___ This podcast has been made with the support of G...
Dec 20, 2023•19 min•Ep. 123
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Sadaat Ahmed about Frailty. We discuss definitions, frailty syndromes, frailty scores and the need to take care with these. We talk through a case to showcase how recognising frailty and managing the controllable areas can make a big difference to patients' lives and slow or even sometimes reverse frailty. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: British Geriatrics Society Fit For Frailty ...
Dec 06, 2023•57 min•Ep. 122
The importance of addressing climate change and sustainability is gaining more traction across the NHS. In order to find out more about the situation, and what can be done within Primary Care, Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr David McKelvey who is a GP from Salford and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Clinical Lead in Sustainability in Primary Care. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: Greater Manchester Primary...
Nov 22, 2023•45 min•Ep. 121
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to a GP involved in Primary Care Research Dr Imran Ghafoor and Ewa Grzegorska, a Research Support Facilitator from the National Health and Clinical Research Institute about Research in Primary Care. We talk through Dr Ghafoor’s journey into being part of Primary Care Research, what embarking on Research Projects in Primary Care might look like, from the straightforward to the more involved, and some of the practicalities and financial considerations. You can use these ...
Nov 08, 2023•33 min•Ep. 120
To find out more about how Dentistry works in England, Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Greater Manchester Workforce Lead for Dentistry Mukhtar Ahmad. We cover how Dental Services are set up and funded in England and some current challenges. We move on to specific questions about how General Practice and Dentistry can help each other. Themes include; information sharing, Bisphosphonates, Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy and Diabetes. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificat...
Oct 25, 2023•35 min•Ep. 119
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Senior Eating Disorder Practitioners Vicky McGee and Rachelle Davies to get their advice on consulting with children and young people who present with features of an Eating Disorder. We take the theoretical case of 14-year-old Suzie, who presents to the Practice alongside her Mum with mood symptoms, reduced eating and weight loss. We use this to guide the discussion around consulting with children and young people and assessing for an Eating Disorder. We talk about ...
Oct 11, 2023•52 min•Ep. 118
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to GPs and Workforce Leads Dr Nikesh Vallabh and Dr Richard Bircher. They wanted to talk to us today to discuss a practical approach to some of the workforce issues we are all facing. This episode will be particularly useful for GP Partners, Practice Managers and anyone interested in workforce issues in General Practice. The clicking into the episode will bring up a large list of resources for people to check out as well. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD ...
Sep 27, 2023•43 min•Ep. 117
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Aseem Mishra to discuss changes in the guidelines for Hypertension. The discussion includes advice on how to get the most accurate diagnosis and measurements for blood pressures, the importance of counselling patients well, and advice on medications. We started with a poem from Aseem focusing around why this is such an important topic. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: NICE Clinical...
Sep 13, 2023•40 min•Ep. 116
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Mark Spurrell about a framework that can be applied to the care of complex patients with multiple problems or difficulties. It is particularly useful at times where we feel stuck, we are struggling to help or move forward and care may be fragmented with lots of care professionals feeling similarly. The idea is to use a value based approach using the whole team to breathe new life into the scenario, create positivity and momentum and buil...
Aug 30, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 115
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Optometrist Dharmesh Patel to get an understanding of Optometry as part of the Primary Care Team. We discuss how the service is set up, what can be done at the Opticians, different types of patient access and how GP practices can link in with services. We discuss the Community Urgent Eye Care Service (CUES), Minor Eye Conditions Service (MECS) and Community Eye Care Service (CECS). We take a few examples of cases to illustrate options for accessing services in Great...
Aug 16, 2023•38 min•Ep. 114
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to GP Dr Charlotte Bădescu about Ovarian Cancer. We focus on the important learning points about cardinal and other features of presentations to better understand this cancer as an abdominal cancer with symptoms that can and do often present much earlier than the diagnosis is often picked up. She talks us through the value of CA125 tests and the reasons not to be overly reliant on them, though they can be a useful tool in the tool box. The usefulness of ultrasound scan...
Aug 02, 2023•41 min•Ep. 113
Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Community Pharmacist and Director of Pharmacy Transformation for Greater Manchester Luvjit Kandula. We learn all about the Essential Services and Enhanced Services Community Pharmacies are engaged in and get an understanding of the pressures Community Pharmacies are under. We discuss the plans for upcoming transformations and top tips to avoid errors in prescribing and to help take some of the pressure off Pharmacy teams. You can use these podcasts as part of ...
Jul 19, 2023•46 min•Ep. 112
Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined this week by Dominic Anderson (Programme Director of the Health and Wellbeing Programme Greater Manchester), Lorna Laflin (Former Practice Manager who works with the GP Excellence team) and Joanna Bircher (GP and Programme Director for GP Excellence). We discuss the new QOF indicators around Workforce and Wellbeing in General Practice. We learn what the indicators are and get hints and tips about how to achieve them. We come at this slightly sceptical of the work...
Jul 05, 2023•45 min•Ep. 111
Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with Dr Uma Marthi who is a GP with a Specialist Interest in Gynaecology about red flags for gynaecological cancers. We discuss some cases based on real patients that involve cervical, vaginal and endometrial cancers. We’ll be recording a separate episode around the varied presentations of Ovarian cancer. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: NICE guidelines for Red Flags for Gynaecological ...
Jun 21, 2023•46 min•Ep. 110
**Summer Rewind: This episode was first released on Nov 30th 2022** Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Otolaryngologist Ms Emma Stapleton and Clinical Scientist David Jay about Vertigo. We discuss the definition, differentials, and how to use information around timing and triggers to differentiate between the likely causes of vertigo. We get their take on the important details in the examination that can help identify the diagnosis, and talk options for managing the most common types of pe...
Jun 07, 2023•41 min•Ep. 109
Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with GP Dr Allison Rees for her advice on how to approach GP Appraisals and Revalidation. We heard her talk about this in a Health Education England First Five talk a few years ago and found it so helpful. We cover why they can be useful, the practicalities of what needs to be done and how to make them work for you. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: RCGP Guide to your Appraisal: https://...
May 24, 2023•43 min•Ep. 108
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Wasim Javed, ST6 in Cardiology, about the diagnosis and management of Angina. Taking a theoretical case we talk through symptoms, differentials, diagnosis, including the guidelines and practicalities of different types of functional and non-functional tests, as well types of angina and their management. It was useful to understand the initial management once diagnosed, and where further investigations or referrals/discussions with cardiology come in. As well as t...
May 10, 2023•53 min•Ep. 107
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to talk to Dr Mary Cheshire who is the GP lead on the NHS England Fellowships for Greater Manchester GPs. As she explains, this is a fairly informal fellowship done over 2 years offering different types of courses and support that essentially consists of a paid CPD session a week and a range of CPD events to facilitate this. The course runs a qualification in coaching people can sign up for and are offered Mentors. Completing a quality improvement project is encouraged...
Apr 26, 2023•32 min•Ep. 106
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to talk to GP and Professor of General Practice Research Dr Carolyn Chew-Graham about the current landscape of Long COVID three years on. She spoke to us on the topic back in August 2021, but what we know and some of the treatments have moved on from then. In this talk we discuss why the patient-preferred term is Long COVID rather than Post COVID Syndrome, symptoms, how many people are living with the condition in the UK to date and some of the types of management and ...
Apr 12, 2023•41 min•Ep. 105
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to GP Dr Adam Cliffe about how he and his practice went about changing the model by which patients access the practice. It is so far working very well for both staff and patients. It’s an interesting talk about change management and one example of how a difficult situation was changed for the better. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: House of Commons Committee Report: The Future of Genera...
Mar 29, 2023•41 min•Ep. 104
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Aseem Mishra, Academic GP trainee involved in helping produce the Guidelines for the Greater Manchester Lipid Pathway. Greater Manchester has very high levels of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACEs). The guidelines for how to treat hyperlipidaemia and what we’re aiming for have changed. Dr Mishra helps talk through these changes. Towards the end of the episode, we discuss injectable treatments for secondary prevention including Inclisiran. The resource lin...
Mar 15, 2023•47 min•Ep. 103
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to ENT Consultant Ms Sadie Khwaja about common throat symptoms we encounter in General Practice and get her take on how to assess and manage these. We cover Red Flag symptoms for the neck in detail as well as looking at three cases we commonly encounter; pain on swallowing, globus symptoms and hoarseness. We discuss a useful approach for assessing causes of throat problems, consider the triad of swallowing, breathing and voice difficulties and the importance of feeling...
Mar 01, 2023•44 min•Ep. 102
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Maiedha Raza to find out her take on issues of Equality and Diversity in General Practice. This is a gentle dive into the very complex world of diversity and inclusivity with messages of how we can improve our culture in the NHS. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) Useful resources: Talks by Nancy Kline: Time to Think: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNF-NcrXmaOHp1KmLxIuNOw Pulse Article: Over one in ...
Feb 15, 2023•35 min•Ep. 101
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Sarah Taylor about the changes being made to how Primary Care Clinicians refer patients for Suspected Lower Gastrointestinal Cancers. These changes are discussed in the context of referring in the Greater Manchester area, but you can view the joint guideline from the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) and the British Society of Gastroenterology below. This will change the way we manage patients. To help, we go through some potenti...
Feb 01, 2023•27 min•Ep. 100
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to GP Dr David Bartlett who works with the Neuroendocrine Cancer UK charity and GP Dr Will Evans who is a researcher specialising in rare diseases. We wanted to discuss how they approach finding rare diseases in General Practice whilst balancing this with the risk of over investigating. We start with definitions and classifications before discussing where neuroendocrine cancers fit into this landscape. Their pearls of wisdom could help us keep our antenae up, referrals...
Jan 20, 2023•47 min•Ep. 99
Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dietician Charlotte Cockman about managing weight for patients who are overweight or obese in General Practice. This includes a discussion around the definitions of overweight and obesity, risk factors, and what terms are less stigmatising when discussing weight with patients. Charlotte talks to us about her approach to weight, eating and health, and how this approach can encourage long term behavioural changes that focus on health and nutrition rather than weight. ...
Jan 04, 2023•44 min•Ep. 98
Doctors Sara and Lisa speak with Christopher Lewis, Operations Learning and Development Manager for Greater Manchester Training Hub. His non-pretentious, passionate approach to coaching and mentoring was infectious. We hope you get a flavour of how coaching and mentoring might help in General Practice. The episode was designed with GP fellows in mind but anyone working in Primary Care may benefit. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they still count :) U...
Dec 14, 2022•36 min•Ep. 97
Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Otolaryngologist Ms Emma Stapleton and Clinical Scientist David Jay about Vertigo. We discuss the definition, differentials, and how to use information around timing and triggers to differentiate between the likely causes of vertigo. We get their take on the important details in the examination that can help identify the diagnosis, and talk options for managing the most common types of peripheral vertigo. The resources section of the episode description c...
Nov 30, 2022•42 min•Ep. 96
