Emma and Nick reflect on last week’s RCGP annual conference, in particular the details of the college’s manifesto to save general practice and the Labour party’s reaction to it. They look ahead to what might happen to the GP contract in England as we come towards the end of the current five-year deal, as well as discuss pay rises for practice nurses and the collapse of contract talks in Wales. And they look at online access to patient records, a contractual requirement in England that comes into...
Oct 27, 2023•34 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Talking General Practice speaks to RCGP chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne ahead of the college’s annual conference in Glasgow this week. In this conversation Professor Hawthorne explains what needs to be done to help tackle spiralling workload in general practice, how we can retain more GPs in the workforce and what changes could happen in the short term to help turn the current situation in general practice around. She also talks about how the college hopes to influence political parties in the ...
Oct 18, 2023•28 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Emma and Nick look at the New to Partnership Scheme – a three-year initiative that aimed to boost the number of partners in England – and ask, has it actually worked? They discuss what’s going on with funding for general practice across the UK and what the uplifts agreed for 2023/24 mean for practices. And they talk about the latest appointment data for general practice in England and what it tells us about the pressure practices are under as we head towards winter. This week’s good news story i...
Oct 13, 2023•25 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Talking General Practice speaks to Professor Deborah Christie, professor of paediatric and adolescent psychology and consultant clinical psychologist at University College Hospital London, about stigma in diabetes. Deborah has published over 200 peer reviewed papers and chapters and a bestselling book called Psychosocial Aspects of Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Families. She’s also involved with global healthcare company Abbott’s Let’s Change Perspective campaign, which is aiming to conf...
Oct 10, 2023•26 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Emma speaks to London GP and co-chair of Greener Practice, a UK primary care network focused on sustainability, Dr Tamsin Ellis. Along with her Greener Practice role, Tamsin is also a GP associate at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, an organisation that develops knowledge and resources to help the NHS and other health systems to reach net zero. In this conversation Tamsin discusses some practical steps that practices and clinicians can take to help tackle the climate crisis, including how ...
Oct 06, 2023•34 min•Season 4Ep. 6
This week Emma and Nick look at some interesting tenders for GP contracts that have been put out for integrated care boards and what they might tell us about the possible direction of travel for general practice and how GP services could be commissioned in future. They discuss physician associates and what role they have to play in the NHS after the BMA published a position statement saying it currently opposes government plans to expand their use. And they talk about how the cost of living cris...
Sep 29, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 5
This week Emma speaks to Dr Ben Allen, a GP partner at Birley Health Centre in Sheffield. Over the past few years Ben has invested huge amounts of time and effort to make his practice a better place to work. He’s found that by focusing on staff and improving the organisational culture, the practice has seen huge improvements across the board. Along with having a happier workforce with improved morale and staff retention, the practice has also improved continuity and access and seen patient satis...
Sep 22, 2023•33 min•Season 4Ep. 4
In our news review Nick and Emma discuss GP pay and what’s behind recent headlines in the national press about so-called huge rises in GP income. They also look at how the growing NHS waiting list and long waits for treatment are affecting patients and driving up workload in general practice, and discuss results from our recent survey which suggest that practices are becoming increasingly reliant on locum GPs. This week’s good news story is about a significant reduction in people prescribed pote...
Sep 15, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 3
The GP Trailblazer Deprivation Fellowship Scheme is an NHS England run programme aimed at newly-qualified GPs working in practices in deprived areas. The scheme aims to give GPs the skills to thrive and make a difference in the practices and communities where they work. The East of England region currently runs one of the largest trailblazer schemes in England. Emma speaks to Dr Rahhiel Riasat, director of leadership development for the East of England and clinical lead for the GP Trailblazer de...
Sep 08, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Our regular news review is back after a short summer break with a packed episode. Emma and Nick discuss a last-minute U-turn on Covid and flu jabs and look at another controversial plan from the Labour party about how it intends to change general practice if it wins the next general election. They also discuss how international medical graduates are becoming critical to the GP workforce in some of the most deprived and underdoctored parts of England - and look at whether doctors feel measures se...
Sep 01, 2023•30 min•Season 4Ep. 1
What is a Wise GP? This week Emma speaks to Professor Joanne Reeve and Dr Annabelle Machin about an initiative called Wise GP, which aims to help GPs and other primary care staff deal with the everyday uncertainty and complexity they face in general practice. They explain the importance of recognising the distinct skills and expertise of general practice and how the programme can help GPs at different stages of their career. They also talk about the resources they have developed to support GPs i...
Aug 25, 2023•28 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Emma is joined by a very special guest Professor Sir David Haslam to discuss his book Side Effects: How Our Healthcare Lost Its Way and How We Fix It . Along with being a GP for over 35 years Sir David has held a number of senior posts including being both chair and president of the Royal College of GPs, president of the BMA and chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), a post he held from 2013 to 2019. His book, which was published last year, explores what good heal...
Aug 18, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 48
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer was elected chair of BMA England’s GP committee just over a week ago and she speaks to Talking General Practice in her first interview in her new role. Dr Bramall-Stainer takes on the top GP job at the BMA in England at a crucial time for the profession. The five-year GP contract comes to an end in April 2024 and this year’s contract negotiations between the BMA, the government and NHS England will hammer out what happens next. General practice is in the midst of an extr...
Aug 11, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 47
Last week the Health Foundation think tank published new research projecting patterns of illness in England over the next two decades. It predicted that by 2040 the number of people with major illness will rise by more than a third, which clearly has huge implications for general practice over the next two decades. In this episode of Talking General Practice, Emma speaks to Toby Watt, the lead economist at the Health Foundation’s REAL Centre and the lead author of the report setting out the rese...
Aug 04, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 46
Emma speaks to GP partner Dr Tommy Perkins and specialist medical accountant Andy Pow from Medics Money about GP partnerships and why they are still a good option despite all the doom and gloom out there. In this conversation Tommy and Andy discuss how partnerships are changing with more non-GPs taking on the role, what to consider if you’re thinking about becoming a partner, how to make partnerships more sustainable in what is a very challenging time, take a quick detour into pensions - with so...
Jul 28, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Emma and Nick discuss last week’s pay announcement for junior doctors, salaried GPs and consultants and ask what it means for GP practices, the current strikes and the wider NHS. They also talk about a new national system for reporting pressure in general practice that has been set up to help overwhelmed practices negotiate extra support and look at the results from the latest GP patient survey. This week’s good news story looks at an initiative in Cumbria that is helping an underdoctored area p...
Jul 21, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 44
This week Emma is speaking to BMA Wales GP committee chair Dr Gareth Oelmann. At the end of June BMA Wales launched a new ‘Save Our Surgeries’ campaign, which comes at what the BMA warns is a 'defining moment' for general practice. The campaign sets out the worrying state of general practice – and calls on the Welsh government to put in place an urgent rescue package. So how can we save general practice? In this conversation Gareth sets out the challenges facing general practice in Wales, and wh...
Jul 14, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 43
In this week’s news review, Emma and Nick look at the NHS workforce plan and discuss what it says, what it doesn’t say, and whether it will actually work. They also talk about some of the debates from this week’s BMA annual representative meeting including a vote of no confidence in the GMC and some other motions of interest. And they look at a BMA report on long COVID in the medical profession and the devastating impact the condition has had on some doctors. This week’s good news story is about...
Jul 07, 2023•32 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Emma speaks to GP and academic Dr Ben Brown from the University of Manchester whose research looks at how AI and machine learning could support healthcare professionals and patients. Ben is currently involved in developing a new AI system that helps support triage of GP online consultations and was this year’s winner of the Society for Academic Primary Care’s award for outstanding early career research. Both the government and the Labour Party have touted AI as a possible solution to the NHS’s w...
Jun 30, 2023•32 min•Season 3Ep. 41
This week Emma and Nick discuss the government’s long-awaited NHS workforce plan, when it might be published and what general practice will be hoping to see in it. They look at the results from a recent GPonline about inappropriate transfer of work from secondary to primary care and what needs to be done to address this. And they talk about a motion up for debate at next month’s BMA annual representative meeting where delegates will call for a no confidence vote in the GMC – as well as some of t...
Jun 23, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 40
Emma speaks to Christiana Melam, the chief executive of the National Association of Link Workers, who explains how social prescribing can help practices and GPs to meet demand and better support their patients. Christiana explains why it is so important that the NHS looks at changing the way that it works, given that the current model is not meeting the needs of patients, highlighting the key role that social prescribing can play in prevention and addressing health inequalities. The National Ass...
Jun 16, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 39
This week the GPonline team talks about a call for emergency funding to support general practice across the UK as practices struggle to deal with rising costs – and look at what these financial pressures mean for GP partner income. They also discuss the state of general practice in Northern Ireland and Scotland after some dire warnings from the BMA in each of those countries. And look at the latest workforce and appointment data for general practice and the ARRS in England. In better news, a new...
Jun 09, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 38
Emma speaks to Dr Matt Harris and GP Dr Connie Junghans Minton about an initiative involving community health and wellbeing workers that has been adopted in Connie’s practice in London and is also being rolled out to practices in other parts of the country. It is based on a long-running scheme from Brazil, where evidence shows it has made a significant difference in terms of public health measures and health outcomes. Community health and wellbeing workers have already had some impressive result...
Jun 02, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 37
The team talks about safe working limits and the number of GPs we need in England to ensure doctors are working within those safe levels. They discuss some of the key debates from the UK LMCs conference that took place last week, including full GP pay restoration and whether we should have SAS doctors in general practice. And they look at the state of GP premises. This week’s good news story is about a primary care transformation project within a PCN that improved patient outcomes, at the same t...
May 26, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Emma speaks to Dr Elaine Lockhart, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Children and Young People’s Faculty and a consultant with the learning disability child and adolescent mental health service in Glasgow. In this conversation Elaine explains some of the problems that children and young people of different ages may present with, and what the possible long-term consequences of the pandemic could be. She also discusses the shortage of specialist services, which result in long waits for c...
May 19, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 35
This week the team looks at the government and NHS England’s joint recovery plan for access to primary care, as well as changes to the GP contract around patient access that come into effect next week. They discuss what this all means for practices and patients and whether it will actually make a difference. They also discuss whether the BMA is likely to ballot GPs on taking industrial action following this year’s contract imposition - and what GPs on the ground think about this. Finally our goo...
May 12, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Emma speaks to specialist medical accountant Laurence Slavin, the senior partner at Ramsay Brown chartered accountants, which specialises in the finances of GPs and practices. In this conversation Laurence explains how rising inflation has affected practices, the financial implications of the 2023/24 GP contract and why he thinks the government’s plan to get high-earning GPs to publicly declare their income is a really bad idea. Emma and Laurence also talk about some of the problems GPs are faci...
May 05, 2023•29 min•Season 3Ep. 33
This week the team looks at Labour’s plans for how it will reform primary care if it wins the next general election. They talk about a report on retention of staff in general practice by Londonwide LMCs and how staff shortages are threatening the future of practices. And they discuss what impact an ageing population is having on workload in general practice. Finally our good news story this week is about diabetes. This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, news editor Nick Bostock...
Apr 28, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 32
Emma speaks to GP Dr Aisha Awan who is director of REACHE North West - the Refugee and Asylum Seekers Centre for Healthcare Professionals Education. REACHE has helped hundreds of healthcare professionals to return to clinical roles in the NHS after being forced to flee their own country. In this conversation Aisha explains how REACHE supports these clinicians to become registered in the UK, why this work is so important and some of the challenges that healthcare professionals who are refugees or...
Apr 21, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 31
This week Emma talks to Jake Beech, from health think tank the Health Foundation. Jake co-authored a report published last month, which analysed the findings of the latest Commonwealth Fund survey of 10,000 GPs in 10 high income countries. In this conversation Jake explains how general practice in the UK compares with other countries on issues such as job satisfaction, workload, personal wellbeing of GPs, how care is delivered and how general practice works with other services. He also discusses...
Apr 14, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 30
