Talking General Practice

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 gover...

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 eco...

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 partnersh...

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. T...

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 pr...

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 an...

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 res...

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 represe...

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...

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 lates...

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...

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 ab...

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...

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 foll...

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 th...

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 i...

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 th...

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 well...

In a special news episode of the podcast the team looks at the findings of an independent review of integrated care systems, which was commissioned by the government and led by former Labour health secretary Patricia Hewitt.  The final report from the review was published this week and Emma and Nick look at what it had to say about primary care – including some recommendations that could see...

This week the team looks at whether GPs will be prepared to take industrial action following the imposition of a contract for the second year in a row – and what action the profession could be balloted on taking in the coming months. They discuss the results of the latest annual British Social Attitudes survey, which assesses public satisfaction with the NHS. And, as junior doctors step up pressur...

Warning: This episode contains discussions about death and suicide In a special episode Emma looks at the issue of assisted dying and asks whether it should be legalised - and if it was, how could it work? Later this year a bill will be introduced to the Scottish parliament that could see assisted dying legalised. In England the House of Commons health and social care committee is running an inqui...

This week Emma and Nick are talking about the GP contract changes in England for 2023/24, which have been imposed on practices for the second year in a row after the government and the BMA failed to reach an agreement. They look at what the changes are, the implications for general practice and what could happen next. They also discuss this week’s unprecedented junior doctors’ strike, and speak to...

Emma speaks to Ben Gowland, director and founder of think tank and consultancy Ockham Healthcare and host of the General Practice Podcast.   Ben does a lot of work with primary care networks (PCNs) across England and in this conversation we look at what the future holds for PCNs as we enter the final year of the five-year GP contract that led to their introduction in 2019. Ben explains why he...

This week the team talks about ongoing GP contract negotiations in England for next year and asks whether the contract for 2023/24 could be imposed. They discuss a rise in partnership and PCN disputes and what might be behind this trend as well as the latest on this month’s junior doctor strikes. They also look at the government’s record on the NHS, including how it’s handling the care backlog and...

Emma speaks to Dr Rowena Christmas, chair of RCGP Wales and a GP in the Wye Valley on the Welsh/English border. Rowena has been heavily involved in the college’s work over the past couple of years on relationship-based care - or continuity of care - and in this conversation she explains why she feels this is so important and how GPs and practices can embed this in the way that they work. She also...