Talking General Practice

Emma and Nick discuss the government’s evidence to the Doctors and Dentists Review Body and what it had to say about the pay rise GPs should receive next year - and look at how the budget might affect general practice. They talk about health and social care secretary Yvette Cooper’s first appearance in front of the health and social care committee since she took on the role - and what she had to s...

GPonline is the media partner for the RCGP annual conference and this is a special episode from a very packed event in Glasgow this week. Emma looks at what RCGP president Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown said in her first speech to the conference as president. She speaks to vice presidents Dr Margaret Ikpoh and Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell about whether there is a bright future for general practice...

Emma speaks to Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, president of the Royal College of GPs, ahead of the college’s annual conference in Glasgow this week. GPonline is the media partner for the RCGP annual conference and this is the first of two episodes that we’ll be producing from the event this week. In this episode, Victoria discusses the college’s first State of General Practice report, which wa...

This week Emma speaks to Professor Andy Brooks and Dr Liam Loftus from the National Association of Primary Care, about the drive towards neighbourhood health and what it means for general practice. Andy is the NAPC’s clinical chair and Liam is head of policy at the organisation. Andy and Liam share insights from NAPC’s work supporting sites in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Progr...

This week Emma and Nick look at a whole host of GP contract issues, including changes to the GP reimbursement scheme, an update on list cleaning, NHS England threatening possible contractual action over same-day access and what GPs want from next year’s contract. They also discuss how specialist waiting lists and problems elsewhere in the system are piling pressure on general practice, following a...

This week Emma speaks to Dr Adrian Hayter, a GP partner in Windsor and Chief Medical Officer at NICE. Adrian discusses why he made the move to NICE and what having a practicing GP in senior leadership at the organisation means for primary care as the NHS shifts focus towards community-based care and neighbourhood health teams. He explains how NICE is working to accelerate guidance approvals, how g...

The GPonline team discusses the latest news affecting general practice. This week they look at the additional roles reimbursement scheme after an analysis of NHS data by Nick suggested that PCNs are starting to switch funding towards paying for more GPs and nurses as opposed to other healthcare professionals. Nick and Emma discuss the BMA England GP committee’s decision to postpone any escalation...

In this bonus episode of Talking General Practice Dr Netty Kinsella, uro-oncology nurse consultant and clinical lead for urology cancer diagnostics and active surveillance at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, speaks to GPonline editor Emma Bower about urological cancer. Netty explains what makes the Royal Marsden's urology diagnostic service unique, and provides essential guidance for GP...

This week Emma talks to Dr Lynsey Bennett, a GP in Oxford, about the educational resource she has co-developed to help primary care teams better understand grief and deliver effective bereavement care. Lindsay explains the simple, three-part consultation framework designed to help clinicians navigate conversations about loss within standard short appointments. She explains why outdated linear mode...

This week Nick and Emma discuss the latest on list cleaning and what it means for GP funding, as well as how it is affecting individual practices and patients. They look again at neighbourhood contracts after seeing various responses to NHS England’s consultation - they assess what GP organisations and others had to say about the proposals and what it could mean longer term. And they talk about ac...

GP Money Matters is a series of special bonus episodes of Talking General Practice sponsored by Wesleyan where we look at key personal finance issues that affect GPs. It’s pensions awareness week and in this episode Wendy Baillie, a chartered financial planner and regional manager at Wesleyan Financial Services, speaks to GPonline editor Emma Bower about the pension gap, what it is and what GPs ca...

Emma speaks to Dr Dominic Patterson, a GP in Doncaster, chair of the Royal College of GPs Health Equity Special Interest Group, and CEO of the charity Fair Health. In this conversation, Dominic talks about the college’s new Fairer Practice Toolkit, which provides practical, evidence-informed steps GP practices can take to tackle health inequalities. He explains how the toolkit breaks down over 100...

The GPonline team discusses the key news stories affecting general practice. Warning: This episode of the podcast includes discussion of suicide in the section about the GMC’s duty of care. This week we look at what we know about GP earnings after the latest data based on GPs’ tax returns for 2024/25 were published. He outlines what the figures tell us about how much both salaried GPs and GP partn...

This week Emma speaks to Dr Jess Court, the acting chair of Nottinghamshire LMC, about safe working limits in general practice. In this conversation, Jess explains what safe working limits look like in day-to-day practice, why capping patient contacts and moving to 15-minute appointments is vital for patient safety, and how policies like unlimited online consultations are exacerbating GP workload...

GP Money Matters is a series of special bonus episodes of Talking General Practice sponsored by Wesleyan where we look at key personal finance issues that affect GPs. In this episode GPonline editor Emma Bower speaks to Wendy Baillie, a chartered financial planner and regional manager at Wesleyan Financial Services, about how to decode your NHS pension statement, and why taking a closer look at it...

Our regular news review is back! In this week’s episode Emma, Nick and Kimberley look at advice and guidance and single point of access for referrals after our own survey found that most GPs have seen a referral rejected inappropriately and nearly one in 10 have seen a patient harmed as a result. Meanwhile an interim report by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has linked advic...

This week Emma speaks to the new chair of the BMA England GP committee Dr Clare Bannon. Clare has been in the role for just over a month and, in this conversation, she sets out her priorities and her plans to reset the BMA’s relationship with the government and NHS England. She discusses the committee’s key demands, including an extra £40 to £50 per patient in core funding and meaningful GP contra...

GP Money Matters is a series of special bonus episodes of Talking General Practice sponsored by Wesleyan where we look at key personal finance issues that affect GPs. In this episode GPonline editor Emma Bower speaks to Wendy Baillie, a chartered financial planner and regional manager at Wesleyan Financial Services, about the rise of portfolio careers in general practice and what this means for GP...

This week we’re sharing a conversation that was originally recorded for our sister podcast, MIMS Learning’s Clinical Update.   MIMS Learning deputy editor Rhiannon Ashman speaks with Dr Michael Blackmore, a GP partner, chair of the RCGP West Scotland Faculty, and a recovering addict, about the often hidden issue of addiction and recovery within the medical profession.   In this candid an...

This week Emma speaks to Dr Stephanie Cook, clinical lead for the Women's Health Hubs in Liverpool, a GP with a special interest in women's health, and a director of the Primary Care Women's Health Society. Stephanie discusses how women’s health hubs can bring care closer to home, slash waiting times, and help tackle health inequalities - and explains how the Liverpool hub model works in practice,...

Emma speaks with Dr Ruth Abrams, an organisational psychologist and associate professor at the University of Surrey School of Health Sciences , about her recent research published in the BJGP on the conditions in which women GPs thrive. Ruth discusses why women GPs experience disproportionate rates of stress and lower career progression. She talks about the medical gender pay gap and outlines five...

This week Emma, Nick and Kimberley look at the government’s 10-year health plan one year on and ask how much progress has been made, whether it is on track and what needs to happen next. They also talk about  PCN contract variations after every practice in Kent signed up to the first deal of this kind. They look at GP premises after the government announced its 10-year capital investment plan...

Emma speaks to BMA England GP committee chair Dr Katie Bramall about her decision not to stand for re-election when her three-year term ends this month and the highs and lows of her time in the role.   Katie reflects on an extraordinary three years for general practice, including navigating challenging GP contract negotiations during a tight funding climate and leading historic collective act...

GP Money Matters is a series of special bonus episodes of Talking General Practice sponsored by Wesleyan where we look at key personal finance issues that affect GPs. In this episode GPonline editor Emma Bower talks to Wendy Baillie, a chartered financial planner and the retirement lead for the medical division at Wesleyan, about research the company recently undertook looking at GP career trends...

Nick and Emma look at the impact the current list cleaning drive has had on GP practices and explain why GP leaders have called for a pause in the process amid fears of inappropriate removals and a huge loss of funding for the profession. They talk about prescribing for obesity, after the BMA warned that the funding practices will receive for new QOF targets on this is unlikely to cover the cost o...