Primary Care Knowledge Boost

Doctors Lisa and Sara discuss lifestyle medicine with Dr Lydia Vogelaar-Kelly. We cover what lifestyle medicine is and her approach to it in general practice. We then look at some interesting cases that highlight how effective lifestyle medicine can be in consultations with patients.  The idea is to give a taster and consider how to talk about lifestyle in greater detail with patients. Lots of way...

In this really interesting episode, Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan - Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, and Dr Laura Tinner - Research Fellow in Centre for Public Health, at Bristol University. Rageshri talks about her lived experience of being dismissed in a medical situation, despite her professional background and how this led to her researching the topic in dep...

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Nephrologist Dr James Tollitt about Chronic Kidney Disease. We started by defining this and asking detailed questions on diagnosis, pitfalls to avoid, before getting his advice on risk stratifying patients and options for management. Excellent key messages with some easy practice pointers to take away that will benefit your patients and practice.  Disclaime...

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Endocrinologist Dr Rupinder Kochhar about patients with Type 2 Diabetes. Using hypothetical cases, we talk a little bit about diagnosis, but spend most of the time discussing the details of management in younger patients as well as how to de-escalate treatment and what the goals might be in a more frail elderly patient. Disclaimer: All educational content i...

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Nephrologist Dr Darren Green about patients with Type 2 Diabetes who also have Chronic Kidney Disease and Heart Failure.  We go through a hypothetical case to illustrate some of the finer points of management that can commonly get missed or might not be appreciated. A really detailed talk full of useful practice enhancing tips for this complex group of pati...

Doctors Lisa and Sara are back with Consultant Neurologist Dr Antonella Macerollo for this episode about Parkinson’s disease.  We look at a typical case and discuss what Parkinson’s is, the differentials, the need for time to discern between these, and the options for treatment. Links include information on Clinical Trials and Parkinson’s UK which is an active Charity linking resources together fo...

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/feed...

Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Consultant Neurologist Dr Antonella Macerollo about Essential Tremor (ET). We take a case and go through what ET is, how it might present, differentials and the differences between other conditions, how it might affect people and what management options there are.  This is the first of two Episodes with Dr Antonella Macerollo, our next one is about Parkinson’s Diseas...

Doctors Sara and Lisa speak to Dr Chris Nortcliff who is a GP and Chief Clinical Information Officer for Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board. The discussion is focussed around all things digital in primary care. We start with an overview of how the digital environment is set up within Greater Manchester. We then spend some time talking about digital inclusion - covering how to find peop...

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Cheryl Fitzgerald who is a retired gynaecologist with an extensive background in subfertility. Using a hypothetical case we discuss the definition of subfertility, important components of a history with this presenting complaint, and comorbidities to be aware of. We talk about who should be referred to secondary care, and what patients can expect from that re...

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Medical microbiology and Infectious Diseases Consultant Dr Callum Mutch to follow the journey of a urine sample and a throat swab as they are processed. We discuss the important points to get right in the pre-analytical, analytical and post analytical stages of their journeys. Some fascinating insights (including how the clinical details can affect what is teste...

We’ve got something a little bit different for you today, instead of our summer rewind. Some people may remember the wonderful episode about dealing with Uncertainty we did way back in 2020 with  GP, Primary Care Educator and Author Dr Avril Danczak. It was such an important episode in our careers and I know helped many others. We wanted to share the news that Avril is doing brilliant podcasting w...

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Consultant Dr Callum Mutch for an overview of Antibiotics and Microbiology in General Practice. Doctors Callum and Jame host a podcast in Infectious Diseases called ID:IOTS and we wanted to do a crossover episode exploring common themes in Microbiology that we encounter in General Practice. We talk about the case of a...

Doctors Lisa and Sara take a deep dive into the recent combined asthma guidelines with Dr Murugesan Raja who is a GP and clinical lead for respiratory medicine for NHS Greater Manchester Strategic Clinical Network.  We go through the new asthma recommendations for the different age groups, starting with a reminder of what symptoms make up a typical asthma history, moving on to the new pathway of i...

Episode four of four on Paediatric ENT. Doctors Lisa and Sara are back with Paediatric Ear Nose and Throat Consultant Dr Simone Schaefer for this episode on nasal obstruction in children. We use examples of typical cases to discuss an approach to assessing these patients, discussing who ENT might want to see urgently, and differentials for these presentations. We discuss options for management in...

Episode three of four on Paediatric ENT. Doctors Lisa and Sara are back with Paediatric Ear Nose and Throat Consultant Dr Simone Schaefer for this episode on Recurrent Epistaxis in Children. We discuss important differentials, including a rare condition that can present in predominantly teenage boys not to be missed, before moving on to discuss options for management and why the vast majority of t...

Episode two of four on Paediatric ENT conditions. Doctors Lisa and Sara are back with Paediatric Ear Nose and Throat Consultant Dr Simone Schaefer for this episode on Recurrent Tonsillitis in Children. We go through the definition of tonsillitis and what ENT class as recurrent Tonsillitis that would hit the criteria for Tonsillectomy in our region. We use a case and discuss why referral criteria a...

Episode one of four on Paediatric ENT conditions. Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Paediatric Ear Nose and Throat Consultant Dr Simone Schaefer for this episode on Recurrent Acute Otitis Media (AOM) in Children. A common problem, we take a classic presentation and work through getting the diagnosis right, red flags and differentials before discussing management and which children may need refer...

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by GP and Medical Educator Dr Alan Ng, working in Canada. We discuss what Balint groups are, starting from who Balint was. We go through the structure of a Balint session and why they exist in the form they do. We discuss the advantages to both Doctors and their patients of discussing cases within a Balint group and being part of a group. Discussions can help us ga...

Doctors Lisa and Sara were delighted to interview Dr Sylvia Kama-Kieghe, a GP based in Sheffield with an interest in Women’s Health. She is the Chair of the Royal College of General Practice North of England International Medical Graduates Group. We start with what the group does, why it was set up and look at issues International Medical Graduates might face when working and training in the UK. W...

For the podcast this week we spoke to Dr Abid Ali Khan, a GP trainee in East London currently on a Clinical Fellowship in Leadership (National Medical Directors Clinical Fellow). We focused on his experiences as an International Medical Graduate to gain an understanding of the challenges he faced coming to the UK. We got his advice for other International Medical Graduates and those supporting IMG...

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Hepatitis C GP Champion Dr Lindsey Kent and Greater Manchester Peer Programme Manager Tony Horrocks for an overview of Hepatitis C. We cover the basics around the virus and prevalence, potential symptoms and at risk groups to consider when offering testing. We discuss the great work being done to eradicate Hepatitis C in Manchester (and around the UK) including Tony’s...

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/feed...

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Locum Consultant Dr Caitriona MacDermott about assessing and managing constipation in Palliative Patients. A common symptom with a significant impact on people’s quality of life, the episode aims to get across the importance of the topic, the often multifactorial nature of clinical scenarios, the red flags not to miss and arm you with a logical and holistic approach t...

As requested by GP Trainees, this week's episode is on tips to pass the Simulated Consultation Assessment exam; the final exam for GP trainees in the UK. We spoke to Dr Anne Hawkridge who was a GP trainer in Bolton for over 20 years and has been a MRCGP examiner since 2007 when the CSA (Clinical Skills Assessment) started, the predecessor to the pandemic RCA and now the SCA. She is also the co-fou...