Primary Care Knowledge Boost

This week’s episode is designed for primary care clinicians wanting an overview of current diabetes management. Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Marlon Morais and Nicola Milne to talk first about Type 1 diabetes briefly (from the GP point of view) before going on to discuss the recent changes to the NICE guidelines for management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. We cover useful ways of sifting t...

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Diabetes Lead for Manchester CCG GP Dr Marlon Morais and Diabetes Support Lead and Diabetes Specialist Nurse Nicola Milne to discuss diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus. We go through the types of Diabetes Mellitus, touching on MODY and LADA and get advice on avoiding common pitfalls in making a new diagnosis of Diabetes in General Practice. We talk about the prevale...

Doctors Lisa and Sara welcome Consultant Haematologist Dr Chris Gregory back to the podcast to discuss bruising and bleeding issues. We go through history, examination and differentials including patterns of bleeding more associated with different causes. We cover what constitutes excessive/concerning bleeding and blood test values that would lead to on the day/urgent referrals. At the end of the...

Drs Lisa and Sara were thrilled to welcome Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard onto the podcast to talk about one of her passions within medicine - social prescribing. They discuss what social prescribing is and why it matters. They talk about the National Academy of Social Prescribing, and its current roles and remit. There are some great examples shared about social prescribing in action, and re...

Today Lisa and Sara welcome Dr Rachel Morris back onto the podcast. Rachel is a former GP who has previously worked in GP education. She is now an executive coach and host of the wonderful podcast You Are Not a Frog. The discussion in this episode is all about assertiveness - we chat about what assertiveness is, general tips, frameworks and models for how to approach assertiveness, as well as show...

This is another episode with a focus on Urology. Doctors Lisa and Sara invited Professor Ian Pearce back to speak about overactive bladder and urinary incontinence in women. They discuss the types of lower urinary tract symptoms in women (drilling down into the definitions of commonly used terms), before looking at the red flags to consider. They then use fictional cases to illustrate how to appro...

Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Judith Dawson to learn all about the ins and outs of supervising the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme members as the landscape stands at the moment. They discuss who can be a supervisor, the training involved and what that might mean for the day job.  Useful resources:  Greater Manchester Primary Care Careers: https://gmprimarycarecareers.org.uk/jobs/ Greater Ma...

This is another episode in the series looking at all of the different roles that exist within primary care. Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Charlotte Cockman who is a Dietician working in Primary Care in South Manchester.  They discuss what a Dietician is and what the role can look like in Primary Care. It’s a new role and can be tailored to best suit the community. They also cover what the trainin...

Drs Sara and Lisa tackle another urology topic today - recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) in non-pregnant women. They speak to Ian Pearce who is a consultant urologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary. They discuss what UTIs are, and what makes them recurrent vs relapsing. They also chat through how to assess someone with recurrent UTIs and highlight some of the risk factors, before talking ab...

****DISCLAIMER - CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE**** Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with GP Dr Austin O'Carroll. Austin works in Inner-City Dublin with marginalised and homeless/rough sleeping communities. He is co-founder of Safetynet Ireland, North Dublin City GP Training, and GPCareForAll. He talks to us about his take on how unhelpful the label of personality disorder is for patients in his care, about h...

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Consultant Urologist Dan Burke about Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men. We start with how to divide symptoms into voiding and storage. Red flags to consider are discussed, before tackling cases that lead us to talk about bladder diaries, tips for assessing the prostate and how PSA discussions have changed since the introduction of MRI scans and transperineal prost...

This episode is part 2 of our focus on Quality Improvement. This time Drs Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Varshini Rajakulendran alongside Dr Joanna Bircher. Varshini is a GP who is on the NHS England fellowship, and she talks to us about a quality improvement example that she is currently working on around weight management. Joanna (our resident QI expert) has a passion for the subject and has bee...

This is another episode in the series looking at all of the different roles that exist within primary care. Lisa and Sara speak to Heidi West who is a nursing associate as well as an apprenticeship facilitator for nursing associates, and Marina Khan who is a trainee nursing associate.  They discuss what a nursing associate is and how they differ from health care assistants and nurses. They also co...

Joining doctors Lisa and Sara on today’s episode are GP and Perinatal Mental Health Champion Dr Carrie Ladd and Perinatal Psychiatrist Dr Sarah Jones. We discuss types of mental illness that can be experienced in the perinatal period and the challenges in primary care when helping patients and families. We cover tips for addressing these challenges, focusing on communication, resources and managin...

Drs Lisa and Sara are joined by GP Dr Nikesh Vallabh, Consultant Cardiologist Dr Karthikeyan and Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr Bliss to discuss advice and guidance. For those unfamiliar, the advice and guidance system came about to try to ease pressure on the long outpatient waiting lists, providing a different way of managing some cases. It is in place for a number of specialties for primary c...

Drs Lisa and Sara welcome Dr Joanna Bircher back to the podcast to speak about an area which she is very passionate about - Quality Improvement.  We talk about what quality improvement is, how it differs from audits and why it’s so important within general practice. We also learn about the processes that can be followed when approaching quality improvement, and some helpful tools and tips to think...

Drs Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Luke Wookey, Dr Joanna Bircher and Ava Bircher for an introduction to Trans and Non-Binary Health in General Practice. We start with all important definitions, which leads us to talking about coding, healthcare records and a discussion about screening and health inequalities. We talk about how our practices and consultations can be welcoming, before considering Hormone...

Lisa and Sara speak to Sam Howard, who is an advanced clinical practitioner in primary care. She talks us through her career journey to date and what her job looks like now, as well as highlighting the varied role of an advanced clinical practitioner. She also explains details about supervision, registration and training requirements. This episode was supported by Greater Manchester Training Hub....

This episode is another of our lovely chats with wider members of the primary care team. Today Lisa and Sara speak to Vishika Rabadia, a senior pharmacist who is working in primary care in a PCN and CCG pharmacist role. She gives insights into the varied roles of a pharmacist within primary care, the training, and what the supervision and registration side entails. She also provides great examples...

Working in General Practice can be challenging at the best of times, but needless to say has been more challenging of late.  Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Rachel Morris; GP, coach and host of You are not a Frog Podcast. She talks us through her top tips for looking after yourself in general practice. These include: the importance of framing this discussion with the caveat of not teaching ourselve...

Back by popular demand, Consultant Neurologist Dr Matt Jones joins us to share his approach to assessing patients with peripheral paraesthesia. Patients don’t present with textbook terms. Dr Matt Jones takes us through how to de-code tingling, numbness and burning, and take a structured approach to these often difficult presentations. We cover the high value examination findings that could help us...

Lisa and Sara are joined again by the lovely Dr Rachel Hilton, who is a speciality doctor in Dermatology. In this episode she takes us through psoriasis - what it is, differentials to consider and associated triggers and comorbidities. She then systematically talks about the management of psoriasis, how this might need to be amended for pregnant patients, and her thoughts about referral indication...

Speciality Doctor Rachel Hilton joins us on the podcast to talk about eczema. You’ll hear from the episode that she is passionate about getting the basics right as a way of providing vastly better care to our patients. In the episode we cover: what eczema is, types of eczema and some important differentials, before focusing on the management of atopic eczema. This includes navigating emollients, s...

Originally recorded in January 2020 and released in August 2020... Early diagnosis of cancer is a huge priority in order to try to improve our cancer survival rates in the UK. Lisa and Sara took the opportunity to speak to Dr Sarah Taylor, GP in Fallowfield and Cancer Research UK Cancer Diagnosis Lead for Greater Manchester about this important subject. It was recorded pre-Covid-19 and so some of...

Lisa and Sara talk to GP and Professor of General Practice Research Carolyn Chew Graham about Long COVID. We discuss what Long COVID is, its prevalence, and how to assess and manage those presenting with symptoms of possible Long COVID in primary care. We also talk about the condition in children, Long COVID clinics, and how to support patients on this still very new journey. Hopefully this episod...