Primary Care Knowledge Boost

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 the information given about services might have changed in your loc...

Good consultation skills can hone diagnosis, management plans, safety-netting and safety thereby really affecting patient outcomes. GP and Primary Care Educator Dr Avril Danczak shares her insights into teaching GP trainees and trainers about consultation skills with Lisa and Sara.  Useful resources:  Health Education North West Advanced Communication Skills Resources https://www.nwpgmd.nhs.uk/res...

As part of her role as Associate Dean in Health Education North West, Dr Alison Caldwell looks after GP trainees who sit the AKT and those that may fail. In this episode she shares her pearls of wisdom for preparing and sitting the AKT. It has lots of useful information for trainees and trainers including how to break down the curriculum and where to best focus learning as well as how to actually...

Lisa and Sara bring back Dr Joanna Bircher and Dr Viren Mehta for this last episode in the COVID-19 series to reflect on all of the positives that have come from the outbreak in general practice, the personal and professional learning that they have had and some focus on staff wellbeing with a few simple ideas on how to support each other. Thank you to Practice Managers Sara Mayer at Archwood Medi...

Now that the Greater Manchester Enabling Safe Certification of Death in the Community service is being stood down, we take the opportunity to talk through the new legislation (from the Coronavirus Act 2020) and how this applies in practice. Dr Aamna Khan (GP and Clinical Lead for the Enabling Safe Certification of Death in the community service) and Dr Viren Mehta (GP partner, clinical director of...

At the moment with increased isolation, anxiety and loneliness, social prescribing has become more important than ever. Sara and Lisa speak to GP Dr Jaweeda Idoo (clinical champion for personalised care in Greater Manchester) and Sophie Glinka (social prescribing lead for people and communities in Greater Manchester) about the role of social prescribing during COVID-19 and indeed in general. They...

Staff risk assessments in primary care during COVID-19 are generating many questions such as; Which tool? How should they be carried out? What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing them? How does Vitamin D fit in? What does this mean for practice? GPs Sara and Lisa talk to Greater Manchester based GP Dr Jaweeda Idoo and Practice manager Gina Bird about their experiences of staff risk asses...

Recorded in January 2020, this is the long awaited second part of Lisa and Sara’s conversation with Professor Anthony Jones and Consultant Physiotherapist William Gregory from Salford Royal Foundation Trust. In Part 1 we covered diagnosis and in Part 2 we look at management of fibromyalgia including: The role of targeted CBT and physiotherapy Groups for patient education and support The role of me...

With so much changing in how we work in general practice at the moment, assessing and investigating patients for suspected cancer symptoms can be a challenge. To help talk us through the current situation, Lisa and Sara speak to: Dr Sarah Taylor: GP in Fallowfield and Cancer Research UK Cancer Diagnosis Lead for Greater Manchester Dr Viren Mehta: GP in Cheadle, Clinical Director at Stockport CCG a...

Yesterday was international nurses day and so we wanted to highlight the great work that is being done by our community nurses during COVID-19. Our guests are: Lesley Royle-Pryor: Primary and Community Nurse Lead for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership Moira Ogunsakin: Greater Manchester Training Hub Lead Nurse, Lead Nurse for Practice Renewal for Salford Primary Care Together an...

Lisa and Sara talk to doctors involved in primary care research to give an overview of what developments are happening in COVID-19 research in the community at the moment. Our guests are: Professor Philip Evans - GP, Associate Professor of General Practice at The University of Exeter, National Speciality Lead for Primary Care at NIHR, Cluster Lead at Clinical Research Network National Speciality H...

Lisa and Sara take a short break from full recording this week. They give an update on what to hopefully expect from episodes over the next few weeks as well as sharing a couple of useful links and information from listeners. Useful resources:  Bereavement helpline number: 0800 2600 400 Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, Oxford: https://www.cebm.net/ NHS England Time for Care: https://www.england...

There have been a lot of questions within primary care regarding shielding and vulnerable patients. Sara and Lisa speak to Dr Joanna Bircher and Dr Viren Mehta about the confusion and get their thoughts on the subject. In the episode we cover: Demystifying all of the terminology and putting it into simpler terms. What has been asked of primary care with regards to these lists of patients, tips on...

A current concern for primary care clinicians is how to manage end of life care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Liam Hosie, Dr Adam Firth and Dr Viren Mehta who have sifted through the key information and guidelines that are available on this topic. We talk about: Advanced care planning Common symptoms for patients with COVID-19 at the end of life Discuss 5...

Lisa and Sara are joined by GPs Dr Viren Mehta and Dr Joanna Bircher who summarise new guidelines and evidence relevant in primary care this week. Covered this episode: Clinically recognised natural courses of COVID-19 infection Remotely assessing and risk stratifying COVID-19 patients Learning points from the updated standard operating procedures from NHS England Salient points from the new NICE...

In this, our second of the COVID-19 specific episodes, GPs Lisa and Sara are joined electronically by Dr Dan Bunstone (GP and Clinical Director of Warrington CCG and Chief Medical Officer at Push Doctor) and Dr Joanna Bircher (GP partner, clinical director for GPExcellence and Pandemic Lead for her PCN). We discuss: Advantages of telephone and video consultations including how to use the golden mi...

We have decided to take a break from our normal release schedule to do a special, weekly series about the COVID-19 situation which is unfolding. Our hope is that we can provide some useful and practical information for everyone within primary care during this difficult time.  In this first episode we talk to Dr Joanna Bircher (GP partner, clinical director for GPExcellence and Pandemic Lead for he...

In this week’s episode Lisa and Sara speak to Professor Anthony Jones and Consultant Physiotherapist William Gregory from Salford Royal Foundation Trust to learn more about Fibromyalgia. In part 1 we cover what the condition involves, the central sensitisation theory, useful examination tips and differentials to consider. We also talk about simple ways of explaining a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia to...

Bronchiectasis can sometimes be overlooked amongst the other, more common lung conditions such as COPD. Because of this, it can be difficult for primary care clinicians to be fully aware of how to comprehensively diagnose and manage patients who have this condition.  Lisa and Sara talk to respiratory consultant Dr Ashish about bronchiectasis. We learn exactly what this condition is, what the risk...

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) can be difficult to identify in primary care and unfortunately for some patients, currently carries a poor prognosis; the median survival for those with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is only 3–3.5 years ( https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Interstitial-lung-disease-service-adult.pdf ). Lisa and Sara talk to respiratory consultant Dr Ashish about t...

Worldwide, sepsis kills more people than cancer ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51138859 ). In 2050 it is predicted antibiotic resistance will kill more than cancer ( http://bsac.org.uk/securing-new-drugs-for-future-generations/ ). What a difficult balance! Lisa and Sara opportunistically talk to Trafford GP Dr Anya Leaver about antibiotic prescribing in Greater Manchester. We discuss the issu...

Lisa and Sara talk to several different primary care professionals about portfolio working. Dr Anya Leaver, Dr Hussain Gandhi, Practice Nurse Alyson Rimmer, Dr Nikesh Vallabh, and Dr Saira Zaman share with us their journey into Primary Care, how they got involved in their different roles outside of clinical work, what it means to them and advice for those out there wanting to explore adding variet...

Lisa and Sara talk to GPwSI, Dr Rachel Hilton about Urticaria (aka hives/wheals).  She talks us through the pathophysiology, causes, potential triggers, history, examination and management of this sometimes difficult area. ____ Useful resources:  Skin Support Website (urticaria page):  http://skinsupport.org.uk/conditions-details/urticaria-and-angioedema British Association of Dermatologists (urti...

Lisa and Sara talk to GPwSI, Dr Rachel Hilton about Generalised Itching. She talks us through how to approach a patient presenting with generalised itching, the common and important causes, useful investigations and the management that we can try in primary care for these patients.  ____ Useful resources:  BATHE Study, BMJ 2018:  https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1332 Skin Support Website (prur...

Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Rebecca Baron from Health Education England about Resilience. This is part two of a two-part series about Resilience. In this episode we continue the theme of exploring resources available to healthcare professionals around resilience; books and research that have advanced the field. Rebecca gives us her learning points from these. ____ Resources mentioned in the episode:...