Emma speaks to Nottinghamshire GP Dr Carter Singh from the Rebuild General Practice campaign about what the campaign is hoping to achieve, what it is doing during the general election, and how it hopes to influence the new government.

Carter also explains the key issues that he thinks the new government needs to address, the importance of investing in more GPs and his views on the BMA ballot on collective action, which launched this week.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

Rebuild General Practice campaign

Unemployment 'scandal' as most job-seeking GPs struggle to find work

General election: The parties' pledges on general practice

Viewpoint: Technology alone will not solve the problems in general practice – Rebuild General Practice responds to Labour’s plans for technology in the NHS

Britain's LMCs co-sign 'unprecedented' letter demanding action to end GP crisis

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The GPonline team looks at the GP employment crisis and concerns about what job opportunities await the many GP registrars due to qualify this summer.

They highlight the latest news from the general election, discussing the BMA’s manifesto and what the political parties have been saying about general practice in their manifestos. And the talk about GMC regulation of physician associates after the regulator set out some further details about how this will work.

Our good news story this week is about a new surgery development in North Yorkshire.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, deputy editor Nick Bostock and senior reporter Kimberley Hackett. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

GPonline’s general election coverage

The GPs standing to be MPs in the general election

GP registrar applies to work for Tesco as general practice jobs evaporate

BMA calls GP unemployment a ‘national disgrace’ after GP confronts Sunak

Supervising physician associates – what GPs need to know

Doctors raise over £40,000 for GMC legal challenge over PA and AA regulation

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Emma speaks to GP Dr Farnaaz Sharief who is also the chief executive of Manage your Mind which works with NHS and social care staff to help develop mental resilience.

Farnaaz talks about mental wellbeing in the NHS, what mental resilience means and why it is so important.

She also has lots of practical advice on how people can boost their mental resilience to help them cope with stress and pressures - both inside and outside work, how to support friends and colleagues experiencing stress, what practices and organisations can do to promote wellbeing, and the role coaching can play.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

●     Manage your mind

●     Box breathing (link to YouTube)

●     The straw breath (link to YouTube).

●     Farnaaz’s webinar on wellbeing on MIMS Learning

Good Medical Practice

The updated version of the GMC’s Good Medical Practice is here.

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The GPonline team discusses the BMA ballot on collective action, which launches in June and what the general election could mean for that and general practice more widely. They talk about the Royal College of GPs call for an overhaul of GP funding so that it better addresses health inequalities and a wider report the college has produced on how to reverse the inverse care law. And they round up what went on at last week’s UK local medical committees conference.

Our good news story this week is about a scheme in London that has been prescribing fruit and veg to patients on low incomes and with long term conditions that has seen some really impressive results.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, deputy editor Nick Bostock and senior news reporter Kimberley Hackett. It was produced by Czarina Deen.`

Useful links

GPonline’s general election coverage

DDRB uplift could leave practices £350m behind 2019 funding, warns GP leader

RCGP demands overhaul of 'all GP funding streams' to cut inequality

RCGP report Breaking the inverse care law

GPonline’s UK LMCs conference coverage

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This week Emma talks to Tara Humphrey, founder and CEO of THC Primary Care, which provides management support and training to primary care networks across England. Tara is also the host of the Business of Healthcare podcast.

Tara explains what makes a successful network, some of the challenges networks have to overcome and the positive side of the additional roles reimbursement scheme. She also talks about how the 2024/25 GP contract could affect PCNs, why financially secure GP practices are crucial to the success of networks and whether networks are here to stay.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower and produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

THC Primary Care

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In our regular news review the GPonline team looks at NHS England's plans to pilot new ways of working in general practice in a bid to ‘optimise the general practice operating model’ - and what this could all mean for the future. They also discuss what the BMA has suggested should be included in the next major overhaul of the GP contract.

They look ahead to next week’s UK conference of local medical committees and discuss some of the key motions up for debate and they talk about the state of GP premises after updated premises cost directions were published last week following many years of delay.

Our good news story this week is about an outreach project that’s taking health services out into deprived communities.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, deputy editor Nick Bostock and senior news reporter Kimberley Hackett. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

What do the Premises Costs Directions 2024 mean for practices? - on GP Business

Listen to the podcast episode where Emma and Nick talked about the Fuller stocktake when it was first published.

BMA sets out demands for 'new substantive GP contract'

How safe working limits for GPs should change to reflect complexity

LMCs to debate mass resignation and 'triple lock' linking GP contract to inflation

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Earlier this year the Royal College of GPs published a statement setting out a number of steps it said needed to be taken to ensure general practice was treated on a par with other branches of medicine. The college argued that a failure to recognise general practice’s role as the cornerstone of the NHS was driving underfunding and perpetuating the GP crisis.

This week Emma talks to the college’s vice chair for external affairs Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown about how we can achieve parity of esteem for general practice and why it is so important that we do.

Victoria talks through some of the recommendations the college has made around tackling inequalities in training, education and research; why we need steps to limit workload in general practice; and the importance of greater representation of general practice in leadership roles both locally and nationally.

She also explains why the GMC’s specialist and GP register should be merged and discusses how the college hopes its strategy on achieving parity will develop in the coming months.

You can find the college’s statement on achieving parity for general practice here https://www.rcgp.org.uk/representing-you/policy-areas/parity-esteem

The article on GPonline about how the RCGP was founded is here https://www.gponline.com/nhs-70-founding-rcgp/article/1485054

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower and produced by Czarina Deen.

Get in touch

If there is an issue or topic you would like us to cover on future episodes of Talking General Practice, please email us at [email protected]

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In our regular news review the GPonline team looks at what’s happened to the GP workforce over the course of the five year contract, in particular the number of GP partners. They also talk about the cost to the NHS of not retaining doctors following some BMA research and the government’s view of the workforce crisis.

They discuss the issue of drug shortages and how it is affecting GPs and patients and look at the government’s plans to tackle the ‘sick note culture’ that could see GPs lose their role signing fit notes and big changes to benefits for those with disabilities and long-term illness.

Our good news story this week is about a crowdfunder that’s raised money to support a popular local GP in her bid to keep her practice after it was put out to tender.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, deputy editor Nick Bostock and senior news reporter Kimberley Hackett. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

Which ICB areas are losing GP partners fastest?

General practice lost 2,900 partners as GP workforce shrank during five-year contract

GPs condemn 'ridiculous' practice underfunding as registrars fear unemployment

Leadsom claims there are '3,000 more GPs than in 2019'

Patients left without medication as record drug shortages hit GP prescribing

Constant NHS medicines shortages 'the new normal', report warns

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Emma speaks to Jake Beech, a policy fellow from the think tank the Health Foundation, about why we need to change the way we think about access in general practice.

Jake is involved with a research project that’s a partnership between the Health Foundation and THIS Institute looking at what access in general practice means. The project is developing a ‘candidacy framework’ that provides a series of interventions and ideas for improving access.

Jake explains why access is much more complex and nuanced than just thinking about supply and demand and how practices could use the candidacy framework to help understand their patients and develop solutions to suit their needs.

He also talks about the limitations with the national data on general practice appointments which are often used by policymakers to make decisions and why patient satisfaction with access is so low despite the fact that practices are delivering more appointments than ever before.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

Health Foundation report - Rethinking access to general practice: it’s not all about supply

Get all the latest news affecting general practice from our website GPonline.com

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This week the GPonline team talks about how untapped capacity among GP locums could help deliver hundreds of thousands of extra GP appointments every week, and what this all means in light of the current challenges sessional GPs are facing finding work.

They also discuss NHS England’s evidence to the Doctors and Dentists Review Body, which is due to make recommendations on whether GP funding should be increased further this year - as well as some of the steps practices are being forced to consider to cope with the tiny 1.9% funding increase they have currently been given.

There’s also news about a contract deal for GPs in Northern Ireland that could be agreed by the time this episode comes out, and they discuss NHS England’s decision to U-turn on funding cuts it was planning to make to NHS Practitioner Health - the specialist mental health service for doctors and NHS staff.

Our good news story this week is about a practice that has won a national small business award.

You can listen to the podcast interview with NHS Practitioner Health’s medical director Helen Garr here.

NHS Practitioner Health’s website is here.

Other useful links

Untapped locum capacity could deliver 250,000 extra GP appointments a week

GP workforce, funding and continuity all linked to higher life expectancy

Northern Ireland GPs near landmark deal to cover indemnity costs and abolish QOF

NHS evidence on GP pay 'completely out of date'

Practices weigh up cutting services, staff and partner drawings in coming year

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