Emma speaks to London GP and co-chair of Greener Practice, a UK primary care network focused on sustainability, Dr Tamsin Ellis.

Along with her Greener Practice role, Tamsin is also a GP associate at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, an organisation that develops knowledge and resources to help the NHS and other health systems to reach net zero.

In this conversation Tamsin discusses some practical steps that practices and clinicians can take to help tackle the climate crisis, including how sustainability and greener approaches can come into play in patient consultations, and the benefits this can bring to practices, GPs, staff and patients.

She also explains some of the resources Greener Practice and others have to help GPs, why it’s important that general practice engages with sustainability, and how getting involved in this work can make your practice a better place to work and improve staff wellbeing.

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

Useful links

These are some of the organisations and resources that Tamsin mentions during this interview:

●     Greener Practice

●     Centre for Sustainable Healthcare

●     UK Health Alliance on Climate Change

●     Greener Practice asthma toolkit

●     See Sustainability

●     Frome Medical Practice and its work on sustainability

●     Outrage and Optimism podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Emma and Nick look at some interesting tenders for GP contracts that have been put out for integrated care boards and what they might tell us about the possible direction of travel for general practice and how GP services could be commissioned in future.

They discuss physician associates and what role they have to play in the NHS after the BMA published a position statement saying it currently opposes government plans to expand their use.

And they talk about how the cost of living crisis is affecting patients and practices after an alarming RCGP survey found that GPs are seeing patients with diseases that should be confined to history including malnutrition and rickets.

This week’s good news story is about a survey from the Rebuild General Practice campaign showing how much the general public values general practice.

This episode was presented by GPonline’s editor Emma Bower and deputy editor Nick Bostock. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

●     PCN to take on GMS practice contract in landmark move for general practice

●     GP 'engineering' fears as small practice contracts offered on branch-only basis

●     BMA to oppose expansion of physician associate roles amid safety concerns

●     GPs seeing cases of malnutrition and rickets as cost-of-living crisis hits patient health

●     Patients back continuity of care and more GP funding, poll shows

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Emma speaks to Dr Ben Allen, a GP partner at Birley Health Centre in Sheffield.

Over the past few years Ben has invested huge amounts of time and effort to make his practice a better place to work. He’s found that by focusing on staff and improving the organisational culture, the practice has seen huge improvements across the board.

Along with having a happier workforce with improved morale and staff retention, the practice has also improved continuity and access and seen patient satisfaction scores rising at a time when nationally they are falling.

Ben explains how his practice managed to achieve all of this and has advice for any GPs or practice managers thinking of embarking on a similar journey.

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

Useful links

Follow Ben on X (formerly Twitter)

Ben’s blog

Useful reading

Ben mentions several leadership and organisational change books that he found particularly helpful during this process. These are some his favourites.

●     The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni

●     The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

●     Reinventing Organisations by Frédéric Laloux

●     Time to Think by Nancy Kline

●     Start With Why by Simon Sinek

●     Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

●     The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey

●     Good to Great by Jim Collins

●     The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stainer

●     Built to Last by James C Collins and Jerry I Porras

●     Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

●     Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our news review Nick and Emma discuss GP pay and what’s behind recent headlines in the national press about so-called huge rises in GP income.

They also look at how the growing NHS waiting list and long waits for treatment are affecting patients and driving up workload in general practice, and discuss results from our recent survey which suggest that practices are becoming increasingly reliant on locum GPs.

This week’s good news story is about a significant reduction in people prescribed potentially addictive medicines.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower and deputy editor Nick Bostock. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

●     How has GP income changed over the past two decades?

●     CQC poll shows NHS waiting list driving unsustainable pressure on GPs

●     One in three GP appointments for patients on the NHS waiting list

●     GP practices growing more reliant on locums but many struggle to hire them

●     Where is GP prescribing of dependency-forming drugs falling fastest?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The GP Trailblazer Deprivation Fellowship Scheme is an NHS England run programme aimed at newly-qualified GPs working in practices in deprived areas. The scheme aims to give GPs the skills to thrive and make a difference in the practices and communities where they work.

The East of England region currently runs one of the largest trailblazer schemes in England. Emma speaks to Dr Rahhiel Riasat, director of leadership development for the East of England and clinical lead for the GP Trailblazer deprivation fellowship scheme in the region, about how the scheme works and how it is supporting local GPs and making a difference to patient care. She also talks to Dr Ahkeb Hussain who is a GP in Luton one of the fellows on this year’s scheme about how it is helping him in practice and what he sees as its benefits.

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

Useful links

●     East of England GP Trailblazer Deprivation Fellowship Scheme

●     Fairhealth Trailblazer information

●     GP training health equity focused training rotations

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our regular news review is back after a short summer break with a packed episode.

Emma and Nick discuss a last-minute U-turn on Covid and flu jabs and look at another controversial plan from the Labour party about how it intends to change general practice if it wins the next general election.

They also discuss how international medical graduates are becoming critical to the GP workforce in some of the most deprived and underdoctored parts of England - and look at whether doctors feel measures set out in the NHS workforce plan will help address the current shortage of GPs.

And they talk about the GMC’s overhaul of its Good Medical Practice guidance.

Meanwhile, our good news story is about GP training.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower and deputy editor Nick Bostock. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

●     GPs offered extra pay under accelerated flu and COVID-19 jab campaign as new variant spreads

●     Labour to strip funding from practices with poor continuity of care

●     Overseas doctors sustain general practice in England's most underdoctored and deprived areas

●     Just 6% of GPs believe the NHS workforce plan will boost GP numbers

●     6% pay increase not enough to retain salaried GPs and other practice staff, GPs warn

●     GMC clamps down on sexual harassment and bullying in Good Medical Practice update

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is a Wise GP? This week Emma speaks to Professor Joanne Reeve and Dr Annabelle Machin about an initiative called Wise GP, which aims to help GPs and other primary care staff deal with the everyday uncertainty and complexity they face in general practice.

They explain the importance of recognising the distinct skills and expertise of general practice and how the programme can help GPs at different stages of their career. They also talk about the resources they have developed to support GPs in their day-to-day practice and how Wise GP could potentially help improve GP retention.

There are links to many of the resources mentioned by Joanne and Annabelle in the podcast below.

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

RCGP conference

Joanne and Annabelle are running a session on Wise GP explaining how it could help general practice and GPs tackle some of the challenging issues they face. The conference takes place in Glasgow on 19 and 20 October. You can find more information on this here.

Useful links

Wise GP website

The WISDOM course

Wise GP’s Gems library

Wise GP on X (Twitter)

Wise GP on Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emma is joined by a very special guest Professor Sir David Haslam to discuss his book Side Effects: How Our Healthcare Lost Its Way and How We Fix It.

Along with being a GP for over 35 years Sir David has held a number of senior posts including being both chair and president of the Royal College of GPs, president of the BMA and chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), a post he held from 2013 to 2019.

His book, which was published last year, explores what good healthcare should achieve and how we can create a system that is affordable, fair and provides good quality care.

This interview, which was recorded in October 2022, looks at some of the really important themes raised in the book, including why the cost of healthcare will always continue to rise, why we need to better value primary care and public health, tackling health inequalities, over-medicalisation and whether we have our priorities right when it comes to end-of-life care.

Produced by Czarina Deen

Useful links

●     NHS at 75: Primary care-focused 'reboot' can save NHS

●     Side Effects: How Our Healthcare Lost Its Way and How We Fix It on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer was elected chair of BMA England’s GP committee just over a week ago and she speaks to Talking General Practice in her first interview in her new role.

Dr Bramall-Stainer takes on the top GP job at the BMA in England at a crucial time for the profession. The five-year GP contract comes to an end in April 2024 and this year’s contract negotiations between the BMA, the government and NHS England will hammer out what happens next.

General practice is in the midst of an extreme workload and workforce crisis and the profession will be looking for changes that will go some way to addressing both of these challenges and making a difference to their day to day working lives.

In this conversation Dr Bramall-Stainer discusses what her key priorities will be, weighs up the chances of GPs taking industrial action in the coming months, as well as how GP funding needs to change.

She also talks about her thoughts about the future of the independent contractor model, her experience of publicly calling out sexism at the BMA a couple of years ago and how having MS has shaped how she approaches her role as a GP and a GP leader.

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

Useful links

●     What are the top priorities for the new BMA GP committee chair?

●     GPs 'despair' as NHS England slashes COVID-19 jab fee

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week the Health Foundation think tank published new research projecting patterns of illness in England over the next two decades. It predicted that by 2040 the number of people with major illness will rise by more than a third, which clearly has huge implications for general practice over the next two decades.

In this episode of Talking General Practice, Emma speaks to Toby Watt, the lead economist at the Health Foundation’s REAL Centre and the lead author of the report setting out the research’s findings.

This conversation highlights what the report had to say about patterns of illness and why more people will be living for longer with a major condition, how this will affect workload in general practice and what it means for the GP workforce, and what the government will have to consider to meet this challenge.

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

Useful links

From GPonline:

●     Practices face massive rise in demand as ageing fuels wave of chronic illness

●     How an ageing population is piling pressure on general practice

Health Foundation reports:

●     Health in 2040: projected patterns of illness in England

●     Projections: General practice workforce in England

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.