General practice should prepare to be inundated with patients suffering from long-term effects of the pandemic – and institute permanent triage arrangements, a report warns today. According to the Royal College of GPs, practices will need a “systematic” approach to identify patients who need primary care support. Problems will be both physical and emotional as…

Growing numbers of GPs think the lockdown switch to telemedicine heralds a permanent shift to new ways of working – even though video-consultations have failed take off, professional leaders say. The latest data from practices show that in May 48% of GP appointments were conducted over the phone. Just a tiny fraction were recorded as…

We’ve been thinking about the limits on practice managers’ time, and the impact that the reduction in workload is having on practice teams. Not so long ago, staff had no spare capacity to do anything extra; now we’re in a position where we might have a chance to get ahead of the game. That said,…

When pharmacists work within general practice teams, the quality of prescribing increases, according to a study in Ireland. Dr Frank Moriarty and colleagues at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, based in Dublin, examined the potential improvements of integrating pharmacists into general practice teams, particularly for patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. They carried out…

GP leaders have reacted in anger after practices were told to return outdated protective equipment – weeks after it was issued. The British Medical Association said it was a “national scandal.” It followed news that the Department of Health issued a recall notice on 26 June. At the outset of the pandemic, distribution of personal…

I read an article in Pulse today which made my blood run cold. It appears that the rumours circulating about the extension of the flu vaccination programme might be more than just stories, with some PM colleagues reporting that their CCGs have asked them whether they can vaccinate all the over 50s. If I ruled…

GP leaders have promised a new drive to improve racial equality in the profession, including the introduction of bystander training on how to deal with racist patients. Many GPs face regular micro and macro-aggression because of their ethnicity -and bystander training will teach GPs and their staff how to challenge racism and discrimination. This could…