On Friday last week, I actually shouted at my phone… I hasten to add, not at the person on the other end, just at the phone itself! Now, before you question my sanity (although that’s already the subject of some concern), I wasn’t going mad, I was just frustrated at the number of times I’d…

There was a recent report released by the Health Foundation comparing the experiences of GPs in high-income countries. Unsurprisingly, it revealed that, quite frankly, things aren’t that great. It was a report that highlighted that those who are in a position to make positive changes seem disconnected from the issues. They don’t seem to appreciate…

Do you suffer from Monday morning dread? Is it worse when you’ve been on leave? I bet that literally every practice manager says ‘yes’ to those two questions. Every Sunday night, my IBS kicks off knowing that I’ve got to face work again the next day. And it’s ten times worse when I’ve been away…

As I fill in yet another survey for the ‘powers that be’ about what we’re spending our time doing in general practice, I again sit there pondering what the survey doesn’t cover. Normally these surveys specifically single out appointments as a magic gauge to what goes on at the surgery. Despite several emails over the…

It seems that depending on which way the wind is blowing, days at work can either be good or bad. Sometimes I walk in to smiles, sometimes even flowers (yes!). Everyone is laughing and joking. People stop as they walk past to tell me a funny story, they might even ask me something about my…

I’ve been expecting the new contract changes to arrive, so I’ve been keeping an eye on my emails more closely than usual. At first glance, some of the changes seem relatively innocuous – that is, until you get to the ‘work late’ and ‘Saturday too’ bit. It’s just slipped in there, almost as if we…

When I attended my first practice manager meeting many, many years ago, I thought to myself, ‘What a bunch of cynics! That’s never going to be me.’ My positivity did last for a fair few years; through the first five years, I was still certain that I could effect change and I wasn’t going to…