As requested by GP Trainees, this week's episode is on tips to pass the Simulated Consultation Assessment exam; the final exam for GP trainees in the UK. We spoke to Dr Anne Hawkridge who was a GP trainer in Bolton for over 20 years and has been a MRCGP examiner since 2007 when the CSA (Clinical Skills Assessment) started, the predecessor to the pa…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Respiratory Physiotherapist Thomas James about COPD. We start with what COPD is, when to suspect it, a standard work up, pitfalls and points of consideration about spirometry, before moving on to an overview of management. We then cover some changes in the way COPD exacerbations are managed in South Manchester and the …

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Joanna Bircher, Dr Nikesh Vallabh, Shelley Ryder (SWAN PCN Manager and Transformation Lead) and Dr Fran Fitton. We find out what proactive care is all about and then launch into example projects around dementia care that Shelley and Fran are involved in. We hope this gives people a flavour of what proactive care pro…

***SUMMER REWIND - INITIALLY RELEASED ON 31ST JAN 2024*** To get in touch: primarycarepodcasts@gmail.com Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Senior Pharmacist Sarah Hafeez about Polypharmacy. She explains the difference between inappropriate and appropriate polypharmacy before talking through some typical cases that illustrate several examples of common …

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Palliative Care Consultant Lesley Henson and Specialty Doctor Caitriona MacDermott for a discussion on common issues Primary Care Clinicians face when dealing with patients at the end of life and their families. We discuss Hospice admission criteria and the role of the hospice. We then look at how they approach questio…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Palliative Care Consultant Lesley Henson and Specialty Doctor Dr Caitriona MacDermott about Breathlessness as a symptom in Palliative Patients. We start with a case to look at an approach to a patient with deteriorating breathlessness, before discussing a diagnosis of refractory breathlessness. We explore the importanc…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Saadat Ahmed, ST5 in Geriatrics for a deep dive into Osteoporosis. We cover what it is, why it matters, what the risks factors are, who and how to assess for it, and what to do with results from FRAX and DXA scans. After a discussion on lifestyle options to help improve bone health, we ask advice on counselling pati…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to GPs Dr Joanna Bircher, Dr Lucy Spurrell and Dr Dario Rydel about their experiences in different roles in General practice; salaried, partner and locum. The aim of the episode is for GPs or GP trainees listening to get a flavour of their experiences and to understand the pros and cons of each of those roles in general p…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Tim Dalton, a GP in Wigan, and Chair of the Greater Manchester GP Provider Board. The focus of today’s episode is all about how general practice is funded. They cover how it is different from other NHS settings, the sources of income in general practice and the flow of money through the system, DES’, LES’ and QOF, t…

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined this week by Satty Boyes (Senior programme manager) and Lorna Laflin (Previous Practice Manager who works with the GP Excellence team). They discuss a new platform in Greater Manchester for the non-clinical workforce within General Practice, which allows staff to explore progression pathways, track their professiona…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Specialty Doctor Caitriona MacDermott about anticipatory prescribing for Palliative patients. An area where there has been much learning over the last several years, it is a good opportunity to get some teaching on why this is the case, the stages involved in recognition and addressing symptoms at the end of life, the …

This is the third episode in our MSK mini-series. Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Tom Smith and Charlotte Barker again, who are First Contact Practitioners in Wigan. The focus of this chat is shoulder pain - using a hypothetical case to discuss important history points, red flags, useful examination tips, differential diagnoses and further assessmen…

This is the second episode in our MSK mini-series. Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Tom Smith and Charlotte Barker again, who are First Contact Practitioners in Wigan. The focus of this chat is shoulder pain - using a hypothetical case to discuss important history points, red flags, useful examination tips, differential diagnoses and further assessme…

This is the first episode in a three part MSK mini-series, which aims to briefly capture important features in history, examination and further investigations of common joint presentations. Doctors Sara and Lisa speak to Tom Smith and Charlotte Barker who are First Contact Physiotherapists in Wigan. Back pain is the focus of this episode, with a fi…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Senior Pharmacist Sarah Hafeez about Polypharmacy. She explains the difference between inappropriate and appropriate polypharmacy before talking through some typical cases that illustrate several examples of common scenarios. This leads to discussions on prioritising concerns, weaning/stopping medications, counselling …

Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with Dr Anne Connolly, a GP with a special in Gynaecology, trained hysteroscopist, and founding member of the Primary Care Women's Health Forum, where she just stepped down as chair in 2023. They speak about the importance of raising awareness about women’s health problems such as heavy menstrual bleeding, how underappre…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Mahindra Chincholkar, a consultant anaesthetist and Clinical Director Manchester and Salford Pain Centre. They take a detailed dive into the concept of pain and chronic pain, and then Mahindra explains his stepwise approach to assessing and managing chronic pain through the use of an anonymous case. Greater Manchest…

Doctors Sara and Lisa discuss the podcast episodes over the year. We talk about our longer term learning points, how the year has gone and what's to come. ___ We really want to make these episodes relevant and helpful: if you have any questions or want any particular areas covered then contact us on Twitter @PCKBpodcast, or leave a comment on our q…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Sadaat Ahmed about Frailty. We discuss definitions, frailty syndromes, frailty scores and the need to take care with these. We talk through a case to showcase how recognising frailty and managing the controllable areas can make a big difference to patients' lives and slow or even sometimes reverse frailty. You can u…

The importance of addressing climate change and sustainability is gaining more traction across the NHS. In order to find out more about the situation, and what can be done within Primary Care, Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr David McKelvey who is a GP from Salford and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Clinical Lead in Sustainability in Primar…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to a GP involved in Primary Care Research Dr Imran Ghafoor and Ewa Grzegorska, a Research Support Facilitator from the National Health and Clinical Research Institute about Research in Primary Care. We talk through Dr Ghafoor’s journey into being part of Primary Care Research, what embarking on Research Projects in Primar…

To find out more about how Dentistry works in England, Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Greater Manchester Workforce Lead for Dentistry Mukhtar Ahmad. We cover how Dental Services are set up and funded in England and some current challenges. We move on to specific questions about how General Practice and Dentistry can help each other. Themes include; …

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Senior Eating Disorder Practitioners Vicky McGee and Rachelle Davies to get their advice on consulting with children and young people who present with features of an Eating Disorder. We take the theoretical case of 14-year-old Suzie, who presents to the Practice alongside her Mum with mood symptoms, reduced eating and …

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to GPs and Workforce Leads Dr Nikesh Vallabh and Dr Richard Bircher. They wanted to talk to us today to discuss a practical approach to some of the workforce issues we are all facing. This episode will be particularly useful for GP Partners, Practice Managers and anyone interested in workforce issues in General Practice. …

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Aseem Mishra to discuss changes in the guidelines for Hypertension. The discussion includes advice on how to get the most accurate diagnosis and measurements for blood pressures, the importance of counselling patients well, and advice on medications. We started with a poem from Aseem focusing around why this is such…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Mark Spurrell about a framework that can be applied to the care of complex patients with multiple problems or difficulties. It is particularly useful at times where we feel stuck, we are struggling to help or move forward and care may be fragmented with lots of care professionals feeling si…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Optometrist Dharmesh Patel to get an understanding of Optometry as part of the Primary Care Team. We discuss how the service is set up, what can be done at the Opticians, different types of patient access and how GP practices can link in with services. We discuss the Community Urgent Eye Care Service (CUES), Minor Eye …

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to GP Dr Charlotte Bădescu about Ovarian Cancer. We focus on the important learning points about cardinal and other features of presentations to better understand this cancer as an abdominal cancer with symptoms that can and do often present much earlier than the diagnosis is often picked up. She talks us through the valu…

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Community Pharmacist and Director of Pharmacy Transformation for Greater Manchester Luvjit Kandula. We learn all about the Essential Services and Enhanced Services Community Pharmacies are engaged in and get an understanding of the pressures Community Pharmacies are under. We discuss the plans for upcoming transf…

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined this week by Dominic Anderson (Programme Director of the Health and Wellbeing Programme Greater Manchester), Lorna Laflin (Former Practice Manager who works with the GP Excellence team) and Joanna Bircher (GP and Programme Director for GP Excellence). We discuss the new QOF indicators around Workforce and Wellbeing …

Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with Dr Uma Marthi who is a GP with a Specialist Interest in Gynaecology about red flags for gynaecological cancers. We discuss some cases based on real patients that involve cervical, vaginal and endometrial cancers. We’ll be recording a separate episode around the varied presentations of Ovarian cancer. You can use the…

**Summer Rewind: This episode was first released on Nov 30th 2022** Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Otolaryngologist Ms Emma Stapleton and Clinical Scientist David Jay about Vertigo. We discuss the definition, differentials, and how to use information around timing and triggers to differentiate between the likely causes of vertigo. We get …

Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with GP Dr Allison Rees for her advice on how to approach GP Appraisals and Revalidation. We heard her talk about this in a Health Education England First Five talk a few years ago and found it so helpful. We cover why they can be useful, the practicalities of what needs to be done and how to make them work for you. You …

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Wasim Javed, ST6 in Cardiology, about the diagnosis and management of Angina. Taking a theoretical case we talk through symptoms, differentials, diagnosis, including the guidelines and practicalities of different types of functional and non-functional tests, as well types of angina and their management. It was usefu…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to talk to Dr Mary Cheshire who is the GP lead on the NHS England Fellowships for Greater Manchester GPs. As she explains, this is a fairly informal fellowship done over 2 years offering different types of courses and support that essentially consists of a paid CPD session a week and a range of CPD events to facilitate th…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to talk to GP and Professor of General Practice Research Dr Carolyn Chew-Graham about the current landscape of Long COVID three years on. She spoke to us on the topic back in August 2021, but what we know and some of the treatments have moved on from then. In this talk we discuss why the patient-preferred term is Long COV…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to GP Dr Adam Cliffe about how he and his practice went about changing the model by which patients access the practice. It is so far working very well for both staff and patients. It’s an interesting talk about change management and one example of how a difficult situation was changed for the better. You can use these pod…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Aseem Mishra, Academic GP trainee involved in helping produce the Guidelines for the Greater Manchester Lipid Pathway. Greater Manchester has very high levels of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACEs). The guidelines for how to treat hyperlipidaemia and what we’re aiming for have changed. Dr Mishra helps talk t…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to ENT Consultant Ms Sadie Khwaja about common throat symptoms we encounter in General Practice and get her take on how to assess and manage these. We cover Red Flag symptoms for the neck in detail as well as looking at three cases we commonly encounter; pain on swallowing, globus symptoms and hoarseness. We discuss a use…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Maiedha Raza to find out her take on issues of Equality and Diversity in General Practice. This is a gentle dive into the very complex world of diversity and inclusivity with messages of how we can improve our culture in the NHS. You can use these podcasts as part of your CPD - we don’t do certificates but they stil…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Sarah Taylor about the changes being made to how Primary Care Clinicians refer patients for Suspected Lower Gastrointestinal Cancers. These changes are discussed in the context of referring in the Greater Manchester area, but you can view the joint guideline from the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain an…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to GP Dr David Bartlett who works with the Neuroendocrine Cancer UK charity and GP Dr Will Evans who is a researcher specialising in rare diseases. We wanted to discuss how they approach finding rare diseases in General Practice whilst balancing this with the risk of over investigating. We start with definitions and class…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dietician Charlotte Cockman about managing weight for patients who are overweight or obese in General Practice. This includes a discussion around the definitions of overweight and obesity, risk factors, and what terms are less stigmatising when discussing weight with patients. Charlotte talks to us about her approach t…

Doctors Sara and Lisa speak with Christopher Lewis, Operations Learning and Development Manager for Greater Manchester Training Hub. His non-pretentious, passionate approach to coaching and mentoring was infectious. We hope you get a flavour of how coaching and mentoring might help in General Practice. The episode was designed with GP fellows in mi…

Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Otolaryngologist Ms Emma Stapleton and Clinical Scientist David Jay about Vertigo. We discuss the definition, differentials, and how to use information around timing and triggers to differentiate between the likely causes of vertigo. We get their take on the important details in the examination that can help…

Doctors Sara and Lisa speak with Dr John Patterson about Health Inequalities. This is the second of our two talks on Health Inequalities, please check out Dr Laura Neilson’s talk before this one. Dr John Patterson is a GP and Medical Director of Hope Citadel, as well as their Focused Care Lead and the Chief Clinical Officer for Oldham CCG. We discu…

Doctors Sara and Lisa talk to Dr Laura Neilson the founder of Hope Citadel who is passionate about tackling Health Inequalities. She talks to us about the importance of addressing them, what the inverse care law is, and skills that people will find useful working in areas of deprivation. We ask her about her projects which include helping create Ho…

Doctors Lisa and Sara speak with GP Dr Uma Marthi about Endometriosis; a topic she is passionate about due to the common delay in diagnosis, coupled with the impact this condition has on peoples’ lives. We talk through a hypothetical case and explore differential diagnoses for dysmenorrhoea, examination tips, investigations and management. We discu…

Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Avil Danczak to talk about how we can use consultation skills to improve our time management in General Practice. She takes us through first principles and core skills before talking about common pitfalls and how to avoid them. The principles of all we discuss are elaborated on in the ‘Teaching and Learning Co…

Doctors Sara and Lisa speak with Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Raja Mukherjee about neurodevelopmental disorders in children. He has an interest in Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and this is the focus of the talk. We cover what neurodevelopmental disorders are, discuss neurodiversity, common disorders such as Autism, ADHD, Dyspraxia aka Devel…