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The British Journal of General Practice

BJGP Interviews

A Medicine , Health & Fitness and Science podcast

#135 in Medicine · 🇮🇪
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About the show

Listen to BJGP Interviews for the latest updates on primary care and general practice research. Hear from researchers and clinicians who will update and guide you to the best practice. We all want to deliver better care to patients and improve health through better research and its translation into practice and policy. The BJGP is a leading international journal of primary care with the aim to serve the primary care community. Whether you are a general practitioner or a nurse, a researcher, we publish a full range of research studies from RCTs to the best qualitative literature on primary care. In addition, we publish editorials, articles on the clinical practice, and in-depth analysis of the topics that matter. We are inclusive and determined to serve the primary care community. BJGP Interviews brings all these articles to you through conversations with world-leading experts. The BJGP is the journal of the UK's Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). The RCGP grant full editorial independence to the BJGP and the views published in the BJGP do not necessarily represent those of the College. For all the latest research, editorials and clinical practice articles visit BJGP.org (https://bjgp.org). If you want all the podcast shownotes plus the latest comment and opinion on primary care and general practice then visit BJGP Life (https://www.bjgplife.com).

Newest episodes

When women’s pain goes unheard: chronic pelvic pain and sexual violence

19 min

Today, we’re speaking to Cate McCarter and Amanda Williams. We’re here to discuss the research they’ve recently published here in the BJGP titled, ‘Understanding chronic pelvic pain in women survivors of sexual violence: a qualitative study’. Title of paper: Understanding chronic pelvic pain in women survivors of sexual violence: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0057 Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is common and can be difficult to treat. Some women with CPP are survivors of sexual violence. How such women understood their pain was strongly influenced by feeling ignored by doctors and shamed by both CPP and sexual violence. According to women in our study, a ‘good enough’ response from GPs involved being seen as a whole person, being asked about sexual violence, pain being adequately investigated, and the GP acknowledging what is not understood about CPP and sexual violence. This allowed the negotiation of a pain explanation that validated the woman’s experience and integrated her social context with medical results, delivered with empathy and understanding. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.240 - 00:00:56.560 Hi, and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the senior research editor here at the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're Speaking to Kate McCarter, a clinical psychologist and Professor Amanda Williams. Amanda is emeritus professor of Clinical Health psychology based at ucl, and we're here to discuss the paper that they've recently published here in the bjgp, which is titled Understanding Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women Survivors of Sexual Violence A Qualitative Study. So, Kate, I think I'll start with you. And we were talking just about, you know, how important this work is, and perhaps we could just start by talking about why you wanted to explore the...

From barriers to belonging - Black researchers in academic primary care

16 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Rupinder Bajwa, a Research Fellow based in the centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Nottingham. Title of paper: Unpacking barriers to and facilitators for research leadership for Black primary care researchers: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0175 Researchers of Black heritage are underrepresented in primary care research leadership, and there is limited evidence on their lived experiences of why this underrepresentation exists. This study addresses this evidence gap and highlights how systemic inequities, racism, and inequitable academic practices contribute to this lack of representation. This study also presents practical enablers to improve progression and retention, such as proactive leadership, tailored career support, and increasing visibility of Black role models in academic primary care. These findings emphasise the need to foster inclusive research environments that strengthen the diversity and relevance of primary care evidence. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.120 - 00:00:54.620 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan, I'm the Senior Research editor at the BJ gp. And thanks very much for joining me here to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Rupinder Bajwa. Rupinder is a research fellow based in the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Nottingham. We're here to talk about the paper she's recently published in the BJGP titled Unpacking Barriers to and Facilitators for Research Leadership for Black Primary Care A Qualitative Study. So, hi, Rupinder, it's really great to meet to talk about this work and I wonder if we could just start by talking through what prompted you and your team to look at the experiences of black researchers in academic primary care. And I'm wondering what we already...

Recurrent UTIs: which non-antibiotic approaches actually work?

19 min

Today, we’re speaking to Professor Miriam Santer, a GP in Dorset and Professor of Primary Care Research based at the University of Southampton. Title of paper: Non-antibiotic interventions to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections in women: overview of systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0055 Recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) is very common and defined as two or more UTIs in the last six months or three or more UTIs in the last 12 months. Long-term antibiotic prophylaxis is widely used but other preventative strategies have been suggested. This overview of systematic reviews found good evidence for some treatments but identified unresolved questions such as treatment adherence for vaginal oestrogen, questions about long-term use for methenamine hippurate and optimal dosage for cranberry. Increased fluid intake has been shown to be of benefit for women drinking less than 1.5 litres at baseline but is without robust evidence in other groups. The evidence base is still developing for other treatments, such as vaccines. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.560 - 00:00:55.830 Hi and welcome today to BJJP interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the Senior Research editor for the bjgp. In today's episode, we're talking to Professor Miriam Santer, a GP in Dorset and Professor of Primary care research based at the University of Southampton. We're here to discuss the recent paper she's published here in the BJJP titled Non Antibiotic Interventions to Prevent Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Women. An Overview of Systematic Reviews of Randomized Controlled Trials. So, hi Miriam, it's nice to see you again. And I suppose to start with, it's worth acknowledging that recurrent UTIs are something that we see incredibly often as GPs, but they can also have a really big impact on women's liv...

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All episodes

When women’s pain goes unheard: chronic pelvic pain and sexual violence

19 min

Today, we’re speaking to Cate McCarter and Amanda Williams. We’re here to discuss the research they’ve recently published here in the BJGP titled, ‘Understanding chronic pelvic pain in women survivors of sexual violence: a qualitative study’. Title of paper: Understanding chronic pelvic pain in women survivors of sexual violence: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0057 Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is common and can be difficult to treat. Some women with CPP are survivors of sexual violence. How such women understood their pain was strongly influenced by feeling ignored by doctors and shamed by both CPP and sexual violence. According to women in our study, a ‘good enough’ response from GPs involved being seen as a whole person, being asked about sexual violence, pain being adequately investigated, and the GP acknowledging what is not understood about CPP and sexual violence. This allowed the negotiation of a pain explanation that validated the woman’s experience and integrated her social context with medical results, delivered with empathy and understanding. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.240 - 00:00:56.560 Hi, and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the senior research editor here at the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're Speaking to Kate McCarter, a clinical psychologist and Professor Amanda Williams. Amanda is emeritus professor of Clinical Health psychology based at ucl, and we're here to discuss the paper that they've recently published here in the bjgp, which is titled Understanding Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women Survivors of Sexual Violence A Qualitative Study. So, Kate, I think I'll start with you. And we were talking just about, you know, how important this work is, and perhaps we could just start by talking about why you wanted to explore the...

From barriers to belonging - Black researchers in academic primary care

16 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Rupinder Bajwa, a Research Fellow based in the centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Nottingham. Title of paper: Unpacking barriers to and facilitators for research leadership for Black primary care researchers: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0175 Researchers of Black heritage are underrepresented in primary care research leadership, and there is limited evidence on their lived experiences of why this underrepresentation exists. This study addresses this evidence gap and highlights how systemic inequities, racism, and inequitable academic practices contribute to this lack of representation. This study also presents practical enablers to improve progression and retention, such as proactive leadership, tailored career support, and increasing visibility of Black role models in academic primary care. These findings emphasise the need to foster inclusive research environments that strengthen the diversity and relevance of primary care evidence. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.120 - 00:00:54.620 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan, I'm the Senior Research editor at the BJ gp. And thanks very much for joining me here to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Rupinder Bajwa. Rupinder is a research fellow based in the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Nottingham. We're here to talk about the paper she's recently published in the BJGP titled Unpacking Barriers to and Facilitators for Research Leadership for Black Primary Care A Qualitative Study. So, hi, Rupinder, it's really great to meet to talk about this work and I wonder if we could just start by talking through what prompted you and your team to look at the experiences of black researchers in academic primary care. And I'm wondering what we already...

Recurrent UTIs: which non-antibiotic approaches actually work?

19 min

Today, we’re speaking to Professor Miriam Santer, a GP in Dorset and Professor of Primary Care Research based at the University of Southampton. Title of paper: Non-antibiotic interventions to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections in women: overview of systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0055 Recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) is very common and defined as two or more UTIs in the last six months or three or more UTIs in the last 12 months. Long-term antibiotic prophylaxis is widely used but other preventative strategies have been suggested. This overview of systematic reviews found good evidence for some treatments but identified unresolved questions such as treatment adherence for vaginal oestrogen, questions about long-term use for methenamine hippurate and optimal dosage for cranberry. Increased fluid intake has been shown to be of benefit for women drinking less than 1.5 litres at baseline but is without robust evidence in other groups. The evidence base is still developing for other treatments, such as vaccines. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.560 - 00:00:55.830 Hi and welcome today to BJJP interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the Senior Research editor for the bjgp. In today's episode, we're talking to Professor Miriam Santer, a GP in Dorset and Professor of Primary care research based at the University of Southampton. We're here to discuss the recent paper she's published here in the BJJP titled Non Antibiotic Interventions to Prevent Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Women. An Overview of Systematic Reviews of Randomized Controlled Trials. So, hi Miriam, it's nice to see you again. And I suppose to start with, it's worth acknowledging that recurrent UTIs are something that we see incredibly often as GPs, but they can also have a really big impact on women's liv...

Local incentives and general practice: what does the evidence show?

20 min

Today, we’re speaking to Matt Conroy. Matt is a PhD fellow at the University of Manchester and also works for NHS Greater Manchester (ICB) as the Head of Primary Care Intelligence. Title of paper: Impact of local enhanced incentive schemes on the performance of general practices within the United Kingdom: a systematic review Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0377 Most local commissioning bodies in England, known as Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), have developed their own additional local pay-for-performance (P4P) incentive schemes alongside the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). To our knowledge this is the first review to date to summarise existing evidence on the scope and effectiveness of local incentive schemes implemented in general practice in the UK with a focus on the indicators and their alignment with national schemes. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.480 - 00:01:01.140 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the Senior Research Editor here at the bjgp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. Today we're talking to Matt Conroy. Matt is a PhD fellow based at the University of Manchester and he also works for NHS Greater Manchester ICB as the Head of Primary Care Intelligence. We're here to talk about the paper he's recently published in the bjgp, which is titled the Impact of Local Enhanced Incentive Schemes on the Performance of General Practices within the United A Systematic Review. So, hi, Matt, it's really nice to meet you and to talk about this work and I wonder if, just to start with, if you could explain a bit about what we mean by local incentive schemes in general practice and why you wanted to look at them, and I wonder if you wanted to draw a little bit on your additional role working for the Greater Manchester ICB as well here. Speaker B 00:01:01.220 - 00:01:...

Diagnosing in the dark: recognising childbirth-related PTSD in general practice

20 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Megan Foreman, a GP and NIHR Clinical Lecturer based at the University of East Anglia. Title of paper: Diagnosing in the dark: the childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder GP evidence gap Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0269 Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.320 - 00:00:58.460 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the Senior Research Editor here at the Journal. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Megan Forman, who is a GP and NIHR Clinical Lecturer based at the University of East Anglia. We're here to discuss the recent analysis piece that she and her team have published in the September issue of the Journal and it's titled Diagnosing in the Dark the Childbirth Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder GP Evidence Gap. So, hi, Megan, it's really nice to meet you and thanks again for joining us here to talk about this article. I suppose, to start with, could you explain a little bit more about what you mean by birth trauma and childbirth related PTSD? And I suspect that these are probably terms that GPs are not as familiar with that we should be. Speaker B 00:00:59.310 - 00:01:46.360 Yeah, thank you. So birth trauma is a broader term and that can be. So we're talking here about psychological birth trauma rather than physical birth trauma in the context that we're using it in. We're talking about people who have had a difficult, potentially a pregnancy experience or a birth experience. That's not just looking at birth itself. That can cause ongoing mental health issues and psychological concerns when we talk about PTSD after pregnancy and birth. So what's often referred to as childbirth related ptsd, those are people who meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD as a result of a trauma that was related to their...

Does GP income meet expectations? The impact on job satisfaction

14 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Ben Walker, a post-doctoral associate based at the University of Calgary, who conducted this work while working at the University of Manchester. Title of paper: Relationships of actual and expected levels of income with GP job satisfaction: repeated cross-sectional study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0683 Recruitment and retention of GPs remains an issue for general practice in England. This work examined the relationship between actual income and income expectations with job satisfaction and intentions to quit. Higher actual income was found to be associated with job satisfaction, but there was little evidence to show that it was associated with intentions to quit. A key and novel finding was that higher income expectations were associated with both lower job satisfaction and higher intentions to quit. The findings suggest that policies that help GPs build accurate income expectations, such as increased transparency for incomes for different GP job roles, may be a means of addressing job dissatisfaction caused by discrepancies between expected and actual income for GPs. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.040 - 00:00:58.350 Hello and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the Senior Research editor at the bjjp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode we're talking to Dr. Ben Walker. Ben used to be based as a research fellow at the University of Manchester, but is now working as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Calgary in Canada. We here to talk about the paper he's just published in the BJ GP that's titled Relationships of Actual and Expected Levels of Income with GP Job Satisfaction. A Repeated Cross Sectional Study. So, hi Ben, it's really nice to meet you and to talk about this work and I guess to start us off, I just wanted to...

The NHS Health Check and mortality: do they help people live longer?

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Jasjot Saund, a public health registrar based in London. Title of paper: Association of the NHS Health Check with all-cause mortality: a longitudinal cohort study in primary care Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0451 The NHS Health Check (NHS-HC) has been shown to improve detection and management of surrogate markers of health, such as blood pressure and cholesterol. The long-term impact, however, is less evidenced, with mortality reductions seen in a UK Biobank cohort and no mortality reduction seen in a Cochrane review of general health checks, including those outside the UK. The current study added real-world evidence from a diverse UK urban population, and a 15-year study period. Survival analysis of GP electronic health record data shows reduced mortality in those who attended an NHS-HC compared with those who did not. These findings should be interpreted cautiously given the observational nature of the study design. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.440 - 00:00:58.570 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm the senior research editor of the Journal. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're talking to Dr. Jazjot Sound, a public health registrar based in London. We're here to discuss the paper she's recently published here in the BJGP titled Association of the NHS Health Check with All Cause Mortality, A Longitudinal Cohort Study in Primary Care. So thanks very much for joining us here today, Jazja. It's really great to talk about this work and I think just before we get into the study itself, we know that NHS health checks are something that most GPs will probably be very familiar with, but maybe we don't always stop and think about the evidence behind them. So, just to start off, I wonder if you can explain to us a little bit ab...

AI scribes: The impact on the consultation, the notes and relationships in practice

20 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Emma Ladds, a GP partner and DPhil candidate at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. We’re here today to discuss the recent article she and her colleagues have written for the journal, titled, ‘Ambient scribes in general practice — help or hindrance?’ Title of paper: Ambient scribes in general practice — help or hindrance? Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0097 Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.320 - 00:01:15.600 Hi and welcome back to BJGP interviews after our summer off. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're talking to Dr. Emma lads. Emma is a GP partner and a DPHIL candidate at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. We're here today to talk about the recent article that she and her colleagues have written for the analysis section of the Journal. And the article is titled Ambient Scribes in General Practice. Help or Hindrance? So, hi again, Emma. It's lovely to speak to you about this work. And I think one of the reasons we were interested in picking up this article is that it's really highly topical and it's in an area that I think a lot of people are wondering what to do in their day to day practice. And I think that some of the issues that you've highlighted in the article do speak to some of the concerns that people are raising, but also some of the challenges with the implementation in practice. But I guess before we get onto some of the issues that you raise in the paper, can you just explain what we mean by an AI or ambient scribe? Speaker B 00:01:16.160 - 00:01:45.660 Well, it's the technologies based on artificial intelligence that detects conversations, so between the patient and gp, or betwee...

Reflecting on the last season of the BJGP podcast

11 min

In this episode, we look back at the last season of the BJGP podcast and reflect on some of the work we’ve discussed. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.560 - 00:11:08.620 Hi, and welcome to the BJGP podcast. I'm Nada Khan, one of the associate editors of the Journal. And we've reached the end of another podcast season, and before we take a short break for the summer, we thought we'd look back at some of the papers we've covered and pick out a few highlights and common threads between them. And looking back at the different podcasts over this this past season, it seemed that although each conversation started with a completely different research question, by the end we all seemed to be talking about the same thing, and that was, how can general practice work better for patients in today's increasingly complex healthcare system? And although we talked about a wide range of different topics, we covered cancer diagnosis, dementia, women's health, medical education, and we even talked to Garth Funston about artificial intelligence. They all came back to this same underlying challenge. And we know that general practice has always dealt with complexity, and that's not really anything new, but the kind of complexity we're dealing with now feels different. Patients are living longer with multiple conditions. Care is spread even more so across increasing numbers of services than ever before. Technology is changing the way that we work, and somehow, amongst all that, we're still trying to preserve those relationships that have always sat at the heart of general practice. And I think another thing that really struck me was that very few of the papers and researchers were talking about making dramatic changes. And instead we had a lot of discussions about how we could make systems we already have, just work a little bit better. So making it easie...

Quick wins or eat the frog? How GPs prioritise their day

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Andrew McClarey, who works as a GP and Education co-ordinator Lead for General Practice in the Scottish Centre for Simulation and Clinical Human Factors. Title of paper: “Quick wins” vs “eating the frog”: Exploring general practitioners’ prioritisation dilemmas Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0628 Link to tactical decision making games: https://archive.johs.org.uk/article/doi/10.54531/svvw4195 This is the first study to look at the factors which experienced GPs consider when prioritising their acute workload. Several themes have emerged which highlight the importance of prioritisation training in General Practice. These themes could be used to teach prioritisation decision making to GP registrars or in the creation of continuing professional development resources for experienced GPs. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A 00:00:00.400 - 00:00:56.560 Hi and welcome to BJ GP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Andrew McClary. Andrew is a GP partner and he also works as Education Coordinator, Lead for General Practice in the Scottish Centre for Simulation and Clinical Human Factors. We're here today to discuss the paper that he's recently published in the bjjp. And the paper is titled Quick Wins versus Eating the Frog, Exploring general practitioners Prioritization dilemmas. So, hi, Andrew, it's really nice to meet you. And this paper really stood out to us, I think, because prioritisation is something that gps do every day, but it's not really something that we discuss explicitly. I'm just interested in what made you do this work and made you interested in studying it. Speaker B 00:00:57.200 - 00:02:00.600 It's interesting, I think, that for me, I finished my GP training just after th...

Parents as partners - Improving paediatric safety in general practice

18 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Tom Purchase, a GP and Health and Care Research Wales NIHR doctoral fellow. Title of paper: Co-generating ideas for safer paediatric care in general practice with parents and stakeholders Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0690 Research has highlighted the important role parents play in in paediatric patient safety, for example, through mitigating safety incidents in general practice, yet their perspectives have rarely shaped system-level improvements. This study co-generated and prioritised ideas for change with parents and key stakeholders, identifying feasible and impactful strategies to improve paediatric safety in primary care. These strategies centred around practice communication, accessing care records and results, and fostering a culture of shared learning and development. Parents are willing and able to contribute meaningfully to safety improvement efforts, and their insights align with national patient safety priorities. Clinicians and policy makers can use these findings to strengthen collaboration with families, tailor safety interventions to local needs, and embed parent voices into the design of safer care systems. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.480 - 00:00:49.500 Hello and welcome today to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening again to this podcast. In today's episode, we're talking to Dr. Tom Purchase. Tom is a GP and a health and Care Research Wales NIHR Doctoral Fellow. We're here today to talk about the paper he's just published in the bjgp and the paper is titled Co Generating Ideas for Safer Pediatric Care in General Practice with Parents and Stakeholders. So, hi, Tom, it's really great to meet you and to talk about your work, but before we talk about the study itself, I'm interested to know what first got y...

From symptoms to signals: Using AI for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Garth Funston, a GP and Clinical Senior Lecturer in Primary Care Cancer Research at Queen Mary University of London. Title of paper: Using large language models to identify pre-diagnostic clinical features of ovarian cancer from healthcare records: a population-based case-control study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0366 Most women with ovarian cancer present with symptoms, but many symptoms are recorded only in free text healthcare records and missed by studies and clinical decision support tools that rely on coded data. We found that using large language models (LLMs) to extract symptoms from free text records substantially increased symptom detection and strengthened associations with ovarian cancer. Incorporating LLM-extracted symptom information into research and clinical decision tools may support identification of women at higher risk of cancer and aid appropriate investigation. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.800 - 00:00:50.940 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're talking to Dr. Garth Funston, who is an academic GP and clinical senior Lecturer in Primary Care Research at Queen Mary University of London. We're here to talk about his recent paper in the BJDP which is titled Using Large Language Models to Identify Pre Diagnostic Clinical Features of Ovarian and Cancer from Healthcare Records. So, Garth, thanks so much for talking to us again today, but I wonder, just before we get into the AI side of this paper, can you briefly explain the clinical problem you're trying to address here with ovarian cancer diagnosis in general practice? Speaker B 00:00:51.500 - 00:01:55.010 So most women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed after they develop symptoms and...

When mothers need more: Postnatal care and complex social needs

21 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Clare Macdonald, an Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Practice based at the University of Birmingham. Title of paper: Complex social needs and maternal postnatal care: what can primary care do? Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0069 Throughout the discussion we use the terms ‘woman’ and ‘women’, but we know that not all those who give birth will identify as women and intend this to mean all those who give birth. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.480 - 00:00:51.740 Hello and welcome to BJ GP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Claire MacDonald. Claire is an academic clinical lecturer in general practice, and she's based at the University of Birmingham. We're here today to talk about the editorial she's just published in the May issue of the bjgp, and it's titled Complex Social Needs and Maternal Postnatal Care. What Can Primary Care Do? So, hi, Clare, it's lovely to meet you and to talk about this brilliant editorial, but before we get into the editorial itself, I wonder if you can just talk us through what you actually mean by complex social needs in the context of postnatal care. Speaker B 00:00:51.980 - 00:02:21.290 Yeah. So I think when we talk about social complexity in the postnatal population, we're talking about women who have multiple factors that might be influencing how they can access care or influencing the clinical and social risks that they have. So for most people, the time after they've had a baby results in some social change. Even in the most straightforward, most brilliantly supported, most physically well person, there are big social changes. And that is a period of a complex time to navigate and finding your way and your identity as a family...

Seeing skin differently: Eczema, acne and psoriasis in skin of colour

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Eliza Hutchinson, a dermatology registrar and academic clinical fellow based at the Centre for Applied Excellence in Skin and Allergy Research at the University of Bristol. Title of paper: Eczema, acne, and psoriasis in people with skin of colour: a qualitative UK-based study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0720 This study is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to explore the experiences of living with an inflammatory dermatosis specifically in people with skin of colour. We generated eight themes important to participants: delayed or missed diagnosis; preferences regarding healthcare professionals; lack of online information and social media use; misunderstandings in cultural communities; concerns about treatment and lack of research; complementary medicine use; experiences and impact of dyspigmentation; and challenges with structural racism. These findings offer insight into the complex experiences and challenges faced by UK adults with skin of colour living with eczema, acne, and psoriasis. Our practical points for primary care clinicians are a step towards facilitating mutual understanding and improving care for people with skin of colour. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.560 - 00:00:53.150 Hi and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the BJGP. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Eliza Hutchinson. Eliza is a dermatology registrar and an academic clinical fellow and she's based at the Centre for Applied Excellence in Skin and Skin Allergy Research at the University of Bristol. We're here to talk about the paper she's just published in the bjgp and the paper is titled Eczema Acne and Psoriasis in People with Skin of Color. A Qualitative UK based Study. So, Eliza, it's lovely to meet you and thanks again for joining us to talk about this pap...

‘It’s not just thrush’: Navigating recurrent vulvovaginal thrush in primary care

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Tori Ford, a qualitative researcher based at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. Title of papers: ‘Accumulative Experiences: Navigating Healthcare for Recurrent Vulvovaginal Thrush from Patient and Clinician Perspectives’ and ‘It’s not just thrush, it’s recurrent thrush’: Patient and Clinician Perspectives on Diagnosing Recurrent Vulvovaginal Candidiasis’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0437 and https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0531 Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.280 - 00:01:15.200 Hi, and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the journal. Thanks again for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Tori Ford, who is a qualitative researcher based at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. We're going to talk today about two linked papers that she and her team have published here in the bjgp. The first one is titled Accumulative Navigating Healthcare for Recurrent Vulvovaginal Thrush from Patient and Clinician Perspectives. And the second paper is it's not just thrush, it's recurrent thrush. Patient and Clinician Perspectives on Diagnosing Recurrent Vulva Vaginal Candidiasis. So, Tori, thanks very much for joining us here today. And this might come from a slightly unscientific perspective, but my feeling is that I'm seeing a lot more recurrent thrush in practice. And we know that it's incredibly common. I think, despite that, it's not something we hear discussed very often in primary care research. So my first question is, what made you want to study it? Speaker B 00:01:15.520 - 00:01:54.060 So, like you say, recurrent thrush is an increasingly common condition. We know that 1.2 million women in the UK live with it, 6% of...

‘They knew me’: Relationships, continuity and dementia care

13 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Charlotte Morris, a GP and academic based at the University of Manchester. Title of paper: Experiences of primary care for people with dementia from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0407 Existing national guidance recommends primary care-led dementia health care, but little is known about the experience of this for people living in socioeconomically deprived areas. This study highlights that people with dementia, and their carers, in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas want to maintain identity and understand their decline. Support from healthcare services often diminishes over time, with difficulties accessing and navigating healthcare systems when needed. There was uncertainty about primary care’s role in dementia health care. Clearer communication and proactive support from primary care may improve experiences for these patients. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.320 - 00:00:32.850 Hello and welcome to BJ GP Interviews. I'm Ewan Lawson and I'm the editor of the BJ gp. Thanks for listening to the podcast today. In this episode, we are speaking to Charlotte Morris. Charlotte is a GP and doctoral research fellow at the University of Manchester and we have recently published her paper, Experiences of Primary Care for People with Dementia from Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Areas A Qualitative Study. So, Charlotte, first of all, what I'd like to ask you is how did you come to focus on people with dementia in deprived areas specifically, and what surprised you most in the interviews? Speaker B 00:00:33.170 - 00:02:03.470 Thanks, Ewan. Thanks so much to you and the BJGP for inviting me to do the podcast and publishing the paper. So, I guess my interest in people with dementia started when I finished my foundation training and I did a cl...

Choosing general practice: What shapes medical student decisions?

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Catharina Savelkoul, a DPhil student in Health Economics based at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. Title of paper: Factors Influencing UK Medical Students’ Choice of General Practice: A Systematic Review Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0226 The UK faces a projected shortage of approximately 15,000 GPs by 2036/37, with a declining proportion of UK medical graduates pursuing general practice. Previous research has identified various contributing factors but lacked a contemporary synthesis within a coherent theoretical framework. This systematic review examines factors influencing UK medical students' career decisions, finding three critical influences: curricula that inadequately represents general practice, a persistent negative hidden curriculum, and the impact of clinical placement quality. Our revised Bland-Meurer model incorporates these findings, providing a comprehensive framework to improve GP recruitment. This systematic review identifies the factors that shape UK medical students’ intentions toward general practice. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.120 - 00:00:59.530 Hi and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan, one of the associate editors of the bjjp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Katharina Savalcool. Katharina is a DPHIL student in Health Economics based at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. We're here today to talk about the paper she's recently published in the BJJP titled Factors Influencing UK Medical Students Choice of General A Systematic Review. So, hi Katharine, it's lovely to meet you and to talk about your work. This is a super interesting area to study because we know that there is a push to increase the number of GPs in...

Looking back at the BJGP Research Conference 2026

12 min

Today, we’re going to back at the recent BJGP Research Conference, which was held just last week on the 20st of March 2025 in Bristol. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.960 - 00:00:39.550 Hello and welcome to this BJGP podcast. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening today. In today's episode we're going to look back at the recent BJGP Research Conference which we held just last week on 20th March in Bristol. It was absolutely brilliant to welcome the BJGP team and people who attended to the Southwest. And in today's episode I'm just going to talk about some the highlights and really focus on what the conference is about and maybe have a chat about how to get involved in the future. But first, here's a welcome to the conference from our Editor in Chief, Ewan Lawson. Speaker B 00:00:40.270 - 00:01:16.520 My name's Ewan Lawson, I'm editor of the bjgp. So that means basically I'm the one person that the Journal would probably run without and everyone else does all the work. But I do have to stand up here and say hello to you and I want to offer you the warmest of welcomes to the conference. Been running this for a few years and it's always really nice to get together and just try to help each other, you know, get involved. It's not in a very scholarly way, you know, whether you're involved in research or whether you're interested in putting research into practice. We think we can offer you quite a lot more than just the fact that we publish research at BJGP and BJGP Open. So I hope you have a fantastic day. Speaker A 00:01:17.320 - 00:03:26.850 So this was the seventh run of the BJGP Research Conference and this year we had a particular focus on a few different areas. We took a bit of a deep dive into patient involvement, new and emerging research in general practice, general practice pol...

Skill mix and patient trust in general practice

18 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Charlotte Paddison, who is currently non-executive director at Royal Papworth Hospital, and formerly a Senior Fellow and co-lead for Primary Care at the Nuffield Trust. Title of paper: Implications of skill-mix change in general practice: secondary analysis of data from the GP Patient Survey Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0360 To the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have investigated the impact on patient trust or perception of needs met when patients are unsure what type of health professional they have seen. Using data from a large national survey, this study found that patients expressed lower confidence and trust, and were less likely to report their needs were met in general practice consultations when they were not sure who their appointment was with. The results are novel in demonstrating that the combination of not knowing who you saw and a remote appointment is particularly problematic for patient trust. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.600 - 00:00:58.530 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Charlotte Patterson, who is currently non Executive Director at Royal Papworth Hospital and formerly a Senior fellow and co lead for Primary Care at the Nuffield Trust. We're here to discuss the paper she's recently published here in the BJGP titled Implications of Skill Mix Change in General Practice Secondary Analysis of Data from the GP Patient Survey. So, hi, Charlotte, it's really lovely to meet you and to talk about your work and I just really wanted to start by exploring how we know that the composition of the general practice team is evolving with the increasing scope of multidisciplinary work. Really? And I wonder...

What happens in general practice before an emergency lung cancer diagnosis?

13 min

Today, we’re speaking to Marta Berglund, a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at University College London. Title of paper: Pre-diagnostic primary care consultations and imaging in emergency-diagnosed vs referred lung cancer patients Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0369 It has been postulated that emergency diagnoses of cancer (which occurs frequently and confers a poorer prognosis) may relate to suboptimal diagnostic management in primary care, but evidence to support or refute this hypothesis is sparse. We found that emergency-diagnosed patients with lung cancer were less likely to present with relevant respiratory symptoms and had fewer chest imaging investigations before diagnosis compared to patients diagnosed via referred routes, indicating an important role of disease factors in emergency diagnosis. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.200 - 00:01:06.690 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Marta Bergland. Marta is a research assistant and PhD candidate at university College London. She's recently published a paper here in the BJGP titled Pre Diagnostic Primary Care Consultations and Imaging in Emergency Diagnosed versus Referred Lung Cancer Patients. So, hi, Marta, it's really lovely to meet you and it's great to talk to you about cancer diagnosis, which is a really important area for general practice and also a topic we publish on quite a lot here in the bjgp. It's been fascinating reading this paper and it tackles a cancer that we really don't do well with here in the UK in terms of early diagnosis. But I wonder if you could just start off by telling us a little bit more about lung cancer and how it's actually often diagnosed, which can sometimes lead to some of t...

Designing neighbourhood urgent care: A general practice perspective

24 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Mike Holmes, a GP in Yorkshire and Chair of Nimbuscare, a local GP-led multi-neighbourhood provider. Title of paper: Neighbourhood delivery of urgent care in North Yorkshire, UK Available at: https://bjgp.org/content/76/764/133 Neighbourhood-based urgent care, led by GP Multineighbourhood providers, can reduce reliance on hospitals and NHS 111. Delivering urgent care in community settings is more cost effective than Urgent Treatment Centre and Emergency Departments attendances. Digital integration and shared clinical systems improve safety, responsiveness, and patient experience. Co-locating operational and clinical teams streamlines service delivery and enables operational and quality oversight. Sustained impact requires recurrent funding and performance measures that reflect system-wide improvement rather than single-provider metrics.

Delayed, declined, or disengaged? Understanding childhood vaccination patterns

19 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Karol Basta, a Public Health Registrar based in London. Title of paper: Predictors of Childhood Vaccination Uptake and Timeliness in a Diverse Urban Population Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0319 Childhood vaccination rates have declined in the UK, with inequalities in urban, deprived, and ethnically diverse populations. Previous studies have lacked individual-level clinical data or did not explore both uptake and timeliness. We analysed 13 years of routinely collected primary care data for over 37,000 children in a diverse London borough to identify predictors of uptake and timeliness. Distinct sociodemographic and clinical factors were associated with incomplete and delayed vaccination, offering timely insights as responsibility for vaccination services shifts closer to local systems and place-based commissioning. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.880 - 00:00:52.000 Hi and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for taking the time to listen to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Carol Basta. Carol is a public health registrar based in London and we're here to talk about the paper she's recently published here in the bjgp, which is titled Predictors of Childhood Vaccination Uptake and Timeliness in a Diverse Urban Population. So, hi, Carol, it's really lovely to meet you and to talk about this work. And I guess just to start, I wanted to put this work into context. We know that in the uk, overall childhood vaccination rates have unfortunately been declining. Could you talk us through some of the current challenges around vaccination, especially in urban and diverse areas? Speaker B 00:00:52.720 - 00:02:06.750 Yep. So we know vaccinations are really powerful and cost effective tools we have in giving chil...

From swabs to urine sampling: Rethinking cervical screening in general practice

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Prof Emma Crosbie, Professor of Gynaecological Oncology based at the University of Manchester. Title of paper: Urine human papillomavirus testing for cervical screening in a UK general screening population: a diagnostic test accuracy study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0105 The switch from primary cytology to primary human papillomavirus testing has enabled innovations in self-sampling for cervical screening. This study shows that urine self-collected with a first-void urine collection device has similar diagnostic test accuracy and acceptability to cervical sampling in a general screening population. Urine self-sampling has real-world potential as an alternative cervical screening option. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.440 - 00:01:07.140 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Professor Emma Crosby, who is professor of Gynecological Oncology based at the University of Manchester. We're here to talk about her really exciting paper that's recently been published in the December 2025 issue of the BJGP. The paper is titled Urine Human Papillovirus Testing for Cervical Screening in UK General Screening Population A Diagnostic Test Accuracy Study. So, hi Emma, it's lovely to meet you and to talk about this paper. I really just wanted to start off talking a bit around cervical screening in the uk, and you mentioned this in the introduction to the paper as well, that cervical screening really does have variable uptake rates and we know that there are some, some barriers to access. But can you talk us through these and tell us a bit about why you decided to do this research? Speaker B 00:01:07.940 - 00:03:41.440 So, as you've just really nicely summarised, cer...

Trust matters: A practice-level look at patient confidence in health professionals

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Professor Richard Baker, emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester. Title of paper: Factors influencing confidence and trust in health professionals: a cross-sectional study of English general practices. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0154 A transactional model of general practice is being introduced to improve access that involves triage and increasing percentages of appointments with professionals other than GPs or that are not face-to-face. Using summary data about almost all English general practices in 2023-24 with 750 or more patients, the patient-reported levels of confidence and trust from the General Practice Patient Survey were associated with increased percentages of appointments that were with GPs or were face-to-face, and with higher continuity, after adjusting for other practice and patient factors. Confidence and trust was lower in practices with fewer appointments per year per patient, fewer patients having their needs met, greater deprivation, fewer patients of White ethnicity, and in practices located in London, as compared to other regions of England. Access to general practice needs improving, but the findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that preserving features of relationship-based care is also needed to maintain patients’ trust and confidence in health professionals. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.200 - 00:00:46.980 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the Journal. Thanks for joining us here to listen to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Professor Richard Baker, Emeritus professor at the University of Leicester. We're here to talk about the paper that he and his colleagues have recently published here in the bjjp. The paper is titled Factors Influencing Confidence and Trust in...

Belonging, autonomy and burnout: Why GPs leave

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Laura Jefferson, Senior Research Fellow based at the University of Manchester. We’re here to discuss her paper recently published here in the BJGP titled, ‘Understanding persistent GP turnover using work and personal characteristics: a retrospective observational study’. Title of paper: Understanding persistent GP turnover using work and personal characteristics: a retrospective observational study DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0260 GP turnover rates from national administrative datasets have previously been used to explore practice-level factors associated with turnover and its relationship to patient. outcomes. The individual and work characteristics associated with turnover is less well understood, with much research focusing on intentions to leave or smaller samples of GPs leaving practice. This study sought to fill this research gap, through analysis of a large dataset of GPs working experiences linked to turnover, understanding potential predictors that may offer solutions to the workforce crisis being faced in general practice. We find that GPs’ sense of autonomy, belonging and competence are significantly lower in practices with problems with persistent turnover and demonstrate how satisfaction with work characteristics such as working hours and experiences of strained relationships differs in practices with persistent turnover. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.880 - 00:00:53.050 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. My name is Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the bjgp. Thanks for joining us here to listen to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Laura Jefferson, who is a senior research fellow based at the University of Manchester. We're here to discuss her paper, recently published here in the journal, titled Understanding Persistent GP Turnover Usin...

BJGP Top 10 research most read and published in 2025

40 min

This episode, we have a round table discussion with the editorial team of Sam Merriel, Tom Round and Nada Khan. This collection of the BJGP’s top 10 research most read and published in 2025 brings together high-profile primary care research and clinical innovation. And here are the top 10 most read papers of 2025: 10 Adoption of clinical pharmacist roles in primary care: longitudinal evidence from English general practice https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0320 9 Factors affecting prostate cancer detection through asymptomatic prostate-specific antigen testing in primary care in England: evidence from the 2018 National Cancer Diagnosis Audit https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0376 8 Paramedic or GP consultations in primary care: prospective study comparing costs and outcomes https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0469 7 What patients want from access to UK general practice: systematic review https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0582 6 Technostress, technosuffering, and relational strain: a multi-method qualitative study of how remote and digital work affects staff in UK general practice https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0322 5 Antidepressants and risk of postural hypotension: a self-controlled case series study in UK primary care https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0429 4 Challenges to quality in contemporary, hybrid general practice a multi-site longitudinal case study https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0184 3 Low-dose amitriptyline for irritable bowel syndrome: a qualitative study of patients’ and GPs’ views and experiences https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0303 2 Artificial intelligence for early detection of lung cancer in GPs’ clinical notes: a retrospective observational cohort study https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2023.0489 1 Effectiveness of low-dose amitriptyline and mirtazapine in patients with insomnia disorder and sleep maintenance problems: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in general practice (DREAMING) https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0173 Transcr...

Safety incidents in prison healthcare: Lessons from critical illness

21 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Joy McFadzean,a GP in Swansea and Clinical Lecturer of Patient Safety based at Cardiff University. We’re here to talk about the paper she’s recently published here in the BJGP alongside her colleagues titled, ‘Critical illness in prisons: a multi-method analysis of reported healthcare safety incidents in England’. Title of paper: Critical illness in prisons: a multi-method analysis of reported healthcare safety incidents in England Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0239 Using a mixed-methods descriptive and framework analysis, this paper provides new insights into the complexity of care delivery in prisons. Results resonate with and strengthen the recommendations from recent investigations into prison healthcare by further developing an understanding of the complex intersecting factors contributing to safety incidents and quality issues in care delivery. The fundamental importance of good quality and adequately resourced primary care delivery in prisons has been highlighted. It also identifies system-wide interventions that are needed to improve care delivery, and which are likely to interest policy-makers and scrutiny bodies, commissioners and teams working in prisons to inform developments in strategic health needs assessments, workforce profiling, and training requirements for healthcare and prison teams. Funding This study/project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme (PR-R20-0318-21001). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.560 - 00:01:10.200 Hello and w...

Faecal calprotectin in the over-50s: Rule-out test or red flag?

14 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Rob Perry, who is a Gastroenterology Clinical Research Fellow based at Imperial College London. Title of paper: Evaluating the Role of Faecal Calprotectin in Older Adults Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0169 There is considerable uncertainty surrounding the use of FC as a diagnostic test in older adults, with varying suggestions in guidelines and a lack of data in the wider literature. This study investigates the performance of FC in older adults (≥50 years), compared to a younger cohort, with a view to guide its correct use in a primary care setting. These data suggest that FC is a sensitive test for IBD and organic gastrointestinal pathology in both groups. However, concerns remain over its PPV and specificity, particularly in older adults, and it should not be used if colorectal cancer is suspected. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.880 - 00:00:49.180 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the bjgp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. Today we're speaking to Dr. Rob Perry, who is a gastroenterology Clinical Research Fellow based at Imperial College London. We're here to talk about the paper he's recently published here in the BJGP titled Evaluating the Role of Fecal Calprotectin in Older Adults. So thanks, Rob, for joining me here to talk about your work. And I guess I just really want to preface this by saying that a lot has changed in the last few years just in terms of testing for inflammatory bowel disease and bowel cancer in general practice. But I wonder if you could just talk us through this, some of the different guidelines and why you wanted to do this study. Speaker B 00:00:49.660 - 00:02:24.450 Oh, yes, thank you for having me. Firstly, and the rationale for the study is that, you know, consultations f...

Antidepressants in pregnancy: A closer look at miscarriage risk

9 min

Today, we’re speaking to Flo Martin, an honorary research associate at the University of Bristol. Title of paper: First trimester antidepressant use and miscarriage: a comprehensive analysis in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0092 Antidepressant use during pregnancy is rising, with concerns from pregnant women that these medications may increase the risk of miscarriage if taken prenatally. Evidence is conflicting so we used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, a large repository of UK-based primary care data, and a range of methods to investigate antidepressant use during trimester one and risk of miscarriage. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.240 - 00:00:52.800 Hello and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors at the bjgp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Flo Martin, an honorary research associate at the University of Bristol. We're here to look at the paper she's recently published here in the BJGP titled First Trimester Antidepressant Use and Miscarriage A Comprehensive Analysis in the Clinical Practice Research Data Link. Gold. So, hi, Flo, it's great to meet you and talk about this research. And I think this paper touches on an area that clinicians and women often approach with a bit of uncertainty, just in terms of prescribing safety, really, in pregnancy in general. But can you talk us through what we know already about prescribing for antidepressants and risk in pregnancy, just to frame what you've done here? Speaker B 00:00:53.280 - 00:02:22.860 Yeah, absolutely. So we actually did some work a couple of years ago doing a systematic review of the literature in this space, so looking at antidepressant use during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage. And the...

Not one size fits all: Accessing menopause care in the NHS

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Claire Mann, a Research Fellow who is based at the University of Warwick, and Sarah Hillman, who is a GP and Clinical Associate Professor based at the University of Birmingham. Title of paper: Accessing Equitable Menopause Care in the Contemporary NHS – Women’s Experiences Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0781 Menopause awareness has increased in recent years, as well as HRT use, however, this has not been experienced equally. Cultural influences such as stigma, preferences for non-medical approaches, perceptions of ailments appropriate for healthcare, lack of representation, work against women seeking help. GPs should not assume all women who would benefit from HRT will advocate for it. They ought to initiate discussions about potential HRT, as well as other approaches, with all presenting women who may benefit. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.240 - 00:01:12.020 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate editors of the bjgp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're talking to Claire Mann, a research fellow who's based at the University of Warwick, and Sarah Hillman, who is a GP and Clinical Associate professor based at the University of Birmingham. We're here to discuss the recent paper published here in the BJGP titled Accessing Equitable Menopause Care in the Contemporary NHS Women's Experiences. Thanks, Claire and Sarah, for joining me here today to talk about this work. This study focuses particularly on the women's experience of menopause and accessing general practice and primary care. But I'll point out just before we begin that you've also published a linked paper looking at the clinician perspective. So anyone who's interested in that angle should look up your other paper. But back to this one. Sarah, I...

Counting GPs: When definitions change the workforce picture

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Luisa Pettigrew, a GP and Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Senior Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation. Title of paper: Counting GPs: A comparative repeat cross-sectional analysis of NHS general practitioners Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0833 There have been successive Government promises to increase GP numbers. However, the numbers of GPs in NHS general practice depend upon how GPs are defined and how data are analysed. This paper provides a comprehensive picture of trends in GP capacity in English NHS general practice between 2015 and 2024. It shows that the number of fully qualified GPs working in NHS general practice is not keeping pace with population growth and there is increasing variation in the number of patients per GP between practices. We offer research and policy recommendations to improve the consistency and clarity of reporting GP workforce statistics. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.040 - 00:01:04.810 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the Journal. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Louisa Pettigrew, who is a GP and research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Louisa is also a Senior Policy Fellow at the Health foundation and we're here today to talk about the paper that she's recently published here in the bjgp. The paper is titled Counting A Comparative Repeat Cross Sectional analysis of NHS GPs. So, hi, Louisa, and thanks for joining me here today to talk about your work. And I guess just to set things out, it is really important to know how many gps there are working. But I wonder if you could just talk us through what we already know about this. We know that there have been suc...

Talking GLP-1s: how GPs see their role in obesity management

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Jadine Scragg, a researcher based at the University of Oxford, and Sabrina Keating about their recent paper published here in the BJGP. Title of paper: GPs’ perspectives on GLP-1RAs for obesity management: a qualitative study in England Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0065 General practitioners (GPs) play a central role in managing obesity yet face significant challenges due to limited treatment options and resource constraints. GLP-1RAs are emerging as a promising treatment for obesity but access in primary care is limited. This study provides new insights into GPs’ perspectives on the integration of GLP-1RAs into primary care, highlighting concerns around resource limitations, health equity, and misuse of the medications. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.200 - 00:01:00.730 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the bjgp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. Today we're speaking to Judine Scragg, a researcher based at the University Oxford, and Sabrina Keating, a DPHIL student who's also based at the University of Oxford within the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. We're here to talk about their recent paper, published here in the BJJP, titled GP's Perspectives on GLP1 Receptor Agonists for Obesity Management A Qualitative Study in England. So, hi, Judine and Sabrina, it's great to meet you both for this chat. I guess the first thing to say is that this work is really topical at the moment, especially given current plans to increase the rollout of GLP1 receptor agonists into the community. But, Judine, I'll come to you first and I wonder if you could just tell us a bit more about what you wanted to do in this research and why. Speaker B 00:01:01.510 - 00:02:25.330 Yeah, absolutely. So, for a long time...

Receptionists reimagined: How online services are transforming the GP front desk

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Steph Stockwell, a senior analyst based at RAND Europe. Title of paper: Evolution of the general practice receptionist role and online services: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0677 The introduction of online systems and services into general practice and the impact on general practice staff has been considered from a clinician perspective, but comparatively little is known about how these introductions have affected the receptionist role. This study highlights that the use of online services is leading to an evolution of the general practice receptionist role. The role is becoming increasingly complex as practices use multiple online systems, which impacts demand management and navigation aspects of the role. Online systems have variable consequences on workload for receptionists, which has potential implications for workflow, consistency of task completion, job satisfaction, and retention and recruitment of these key staff members. This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.320 - 00:00:53.350 Hello and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Steph Stockwell, a senior analyst based at RAND Europe. We're here to discuss the paper she's published here in the BJGP titled Evolution of the General Practice Receptionist Role and Online Services A Qualitative Study. So, hi, Steph, it's great to meet and talk about this work and one of the reasons I really wanted to talk about this is that I think it's timely work, given that we know there's an increasing emphasis just in general practice on triage and also the multidisciplinary team. You talk in the introduction of this paper just about the role of receptionists, which has been evolving and changing in recent years...

Menopausal symptoms from hormone receptor positive breast cancer treatment

24 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Sophie McGrath, Consultant Medical Oncologist based at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and at Kingston Hospital in London. Title of paper: Management of menopausal symptoms following treatment for hormone receptor positive breast cancer Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0264 This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.800 - 00:01:11.660 Hello and welcome to BJJP Interviews. My name is Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the bjgp. Thanks for joining us today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Sophie McGrath, who is a consultant medical oncologist based at the Royal Morrison NHS Trust and at Kingston Hospital in London. We're here to talk about the recent analysis article that she and her colleagues have published here in the BJDP titled Management of Menopausal Symptoms Following Treatment for Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancer. And just to point out that these colleagues included not just medical oncologists, but also GPs and patients, which I think has really shaped this article and is one of the reasons why we wanted to highlight it here in the podcast. So, hi Sophie, thanks for meeting me to talk about this article, which I think touches on a really important topic in practice. But talk us through some of the initial side effects that you discuss in the introduction here. Just in terms of hormone positive breast cancer, what kind of symptoms do women experience generally as a result of endocrine therapy? Speaker B 00:01:12.220 - 00:02:32.900 So, yeah, thanks very much for asking. And it's a bit of a broad answer that I would give. I mean, I've focused on, or we have focused on three main symptoms within the article which relate to hot flushes or vasomotor symptoms, also to joint stiffness and pain and swelling, arthralgia, and also to vulvovaginal sym...

Inside the BJGP and editorial insights: Euan Lawson on the future of publishing and how to get published

20 min

Today, we’re speaking to Euan Lawson, the Editor in Chief of the BJGP, about a number of issues around editing, the future of the journal and how you can get involved with the BJGP. Here's a link to the BJGP Research and Publishing Conference: https://bjgp.org/conference This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.400 - 00:00:55.980 Hello and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the bjjp. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're speaking to Euan Lawson, who is the editor in chief of the bjjp. We're going to have a chat about a number of issues around the future of the Journal, around editorial issues and how you can get involved with the BJJP as well. So, hi, Ewan. Yeah, nice to see you. And just wanted to really start by saying thanks for joining me here today for this podcast. But yeah, thanks for joining me here today, Ewan, just to have a general chat about things going on with BJGP and your role as editor. And yeah, just a chance to catch up about some of your thoughts about issues around academic publishing and then just have a chat generally about other things that you've been thinking about as editor. So how's your week been? Speaker B 00:00:57.420 - 00:02:13.730 We've already had that conversation before we got here. Now we won't go there again. As you know, it's not been perhaps my ideal week. But as I'm delighted to be here and talking a little bit about what's going on with the Journal and just give a little bit of insight into how things are going, perhaps the biggest thing that we're I've recently written about the impact factor at the Journal, and perhaps the most important thing I need to say is that we don't worry too much about the impact factor. I know we do quite well on the impact factor, but I wrote an editorial which really pointed out that we...

Bridging the gap: GPs, patients, and mental health in perimenopause

19 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Jo Burgin, a GP and a researcher based at the University of Bristol. Title of paper: Mental health consultations during the perimenopausal age range – Are GPs and patients on the same page?: A qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0069 Mood changes are a recognised symptom of perimenopause, for which Hormone Replacement Therapy is considered a first line treatment. Recent studies have found mental health symptoms are overlooked in menopause care, which is mostly delivered in primary care. This study identifies some key barriers to identifying perimenopause in women presenting with mental health symptoms and suggests important changes clinicians could make to their consultations to address this.

Balancing safety and access: The GP’s role in isotretinoin management

18 min

In this episode, we speak to Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, a GP and MD candidate based at the Department of General Practice at University College Cork. Title of paper: Competencies and clinical guidelines for managing acne with isotretinoin in general practice: a scoping review Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0135 There is evidence of inequitable access to the most effective treatment for severe acne, isotretinoin. This scoping review identified the clinical competencies to safely manage acne using isotretinoin. No global consensus exists among clinical practice guidelines (CGPs) on whether GPs are appropriate prescribers of isotretinoin. Appropriately resourced and CPG-guided patient access to isotretinoin in primary care may promote safe, timely, and equitable acne management for patients and improve antimicrobial stewardship. Transcript: This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.440 - 00:01:07.850 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. My name is Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the bjgp. And welcome to our autumn edition of the BJGP podcast. We're kicking off with a new set of interviews for the next few months. So thanks again for joining us. Today we're speaking to Dr. Dermod Quinlan, who is a practicing GP in Cork and is also an MD candidate at University College Cork in Ireland. We're here today to discuss his paper, recently published in the BJGP titled Competency and Clinical Guidelines for Managing Acne with Isotretinoin in General Practice. A Scoping Review. So thanks very much, Dermid, for joining me here today to talk about this paper. But yeah, I guess I just wanted to start by saying that this is a really interesting paper and I think it covers a very common condition that we see in general practice and covers treatment, which can be quite difficult as well for acne. But I wonder if you could just start by telling us...

What do patients really want? Rethinking general practice access

15 min

Today, we’re speaking to Professor Helen Atherton. Helen is Professor of Primary Care Research based at the University of Southampton. Title of paper: What do patients want from access to UK general practice? Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0582 Widely accepted as perpetuated by the media is that patients are unhappy with access to general practice and desire faster access to a general practitioner. This review sought to summarise the research evidence about reported patient wants from access to general practice. Patients wanted to easily make an appointment in a timely fashion, to have a positive relationship with the practice, to see a specific clinician and choose consultation modality according to individual circumstance. Communication and being kept informed about access throughout the process of making and having an appointment, was something patients wanted, and this could be addressed by general practice. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.480 - 00:01:00.150 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Professor Helen Atherton. Helen is professor of Primary Care Research based at the University of Southampton, and we've only just speaking to her recently on this podcast about the increasing digitalization of general practice. This time we're speaking to her about her recent paper here in the BJDP titled what Do Patients Want from Access to UK General Practice? So, hi, Helen. It's really nice to speak again about this area of research and I guess I just wanted to start by saying that access is such a loaded word and really, when it comes to general practice, it's part of a fairly negative media campaign against general practice. But it seems that this negative narrative just...

ADHD medication – practical tips for GPs on how to recognise common side effects and what to do

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Sara Noden, a GP with an extended role in ADHD, and Dr Nishi Yarger, Consultant Psychiatrist in adult ADHD services. Title of paper: A guide for primary care clinicians managing ADHD medication side effects Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742653 Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.320 - 00:00:55.720 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors at the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Sara Noden, a GP with an extended role in ADHD, and Dr. Nishi Yarger, consultant psychiatrist in Adult ADHD Services. We're talking about the recent Clinical Practice article here in the BJGP titled A Guide for Primary Care Clinicians Managing ADHD Medication Side Effects. So, thanks. It's great to meet you both Sara and Nishi. This is a really topical area to highlight in the journal, and not least because it seems that every week there seems to be a new article in the media about the increasing diagnosis of adhd. So it's a really topical area to look at, but I guess, Sar, I just really wanted to start with what prompted you to write this article and why now? Speaker B 00:00:56.620 - 00:01:39.320 Yeah, so I think coming from a GP perspective, before I specialized in adhd, I think these medications did create a bit of anxiety, especially as they're controlled drugs, their stimulants, their specialist medications, and there was a lot that I didn't know about them as I since developed a special interest and it sort of demystified some of these medications. And I just. I think we wanted to pass on to primary care clinicians some of that knowledge that we've learned, some really basic things that they can look out for that may or may not be related to medications and some common things that they can advise and to know whe...

Risk of postural hypotension associated with antidepressants in older adults – what to think about when prescribing

14 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Cini Bhanu, GP and Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Primary Care and Population Health Department at University College London.  Title of paper: Antidepressants and risk of postural hypotension: a self-controlled case series study in UK primary care Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0429 Antidepressants are associated with postural hypotension (PH). This is not widely recognised in general practice, where antihypertensives are considered the worst culprits. The present study examined >21 000 older adults and found a striking increased risk of PH with use of all antidepressants (over a four- fold risk with SSRIs) in the first 28 days of initiation.  Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.480 - 00:00:56.990 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. My name is Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Cini Banu, who is a GP in an academic clinical lecturer based in the Department of Primary Care and Population Health at University College London. We're here to talk about her recent paper in the BJGP titled Antidepressants and Risk of Postural Hypertension, A Self Controlled Case Series Study in UK Primary Care. So, hi Cinny, it's really nice to meet you today. I guess this is an interesting area to cover, especially as the prescribing rates for some antidepressant medications are increasing. But I don't know what your feeling is, but I'm not sure if many GPs would actually know that antidepressants are associated with poison postural hypertension. So, yeah, talk us through that. Speaker B 00:00:57.310 - 00:01:18.350 Yeah, so I think that's one of the reasons this study is so important. So definitely from conversations that I've had with gps that I work with and it's not commonly recognized that postur...

The ‘new kid on the block’ – same day versus routine care appointment systems in general practice

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Jamie Scuffell, GP and NIHR In Practice Fellow at King’s College London. Title of paper: Patterns in GP Appointment Systems: a cluster analysis of 3480 English practices Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0556 GP practices in the UK are using a wide range of different appointment systems to meet patient demand and improve access. This cluster analysis of NHS appointment data from 56 million appointments and 3480 English practices demonstrates two predominant models of primary care delivery. ‘Same day’ practices tend to fulfil appointments on the same day using GP telephone consultations. ‘Routine care’ practices tend to employ non-GP staff members offering face-to-face appointments and longer appointment wait times. ‘Same day’ care practices had younger and more urban populations. Episode transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.640 - 00:00:54.360 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors of the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Jamie Scuffle, who is a GP in South London and an NIHR In Practice Fellow at King's College London. We're here to talk about a really topical issue in his new paper here in the bjgp. The paper is called Paper Patterns in GP Appointment A cluster analysis of 3,480 English practices. So, hi, Jamie, it's really great to meet you and talk about this work, I guess, really just to start, as you point out in this paper, each practice has their own systems and strategies to manage appointment booking. But how do you think that this impacts on access and patient appointment booking in each practice? Speaker B 00:00:55.000 - 00:02:17.300 Yeah, it's interesting because I think, as you say, appointment systems have developed even further, really, since COVID and we've ended up with this...

More chest x-rays lead to earlier lung cancer diagnoses and better cancer survival – what we can be doing differently in practice

18 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Steve Bradley, GP and Senior Clinical Lecturer based within the School of Medicine and Population Health at the University of Sheffield. Title of paper: General practice chest X-ray rate is associated with earlier lung cancer diagnosis and reduced all-cause mortality: a retrospective observational study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0466 It is known that there is wide variation in the use of chest X-ray (CXR) by general practices, but previous studies have provided conflicting evidence as to whether greater utilisation of them leads to lung cancer being diagnosed at an earlier stage and improves survival. This observational study analysed data from the English national cancer registry on CXR rates for individual general practices, along with stage and survival outcomes; it found earlier stage at diagnosis and improved survival for patients diagnosed with cancer at practices that used the test more frequently. Increasing use of CXR by GPs for symptomatic patients, particularly by focusing on practices that use the test infrequently, could improve lung cancer outcomes. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.640 - 00:01:06.820 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the Associate Editors at the Journal. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. In today's episode, we're talking to Dr. Steve Bradley. Steve is a GP and senior clinical Lecturer based within the School of Medicine and Population Health at the University of Sheffield. Early diagnosis of cancer has been an area of research that is Steve's real strength. And we're here to discuss his recent paper here in the BJJP titled General Practice. Chest X Ray Rate is Associated with Earlier Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Reduced All Cause Mortality A Retrospective Observational Study. Hi, Steve, Great to speak...

Using artificial intelligence techniques for early diagnosis of lung cancer in general practice

20 min

Today, we’re speaking to Professor Martijn Schut, Professor of Translational AI in Laboratory Medicine and Professor Henk CPM van Weert, GP and Emeritus Professor of General Practice, both based at Amsterdam University Medical Center. Title of paper: Artificial intelligence for early detection of lung cancer in GPs’ clinical notes: a retrospective observational cohort study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2023.0489 In most cancers, the prognosis depends substantially on the stage at the start of therapy. Therefore, many methods have been developed to enhance earlier diagnosis, for example, logistic regression models, biomarkers, and electronic-nose technology (exhaled volatile organic compounds). However, as most patients are referred by their GP, who keeps life-long histories of enlisted patients, general practice files might contain hidden information that could be used for earlier case finding. An algorithm was developed to identify patients with lung cancer 4 months earlier, just by analysing their files. Contrary to other methods, all medical information available in general practice was used. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.600 - 00:00:55.370 Hello and welcome to BJGP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the journal. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to this podcast. Today we're speaking to Professor Martin Schutt, who is a professor in translational AI and Laboratory medicine, and Professor Hank Vanwort, GP and Emeritus professor in General Practice, who are both based at Amsterdam University Medical Center. We're here to discuss their paper, which is titled Artificial Intelligence for Early Detection of lung cancer in GP's clinical notes. So, yeah, it's great to see you both here today. And Martin, I'll come to you first. I suppose we know that it's important to try and diagnose...

‘See the symptom, not the pregnancy’- a look at cancer diagnosis during pregnancy

14 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Afrodita Marcu, a Research Fellow in Cancer Care at the University of Surrey. Title of paper: Symptom appraisal and help- seeking before a cancer diagnosis during pregnancy: a qualitative study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0208 There is a gap in current understanding about the experiences of women diagnosed with cancer during or around pregnancy including how they appraise and seek help for cancer-related symptoms. This qualitative study found that women and healthcare professionals often interpreted symptoms through the lens of pregnancy, particularly when symptoms were vague. Health professionals need to ensure full assessment of symptoms, timely referral, and effective safety-netting for these women. Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:01.040 - 00:01:04.650 Hello and welcome to BJJP Interviews. I'm Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the bjgp. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Aphrodite Marcoux, a research fellow in Cancer care at the University of Surrey. We're here to talk about a paper she's recently published here in the bjgp, which is titled Symptom Appraisal and Help Seeking Before a Cancer Diagnosis during Pregnancy, A Qualitative Study. So it's really lovely to meet you, Aphrodita, to talk about your research. And I think this is a really important area and I wanted to get your thoughts on just why this area is so important to research. But I think that most people will probably appreciate that during pregnancy, women's bodies are going through lots of changes, so it can sometimes be difficult to know what's normal and what's not. But talk us through why you wanted to do this study. What are the challenges faced by patients and by doctors around cancer diagnosis in women who are pregnant? Speaker B 00:01:05.050 - 00:...

Prescribing testosterone in hypoactive sexual desire disorder – how to initiate it, and how to monitor it in general practice

18 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Stephen Gibbons, Consultant Clinical Biochemist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and Dr Clare Spencer, GP Partner and Menopause Specialist at the Meanwood Group Practice in Leeds. Title of paper: Optimising testosterone therapy in patients with hypoactive sexual desire disorder Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X741321 Transcript This transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions. Speaker A 00:00:00.400 - 00:01:08.824 Hello and welcome to BJJP interviews and welcome to our new season of the podcast. Hope you all had a great break over Easter and thanks again for listening to this podcast today. My name is Nada Khan and I'm one of the associate editors of the BJTP. In today's episode, we're speaking to Dr. Stephen Gibbons, consultant clinical biochemist at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, and Dr. Claire Spencer, a GP partner and menopause specialist at the Meanwood Group Practice in Leeds. We're here to talk about the recent clinical practice paper published here in the bjgp. The paper is titled Optimizing Testosterone Therapy in Patients with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. So thanks, Stephen and Claire, for joining me here today. It's great to talk to you about this paper, especially because it's in an area of a lot of interest to patients and clinicians in general practice wondering what to do about testosterone prescribing. I guess I wanted to kick things off, Stephen, really, by asking, what made you start investigating testosterone replacement in patients with hypoactive sexual desire disorder? Speaker B 00:01:08.952 - 00:03:09.662 So it was actually a conversation with a colleague at work over coffee and she mentioned to me that she'd noted quite a lot of high testosterone in females of a particular age and she was asking why that might be. So I explained it's probably because of TRT in this condition called hsdd, but that was...

Looking back at the BJGP Research Conference 2025

13 min

Today, we’re going to do something a bit different and take a look back at the recent BJGP Research Conference, which was held on the 21st of March 2025 in Manchester. I’m going to discuss some of the highlights and really focus on what the conference is about and how to get involved in the future. Here are some of the links I discussed in the podcast: Links https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1609406918797475 https://bjgplife.com/write-for-bjgp-life/

The challenges to diagnosing vulval lichen sclerosus and how to get it right

18 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Louise Clarke, a GP and researcher based at the University of Nottingham. Title of paper: Barriers to diagnosing and treating vulval lichen sclerosus: a survey study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0360 Previous research has identified a significant diagnostic delay and misdiagnosis of vulval lichen sclerosus (VLS), a condition most commonly presenting to primary care. Health care professionals (HCPs) in primary care share the concerns of women with VLS citing frequent misdiagnosis, embarrassment and lack of knowledge as barriers to diagnosis. In this survey, 92.6% of HCPs felt further education would be useful with 37.7% never having participated in learning on vulval skin disease, self-directed or otherwise. Key enablers identified to facilitate timely VLS diagnosis and treatment include: a comprehensive education programme for HCPs, implementation of standardised pathways of care and development of a VLS diagnostic criteria to be implemented in primary care workflow.

Differential attainment in the MRCGP exam – the impact of language of study and what this means for the future of RCGP exams

10 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown, a GP and Reader in Primary Healthcare and Health Policy at Queen Mary University of London, and Vice Chair for External Affairs at the Royal College of General Practitioners. Title of paper: Language of primary medical qualification and differential MRCGP exam attainment: an observational study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0296 To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on the association between the language of the primary medical qualification and attainment in the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) examination. It shows that undertaking undergraduate clinical training in a country where the native language is not English can statistically significantly and negatively affect examination performance in MRCGP exams. The study also shows statistically significant positive correlations between Multi- Specialty Recruitment Assessment, International English Language Testing System, and Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board scores and the MRCGP exam scores; this suggests that past performance in these assessments can help with the identification of those international medical graduate registrars who may find tailored support beneficial. 

The increasing digitalisation of general practice systems – how it’s impacting patients and what we can do about it

16 min

Today, we’re speaking to Professor Helen Atherton, Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Southampton. Title of paper: Supporting patients to use online services in general practice: focused ethnographic case study Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0137 Use of, and access to, online services are increasing within general practice in England. Current approaches to digital facilitation as observed in this study, appeared to be ad hoc and fitted around multiple services. Reception staff were key to supporting patients to use these platforms, but training, resources and support for such staff were not readily available. Enabling patients to have the best chance of using online services requires vision, strategy and investment of time and money. As practices and patients increasingly use online approaches to healthcare provision, practices should be mindful of patient groups who may find accessing services online to be a challenge and who thus require targeted help and support.

Using the PSA test in general practice – how should we approach testing in asymptomatic men?

17 min

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Sam Merriel, a GP, and NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Practice based at the University of Manchester. Title of paper: Factors affecting prostate cancer detection through asymptomatic PSA testing in primary care in England: Evidence from the 2018 National Cancer Diagnosis Audit Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0376 Asymptomatic, informed choice prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing occurs in primary care in the UK in the absence of a national prostate cancer screening programme. This study shows that four fifths of prostate cancers are diagnosed following symptomatic presentation rather than from asymptomatic PSA testing. There is a 13-fold variation in asymptomatic PSA test detected prostate cancer between English GP practices, without clear explanatory practice-level factors. Patient factors amongst men diagnosed with prostate cancer, including ethnicity, age, deprivation, and multi-morbidity, have a significant impact on the likelihood of being diagnosed following asymptomatic PSA testing.

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