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Welcome News


TWO IN FIVE GPs HAVE A


MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM FORTY per cent of GPs suffer a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder or bipolar disorder. A survey of over 1,000 GPs by mental health charity Mind also found


Welcome to your


FEW professions out there allow access to the most personal aspects of an individual’s life. Doctors are no doubt in a privileged position and therefore turst is the cornerstone of any doctor-patient relationship. Our article on page 12 looks at maintaining appropriate professional boundaries. Physician associates are an


increasingly common sight in GP practices. While they are well known in the US, they are still a relatively unknown quantity in the UK. Our article on page 4 takes a closer look at this new medical professional. Another key team member is the locum GP – but what is the job like? Locum GP Surina Chibber shares her insights on page 8. Online prescribing can be a


convenient and effective way to provide patient care but there are risks. On page 5, MDDUS medical adviser Dr Naeem Nazem highlights issues such as


COVER PHOTOGRAPH: MARK SINCLAIR


providing prescriptions without a face-to-face examination or full patient information. Computer alerts pop up multiple times a day in practice, but don’t be too quick to dismiss them. Senior risk adviser Liz Price explains why on page 7. Would you know what to


do if a patient presents with a dental emergency? Risk adviser Lindsey Falconer has practical advice on page 6. When he’s not working at


a busy practice, GP Rob Ewing imagines himself as a 10-year- old girl on a post-apocalyptic island or perhaps as a Victorian anorexic. On page 10 he tells GPST about his ‘other’ calling as an award-winning author. Our case study on page 14 follows a woman presenting with abdominal pain having recently had a positive pregnancy test.


• Dr Susan Gibson-Smith Editor


that more were likely to look for mental health support from friends and family (84 per cent) or their own doctor (77 per cent), rather than colleagues (45 per cent), practice managers (30 per cent) or professional bodies such as the GMC (one per cent). Mind is calling on the government and NHS to tackle the work-related


causes of stress and poor mental health, such as excessive workload and long hours. It is also calling on clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and GP practices to ensure the whole primary care workforce (including practice managers, reception staff and practice nurses) receives appropriate support when needed and has workplace policies and procedures in place to better promote staff wellbeing. RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard added: “More needs to


be done to solve the root cause of the untenable workload and pressures that GPs are dealing with, and that means more resources, and more doctors and practice team members working in UK general practice.”


EDITOR: Dr Susan Gibson-Smith


MANAGING EDITOR: Joanne Curran


ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Jim Killgore


DESIGN: Connect Communications connectmedia.cc


PRINT: 21 Colour 21colour.co.uk


CORRESPONDENCE: GPst Editor MDDUS Mackintosh House 120 Blythswood Street Glasgow G2 4EA


t: e: 0333 043 4444 jcurran@mddus.com w: www.mddus.com EXPANSION OF ELECTRONIC


PRESCRIBING IN ENGLAND ELECTRONIC prescribing in GP surgeries and pharmacies in England is to be expanded, bringing estimated savings of up to £300 million for the NHS by 2021, according to the government. Use of electronic prescribing by GP surgeries has grown from less than one per cent in June 2010 to 63 per cent in June 2018. More than 6,000 GPs are now able to upload prescriptions electronically, which can be downloaded by a pharmacist, saving time for staff and patients. Thousands of paper prescriptions are still issued each year but


GPst is published by The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, Registered in Scotland No 5093 at Mackintosh House, 120 Blythswood Street, Glasgow G2 4EA. The MDDUS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MDDUS are discretionary as set out in the Articles of Association. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in GPst are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland.


changes to current regulations are to be made later this year to expand electronic prescribing for nearly all prescriptions. Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, said: “We need to


harness technology across the NHS to improve care, save time for patients and make the lives of hardworking staff easier.”


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