Dr Lucy Henshall, being Lucy
@DrLucyHenshall
Followers
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Founder https://t.co/wuL6EQXlXk. Curious Intuitive Courageous Optimist. GP for 32yrs, now supporting careers of other GPs. @drlucyhenshall.bsky.social
Suffolk
Joined March 2019
Sometimes there are no words. We’d not seen our daughter since Dec 2019 when she left UK to work for 12months in #Australia. 24 months and a Pandemic later… she’s home… a month ahead of when she said! 😉.And in time for #Christmas. #BestSurprisePresent #Love.#Family #FullNest
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#bbcqt.Whose advice would you prefer listening to?.@LindaBauld - a Professor with massive epidemiological knowledge and scientific insights? .Or a CRG politician, and a guy who runs a chain of pubs?
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@LucyGoBag FFS 🤦♀️ .THATS OUTRAGEOUS. As a GP more than once I personally experienced ‘flooding’ ….mid 10 minute consultation. That was hard enough to deal with, in my late 40s as a knowledgable medic, and with only one other human in the room. For a teenager in a full schoolroom 🤯🤯🤯.
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth So PLEASE… sign @doctor_oxford letter in support of the restoration of @NHSPracHealth services. Know the saying .“Your life in their hands”?. Let’s ensure those hands (and minds) are as well as they can be. For all our sakes. Thank you 🙏 . 11/11.
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth If the humans in @NHSEngland have even a shred of decency and humanity; they will undo this heinous act tomorrow. The #NHS as a whole, is entirely reliant on its people. It’s workforce. It’s clinicians. Anything other than a rapid U turn and full apology is unthinkable. 7/11.
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#HMG are REALLY trying to hide the #Covidnumbers . Just logging my #LFT result on #NHSApp and this appears. If #tests are no longer free, how can any meaningful #selftest #Covid19 #data be gathered? 🙄🤷♀️. @CMO_England @TheBMA @MartinRCGP @UKHSA
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@criminographer @DarrenBowes3 Lost for words. Sending love and strength to help you through each day. That photo with his kind eyes will stay with me a long time
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth I personally, will not rest until @NHSPracHealth is open again to all in Secondary Care who previously had access. And I will campaign vigorously for access to be widened; WHEN @NHSEngland realise ONLY way it can proceed, is by supporting and funding this vital service . 8/11.
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth I have personally facilitated so many medical seniors and ‘names’ into @NHSPracHealth care - good people who were paralyzed by stigma, and unable to locally access care they deserved and needed. I’ve lost count of the suicidal Drs who are still alive thanks to NHSPH. 6/.
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What an incredibly patronizing school ma’am tone 🙄. These aren’t naughty school kids Victoria. They are the bulk and backbone of the NHS, the medical profession and also the future of healthcare in Britain. FFS just restore their pay please 🤷♀️. #PayRestoration #JuniorDoctors.
“I very much hope they’ve had time to reflect and they're able to come back with reasonable expectations”. Health Sec @VictoriaAtkins says junior doctors' “unreasonable demands” are stopping a pay deal being agreed. Watch tonight ⬇️.💻 LIVE 9PM @itvpeston.📺 1045PM @ITV. #Peston
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth It is simply absurd - and cruel in the extreme - to deny @NHSPracHealth care to those who pledge their own lives to caring for others. To care for the health of this nation. Any politician who disagrees, is very welcome to DM me and to arrange a 1:1 discussion. 9/11.
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth My life was saved by the care I was lucky enough to be able to pay for - the vast majority of the #NHSworkforce cannot do that. Nor should they. I shouldn’t have needed to either. Occ Health formally advised what I needed. It was not available on the #NHS. Still isn’t. 10/11.
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@NHSEngland I got better, because I personally paid for the care I needed. Despite having NO INCOME at all for over 18 months. Later I joined @NHSPracHealth as a Clinical Lead in advance of the national service rollout to GPs. I worked there for 5 years. It is an awesome service. 4/11.
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Disappointed that she consciously chose not to answer with a resounding ‘Yes’ to this fundamental question… .Stick up for your staff please. #PayRestoration.
"Do you think doctors and nurses in this country are worth more than they are paid?" asks #BBCLauraK. "Pay is a matter for unions and the government" says NHS England Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard.
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#BBCLauraK .Please ask @VictoriaAtkins to explain in detail, how it helps ANYONE… to abruptly defund ( from Mon 15th April) the @NHSPracHealth mental health care of doctors who work in hospitals. Akin to removing accessible effective fire extinguishers and then lighting a fire.
Joining #BBCLauraK. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins.Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.Green co-leader Carla Denyer.Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.OMass Therapeutics CEO Ros Deegan.Writer John O’Farrell. Sunday 9am @BBCOne .
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Be kind, it’s really not difficult. #bepolite #saythankyou #respect #care #compassion @FMLM_UK @ClareGerada @CNagpaul @civilitysaves.
"Somewhere along the line, the NHS has forgotten kindness" - how can we create a better culture for our members and colleagues? Have your say as part of our #NHSFuture project
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@doctor_oxford @RCPhysicians Dear Britain 🇬🇧 . I’m a recently retired #GP and sadly… like @doctor_oxford I am genuinely fearful of the political masterplan that this Government now has in mind. I’m also an #NHS patient with a life partner who is reliant on that #NHS care. I just want to scream #WAKEUP 🤷♀️.
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Hello #MedTwitter .May I ask for some love tonight?.It’s been quite a day. And Thank You 🙏.
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@NHSEngland @NHSPracHealth When I left @NHSPracHealth in 2022 to focus more on my freelance work, NHS PH was really thriving, and was providing vital care for Doctors and senior #NHS staff across the country. Although I was never a PH patient myself; they supported all my professional endeavours . 5/11.
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In 2016, an @NHSEngland Assistant Medical Director spoke with me F2F about the vulnerability of my #GP career if I did not resume GP work within weeks. “What a shame NHS PHP is not available to you - it’s exactly the care you deserve. I’m so sorry it’s unavailable to you” . 3/11.
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Direct negotiations without preconditions… offered again by @BMA_JuniorDocs . And @SteveBarclay writes via biased media whilst hiding in his holidays. Who do you trust/support?.#PayRestoration
I have the utmost respect for junior doctors, but the @BMA_JuniorDocs' demand for a 35% pay rise is unreasonable. I remain ready to meet the BMA as soon as they call off strikes and put forward a realistic proposal. Read more on this @Daily_Express 👇.
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I’ve spent the last three years (voluntarily) trying to get @NHSEngland to support GP returners. Why did you wait until a Pandemic before starting to listen? Still happy to discuss the why and the how @MattHancock - you have had my card for 12 months.
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Have just heard yet another young GP has died by suicide. Not someone I know personally, but one of our tribe. Pre-deceased by his wife, so now 2 young children are parentless. @NikkiKF @ClareGerada @DoctorsDistress @Jochurchill4 @didoharding @Prerana_Issar @MattHancock.
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Our daughter just landed by air from Spain. 11minutes after landing she walked straight through all airport ‘processes’ without a single check of anything relating to Covid status/paperwork etc. And people wonder why #COVID19 is surging again in England. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️.
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#RCGPAC .To sustain GP clinical work for 30+yrs with the enormous emotional burden of care, GPs need more than personal resilience. Prevention is always better than cure. When will routine access to funded Clinical Supervision and debrief be built into Training and GP careers?.
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It’s been a week. And then some. I have witnessed the very best of #NHS #care and #compassion, alongside the very worst of #NHS pressures - all from the perspective of a worried wife. My husband remains in hospital, tho now improving 😮💨. I just hope #ourNHS can also be rescued
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@gmcuk @DrAndrewGreen This @gmcuk reply also does not acknowledge the moral distress experienced by clinicians working in unsafe environments. That moral distress, (knowing that you cannot actually provide what the patients need), makes clinicians ill. @NHSPracHealth @bma @TheDA_UK @DoctorsDistress.
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I am truly without words. The shocking @NHSEngland .decision to cease funding @NHSPracHealth for Sec Care staff is just beyond the pale. DISGUSTING 🤬. @VictoriaAtkins @wesstreeting @doctor_oxford @mancunianmedic @djnicholl @AmandipSidhu01 @TheDA_UK @TheBMA @DoctorsDistress
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@eliistender10 Listen more, talk less. Never ignore your instinct. Find joy every day. Give generously, take little. Failing is great learning. Be curious, ask questions . Learn to love yourself. Look after your body. Take care of others. Be kind always.
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@MrAndrewCotter Such an absolute joy listening to you @MrAndrewCotter. You and #OliveandMabel have made so many people laugh during this very difficult #COVID19 filled year. #dogs #wellbeing #laughter
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Shocked at how empty the HoC chamber is….Where the **** are all the elected MPs? . Imagine if #TeamGP just decided not to turn up to work tomorrow - cos the business of the day looked a bit uncomfortable/tricky/busy. Just sayin….
Thanks to Dr Dan Poulter MP for securing last night’s important adjournment debate on Physician Associates (PAs), and for outlining serious patient safety concerns over the expansion of these roles.
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Was pondering which fabulous #charity or worthy cause to donate to this #Christmas in lieu of sending out hundreds of cards. Last year it was @TrussellTrust. #Foodpoverty is still rife and I still donate food. But this Christmas, the work of @Depheruk has really touched me.
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Doctors … becomes ‘medical professionals’. Dumbing down by stealth - and without appropriate consultation. No doubt justified by HMG adding PAs into the GMC regulatory system 🙄. #GoodMedicalPractice2024. @parthaskar @VictoriaTzB .@DrSteveTaylor @doctor_katie .Your thoughts?
🧵The updated standards for all UK doctors are now in effect #GoodMedicalPractice2024 You can access a new digital version of the standards on our website. We've improved how these are presented and structured, so you can quickly find the information you're looking for 🔎
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@CarlOakden @DanNethercott @apnoeaboy Your special team, helping the special machines do magic, are indeed very special - because even when people have something they could have avoided by having the thing they don’t believe in…. Your special team is still kind and caring. I hope someone is being kind to you too. 🤗.
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@RobJimFleming You are a human first, a medic second. It should not surprise anyone that you might suffer the same illnesses as others. Though we know stigma is rife - and damaging. Thank you for your honest share. I wish you a smooth recovery. Take all the time you need. You deserve no less.
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@mjv__1 I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I am also so embarrassed by this country’s abject neglect and total disrespect for our future medical workforce. Just know that your peers DO love, value and respect you for who you are - and the immense potential that you have. 🤞4 u.
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@DrSimonHodes @BethMatthewsz @charliemackesy @DrSimonHodes I’m so happy it helped. I love this book. I have gifted copies to many friends - and received multiple copies myself too ❤️. @charliemackesy you know what you have done. I just want to thank you again 🙏.My 2020 @comicrelief purchase hangs on our kitchen wall
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@parthaskar @KamilaRCGP @rcgp Nicely phrased @Partha. During my 3yrs on RCGP COUNCIL (19-22) we did discuss SAS in General Practice. Excellent debates and I believe a fair outcome - best paraphrased as “needs lots more thought/debate b4 it could work safely”. Don’t recall any mention of PAs then. And now?🤯.
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It’s been one hell of a tough weekend for anyone who cares about the mental health of #NHS staff. So if you are shocked, hurting, or angry at what @NHSEngland have done to @NHSPracHealth and those it seeks to care for… pls know that there is a growing army of activists - ready.
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I’m a lone, now clinically retired member of #TeamGP . And yet… I feel my professional voice has never felt stronger and more relevant than it is now.l. If #GPRetention and #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare matter to you…then let’s join hands to unmask the truths and realities now
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This is shocking reporting @BBCBreaking .#Migraine ended my GP clinical consulting career and it continues to blight my life now. Not a minor illness - but a genetically determined neurological disorder causing huge distress and significant disability. #MigraineAwarenessWeek
I’m sorry,@BBCBreaking but we really don’t need you to add to #migraine stigma by referring to it as a ‘minor illness’.As @DehennaDavison has highlighted,migraine may be a life-changing neurological condition. Please raise awareness,don’t perpetuate myths.
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@JimBethell @HelenRSalisbury Interesting you choose to quote only these national leads in NHS England - none of whom are practising GPs. None of whom have FRCGP as they all come from other disciplines within medicine. Have you also sought out the views of @doctor_katie @DrSteveTaylor @lizzie_toberty ??.
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@JasonManford Please use your platform and influence to shine a light in the truth of all this. So the solutions come from those who CAN fix things. Patients can’t. GPs can’t. Government can, and must. Patients need their GPs.GPs are all patients too. We are on the same side. #GPCrisis .2/2.
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How is it possible that I’m almost 60 and this iconic and wonderful film is almost 30 - and yet tonight is the first time we’ve actually met?. #ShawshankRedemption #Hope
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@lozzlemcfozzle @OrthopodReg Keep a diary. Document all related conversations. Keep all emails. Document the quotes others in the Trust give you, which can be useful evidence on a plate. Don’t doubt yourself. If there is bullying at work, then it’s high time it was exposed. @TheBMA.
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@LornaMoxham My late mother-in-law was a nurse first, then she studied medicine, and became dual-qualified as a paediatrician and as a paediatric surgeon. My father-in-law never went to med school but he had two PhDs. One nurse, a Professor and four doctors between the two of them 😂.
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Twas a Pharmacist who rang me - and in the end a good useful discussion with a helpful outcome. But please folks… just introduce yourself by name and role. It’s not rocket science and the medical records will prove who you are/were anyway - so why the hesitancy??. #TeamGP.
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That’s not an apology, that’s #victim-blaming of the very worst kind. 🤬. Shocking response from @MPGeorgeEustice.@DisRightsUK @DisabilityGovUK.@HannahPopsy .#COP26
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For those who might struggle to understand the impact of this outrageous funding cut… Peter’s 4minute blog explains it succinctly. Please add your voice to the call for a rethink.
✍️| Dr Peter Bailey, who has worked for NHS Practitioner Health for five years, has written about the decision to roll back mental health support for hospital doctors and staff.
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@SalBrinton This is a really sinister form of Government lead Darwinian selection. If you are CEV, try to:. “….avoid people/places with the the unseeable virus, and don’t mix with asymptomatic carriers either ….”.🤷♀️. Guess that’s my hubby stuck at home again for the next 6-12 months ….
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@ShaunLintern Shaun please tell it as it is. This isn’t just a backwards step but a blatant disregard for the mental welfare of an entire Secondary Care workforce traumatised and damaged by over a decade of cuts AND the brutal experiences of a Pandemic. Cutting this support feels criminal 😡.
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@natalieben @JimBethell @TheBMA @TheDA_UK @EveryDoctorUK Absolutely do not recognise this ridiculous claim. @JimBethell exactly how many GP consultations have you conducted personally? . Listen to the lived experience of actual GPs who have conducted in excess of 100 000 consultations personally … and pls stop making things up 🤷♀️.
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@DrNeenaJha Children have a very beautiful way of just being human don’t they. If only more of that natural child’s curiosity and simple love for each other persisted into adulthood. Anyway, more importantly ….How ARE you Neena? .How are YOU?.
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Just how low can #racists go? .Horrendous. Great quote from his Mum. Wise words - painfully true. These three incredible young men deserve our love, and gratitude for all they do - on pitch and off. @MarcusRashford ❤️ .@Sanchooo10 ❤️ .@BukayoSaka87 ❤️
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Such powerful presentations from @Dr2NisreenAlwan and Clare Rayner on the realities of #LongCovid.@SOMNews @UKVRA @UofGlasgow .#LongCovidSummit.#LongCovidandWork .Up next the awesome @lesleymacniven
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@DrAndrewGreen @MattHancock Especially when it was made absolutely explicit in yesterdays no 10 briefing, by the scientists, that the drug would only be used to treat Covid 19 INPATIENTS requiring oxygen or ventilation 🙄.
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Today is first day of a new job for a GP we have facilitated back to work after an unexpected 18 months off for damn good reason. What a vile welcome from @Telegraph and media at large. Please remember GPs are each #humantoo and are doing their very best. @NHSEngland @NikkiKF.
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@SteveBarclay Oh FFS give us a break @SteveBarclay . This is literally what GPs do, and the public know that. Quit your media ‘launches’ and please just get on with the Health Secretary role, ie putting right an NHS crisis of your own making. #GeneralPractice #TeamGP needs support NOW.
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I’m a #GP - married to a fellow GP who is CEV. He was clinically active late summer until an illness, then trauma. Despite his triple vaccinated status he developed #Covid on Christmas Day. He’s just fine now 😁.I have stayed Covid-free. #Vaccines save lives .#GetVaccinatedNow.
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@BubsandJacks And in some cases it really IS best to see a GP - because they are the expert generalist with the training and expertise to manage uncertainty and complexity, and assess risk/benefits of interventions. All the others have a potential place too - In addition, not instead of GPs.
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@RevRichardColes Rang an ex-patient of mine who lives alone. I’ve not been her GP for over 5 years now, but we still speak by phone. I thought she might be lonely and enjoy a chat. Week later a brand new copy of a book she mentioned, arrived here by post. She’s 99, almost blind and housebound.
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@BluePeterGeorge We do have a huge shortage of doctors . And we also have many experienced doctors who cannot now find work, because under resourced practices cannot afford to employ them (instead they are incentivised to employ others via ARRS scheme). Both are true - it’s deeply worrying.
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@KentLMC_Rocks Please take your leave. And use it to rest, relax and replenish yourself. With my @NHSPracHealth Clinical Lead hat on… I’m advising that it’s the only right thing for you to do. End of.
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Is there anything more lovely, and loving, than the intentional gaze of a very beautiful black Labrador ? . She’s really very poorly 😔 and we love her soo soo very much. #DogsofTwitter #Dogsarefamily
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@Sathnam Like waiting for a bride to come into view. View from my house this morning. The anticipation is exhausting. This tree is why we bought this house almost 15 years ago.
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@rcgp @KamilaRCGP @KamilaRCGP what is College doing about the insane reality of experienced GPs being nudged off the Performers List by @NHSE, bcos they literally cannot find suitable work thanks to ARRS funded staff taking precedence?. They take other jobs, then NHSE say that ain’t GP work 🤷♀️😡.
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@trishgreenhalgh Overqualified for the job?, undervalued by the recruiter?.But HUGELY respected by our profession. Savour the affirmation and just carry on being you!.
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@Parody_RCGP Why do women need to speak to a GP to get an abortion? Surely this should be self-referral?.
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Serious Q to clinically retired Drs (ie who have relinquished GMC Licence) . In current climate of regulatory chaos, is there any merit at all in staying on the #GMC Register without a Licence? . It used to be viewed as a mark of ongoing professionalism 🙄
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@ClareGerada Because the entire system just does not recognise the transitional zone for what it is - possibly the most fragile part of the whole patient journey. It’s not the fault of Primary Care or Secondary Care. But of underinvestment everywhere. Please don’t be divisive @ClareGerada.
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#FestivalofRemembrance.So humbling to listen to this wonderful 95 yr old WW2 #veteran .My late father would have been 98 this year. I have watched this ceremony ever since I was a young child. Because he taught me about what my Grandfather did in WW1. #WeWillRememberThem
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@michelledrage @ClareGerada Forgive me stating the obvious - but most of us live several hours from the nearest Nightingale Hospital anyway. And I’m not aware of any successful NHS staff cloning exercise since Covid first wave either. Deeply deeply worrying times.
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Today (non-work day) .I had 1:1 dialogue with 5 UK trained GPs. All in their 40s and 50s. 3 are no longer in clinically practice as already ill-health retired. 2 been/are long term sick. Youngest probably soon leaving the #NHS for good. Where’s the workforce growth @MattHancock?.
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#TeamGP I need your thoughts . I’ve now seen enough individual GPs, who are doing excellent but atypical/low volume clinical work, being picked off and challenged/hobbled by NHSE Appraisal processes, to believe this is a deliberate pattern, not a glitch. Who does it help? 🤔🤷♀️.
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#TeamGP. Just had a phone consultation (submitted an eConsult on Monday re a potential need for medication change). Caller opened with .“I’m ringing from the surgery”. Had to ask 3 times just to establish the caller’s name and role… they kept repeating the same opener …🙄.
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