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by The British Journal of General Practice
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 edito
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- 4 days ago19 min
When women’s pain goes unheard: chronic pelvic pain and sexual violence
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 studyAvailable at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0057Chronic 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.TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:00.240 - 00:00:56.560Hi, 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 experiences of women with chronic pelvic pain who have also experienced sexual violence.What did you feel was missing from what we already know in this area?Speaker B00:00:57.650 - 00:02:15.360Yeah, I suppose the.I approached this research topic with anecdotal evidence, having worked with survivors of nursing and sexual violence for about 10 years before I started researching this.Just anecdotal evidence that lots of women also lived with chronic pelvic pain.And I didn't, you know, I hadn't any thoughts about the association really, or whether it was causal or what, but I just noticed that the women I was supporting before training as a psychologist, they were living with chronic pelvic pain, and a lot of them had found it very difficult to seek health care and to receive health care for that.So I just started speaking to Amanda about that, and from our conversations, we started thinking about the meaning of pain and how there's an established association within the literature about chronic pain, chronic pelvic pain after sexual violence.But what's the meaning of that for the women who live with it?That felt missing.And because meaning, personal meaning, is so key to understanding a personal lived experience of pain, it felt like a gap that we could begin to address by asking women, how do you make sense of the pain that you're living with?Came from there, really.Speaker A00:02:15.440 - 00:02:24.400And your background is as a clinical psychologist.So interpreting what pain means is quite a personal thing for a lot of women, isn't it?I guess.Speaker B00:02:24.480 - 00:03:23.180Yeah, absolutely.Yeah.Is very personal and.And complex as well.The.The attempts to understand exactly what pain means to a woman is, you know, you take into account those experiences of trauma very often, but not always, and you take into account the social context and what's going on around them, how sort of how they've come to be in the situation they're in.So, yeah, it is Highly personal and effective treatment can't really start until that's understood because the way that a woman will approach her attempts to seek health care is very much led by how she makes sense of it.So if she's.Some of the women in the study linked it to surviving sexual violence, then the meaning is wrapped up in that.Has she disclosed that to her healthcare provider?Do
- 1 weeks ago16 min
From barriers to belonging - Black researchers in academic primary care
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 studyAvailable at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0175Researchers 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.TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:01.120 - 00:00:54.620Hi 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 knew in this area and what you felt was missing from the picture.Speaker B00:00:55.260 - 00:01:34.840Firstly, thank you so much for having me on to talk about the work that we did so the way this sort of came about.So primary care serves some of the most diverse communities in the uk, but what we realised is, when you look at primary care, researchers of black heritage remain largely underrepresented, especially in more senior academic and leadership roles.And so because of that, we wanted to understand, well, why does this gap exist and, you know, what can we do to improve representation but also improve retention of researchers of black heritage and their career progression as well?Speaker A00:01:34.920 - 00:01:43.320And you spoke to people from a black background, is that right?So talk us through just who you discussed this project with and how you got those.Speaker B00:01:43.640 - 00:03:01.100Yeah.So to start with the project team itself, there's myself, I'm a researcher of South Asian heritage.We had Adwa and Ralph, who are researchers of black heritage.Manpreet Rains is a researcher of South Asian heritage.We have Professor Joe Kai on the team, who is also of Asian Heritage.And we had Professor Christian Mallon on the team as well, who is a senior leader at the School for primary Care research.And so we had sort of that diversity within the study team.We predominantly wanted to speak to researchers of black heritage who are working in academic primary care across all levels, so from junior up to senior.And we also spoke to leaders of departments where, you know, they're leading academic primary care departments as well.And we, you know, really wanted to explore what, especially with the researchers, you know, barriers that they've experienced or barriers that they know of as well as what's gone well for them as well, you know, for their progression opportunities that they've had, but also, you know, what their thoughts and feelings were around the current level of representation and what could be done and with leaders as well.We sort of spoke about some of the barriers, but also some of the work that might be going on on to address some of these barriers as well.Speaker A00:03:01.340 - 00:03:25.340Just the introduction to your paper and work that's been done more widely in this area.We do know that the underrepresentation of researchers of black heritage drops off, part
- 2 weeks ago19 min
Recurrent UTIs: which non-antibiotic approaches actually work?
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 trialsDOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0055Recurrent 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.TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:00.560 - 00:00:55.830Hi 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 lives and I guess I just wanted to go through what prompted you to take this angle in this review and think about non antibiotic options for preventing them?Speaker B00:00:56.520 - 00:02:38.580Well, it was exactly that, that I had a colleague, a non clinical colleague who had recurrent UTI and I guess I hadn't really appreciated the massive impact that they had in terms of, you know, keeping, being ill, keeping missing work, everything else.And it did make me think again about my own practice, whether I really manage recurrent UTI or whether I just manage it as a series of one off events.So it made me think about my own practice.And then also the reason we looked at non antibiotic options was because the Primary Care Research Centre in Southampton where I work, we do a lot of work on infections and on antimicrobial stewardship and we were aware that prophylactic antibiotics tend to be quite well used and also series of one off antibiotic episodes are quite well used but that the non antibiotic interventions, we felt they were less well used and just wanted to know the evidence behind it.Apart from doing infections research, we also do a lot of research on how to support people self manage long term conditions and we thought we could make a brilliant resource or online intervention to help people prevent urinary tract infection.And as part of that we just wanted to know a bit more about the evidence based and in some ways we were a little disappointed that there wasn't much evidence for some of the very commonly advised things, but also surprised that for some things like methenamine and vaginal estrogen, actually the evidence base is, is pretty well established now.So it was interesting.Speaker A00:02:38.900 - 00:03:04.080Yeah.And as you said, there's a huge number of things that women are told might help prevent recurrent UTIs and this was an umbrella review that brought together evidence from 27 systematic reviews.But let's just talk through what.So you mentioned about vaginal oestrogen, because this seems to be one of the clearest messages from the review.Talk us through what you found and how strong is the evidence here?Speaker B00:03:04.480 - 00:04:07.360So there were seven systematic reviews covering vaginal estrogen and they were pretty positive and especially the most recent one.To be fair, most of the evidence is in post menopausal women, but the NICE guideline changed in 2024 to say perimenopausal and postmenopausal, because there's awareness in the rest of the me
- 3 weeks ago20 min
Local incentives and general practice: what does the evidence show?
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 reviewAvailable at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0377Most 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.TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:00.480 - 00:01:01.140Hi 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 B00:01:01.220 - 00:01:54.400Thanks.I guess by a local deep incentive scheme, we mean something that's kind of locally designed or locally commissioned within a ICB footprint to try and address any particular population health challenges or local nuances that go over and above national policy, things like the Quality and Outcomes Framework.I guess what was really insightful for us through doing this piece of work was actually through an FOI that we undertook.Like 90, 98% of ICBs actually have their own local gene for incentive schemes, but we only identified 17 schemes through the published literature, the last one being from 2018.So getting on for 10 years ago, and the fact that we know that so many ICVs are doing these things, but there's not the evidence body there, there's not the learning and sharing of best practice to really inform policy and help ICVs all try and address their local challenges.Speaker A00:01:55.210 - 00:02:10.650Yeah.And you've mentioned qof and I guess a lot of people are really familiar with qof, and as you mentioned, there are lots of local schemes sitting alongside it.And I wonder if you have an idea of just what sort of things they're trying to incentivize, just from sort of the background to your work.Speaker B00:02:11.210 - 00:04:48.850Yes.So, as part of my day job, I help design and deliver the local GP incentive scheme in Greater Manchester.It's roughly valued about £17 million for this year.And I think what we try to do is use QOF as a bit of a body of evidence, but also look at a lot of our local and national data to really highlight where we think we can make a difference with these local incentive schemes.So, for the 26, 27 financial year, we've done a piece of work to really home in on CBD and diabetes as one area, respiratory as another area, elective care.So we can get the interface between primary and secondary care and also antimicrobial stewardship.I think one of the things that's really fleshed out from that is the impact of non attenders on things like qof.So through qaff, if patients have two or one invites seven days apart, they automatically get exception reported if they don't necessarily attend.But what we found through our local data is actually there's a really strong link between those people and actually poorer CBD control and wide use of healthcare systems.So.So through our local GP insentive scheme, we've really designed almost a narrow cohort that looks at
- Oct 6, 202620 min
Diagnosing in the dark: recognising childbirth-related PTSD in general practice
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 gapAvailable at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2026.0269TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:00.320 - 00:00:58.460Hi 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 B00:00:59.310 - 00:01:46.360Yeah, 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 experience from pregnancy or birth. So birth trauma is a broader term and then PTSD is a specific diagnosis.Speaker A00:01:46.520 - 00:02:14.480And we were talking just before we started about the wider reach of this work and how, um, it's been picked up more in the mainstream media. But you've also had people telling you about their stories as well.And what I find quite sad in a way is that there have been a number of reviews around inadequate care in women's health.And I'm really struck by some of the poor outcomes that you mentioned in the article, like high suicide rates in women postnatally as well, which is really shocking, actually.Speaker B00:02:14.880 - 00:03:14.130Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the people who I've spoken to.So I've had a really involved patient participation group with the work that I've been doing, and they've talked about their own experiences, even in situations where they've had really extreme birth complications. So, for example, a neonatal loss or severe physical injury, even in those circumstances, may have struggled to access support.I've also been contacted by a member of the public since the paper was published and since there was media interest in this, talking about her own experiences of birth almost 30 years ago and difficulty in dealing with that going forward. So it clearly is a big issue.It's also important to say that even if a birth looks straightforward medically on paper, it's still possible to develop birth trauma symptoms and indeed ptsd. So it doesn't have to be a birth with serious complications or a poor outcome for somebody to develop these symptoms.Speaker A00:03:14.620 - 00:03:37.180Yeah, and I think that's one of the things that really struck me in the article, is that birth trauma is very subjective and that these issues can happen like, just like you're saying, just after what might appear to have been or appears to be a medically uncomplicated birth. And I think that's probably really important for GPs to understand in terms of what this will look like when women present to their gps as well.Speaker B00:03:37.260 - 00:04:27.610Yes.And I think an important consideration is that when women keep referring to women, but I include in that people with other gender identities who have a baby, but when women go into pregnancy, they come to pregnancy with all of their past experiences.And we know that people who have had difficult previous experiences, so for example, intimate partner violence, previous adverse childho
- Sep 29, 202614 min
Does GP income meet expectations? The impact on job satisfaction
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 studyAvailable at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0683Recruitment 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.TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:01.040 - 00:00:58.350Hello 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 talk a little bit about the background to this paper and it's about GP income and job satisfaction, which is clearly a topic that people have plenty of opinions about. But what made you want to look at this question in a bit more detail?Speaker B00:00:58.590 - 00:02:08.930So, yeah, it's something we had been discussing internally as a team for a while, obviously, I mean, working in a primary care group, a lot of the driving motivation for a lot of our work is the GP recruitment and retention crisis. And we've always had, we've had this data for a while on GP income from us via our surveys.We've also had this data on GP income expectations and this has been in the survey forever and we've never, we hadn't used anything with it and basically because a lot of us are economists as well as this concept in economics of the Easterland Paradox or the idea that relative income matters more than actual income for happiness.And so we decided that, well, it would be like, like because we are interested in the GP recruitment and retention crisis, it would be interesting to look at the extent to which relative income matters for GP recruitment and retention. So job satisfaction and intentions to quit being two components of recruitment and retention.Speaker A00:02:09.330 - 00:02:14.290So you mentioned about a survey. So are you talking about the GP Work Life Survey that was done through Manchester?Speaker B00:02:14.370 - 00:02:17.130We are indeed, yeah. So the GP Work Life Survey.Speaker A00:02:17.130 - 00:02:28.110Yeah, yeah. So talk us through that just briefly. So what was that all about? I think, I mean there have been a few publications in the BJGP about it, but what.Who are you surveying through that?Speaker B00:02:28.590 - 00:03:18.400So the GP Work Life Survey has been going since I believe, 1998.It's been run by Manchester for I believe, all of its history and it's a government funded survey and when we do it we are attempting to a sample of the general GP population to basically ask about various things to do with their work life, including more sort of like formal things like their income and how many hours they're working, but also just how satisfied they are with their jobs, different aspects of their jobs. Yeah, so we collect lots of data on the GP to respond, and, yeah, we aim to get as general a sample of a population as we can.Speaker A00:03:18.800 - 00:03:40.000And I think one of the really interesting things about this study is that you're not just asking how much GPs actually earn,
- Sep 22, 202615 min
The NHS Health Check and mortality: do they help people live longer?
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 careAvailable at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0451The 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.TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:01.440 - 00:00:58.570Hi 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 about, about what the NHS Health Check program is actually designed to do.Speaker B00:00:59.050 - 00:02:16.370Yeah, absolutely.So the NHS Health Check program was rolled out in 2009 and it's essentially a population level preventative initiative, focusing particularly on cardiovascular disease, but potentially wider as well.And so it's specifically targeted at people who are between the ages of 40 and 75 and who don't already have a, a cardiovascular disease or a known cardiovascular disease. And I think that's really important because it's targeting people who are potentially at risk or have undetected disease.And what this means is, so ultimately the health check itself, it consists of a check that's usually undertaken by primary care, so looking at lifestyle factors, modifiable risk factors, biochemical tests, as well as sort of just other general checks. And importantly, this is embedded into primary care pathways.So essentially it's ensuring that these patients are followed up if they are determined to be high risk and potentially put on prescriptions or followed up with lifestyle modifications. So that's generally what the health check is at the moment.Speaker A00:02:16.690 - 00:02:31.070Brilliant. Yeah. And I guess the big question behind this paper is, do they actually make a difference?And I wonder what did we actually know about the impact of NHS health checks before you started this work? So what was out there in the literature already?Speaker B00:02:31.550 - 00:04:07.320Yeah, so there is a, a huge amount of evidence in different parts of the health check. So you might be aware already that it's a multifaceted intervention. So there's, there's the process bits like uptake and invitation.So there's a big amount of evidence that's been telling us that it's really important that we even just the method of invitation can be really influential on who takes up the health check. But then there's also the specific parts of the check itself.So how we communicate risk to patients, for example, can have an impact on how people go home and take on lifestyle advice. And then there's the body of evidence that's closer to where this paper sits, which is looking at clinical outcomes.And there is a whole body of evidence looking at surrogate markers, so things like does it shift the marker on blood pressure or bmi. And then there's the evidence on mortality, for example, or clinical endpoints such as stroke.And so far the evidence is predominantly positive to say we do see a change in clinical outcomes.And more re
- Sep 15, 202620 min
AI scribes: The impact on the consultation, the notes and relationships in practice
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.2026.0097TranscriptThis transcript was generated using AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Please be aware it may contain errors or omissions.Speaker A00:00:00.320 - 00:01:15.600Hi 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 B00:01:16.160 - 00:01:45.660Well, it's the technologies based on artificial intelligence that detects conversations, so between the patient and gp, or between GP and other colleagues. And in consultations, it then generates a summary of what's been discussed, but also does some other things as well.So, for example, it might add some coding labels for specific things that are mentioned, and then all of that goes into the patient's electronic health record.Speaker A00:01:45.980 - 00:02:15.130And I think that these tools are often presented, at least to some of the GP colleagues that I know and work with, as almost like an obvious win for general practice. So less documentation, more efficiency, and maybe more time with patients.But what made you want to just take a pause and think about some of the assumptions behind some of those quick wins that people might be thinking about, thinking about.Speaker B00:02:15.450 - 00:03:31.980And I mean, I think it's interesting, isn't it, because ever since we started to introduce different technologies into the consultations, there's often been an assumption that every new thing would be a quick win.And even since the introduction of the computer, you make for greater efficiency and it will be easier to store data, to retrieve data, to share data, et cetera. And of course, a lot of the time what those technologies do is they drive particular activities.I think it's been interesting just to think about how introduction of different technologies and platforms and digital approaches has driven a much more transactional, quantifiable way of working.And those things that can be recorded and can be captured in technologies or enabled by technologies have been promoted, perhaps at the expense of some of the less quantifiable, more nuanced activity. So suppose it was looking at that journey of technologies and just trying to think about what this next step might also add to that picture.Speaker A00:03:32.220 - 00:03:41.820And one of the things you talk about in the article is that AI scribes could create what you call false efficiencies. But can you unpick what you mean by that?Speaker B00:03:42.300 - 00:04:53.150I think there's this assumption that actually the summaries and the codes that AI scribes will generate will be very time saving for gps. And no GP ever has enough time. So everybody's looking for, as you put it, the quick wins.And some of the challenges with the outputs from AI inscribes are that they often produce very long transcripts because they're trying to capture a summary of everything that was discussed and that gets entered into the record. And obviously it takes time for subsequent clinicians to look thr
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About BJGP Interviews
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 edito
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