In a special Sixtieth Episode of the General Practice Podcast, general practice expert Ben Gowland answers questions sent in by listeners. With the questions chosen and put to Ben by recent “podcastee” Tara Humphrey, he responds on issues ranging from the attractiveness of GP careers, through innovations in patient participation and on to the threat (or otherwise) posed by Sustainability and Transformation Plans.
Dr Anne Smalldridge is the GP Lead for REACHE North West which is the Refugee and Asylum Seeking Centre for Healthcare Education. REACHE supports refugee health professionals who live in the North West and in this podcast Anne explains to Ben how the organisation was formed, how it operates and what impact it has on the lives of refugee and asylum seeking doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
Mergers expert Robert McCartney returns to us for a second podcast. In Episode 49 Robert looked at the challenges around arranging successful mergers between two practices. In this episode he and Ben discuss the “bigger picture” i.e. merging at a scale that sees general practice operating over a population of 30 to 50,000. They discuss the arbitrariness (or otherwise) of this number and provide some practical advice for practices wanting to operate within networks or localities.
Jonathan Cope was, last November, named as GP of the Year by Pulse magazine. It’s not difficult to see why. He is a GP Partner and CEO of the Beacon Medical Group in Devon. In this fascinating podcast (his third for Ockham Healthcare) Jonathan describes a range of initiatives within this very forward thinking practice; from the Primary Care Home to the introduction of a mental health service and from closer relationships with community services to the successful recruitment of specialist GPs…and much more!