For GPs and practice managers the challenge of the NHS reforms is to understand the business context in which general practice operates. Of the many skills learned from commerce and industry needed for the development of an effective strategy, business planning has been demonstrated to bring important benefits to the practice. However, for many the concept is necessary but unfamiliar. This book sets out to demystify the subject, explains the benefits and, by way of numerous examples, shows how they can be applied to the single-handed GP and group practices, whether or not they are fundholders. It suggests that good clinical care is not possible without the necessary planning and management skills to run a business.

As soon as this book first appeared in 1990 it became the standard text for the new generation of practice managers with responsibility for implementing many of the radical changes taking place in general practice. It required reprinting several times to satisfy demand and has since undergone two major revisions to ensure that it is up to date. This Third Edition incorporates several new chapters and new contributors, who reflect efficient and patient-friendly practice, and the continuing evolution of the NHS reforms. Topics are presented in clear, comprehensive and concise terms, from which managers will derive confidence and understanding, whether they use the book for background reading in the practice, or as a textbook on the many training courses that have now adopted it.

This book provides information to support the new and growing field of medical simulation training using mobile simulation vehicles. These mobile training programs bring vehicles equipped with spaces to simulate patient care areas, task trainers, and mannequins directly to the medical provider. This concise reference introduces programs that bring necessary training to providers and offers step by step guidance on how to establish and run a mobile medical simulation program. Divided into two main sections, the first analyzes the methods and techniques to implement a program, including marketing, finances, and program evaluation. The second section then delves into greater detail regarding the actual teaching and training, including chapters on educational methodology, scenario design, and how to prepare for a simulation session. Part of the groundbreaking Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation Series, Mobile Medical Simulation is an ideal guide for administrators and managers who design and implement mobile simulation training programs, as well as educators and trainers working in the field.

The recent shifts in power, resources, influence and responsibility in primary care has increased the strain on general practice. This book is a comprehensive guide to the wide range of quality schemes available. It is unique in examining quality within the context of current practice, and it discusses future options based on new examples and research. It outlines the development of clinical governance, strategies for managing and assessing quality, continuing professional development, Department of Health policy initiatives and future trends.

With every passing year, the mutual mistrust between doctor and patient widens, as doctors retreat into resentment and patients become increasingly disillusioned with the quality of care. Rich in anecdote as well as science Doctors and Their Patients describes how both have arrived at this sad shape.

What are the dynamics that shape a primary care team? How can difficult issues be tackled when aiming towards the government's strategies? This book shows how good governance and quality management in general practice can be achieved. It addresses difficult issues, such as power, leadership, interpersonal behavior, confrontation, accountability and handling conflict, and looks at the dynamics of both groups and individuals, and investigates ways of dealing with them. It provides practical solutions, questions to help the reader analyze problems and test their performance, case studies and real examples drawn from the authors' many years experience in diagnostic management consultancy. It is essential reading for all members of the new primary care organizations, especially GPs, practice managers and nurses.

Community health workers (CHWs) are an increasingly important member of the healthcare and public health professions who help build primary care capacity. Yet, in spite of the exponential growth of CHW interventions, CHW training programs, and CHW certification and credentialing by state agencies, a gap persists in the literature regarding current CHW roles and skills, scope of practice, CHW job settings, and national standards. This collection of contributions addresses this gap by providing information, in a single volume, about CHWs, the roles CHWs play as change agents in their communities, integration of CHWs into healthcare teams, and support and recognition of the CHW profession. The book supports the CHW definition as defined by the American Public Health Association (APHA), Community Health Worker Section (2013), which states, "A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served." The scope of the text follows the framework of the nationally recognized roles of CHWs that came out of a national consensus-building project called "The Community Health Worker (CHW) Core Consensus (C3) Project". Topics explored among the chapters include: Cultural Mediation Among Individuals, Communities, and Health and Social Service Systems Care Coordination, Case Management, and System Navigation Advocating for Individuals and Communities Building Individual and Community Capacity Implementing Individual and Community Assessments Participating in Evaluation and Research Uniting the Workforce: Building Capacity for a National Association of Community Health Workers Promoting the Health of the Community is a must-have resource for CHWs, those interested in CHW scope of practice and/or certification/credentialing, anyone interested in becoming a CHW, policy-makers, CHW payer systems, CHW supervisors, CHW employers, CHW instructors/trainers, CHW advocates/supporters, and communities served by CHWs.

This book examines the best ways to provide primary care at nights and weekends. There has been increasing demand from patients for out-of-hours care, and a great reorganisation of primary care services outside normal surgery hours. Different models of organisations are being tested, including primary care centres and nurses giving telephone advice. This book examines the tensions between public and professional expectations, and describes the range of options for providing services, with examples of good practice. It reviews the evidence about what works best, and the issues to consider in setting up different services. The contributors combine experience in organising, researching, evaluating and providing out-of-hours care, and offer practical advice, critical analysis and a political perspective. The book is an accessible and valuable contribution to this increasingly important aspect of healthcare. It is essential reading for all practitioners, managers and researchers in primary care, public health, Accident and Emergency departments, pharmacy, community nursing and ambulance services.

People seeking asylum face unique challenges and frequently experience mental health problems. Effective support requires an understanding of their mental health needs in the broader context of their lives, cultures and extreme experiences. This book provides practical guidance for professionals and services working with people seeking asylum in mental health, social care, legal, government. managerial and commissioning roles. With authors from a wide range of professional backgrounds, the book is enriched by accounts from people with first hand experience of the asylum system itself. It considers the challenges and dilemmas faced by all involved, including clients, clinicians and service planners, with a wealth of practical information about how to assess and understand strengths and needs, avoid inappropriate conclusions and discrimination, consider treatment options, and write records and reports. The authors emphasise that effective support depends on reflection, humanity and compassion. The book is a must-have resource for professionals working with those who have to seek asylum.

This review book comprehensively covers most aspects of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Each chapter provides a meticulous overview of a topic featured in the OSCE, including general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, hematology, and ethics. Common scenarios for each topic are featured in every chapter, accompanied by instructions and tips on how to take a patient's history, diagnose a patient, discuss treatment options, and address patient concerns under each scenario. Possible areas of difficulty, common candidate mistakes made, and important differential diagnosis are outlined in each chapter. The text is also supplemented with check-lists, photographs, and tables for enhanced readability and ease of use. Written by experts in their respective fields, The Objective Structured Clinical Examination Review is a valuable resource for medical students and residents preparing for the OSCE.

Over ten percent of people infected with the COVID virus will suffer with long COVID syndrome. Up until now, more than one million people have been affected with this syndrome in the United Kingdom alone, and the incidence worldwide is estimated to be more than 35 million people, although this may be the tip of the iceberg. The World Health Organization has highlighted a need for the three Rs -- Recognition, Research and Rehabilitation. Long COVID syndrome can be frustrating and disabling, even many months or years after the infection; sufferers complain of fatigue, pain, post-exertional malaise, cognitive dysfunction and many other systemic symptoms. It can be challenging for healthcare professionals to recognise the disease and for patients who are suffering from the condition it can have a wide and far-reaching impact on their lives and day-to-day activities. Being a relatively new condition, many healthcare professionals, now more than ever, need to have the requisite knowledge to recognise and manage this severely debilitating disease. This book will be useful to all frontline healthcare professionals to help diagnose, manage and direct patients to the available resources. General practitioners, physiotherapists, pain therapists, nurses, surgeons, physicians, junior doctors, psychologists, medical students and other clinicians will be able to update their knowledge on long COVID syndrome with this easy-to-read book. Patients will also find the book useful to understand the basis of the disease and how they can seek help. This comprehensive treatise covers a wide variety of topics on long COVID syndrome including the aetiopathogenesis, recognition, systemic involvement, investigations, guidelines on management, available resources, systemic management and pain/fatigue management. This book will be handy for candidates preparing for various examinations conducted by the Royal College of General Practitioners, UK (MRCGP), Royal College of Anaesthetists, UK (FRCA), Faculty of Pain Medicine, UK (FFPMRCA), College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland (FCAI), European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (EDAIC), Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FANZCA), World Institute of Pain (FIPP/CIPS), National Board of Examinations of India (Dip NB), and the American and Canadian board examinations, as well as other examinations conducted by medical boards across the globe. The author is a consultant in pain medicine who has published extensively on various topics and specialises in treating long COVID patients. He has written many textbooks in the fields of anaesthesia and pain, and conducts regular examination courses attended by candidates from all over the world. He is also a regular invited lecturer on the specialist subject of long COVID syndrome.

This new edition of the MRCGP Study Guide has been purposely revised and updated to comprehensively cover every aspect of the membership examination of the Royal College of General Practitioners. It takes you through all the main medical topics fundamental to general practice, all relevant non- clinical areas, and then finally tests you with an AKT and CSA style examination. All the information you need in one place. This guide can be used as a source of reference, and for revising, to ensure you are perfectly prepared. It saves you the colossal amount of time you would otherwise need to cover the same ground.

The ten years since the First Edition of this book have witnessed revolutionary changes in GP training: appraisal, the new MRCGP exam and competence-based assessments to name but three. Greater availability of information has also transformed the social context of General Practice as a profession. Despite this, the one-to-one relationship between trainer and trainee remains the lynchpin of GP education, and this manual's key principle - that GP trainers are the key source of expertise in this field, and that their experiences and ideas are a vital and still-underused resource - is as important as ever. This new edition, fully revised and updated to reflect the latest changes in both GP training and the profession, remains an essential, comprehensive manual of useful advice for GP trainers written by their peers. Outlining educational methods, training philosophies and reflections from practitioners experienced in the entire spectrum of GP education, it provides a tool box of resources to cover the practicalities of training, including e-portfolios, teaching consultation skills, and numerous tips and tricks. It is now augmented with an array of supporting material that includes checklists, forms and evaluation tools, accessed electronically via a code supplied with the book. This book is vital reading for GP tutors and GP trainers as well as those considering such roles, and for all those who manage and oversee the training of GP registrars. 'The next generation of GPs will face even more changes in the landscape of primary care and it has become even more imperative that we provide high-quality training. This manual will support this process.' - from the Foreword by Steve Field

The concept of managed care evolved in the USA as a way of containing costs and promoting quality in health care. Some vital lessons can be learned from this experience, and many of its benefits can be applied to the UK as the NHS internal market develops. However, there are also pitfalls which it is equally important to avoid. This is the first book to provide an in-depth analysis of the contracting techniques seen in managed care. The author is in the rare position of being an NHS manager with practical experience of the US health care system, and has produced a first hand contemporary guide to managed care, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and its relevance to the UK. To set the current debate about the future of the internal market and GP fundholding in context, the author offers a critical review of the NHS reforms and current management and clinician competencies. Citing American experience of the role of doctors in management, he demonstrates both the power and limitations of such initiatives.

Rewritten with the new primary care environment in mind, this greatly expanded and updated edition of Child Mental Health in Primary Care extends the structured approach of the first edition to adoelscent mental health. As in the first edition, Primary Child and Adolescent Mental Health covers each problem in a uniform way, offering definitions, assessment outlines, detailed management options and indications for referral. Numerous case examples further illuminate aspects of many conditions. Comprehensive and practical, the forty-eight chapters of Primary Child and Adolescent Mental Health cover the full range of difficulties and disabilities affecting the mental health of children and young people. The book is divided into three volumes, and can either be read from cover to cover or used as a resource to be consulted for guidance on specific problems. This book is vital for all healthcare professionals including general practitioners, health visitors and other staff working in primary care to assess, manage and refer children and adolescents with mental health problems. School medical officers, social workers and educational psychologists, many of whom are in the front line of mental health provision for children and young people, will also find it extremely useful. Reviews of the first edition: 'This very comprehensive and detailed book provides the tools for primary care health professionals not only to assess a child's needs but in many cases also to implement an initial package of care.' JUST FOR NURSES 'I have no reservation in recommending the book to all people working with children and families in any capacity. An important training text for a variety of professions. A very effective text to be used in daily practice for quick reference.' CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH 'This book is well produced and clearly written. A useful book for anyone interested or involved with children.' FAMILY PRACTICE 'I looked through the book again and again but could not find anything missing.' NURSING TIMES

Tax planning can lead to considerable efficiencies, but few GPs have been trained as businessmen. This book in "The Business Side of General Practice" series, provides a guide to the regulations, identifies the pitfalls and opportunities and shows how to maximize the income retained by the practice. John Dean is known for his writing on financial management in general practice and has also written "Making Sense of Practice Finance" (Radcliff).

The Practice Manager Library presents information and advice on the extended role of the practice manager both for those with experience and increasing responsibility, and for others who are new to general practice. Its clear and unambiguous guidance is based on extensive practical experience. Health service initiatives, including the introduction of Primary Care Groups and the NHSnet, will lead to major changes in the layout, structure and computerization of practices. This essential book: * covers surgery security, insurance, and health and safety issues * identifies ways to finance expansion of premises * discusses pharmacies within surgeries, practices within superstores and one-stop health shops * advises on how best to purchase and upgrade hardware, peripherals and software * explores additional uses for practice PCs, including computerized accounts and payroll * explains the implications of joining the NHSnet, the Internet, and the millennium time-bomb The question-and-answer format allows the book to be read cover-to-cover or used as a handy reference. Practice managers, whatever their background, will find it an invaluable guide to enhancing their career, and for those considering becoming a practice manager it is a vital source of information. Other books in The Practice Manager Library Series include: Finance and Administration: your questions answered

'How many general practitioners ended up in their roles thanks to a faint breeze nudging them in a given direction? How many successes resulted from failure? Some of the most successful practices were built up from nothing, and some of the happiest doctors spent time not being doctors. Despite the element that fate plays in career paths it is prudent to make plans - ' A career in general practice offers many options for further professional development. While some GPs prefer to concentrate primarily on their practice, others find additional fulfillment in teaching, research or international collaboration. Whichever path you choose, general practice promises a rewarding and exciting experience. This inspiring new book emphasises there is no single career path in general practice. Without being prescriptive, its practical approach helps you make life-changing decisions, prompts self-analysis and equips you with the tools to remain flexible, positive and reflective about your career. 'So - have you got what it takes to practise the 'medicine plus' which is today's general practice? This book, written and edited by colleagues many of whom have far more street cred than I, will help you decide. If you have, I wish you luck, fulfilment, and the gratification that comes from being a catalyst for good in the lives of your fellow human beings. If you have a role teaching and mentoring the next generation of GPs, you will find this book a persuasive ally. But if you decide that hospital medicine is your preferred option - well, that's fine. There would be no shame, if you find the ladder to general practice too steep, in settling for becoming a brain surgeon.' Roger Neighbour, in the Foreword 'Lively, extremely informative and engaging' Professor Roger Jones, Editor, British Journal of General Practice

Explains the NHS as a political environment, and concentrates on understanding the relationships of power rather than on the role of apparent authority. The book presents a range of management frameworks and personal examples to illustrate what a primary-care-led NHS means.

'Medical technology is beneficial for well researched dangerous diseases. However, most symptoms that people bring to their primary care physician have no single clearly identifiable cause: investigations and drugs do more harm than good - and also waste resources - ' - Wilfrid Treasure Diagnosis and Risk Management in Primary Care teaches that adopting an evidence-based approach to primary care improves patient care and treatment outcomes. It demonstrates that brief clinical assessments, repeated if necessary, allow effective diagnosis while avoiding the costs and complications associated with more advanced testing. Adopting a fresh approach, this book sets consultation skills alongside evidence-based information by both itemising the specific techniques and facts that are needed in the consulting room, and providing detailed information on odds and likelihood ratios to quantify risk and deal with uncertainty. This book provides food for thought, and helps doctors develop communication skills that support their personal styles of consulting, encouraging a more traditional, intuitive treatment. It provides a map of the consultation and a compass to navigate through symptoms, signs and evidence - listening to their patients with one ear and, with the other, to the reflective inner voice of reason. General Practitioner Specialist Trainees and their teachers will find much of interest, as will established General Practitioners with an interest in maintaining traditional models of care. Undergraduate medical students and candidates for the MRCGP will find this an ideal reader for the clinical skills assessment. 'What a breath of fresh air to find an author capable of putting the patient back at the centre of the consultation and who is able to entertain at the same time as he informs and to stimulate critical reflection while nudging us in the direction of a rigorous approach to diagnosis, and the assessment and communication of risk.' From the foreword by Roger Jones

WHAT IF THE FAMILY YOU WANT... ...ISN'T THE FAMILY YOU NEED? 'It was up to her now; everything was up to her; she needed only to make a choice and step towards it, out from the shadows and into the light.' At forty-three, Christina Lennox thought her future was settled: marriage to Ed, children, a house of their own. But this is not that future: her marriage has ended, fractured by the stress of five rounds of IVF and two miscarriages. Overwhelmed by grief and disappointment, Ed has relocated to San Francisco and Christina's dream of becoming a mother rests on persuading him to let her go ahead with one final round of IVF, using the last frozen embryo they have stored at the clinic. But when Ed drops a bombshell that threatens to undo everything Christina has strived for, she is forced, once again, to realign her plans. Is this the end of her dream, or an opportunity to consider a different - perhaps happier - version of her future?

The daily work of General Practitioners can seem at once simple and immensely complicated. The routine nature of the consultation appears on the surface to be straightforward, but carries within it myriad layers of meaning. The options for diagnosis and treatment within a single consultation, or when combined in the overall pattern of the day, can seem huge. A basic understanding of complexity theory can provide GPs with a way to face the more bewildering aspects of their job. This book provides a concise and clear introduction to complexity, tailored specifically for the primary care environment. GPs and their colleagues throughout primary care will find this book assists them in working more efficiently, more effectively and more enjoyably.

Teaching and Learning in Primary Care has been specially designed for undergraduate and vocational teaching. It combines both practical advice and theory covering day-to-day teaching and learning in the real world. It also encourages trainers to become more involved in teaching and supervising. This essential guide provides vital guidance and support to general practitioners with teaching responsibilities, undergraduate healthcare lecturers and tutors and healthcare professionals in primary care.

The much anticipated practical educational manual for General Practice (GP) trainers, programme directors, and other teachers and educators in primary care has finally arrived. This extensive, full-colour guide is written by a select group of hands-on educators who are passionate and knowledgeable. The book captures their wisdom and vast experience in an accessible and practical way. Although it's aimed at GP training, there are many chapters in this book that are relevant and transferrable to teachers and educators in areas outside of General Practice (and worldwide). We are sure that GP appraisers, Foundation Year trainers and other medical/nursing student educators will find the detailed comprehensive explorations inspirational. Beautifully presented, the chapters cover a wide educational framework employing a variety of presentational methods such as flowcharts, diagrams, conversational pieces, scenarios and anecdotes. Each chapter has a corresponding webpage containing over 300 additional resources - providing practical tools as well as additional reading material. This book was awarded the Royal College of GP's 'Paul Freeling Prize' in 2013 for merititious work in the field of General Practice education. It is also used as the foundation textbook for the Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education (PGCE) in at least seven UK universities. The Essential Handbook for GP Training and Education adopts a relaxed, personable approach to primary care education that won't leave you with a headache.

Highly Commended in the 2005 BMA Medical Book Competition The first edition of The Inner Apprentice proved to be a landmark publication. Now in its second edition, it includes an additional chapter in which questions the assumptions about the relevance of awareness-based teaching in the overcrowded curriculum of contemporary vocational training - and suggests that the curiosity they engender is more important than ever. This book offers many new ideas, techniques and educational tools, and will be of interest to general practice trainers and trainees, and anyone involved in an individual teaching relationship.