Pearls

One of the jedi skills of general practice is spotting the rare among the common - recognising when something just isn’t following the usual pattern. For Rare Disease Day (28 February), we’re sharing a Pearl on bullous pemphigoid, a rare autoimmune blistering skin disease.

Precocious puberty is relatively rare so many of us will need a helping hand if a potential case pitches up on the triage list.   In this week’s Pearl, we share our handy two-page GEMS (Guidelines and Evidence Made Simple) on this very subject. 

This month’s GP Trainee Pearl gives you a clear, step-by-step guide to heart failure, perfect for exam prep or making a busy clinic a bit easier. 

When selecting topics for our GP Update course, we choose things that are new or practice-changing, or sometimes just because they are important and we won’t learn about them anywhere else. Perianal masses fall into the ‘you probably won’t learn about this anywhere else’ category!

Early pregnancy can feel overwhelming, especially when raising a sensitive topic like weight. This week’s Pearl shares our updated article on obesity and weight management in pregnancy, based on the 2025 NICE guidance.

The BBC news headline ‘Menopause linked to Alzheimer’s-like brain changes’ (27/1/26) will catch the attention of women across the UK. When this happens, questions come our way in primary care. Our Pearl is here to help!

In this week’s Pearl, we share our article and GEMS, which were updated in 2024 to include new NICE guidance that changed recommendations around when to suspect meningitis and meningococcal disease, and pre-hospital antibiotics.

In this week’s Pearl, we consider how we might walk alongside patients, colleagues, friends and family through the experience of grief.  

If passing the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA) has made it to your New Year’s resolutions list, we’ve got just the treat! This month’s GP trainee Pearl contains golden nuggets to help you prepare for the SCA.

January is a prime time for “I’m going to get healthier” resolutions… and, let’s be honest, making lasting change can be tough. So, this week’s Pearl shares a toolkit to help turn intentions into results through brief, effective support in the primary care consultation.

At Red Whale, we are ‘always learning’, and one topic we have covered this year was new for nearly all our team. Alpha-gal syndrome is a tick-borne allergy to red meat, triggered by repeat tick bites.

As we head into the last month of the year, we are starting to see more seasonal illnesses, especially in children. So, for this month’s GP trainee Pearl, we’re covering feverish illness in children under 5.

Wednesday 10 December marks the first NHS Domestic Abuse Awareness Day. To support this initiative, this week’s Pearl highlights our updated article on how primary care can recognise domestic abuse early and provide meaningful help – including for colleagues who may be affected.