Pearls

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women of reproductive age. Many women will continue to be sexually active during and beyond treatment, and will usually need to avoid pregnancy during treatment and for at least 2 years after.

With such a large topic, it’s challenging to know what bits to focus on so we thought we would share our handy GEMS (Guidelines and Evidence Made Simple).

Glue ear (otitis media with effusion) is a common cause of hearing difficulty, particularly in children. NICE guidance in 2023 recommended that if we suspect the condition in primary care, we should refer immediately for audiology assessment.

This week’s Pearl considers how we can approach making a diagnosis of pelvic inflammatory disease in general practice. This is important because it has significant sequelae, including subfertility and chronic pelvic pain.

In this week’s Pearl, we share our article on Lynch syndrome, the role of primary care, how people can access testing, and what support and surveillance can be offered.  

Tomorrow is world Parkinson’s day. Parkinson’s disease is increasing in prevalence as our population ages. Our role in primary care is to spot it early and refer and then, alongside our secondary care colleagues, to support people living with the condition with potentially complex symptoms and drug regimens.

Yesterday was autism awareness day. So we thought we would share our article on supporting a neurodiverse workforce – this might provide tips we can apply to ourselves, to a trainee or a colleague!

We are into April already and our trainees focus (as well as your trainers and programme directors focus) turns to ensuring we have enough evidence for our Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP).

Myeloma has been a popular topic in our recent Cancer and GP Update courses because it is tricky. So, to celebrate the launch of the NEW season of GP Update courses today, we wanted to share this Pearl on myeloma from last season

If you’re not ok, you are not alone. Please seek help. Our article Sources of support for health professionals has contact details for sources of support, including the NHS Practitioner Health Programme.

Spring is around the corner, and to celebrate National Social Prescribing Day on 19 March, we have teamed up with Intelligent Health, Natural England and the National Academy of Social Prescribing to share a video byte on the power of nature and green social prescribing in transforming patient health. 

Statistical talk is not a common language, and a high percentage of trainees spend a lot of time getting to grips with the terminology!

Body image concerns and pursuing an increasingly muscular appearance is becoming a growing issue, particular for men and boys. Today marks the end of Eating Disorder Awareness Week, so we are sharing a Pearl about a related issue – anabolic steroid use.

Tomorrow is Rare Diseases Day. To acknowledge this challenge, we thought we would share with you a Pearl on Behçet’s syndrome, a rare multisystem inflammatory condition.

One of the joys and challenges of general practice is that anything can make its way onto the triage list or limp through the door. And many of us have presentations we feel less confident about! In the Red Whale GP team, one of those things is feet!

In 2025, Ramadan is expected to start on 1 March and end on 30 March (exact dates depend on moon sighting). How can we best support those with long-term conditions during this time?