In this month’s issue of Pulse we take a look at how GPs have navigated their own way through the Covid-19 pandemic making sweeping operational changes at the drop of a hat, all thanks to their independent contractor status.

Unlike colleagues in hospitals, practices are able to change the way they work ‘within a minute’ as one GP points out in the cover feature – and they want NHS policymakers to know they don’t want to give this regained autonomy up.

Meanwhile, we predict for how long GPs will be able to enjoy relaxed regulatory procedures as a result of the pandemic, such as a halting of routine inspections and suspension of appraisals, and ask what does the future hold for bureaucratic tasks in general.

The issue also features GP and executive member of the Ghanaian Doctors and Dentists Association UK Dr Adwoa Danso speaking about how racism in the NHS still exists and what can be done about it, starting with rethinking the term ‘BAME’. Dr Danso also explains how trust needs to be rebuilt between the NHS and people from minority ethnic backgrounds in our wider analysis of the Government’s review of the higher Covid-19 risk to black, Asian and minority ethnic people and what it means for GPs.