Pulse: Urgent care in critical condition

Pulse’s February cover feature, 'urgent care in critical condition', looked at the impact the urgent care crisis and ambulance delays were having on GPs.

Pulse's 'urgent care in critical condition' investigation revealed significant numbers of GPs were advising patients not to wait for an ambulance and some were conveying patients to hospital themselves due to the delays.  GPs shared harrowing accounts with Pulse about the situations they were finding themselves in, including waiting 80 minutes for a patient with complex cardiac history when the response should have taken 18; pushing a patient with sepsis to A&E in a wheelchair; and having to travel to two neighbouring surgeries to get oxygen for a patient with failing breathing before taking the risk to drive them to hospital.  

Elsewhere in the issue, Pulse analysed how the cost-of-living crisis was affecting general practice. A survey of 1,000 GPs found 22% of consultations were currently health problems caused or exacerbated by the rising cost of living. GPs said the effect on mental health was one of the biggest problems but patients with long-term physical health conditions such as diabetes and asthma were also being impacted.

Our clinical section featured advice for GPs on dealing with suicide risk, as well as how to successfully refer for dermatology conditions.

And finally, our CPD this month was on developing a culturally competent practice.