06 September 2024

I’ve overheard several people say that was the fastest summer yet — I am not sure what makes a summer pass faster than most, but I do agree it passed at lightning speed. As I try and settle into a routine for the autumn, I find myself busy reviewing our long-term condition lists, planning quality improvement projects and mentoring the nurses who are newer to our team but developing fast. The opportunities in general practice nursing are widening all the time and it’s a privilege to be supporting some nurses through their long-term condition modules and others to develop advanced practice skills, such as prescribing and clinical examination and assessment. Like the summer, everything seems to happen much faster these days. It is always stimulating to work with new nurses, it helps keep me up to date and to seek better ways of managing our increasingly busy GPN role.

11 September 2023

As a novice or an expert (Benner, 1985), abdominal presentations can be intriguing and puzzling. It is vital to take a good patient history and conduct a systematic physical assessment, and to think about immediate management (this might be simple pain management or helping with moving bowels) and to consider the longer term — changes to the signs and symptoms, not resolving despite treatment or good management, weight loss or bleeding. Always heed the patient’s intuition — and yours. Monitoring the abdominal problem, the patient keeping a diary if symptoms are sporadic, and giving worsening care advice are as much a part of treatment as medications and investigations. Low thresholds for review include the above but should also be considered in vulnerable populations such as the very young and very old who can deteriorate quickly, and those with pre-existing and long-term conditions, e.g. malignancy and being immunocompromised.This article should be used as an adjunct to an accredited theoretical course with a completed and successful competency assessment.

11 September 2023

This article looks at amenorrhoea and oligomenorrhoea, both of which can be a cause of concern for those women affected. Such issues can be difficult for clinicians to diagnose and treat, because of variations in bleeding patterns, complicated history in some patients, and associated problems. Signs and symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment, and complications are covered here, in the hope that general practice nurses (GPNs) and non-medical prescribers will feel more confident in recognising concerns and can then get earlier investigations and treatment, thus reducing the risk of complications and improving quality of life for women affected.

05 December 2023

Abnormal bleeding of any type is a cause of concern for women affected and is a frequent presentation in primary care. This is the second piece in a two-part series, the first part discussed amenorrhoea and oligomenorrhoea, while this article looks at dysmenorrhoea and menorrhagia. It gives an overview of signs and symptoms, risk factors, treatment and complications, with the purpose of giving nurses and non-medical prescribers more confidence in advising women who approach them for advice, so that earlier diagnosis and treatment can be possible to improve outcomes and quality of life.

29 September 2020

22 June 2017

Primarily due to better treatment options, there are now over two and a half million people living with cancer in the United Kingdom and it is predicted that in the next fourteen years this number will increase to four million. This means that the numbers of people living with cancer in the UK has increased by approximately half a million in the last five years (Maddams et al, 2012). When all cancers are grouped  together, someone diagnosed with cancer today has double the chance of being alive in ten years time compared to someone diagnosed with cancer during the 1970s (Quaresma et al, 2014). This paper will now take three of the four most common cancers in the UK and look at them individually, i.e. breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer.

02 November 2018

09 July 2015

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care services in England.

It registers, monitors and inspects providers of regulated activities, including GP practices. Registered providers are expected to meet the regulations set out in the Healthand Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (http:// bit.ly/1FqzH78) and the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 (http://bit. ly/1GvIKre).

23 January 2018

21 December 2018

This article provides general practice nurses (GPNs) with a brief history of asset-based community development (ABCD). It considers how the principles of asset-based approaches are currently used and may be further developed to tackle modern challenges in health and social care. It considers one particular approach, ‘social prescribing’ — this is perhaps best known to GPNs. Social prescribing has emerged as an early asset-based solution to improve wellbeing. The article also explores some of the advantages and limitations of social prescribing and gives glimpses as to how asset-based nursing may evolve.