New from academic GP @oohgpwales.bsky.social Why I can't be replaced by a bot theconversation.com/why-ai-healt...

New in BMJ: Remote consultations now make up 38.5% of GP appointments in England (Dec 2025). But a new shift is emerging 👇 GPs delivering care from overseas. What does this mean for safety, continuity, and equity

GPs, AI isn’t about to take your job… but it might be after your secretary’s…. bjgplife.com/ai-in-primar...

Time to start giving your kids their medication as tablets instead of liquids? Link to academic paper in article. By @oohgpwales.bsky.social theconversation.com/kids-can-tak...

New paper alert… thread below www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Cannon mounted… Hoy is ready for Napoleon.

The Hoy Head steaming in to pick us up

At the bus stop bright and early for the next stage of the journey / bus and then ferry over to Hoy. It’s windy and cold and I’m grateful for the padded waterproof onesie purchased in the Falklands (yes I did brush my hair this morning, but no amount of brushing can compensate for Orkney wind!)

Made it to Kirkwall. In a rare feat of organisation I’ve bought biscuits IN ADVANCE as thankyous for all the people who always end up going above and beyond to help me as island doctor - volunteer ambulance crew and ferry crew in particular… impressed by this unusual level of personal organisation 😂

Switching back from academic to island GP… by 10am tomorrow the metamorphosis will be complete. Looking forward to wielding a stethoscope rather than a keyboard and to wearing my many-pocketed-trousers again. (Back in Bangor 9th March, not leaving for good!)

⚠️ Despite all the hype, chatbots still make terrible doctors. Out today is the largest user study of language models for medical self-diagnosis. We found that chatbots provide inaccurate and inconsistent answers, and that people are better off using online searches or their own judgment.

Plenty of press coverage tonight for one of the most important papers I’ve been involved with… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New paper alert! innovations.bmj.com/content/earl... Lead author and medical student Aleks Tanaka did a brilliant job on this paper looking at whether drones in healthcare are ready to fly (read it to find out!)

No. 4 #BJGPTop10 Hybrid general practice: Risks of hybrid general practice and its challenges to quality care doi.org/10.3399/BJGP... @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social @oohgpwales.bsky.social#BJGPTop10 #HybridCare #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #HealthPolicy #HealthTech #PrimaryCare #BJGP #research

Happy new year! If your eyes glaze over when people start talking philosophy in research, then read this! Proud to have been a co-author on this paper explaining why the assumptions we make about the world matter for our research bjgp.org/content/76/7...

Happy new year! If your eyes glaze over when people start talking philosophy in research, then read this! Proud to have been a co-author on this paper explaining why the assumptions we make about the world matter for our research bjgp.org/content/76/7...

@bjgp.bsky.social any chance of putting qr codes on your research pages to link to the full research paper?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... the bishop speaks for me… the bible is crystal clear on the need to care for the vulnerable and to welcome foreigners. Government policy is out of line here.

“This is a call to ensure that the future of health is not defined solely by those with the most data, the most money, or the most influence, but by those who centre equity, prevention, and the well-being of populations…” read more here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very proud of son who has passed his driving test, and absolutely horrified at the cost of car insurance for young drivers (and that’s for a 7 year old corsa!). Any tips?

Guess where I am

Out of office on… another adventure awaits. Guess where I’m going and why? (Wrong answers only!)

Congratulations to our student Rebecca Payne (@oohgpwales.bsky.social, DPhil in Translational Health Sciences), who has won the Royal College of General Practitioners Health Services Research Paper of the Year! #ReubenPeople #Reubenite

Delighted to be an author on both these papers - I led the paper which examined quality in contemporary remote and hybrid general practice and supported Trish on the education paper. Thanks to the amazing RBD2 team too, was such a privilege working on the study

Delighted to receive the RCGP health services research paper of the year award today! Massive thanks to the whole RBD2 team and particularly all those who worked on this paper

Calm before the rather windy storm . Off to buy matches #Orkney

I finally, unequivocally saw the Northern lights, not just with the camera but with my own eyes too. #lifegoal

Thinking about online hospitals? Read the at a glance summaries from the RBD2 project - many of the findings will also apply to remote hospital care www.phc.ox.ac.uk/research/gro...

Uh oh…

End of an era with the last publication from the Remote by Default 2 study out www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/publish...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... So sad to hear that Tina has passed away. One of the most inspirational leaders I’ve ever met, she was supportive and kind… (as well as ever so slightly terrifying when the occasion demanded it!)

bjgp.org/content/75/7... ‘For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong‘ Tool or trap? Which category does CRP testing in GP OOH belong in?! New editorial out today in @bjgp.bsky.social

bjgp.org/content/75/7... ‘For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong‘ Tool or trap? Which category does CRP testing in GP OOH belong in?! New editorial out today in @bjgp.bsky.social

I’ve even quiet on this platform for a while as have been travelling around remote parts of Alaska on a Churchill Fellowship learning about how they deliver rural healthcare. Will share insights from the trip over coming weeks, but spending my last evening here at a CRAFT NIGHT at the local cinema!

Lots of media coverage about the NICE quality standards for obesity and overweight, especially around the need for post-treatment support. You can read the standards here www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs212

This was the absolute highlight of my recent set of shifts… especially when porpoises appeared! rnli.org/news-and-med...

Come and be my new GP colleague on the beautiful island of Hoy. Stunning setting and a lovely community apply.jobs.scot.nhs.uk/Job/JobDetai...

My mobile office! Love the portable second screen, one of the best investments I’ve ever made - has dramatically increased my productivity

Some pictures from my fortnight on Hoy

After 2 weeks of living my best medical life on Hoy, I’m flying to Edinburgh then spending most of the day on a train… which means (signal permitting) I’ll finally compete my mandatory training… working across 2 unis and the NHS in 2 countries means there’s a LOT of it 🙄😂

Things that make me happy: swimming with friends and with seals while birds fly overhead #Orkney #summer

We have an announcement. This is #Orkney. It's 9.42am. It's 20 degrees. ☀️ Send help.

Great things about island medicine: people turning up at the surgery with freshly caught mackerel for the team ❤️

Misty on Hoy…

Not sure many people will be buying at this price (and pretty sure I’ll see none of the profits), but still proud to be a co-author of a chapter in this book - a first for me! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Busy day of scenario training on Hoy

Today is the simulation on the island - multi-agency working. Ambulance car heading out on the ferry with the team

Sometimes Orkney just takes your breath away. Views from the bus and the ferry terminal this morning. Next stop Hoy!

Made it to sunny Orkney. Just the. Us and ferry tomorrow and then straight into a day of emergency simulations with the ED team visiting from Orkney mainland to put the Hoy team though our paces

It seemed a really good idea to take the sleeper up to Scotland for my next set of shifts… with train delayed 87 mins, picking me up after 1am, opportunities for sleeping are now limited and I’ve buyers remorse