We have had quite a year on the General Practice podcast.  We kicked off in January with episode 93, with Martin Ramsay explaining the technicalities of setting up a super-partnership, right through to December when ex-RCGP president Terry Kemple introduced the Green Impact for Health toolkit that practices can use to play their part in making the planet sustainable.

Our most popular guest without question was Dr Rachel Morris.  In April she talked to me about the Red Whale Lead, Manage. Thrive! Course and their new working at scale course – an episode downloaded over 1750 times, making it the most listened to episode of the show.  She followed this up with the second most popular episode in November, when she shared her insights into GP burn-out, stress and resilience.

We tried out panel discussions on the show for the first time.  We brought some of the leading thinkers and practitioners together to discuss how technology will shape the future of general practice (here and here), what the infrastructure of general practice will look like in the future – including whether the partnership model will survive (here and here), how much impact the new models of care, including developments such as the primary care home, will have on general practice (here and here), and how much millennials, both as GPs and patients, will change the way general practice operates (here and here).  It all made for fascinating listening, and has certainly changed the way I think about how general practice will develop into the future.

But none of these made my own personal top 3.  Our own efforts to think about the future of general practice were somewhat put to shame by the work of Andy Wilkins and the authors of a report entitled “Beyond the Fog”.  They took all the current trends, such as technology, personalised medicine and systems biology, and worked out what they all might mean for the future delivery of healthcare.  The results are fascinating.  Over the course of two episodes (here and here), Andy describes ideas such as “always on” healthcare (24/7 digital monitoring of our health) and a “digital health coach” (think Alexa offering you personalised health advice), and gives his own insights into the implications for general practice.

What we most love featuring on the podcast are practical examples of innovations that have made a real difference to practices and to their patients.  For me this was exemplified in episode 132 by Alison Halliwell.  She told me the story of how she had set up a mental health service within a GP practice in Fleetwood.  When she started (back in 2004) 42% of patients were presenting with a mental health component to their illness.  Since then, down to the hard work and persistence of Alison and her team, only 8% of GP time is spent dealing with mental health issues.  Real innovation, delivering real benefits for GPs and their patients alike.

The final episode in my top 3 is another example of inspiring local innovation.  It came in June, when I was invited to Peterborough to visit Dr Neil Modha at Thistlemoor Medical Centre.  I am fortunate in my work to visit lots of different GP practices, but I can honestly say I had never been anywhere quite like this before.  They have adapted their model to meet the demands of a large non-English speaking population and a local shortage of GPs by training members of the local community to be healthcare assistants who take histories, translate, and present patients to the GPs.  On top of that, the practice sees more patients per day than many A&E departments!

These were my top 3, but I would love to know yours!  Get in touch and let me know. Finally, a big personal thank you from me to all of our guests, for the generosity of their time and the inspiration they have provided, and to all of our listeners for all your support and encouragement.  I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!