We will discuss how doctors reason in practice and share common examples of biases that affect our reasoning, the impact they have on patients, and ways to mitigate against these. We will introduce a novel framework, ‘Stop and Think’, and using authentic case-based examples, show the relevance and impact of asking ourselves questions from the framework to support clinical reasoning during a consultation (reflection in-action) as well as afterwards (reflection-on-action ). We will also discuss how we can use questions from the framework to approach challenges related to learners’ clinical reasoning in practice.

Speakers:

Dr Sian Powell, Deputy Director Undergraduate primary care education, Imperial College London

Chair:

Dr Chris Provan, Chair of RCGP Scotland

We present an interactive escape room style small group activity exploring the challenges of navigating GP appointment systems, based on findings from our recent NIHR funded study of access to general practice – Access to general practice: Innovation, impact and sustainable change.

Using a series of “fiendish” puzzles, we show that while triage systems to get an appointment can seem simple they may be very difficult for some patients, especially when they are unwell. People trying to access general practice may have time constraints in addition to individual and social factors that make using access systems challenging.  We reflect on potential equity and system level implications. 

Speakers: 

Professor Catherine Pope, Professor of Medical Sociology, University of Oxford 

Recognising “ordinary dying” is a core skill in general practice, which often provides families with much valued care of their loved one at the end of their life and is equally rewarding for many GPs.

Primary and Community Care deliver the majority of end-of-life care outside of hospital.  In this session, we will explore how fragmentation of care can threaten this important relationship, and how primary care has a role in both recognising supporting terminal care for older people in the community.

We will revisit the Gold Standards Framework evidence and provide a useful framework for recognising a deterioration due to frailty how to write an advance care plan with a difference.

Speakers:

Dr Holly Paris, Complex Care GP, Pier Health Group

Dr Deb Gompertz, GP with Extended Role in Frailty, Somerset FT and BGS

While bereavement in general is a topic that all GPs will be familiar with both professionally and for many personally, bereavement following the death of a child feels different. As a GP who has experienced the death of a child I feel ideally placed to help GPs explore the issues that child bereavement brings for a parent and how they can look to support. This session will be me 'in conservation' about this topic.

Speakers:

Dr Bryony Kendall, GP and Named GP for Safeguarding, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

Your RCGP membership is more than a credential — it’s a gateway to a wealth of support, resources, and opportunities. In this session, discover how to unlock the full value of your membership at every stage of your career. From professional development and wellbeing support to networking, advocacy, and exclusive tools, we’ll explore how the College is here to empower you, champion your work, and help you thrive in a changing healthcare landscape. Whether you're a new member, mid to late career or a long-standing Fellow, come and find out what your membership can really do for you.

Speakers:

Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell, Vice Chair Finance and Member Value, RCGP

Chris Bull, RCGP

Chair:

Victoria Tzortziou Brown, RCGP`s Vice Chair for External Affairs

During the talk we will learn what ‘County Lines’ means from a safeguarding perspective and appreciate the range of exploitation that it encompasses, including criminal, sexual and financial exploitation.

The talk will highlights how this issue affects us all, right across the UK. We will consider the role of social media increasing the vulnerability of children and young people and will reflect on how best to identify and support our patients who may be at risk. 

There will be the opportunity for questions and reflection on anonymised cases at the end of the talk.

Speakers: 

Dr. Rowena Christmas MBE, Chair,  RCGP Wales

Recap and refresh on BLS, CPR procedures, CPR, Adult, Child, Infant from the UK Resus Guidelines, and Agonal Gasping. 

Practise CPR on Adult, Child and Infant manikins, and how to use an AED (Training Defibrillator)

On leaving the course everyone will leave with a Certificate of Attendance for the BLS session, stating that Adult, Infant and Child CPR has been included and safe use of an AED, a first aid book and a revive aid face shield.

The NHS faces significant challenges as patient demands rise and staff and other resource shortages persist. This creates a high-pressure environment that frustrates patients and strains healthcare professionals. Many GPs and their teams are experiencing compassion fatigue, leading to stress, burnout, and even thoughts of leaving the profession or worse.

While the NHS is committed to improving staff well-being, healthcare professionals must also take proactive steps to combat compassion fatigue. Recognising the challenge and taking steps to mitigate the impact of compassion fatigue is crucial to maintaining a healthy, long-lasting career in the NHS.

Join this short session to hear insights on compassion fatigue from the MDDUS team, including practical advice to take back to your team.

Value based care can alleviate the burnout that general practitioners feel, while reconnecting them to the core reason they trained as healers to begin with, and placing them at the center of patient care. Sound too good to be true? It’s not! This session will provide an overview of how value based care and commissioning is the way forward in today’s complex health care ecosystem and how Somos—the largest independent group of GPs in New York City—are leading this revolution.

This session will introduce participants to simple genetic concepts and genetic research relevant to primary care. We will focus on research being undertaken by the session facilitators: how genetic markers indicative of red blood cell conditions, more common in minority ethnic communities, are associated with underestimation of blood glucose by HbA1c. Following this, in small groups, we will use case vignettes to facilitate discussions around proposed pathways to incorporate pharmacogenomics and personalised medicine into primary care.  We’ll discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of personalised medicine; as well as how genomics has the potential to both tackle and exacerbate health inequalities.

Speakers:

Dr Miriam Samuel, Doctoral Research Fellow and General Practitioner, Queen Mary University of London, The Mission Practice, Tower Hamlets

Dr Veline Lesperance, Senior Clinical Advisor and Academic GP, NHS Race and Health Observatory, Queen Mary University of London 

A fun interactive session looking at ways to introduce toys, technology and games into primary care undergraduate medical education. This session will look at how the community clinical lecturing team collaborated with the learning and teaching academy at Cardiff University, to implement a new teaching day. The day was developed to be an engaging and authentic learning experience to meet the needs of third year undergraduate medical students in helping them to prepare them for their community placements. It includes hands-on demonstrations of 3 components of this day using Lego, a Mr Potato head and Virtual Reality (VR) goggles.

Speakers:

Dr Claire Campbell, Community Clinical Lecturer, Cardiff University - School of Medicine

Dr Mary Robathan, Phase 2 Lead for Community Medicine, Cardiff University  - School of Medicine 

Dr Kate Hilson, Phase 1 Lead for Community Clinical Medicine, Cardiff university

This session aims to discuss, offer appropriate advice and help people learn about the GP role in the care of people, of all ages, with concerns about their gender identity or sexuality.

This is not intended to be a debate over the current polarised views that exist with respect to gender identity. This workshop is a pragmatic workshop for GPs and other healthcare professionals seeing people with these issues. A practical, case based, approach to the ten minute consultation and follow up within an healthcare system that is constrained by limited resources and reduced access to services. 

Speakers: 

Prof Mark Rickenbach, GP, Park and St Francis Surgery

Dr Kamilla Kamaruddin, GP Lead clinician, East of England Gender services 

Chair:

Amina Hussain, EDI Lead, Vale of Trent Faculty, RCGP

This session will focus on my project aimed at increasing uptake of the NHS Cancer Screening Programme using multilingual resources. Based on work within an inner-city multi-ethnic Birmingham practice, I will share key findings and demonstrate why these resources are being utilised across the city and reversing negative trends. Attendees will learn strategies for engaging patients from diverse linguistic backgrounds and receive practical tools for implementation in their practice. The session will provide insights on how in primary care, on how primary care professionals can innovate and leverage existing resources to enhance accessibility and care, particularly for non-English speaking communities.

Speakers:

Dr Haroon Shah, GP Registrar, The St.Clements Surgery

Our RCGP Conferences are vibrant hubs of discussion about the challenges and opportunities in general practice. When RCGP prepares an election manifesto, we aim to harness those ideas. general practice in Wales is in crisis. The number of GPs and practices has been falling. Despite these challenges, we believe that with reform and resourcing general practice can not only thrive, but it can be at the forefront of alleviating pressures in the wider NHS.

Hear how RCGP Cymru Wales is making the case that general practice is a big part of the solution to a sustainable Welsh NHS.

Speakers:

Marie Brousseau-Navarro, Deputy Commissioner and Director for Health and Well-being

Chair:

Richard Vautrey, President, RCGP

Children and adults who live in affluent families can also experience abuse and neglect but this is often vastly under-recognised. In addition, there can be numerous challenges working with affluent, professional families when there are safeguarding concerns. As a result, children and adults who are victims of abuse and neglect in these families, may go unseen and not receive the safeguarding help and support they need. In this session, we will explore how to effectively safeguard in affluence through case-based scenarios (child and adult).

Speakers:

Joy Shacklock, Clinical Policy Representative for Safeguarding, RCGP

Chair: 

Jonathan Rial, Wessex Faculty Board Member

Recap and refresh on BLS, CPR procedures, CPR, Adult, Child, Infant from the UK Resus Guidelines, and Agonal Gasping. 

Practise CPR on Adult, Child and Infant manikins, and how to use an AED (Training Defibrillator)

On leaving the course everyone will leave with a Certificate of Attendance for the BLS session, stating that Adult, Infant and Child CPR has been included and safe use of an AED, a first aid book and a revive aid face shield.

Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. Although long portrayed as ‘rare’ and ‘easy to cure’, UKHSA data and patient experience suggest otherwise.

Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial. Identifying the underlying diagnosis can be challenging at all stages of infection, with potential long-term debilitating consequences if missed or misdiagnosed. Patients may present at any stage of disease, to any member of the clinical team.

Complicating features include a diagnostic rash with diverse appearances, non-specific symptoms, symptoms easily mistaken for other conditions, or the diagnostic process ending prematurely with a feature of disseminated disease (e.g. a ‘diagnosis’ of facial palsy or pericarditis).

This session highlights key advice and practical insights from NICE Lyme disease Guideline (NG95) and RCGP Lyme disease toolkit, presents evidence from a recent national survey of patient experiences, and aims to empower GPs in developing Lyme awareness across the primary care team.

Explore the clinical, practical, and medicolegal implications of AI in clinical medicine. Join Ben White, Case Team Lead, Medical Protection, for an overview of practical frameworks for the safe, defensible use of AI in clinical settings.

This session will explore how you can identify unprofessional behaviours in the workplace and how the GMC guidance can support you in tackling these behaviours.

We will explore some of the key changes to Good Medical Practice 2024 and how this can be used as a lever for change within organisations.

The session will look at a case study and encourage engagement from the audience to share different challenges and good practice.

Bronchiectasis is a chronic, progressive inflammatory lung disease characterised by permanent and abnormal dilatation of the bronchi, accompanied by recurrent bronchial infections and exacerbations, resulting in a significant physical and psychosocial burden for patients.

In this session, Dr Fiona Mosgrove will provide a comprehensive overview of the disease, exploring its pathophysiology, the "vicious vortex" of bronchiectasis, and the key drivers of disease progression.

Through real-world case studies, Dr Mosgrove will highlight the vital role of primary care in identifying symptoms early, coordinating care, and supporting patients across the disease journey. The session will emphasise the importance of utilising a multimodal treatment approach and the critical role primary care clinicians play in managing this chronic and progressive disease

This meeting has been organised and fully funded by Insmed Ltd.

MED-UKI-NA-00094

August 2025

This session delves into the intersection of traditional educational methods and the rise of AI in planning learning activities for GP trainees and medical students. Dr. Rebecca McConnell and Dr. James Waldron will share insights from their extensive experience in education, exploring the quality, effectiveness, and ethics of AI-assisted educational planning. Participants will compare AI-driven approaches with conventional methods and assess their potential impact. Through interactive activities, attendees will create an educational plan with AI’s assistance and engage in a lively discussion about its risks, benefits, and future implications.

Speakers:

Dr Rebecca McConnell, GP & Clinical Associate Professor in Medical Education, Erewash Health Partnership

Dr James Waldron, GP & GP Associate – Nottinghamshire Alliance Training Hub, Parkside Medical Practice

Debate creates a platform where individuals from varied backgrounds can express their viewpoints. By allowing everyone to participate, it ensures that voices from marginalized or underrepresented groups are heard. Structured debates often require participants to explore opposing views, challenging biases and fostering mutual respect. As a result, participants build empathy, which is foundational to inclusive practices with significant benefits for education, workplace culture and policy. Despite its importance, we are not taught how to debate well and there are no fora that encourage this. This session will explore ways of supporting informed debate within our profession and more widely.  

Speakers:

Dr Selva Selvarajah, GP, Bromley By Bow Centre

Dr Toyosi Adeniji, GP, First 5 Chair RCGP

Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown, Vice Chair for External Affairs, RCGP

Join us for this Q&A session where you can put questions to Dr Chris Provan, Chair of RCGP Scotland; Dr Rowena Christmas, Chair of RCGP Wales; Dr Ursula Mason, Chair of Northern Ireland Council; and Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair RCGP Council. Delegates will have the opportunity to raise questions important to them and hear about what the College is doing for members.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair, RCGP Council

Chris Provan, Chair, RCGP Scotland

Ursula Mason, Chair, Northern Ireland Council

Rowena Christmas, Chair, RCGP, Wales

Chair: Thomas Patel-Campbell, Vice Chair - Finance and Member Value

Currently we are in a new era where  weight loss medications, such as GLP1 agonists like Semaglutide are being promoted and made available to the general public. 

These medications have been described as safe, effective and transformative for health by some experts.

This session with be in the form of a debate between members of the RCGP ethics committee, with one team for and one against the motion. 

Speakers:

Dr Sapna Agrawal, GP, RCGP ethics committee 

Our session will provide an overview of the bespoke leadership programme, Tyfu, that we have designed for women GP trainees in Wales who have been identified as requiring additional educational support. We will cover the origins of the programme as well as the content, initial feedback and results.

Speakers:

Dr. Faye Stockton, GP Associate Dean North Wales, Health Education and  Improvement Wales (HEIW)

Dr. Shallini Subbu, GP Associate Dean Cardiff, Health Education and  Improvement Wales (HEIW)

In GP practices in areas of blanket deprivation (by Index of Multiple Deprivation), there are several areas of demand and resource mismatch resulting from seeking to serve these areas. It’s difficult to deliver both healthcare and research in these areas but it is essential that practitioners and their patients are given the opportunity to participate in research so that our research is inclusive, diverse and can meet the healthcare needs of underserved populations

This session will explore how engaging and supporting GP practices in these areas to participate in research can reduce health inequalities.

Speakers:

Professor Caroline Mitchell, Professor of general practice research and general practitioner, Keele University

Recap and refresh on BLS, CPR procedures, CPR, Adult, Child, Infant from the UK Resus Guidelines, and Agonal Gasping. 

Practise CPR on Adult, Child and Infant manikins, and how to use an AED (Training Defibrillator)

On leaving the course everyone will leave with a Certificate of Attendance for the BLS session, stating that Adult, Infant and Child CPR has been included and safe use of an AED, a first aid book and a revive aid face shield.

There is growing acknowledgement of Food Insecurity as an important social determinant of health. Food Banks, initially set up for emergency food provision, are now relied on regularly by many people, including those in paid employment. Linked with this are concerns about the provision of nutritional food for those suffering from Food Insecurity.  In response, various social enterprises “Social Supermarkets” have developed throughout the UK, providing discounted foods with an emphasis on dignity for their users. General Practitioners are often unaware of what local Social Supermarkets offer, including their provision of holistic allied services linked to user wellbeing.

Speakers:

Mr Andrew Forsay, National Director, Feeding Britain

Robust cross-sector working is crucial to support the provision of good quality healthcare.

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) has published over 60 reports on a variety of clinical topics with recommendations to improve both clinical care and the organisation of care. Many of these reports have specifically addressed the importance of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT), which includes primary care, to improve the quality of care provided to patients.

The purpose of this session would be to explore NCEPOD recommendations relevant to primary care, and to discuss ways to increase local implementation.

Speakers:

Marisa Mason, Chief Executive, NCEPOD

Heather Freeth, Senior Clinical Researcher, NCEPOD

Chair: 

Michael Mulholland, Honorary Secretary

For two hundred years, hospitals have been the place to learn medicine in the UK.  Not so primary care, which was late to the party, but has recently become a key factor in undergraduate medical education.  This talk starts by charting the long march of general practice towards increasing legitimacy as a place to learn medicine.  We consider why recent times have seen GP become an increasingly prominent factor in medical education. We then explore what general practice has to offer to medical schools, the challenges we face in delivering student placements - and how we might overcome these.

Speaker: Dr Richard Darnton

Dermatology developed as a specialty in Europe in the 19th Century, so the first descriptions of skin conditions were based on their appearance on white skin. However, 200 years later, our textbooks and teaching at every stage of medical education are still lacking in representation of all skin tones. This results in under diagnosis and under treatment of people of non-European ethnicity. 

In this session we will explore the different presentations of common conditions in skin of colour, learning how to recognise and treat people from diverse backgrounds, taking into account lifestyle factors and cultural preferences.

Speakers:

Dr Catherine Fernando, Salaried GP,  Orchard Medical Practice, Haddington

General practice plays a key role as the primary entry point to the health care system, diagnosing diseases, treating both chronic and acute conditions and coordinating patient care. But general practice is facing many challenges. More people are suffering from multiple conditions, medical records are becoming more extensive and it’s difficult for doctors to identify patterns indicating serious illness. Timely and individualised treatment for each patient is crucial to treat, manage risk and prevent disease in the population.

Speakers:

Prof. Jens Søndergaard, Director, professor, MD, PhD, GP, Clinical Pharmacologist, research unit for general practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Dr Kathrine Stjernholm Nielsen, MD, PhD student, research unit for general practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Recap and refresh on BLS, CPR procedures, CPR, Adult, Child, Infant from the UK Resus Guidelines, and Agonal Gasping. 

Practise CPR on Adult, Child and Infant manikins, and how to use an AED (Training Defibrillator)

On leaving the course everyone will leave with a Certificate of Attendance for the BLS session, stating that Adult, Infant and Child CPR has been included and safe use of an AED, a first aid book and a revive aid face shield.