In the health news

Last year, the RCGP’s press team secured almost 20,000 media hits across print, broadcast and online outlets. The College regularly features in the news to be the voice for general practice on issues that matter to members, including GP workload and workforce, health inequalities and preventive health. We’re frequently quoted in articles covering wide-ranging clinical, health policy and wider societal issues. In the health news’ is our regular round-up of media coverage featuring the College and its spokespeople, and will be updated on a weekly basis.

21 May 2025

GP unemployment

College Chair Kamila Hawthorne spoke to Times Radio this morning to discuss the absurdity of GPs struggling to find appropriate roles in the NHS whilst patient demand for GP services soars, and how this impacts on areas of greater deprivation most.

We also secured coverage in the Independent, the Standard and a range of regional publications via PA Media with our response to an open letter from the BMA to the Government saying 1000 GPs risk being unemployed upon qualification this summer due to difficulties in securing employment.

Our full story on GP unemployment

Beta blockers

Medical Director for Clinical Policy, Adrian Hayter, featured in The Guardian commenting on the process for prescribing beta blockers and, more widely, antidepressants, outlining how GPs will take into a patient’s unique circumstances when developing a treatment plan. His comments featured in Polly Hudson’s regular column as part of a story detailing her personal experience of taking the medication.

Paediatric cancer diagnosis

RCGP Scotland Vice Chair Chris Williams featured in The Sunday Post on the diagnosis of cancer in children. Chris outlined that diagnosing paediatric cancer and its treatment is included in GP training and that it can prove highly difficult to diagnose as symptoms may be non-specific.

National insurance

RCGP Wales Chair Rowena Christmas’ previous comments to the BBC on the impact of the Government’s changes to national insurance contributions on patient access featured in the Monmouthshire Beacon.

16 May 2025

Assisted dying

RCGP Scotland Chair Chris Provan featured in The Scotsman and the Scottish Daily Mail responding to the passing of Stage One of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill in Holyrood. He raised concerns about the Bill progressing in its current form, and called for an opt-in system to be set up for any assisted dying specialised service.

The College’s intervention ahead of the report stage of the Assisted Dying Bill in Westminster, making clear off the back of BBC research that GPs have differing views about assisted dying and concerns about the Bill that need to be addressed, has continued to be covered in the media via two stories distributed by Press Association.

We were quoted in both stories in the Independent (MP response and RCP), MailOnline (MP response and RCP), Standard (MP response and RCP) and in a range of regional publications. We also featured in Pulse who ran a story based on their own survey of GPs which found under one in four would be prepared to be involved in assisted dying to completion.

Whole person care

RCGP Scotland’s latest paper Whole person medical care: the value of the GP (PDF file, 931 KB) secured coverage in GPOnline. The report outlines the benefits to the NHS as a whole of an adequately funded general practice. 

Blended learning

We featured in Pulse responding to concerns raised by the BMA GP Registrar Committee on ‘blended learning’ and NHS England’s pilot to expand GP training capacity with some remote learning. The College is following the progress of the pilot closely and our statement made clear that no more than six months of GP speciality training should be spent in non-patient facing posts.

Smacking ban

The College was a signatory to calls – led by the RCPCH – on the Government to ban the physical punishment of children, the story achieved coverage in Pulse.