Alan Shirley
@ralanshirley
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GP, GP director @PCWT_hub , father #meded & #jazz & #dogs Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will #dissonantcog
Sheffield, UK
Joined January 2010
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Pinned Tweet
I am a GP and I am vaccinated against COVID19
I am so confident in science of vaccination that I volunteered for the
@OxfordVacGroup
Astra Zeneca trial and 2 of my 3 children were in vaccine trials as babies
Get vaccinated
Protect yourself and others
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As a NHS doctor who trained as a GP at the same time as you, but spent the 30 years since in general practice not politics, it makes me sad and angry to see the unethical and unforgivable damage your party has done to the NHS over the last 13 years
As a former NHS doctor, it makes me sad and angry to see doctors involved in action which I believe to be unethical and unforgivable, given the harm being done to patients and the NHS itself
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Well that’s a wrap
A bit over 30 years at the practice and I’ve logged off for the last time
(I am carrying on working)
A patient said to me today “you’ve been here all my life”
Gave it the best years of mine
#teamGP
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Yesterday was four years since my wife died.
This grief thing is strange and this morning not yesterday is when I am feeling it most.
Sometimes it seems like it happened a few days ago, other times it seems like it happened in another life.
Take care everyone.
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The battle metaphor is just as unhelpful for people with COVID19 as those with other illnesses.
Can we just stop using it please. Signed:
A doctor whose wife died of cancer (but not because she didn’t fight it hard enough)
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Hello I’m a GP/family doctor in a movie. I am invisible because primary care doesn’t exist. All doctors and other healthcare care professionals work in hospitals where they save lives with shiny equipment.
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Seven years today since my wife died I generally take the day off clinical work (just in case) Kind colleagues are supportive
So I went for a walk and kept walking
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I may have reached peak 2020 today when I was interrupted on a Zoom meeting by my dog barking because someone was calling to collect some of my sourdough starter
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Well the day didn’t turn out the way I expected
This evening we said goodbye to beautiful Zara, a loyal and true friend, who helped me so much especially in those first dark months after my wife died.
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A personal milestone
Today was my last day as a GP partner after 28 years in same practice
(I am carrying on some salaried sessions as well as other work)
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So if GP Training places are to increase by 50% and trainees to spend 3 years in GP (current 18m) then that requires a 4 fold increase in training places 😳😱
As numbers of fully qualified GPs decline tell me how this is possible?
Who is going to supervise all these extra GP trainees? What rooms will they consult in? Who will run the training schemes? Currently admin being cut and TPDs at limit
As far as I can see training capacity is close to maxed out now
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As a male white doctor of the same vintage as you (but not famous) I have to say I disagree you should not use that # use this one
#blacklivesmatter
The anger is understandable but I think this is utterly reckless, and lives may well be lost as a result.
#EveryLifeMatters
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Who is going to supervise all these extra GP trainees? What rooms will they consult in? Who will run the training schemes? Currently admin being cut and TPDs at limit
As far as I can see training capacity is close to maxed out now
£2.4bn workforce plan to increase GP training places by 50% among other measures
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Youngest daughter painted this card for my birthday We both shed a tear when I opened it
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So my Mum had emailed her MP about the change to her second dose of her vaccine
(With no input from me)
Don’t mess with the digitally enabled over 80s
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Has anyone costed
@wesstreeting
plan to replace GP partnership model? Or modeled effect on secondary care of removing gatekeeper function?
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A massive thanks to all the staff of Ward 40 Tameside Hospital
@tandgicft
Especially the nursing staff who provided professional and compassionate palliative care to my mum on a busy acute ward
RIP Jane Richardson Shirley
10/5/32-14/1/24
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I was too busy at work as a GP to notice the odious tweet from
@allisonpearson
alleging I was not at work
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@DrPeterWeeks1
I have fulfilled my contractual obligations for 30 years and am now on my leaving do
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So
@sajidjavid
not available f2f or remotely to meet GPs
@RCGPAC
#RCGPAC
No appointments today?
Poor show
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So today marks 30 years since I started at my current GP practice
Though in that time we moved premises, changed name and merged
I am celebrating by spending my annual leave in bed with COVID musing on how much longer I will carry on
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Several firsts here as I leave for work
1) wearing scrubs in GP
2) working bank holiday in practice
3) Twitter selfie
4) lockdown hair
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The 5th Mother’s Day when my daughters have no mum whilst mine is still alive
Dissonance remains strong
Love to all of those for whom today is difficult
Take care
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Thinking of all of you dealing with grief this Christmas Stay strong but cry when you need to Love each other
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And what did you
@DailyMailUK
do to contribute to them leaving?
Every GP I appraised last year mentioned the negative press (often the Mail by name) as adversely affecting them
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@MissBethanEJohn
Honestly it will be the most gradual induction you have ever had
You will be fine
This is the best consultation model
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Thanks for good wishes & podcast recommendations
Surgery went well & I survived first 24 hours of “posturing” face down & am now on a more practical regime for the week ahead
Huge thanks to Miss Garcia-Cabrera & rest of the (all female) team
@SheffieldHosp
Happy New Year
Well this is fun
I am celebrating having twixtmas off work for the first time in 35 years by having a retinal detachment
Diagnosed this morning now lying still until surgery tomorrow
Bored already please send me strength and more importantly podcast recommendations
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Well this is fun
I am celebrating having twixtmas off work for the first time in 35 years by having a retinal detachment
Diagnosed this morning now lying still until surgery tomorrow
Bored already please send me strength and more importantly podcast recommendations
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So it seems the “international” blood bottle shortage is not affecting
France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Romania, Portugal, Serbia, Germany (as confirmed by GPs in those countries)
What is the evidence it is an international problem?
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Having spent the first week of 2022 “posturing” in recovery from retinal detachment surgery I seem to have emerged with a “new look” 😂
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Does anyone else have a strong compulsion to buy something online but have no idea what to buy?
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Not posted food for ages but…
Squash, potato and chickpeas with black limes and sumac
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Just for information none of the GPs I met from Slovenia, Portugal, Ireland or Estonia were experiencing any supply chain issues in supermarkets or with flu vaccination delivery and were rather astonished and appalled that it is happening in UK
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It’s been a tough year for me professionally and especially personally
Been on here somewhat erratically and much not shared
I know it has been tough (and tougher) for many of you too
Hoping 2021 is better for you all.
Take care
Happy New Year
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As a GP of more than 30 years and lifelong Labour supporter I can’t express how disappointed I am in this response from
@wesstreeting
to a very reasonable manifesto from
@rcgp
Not expecting him to accept it all but the vehemence and dismissal are unwarranted
@tobyperkinsmp
'This is a plan for the managed decline of general practice, not a serious plan to get GPs back on their feet,' shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said of the RCGP's recent manifesto.
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@ShaunLintern
@RSylvesterTimes
@wesstreeting
Salaried service will be much more expensive
Buying out premises will be very very expensive one off cost
Will increase early retirement of GPs
Removing gatekeeper function will make waiting lists much much worse
Very disappointing
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Anticipatory dread for full clinical day on Monday doesn’t usually start this early
#GPcrisis
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Never thought I would celebrate my youngest 21st without my wife but has happened & we had a good time I’m so very proud of her & her sisters
#nomumnow
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I don’t remember ante natal parenting classes mentioning future skills eg 21 years later my youngest would require me to be able to speed iron an incomprehensible women’s one piece trousersuit that says “do not iron” 25 minutes before the taxi arrives to take us to a wedding
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Perhaps not unexpectedly I have the rona Woke up with cough and fever When I rang the nice Oxford vaccine trial doc he said “brilliant”
“Not so brilliant for me!” I said
He clarified he meant it was good I had contacted them 😂
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3 years today since my wife died Today spent with my daughters listening to
@DavidBowieReal
and visiting
@YSPsculpture
to see her name in WalkofArt2
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If this is what trainees have learnt after 6m in GP post shouldn't all junior doctors do one?
@doctorcaldwell
#teamGP
#meded
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Some positivity in the gloom of
#GPcrisis
Did an appraisal last week Amazing first5 GP 2 years post CCT moved from locum to salaried with view to partnership Really thriving and enthusiastic Engaging with
@GreenerPractice
agenda
Rated positivity 9/10
#teamGP
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Five years today
She never saw the pandemic or Brexit, Trump as president or Johnson as PM.
Never knew one daughter graduated or another started Uni. Hasn’t seen all three grow into even more amazing young women.
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Tonight’s tea 🇪🇹 night: injera, roast berbere vegetables and chickpeas, and berbere lentils and tomatoes with ginger and cardamom
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Or perhaps they have been listening to
@TVSanjeev
dad
This is confusing they want doctors to act as doctors in a TV drama? Are there not actors who can do this???Perhaps more than doctors - who in case you hadn’t noticed are a tad busy atm
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Inevitably the heather reminds of the year I missed it completely, because my wife died. 5 years ago now.
Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday, other times a lifetime ago.
I am doing ok.
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I’m reposting this from a couple of weeks ago in memory of Michael O’Donnell who I have just found out died a couple of weeks ago A great piece by him on the art of medicine as performance
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Zara says Merry Christmas to everyone and a special thanks to anyone working today
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Look what arrived today! Is is time to test my vision yet?
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Love the city AND the country? Come and
#livetrainwork
In
#Sheffield
@Sheffieldis
This is 10 miles from where I live near the city centre There’s a city of 500k people hiding behind one of these hills
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First Mother’s Day without mine for me but the 8th for my daughters
Take care everyone
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@DrEmmaNash
I once had to stop on the way to school with 3 of them while we waited to see if the youngest’s menagerie of invisible friends were safe: the zebra had fallen down a waterfall
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Thanks for all the kind words about my COVID19 infection. After a rough weekend I am recovering but still very fatigued
Doubtless would have been much worse without vaccination
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I am more than a bit concerned about the number of patients I have spoken to this week who contacted us about their own or child's cough and hadn't thought about COVID and hadn't isolated
#SecondWave
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Welcome to new followers (& old ones) As well as general practice stuff you may also get the occasional photo of
#zarathesheltie
Here she is today on a poetry stone
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Not posted foods for a bit so...
It’s the
@ottolenghi
“wedges” meal again AKA Root vegetables with harissa chickpeas, tahini yoghurt and dukkah. Help to get through another bout of self isolation
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Lovely walk Beautiful heather
But reminds me (as I suspect it always will) of the year I never saw it in bloom (because my wife was dying)
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Always good to come to a meeting with a buzzword bingo sheet provided
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I did 28 years as a GP partner in a deprived area It would have been MUCH easier to be salaried BUT partnership is NOT the problem Funding and workforce ARE
There is a case to be discussed about a different model but now is NOT the time So very disappointed in
@wesstreeting
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On my walk I was reflecting on how much my mental health is improved by walking in this beautiful countryside and how it has sustained me through hard times
To live in a vibrant city but have this 15 minutes drive away is huge privilege
That was a fun walk Almost completely within Sheffield city boundary
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So today is the 2nd anniversary of my wife’s death and was time to scatter her ashes in a place she loved (photo not today)
#bereavementnews
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This felt particularly true today as I was helping facilitate a seminar for 50+ colleagues and my wifi went down at 0830
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Reflecting on some recent appraisals I have carried out with GP partners. There is some astonishing hard work and heroic leadership keeping practices afloat. Not sure how sustainable it is.
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Feeling better now
Tree up and dressed
Love to all of you you find this a difficult time of year (for whatever reason)
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Otherwise known as doctors’ writing
Luckily for me I have not to make handwritten medical notes since 2004
The opposite of calligraphy is CACOGRAPHY—noticeably untidy or illegible handwriting.
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I won’t pretend my understanding is anything other than totally superficial but I’m definitely up for a festival that is about the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance Happy Diwali 🪔
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Thinking of all the people that for whatever reason find today difficult Especially my daughters & other young people & children whose mums have died
#nomumnow
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I have spoken more openly abt my feelings in last 6m than in previous 54y People esp men let me tell you It IS good to talk
#bereavementnews
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Overcome "laziness of grief" & out for walk 1st time back at Longshaw
@PeakDistrictNT
#moretears
#bereavementnews
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Yay Got my Mum on Zoom (after some hiccups) All set for her 88th Birthday Party tomorrow 🎉
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So to add to the things distrusting my sleep
1) left tennis elbow
2) right carpal tunnel syndrome
3) grief insomnia
4) COVID19 worry insomnia
I have to add
5) being fucking furious with Dominic Cummings and the rest of the Entitled Incompetent Bastards
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Oh dear Please
@Keir_Starmer
@wesstreeting
get some better advisors who know stuff about medicine and NHS
"One of things we've put forward.. self referrals so individuals dont have to go to a dr in order to get referred to specialist help.. if youve got internal bleeding & you just need a test there ought to be a way that doesn't involve going to see a GP"
Keir Starmer on
#BBCLauraK
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Apologies for saying it again but
@Sheffieldis
a great place to
#train
#work
#live
Here we are on the city boundary just 20 minutes from the centre
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Imagining all the convos “mum so cos you is a stupid doctor I got to go to school but my mates don’t have to” *sulky face*
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Medicine in early days ebm movement problems were over valued experts & inaccessibility of high quality information ....now problems are deluge of over valued information & under appreciation of clinical expertise Throughout the patient perspective is too often close to absent
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One of the downfalls of 21st century medicine is the tendency of patients and doctors to overvalue test results and undervalue expert clinical judgement
(but of course we need both)
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Very impressed with
@NikkiKF
yesterday Listened engaged “gets” the issues Understands general practice and committed to a positive future Great that a young non-white woman is in such a high level leadership role
@NHSEngland
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So great
@OxfordVacGroup
vaccine is licensed now
Happy to have done a small part as a study participant
Extra happy to find out I had the vaccine when unblinded
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I may have overdone it a little (46000 steps)
So lovely to see the heather in bloom always reminds of the year she died as I never saw it that year
Seven years today since my wife died I generally take the day off clinical work (just in case) Kind colleagues are supportive
So I went for a walk and kept walking
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So I went to the Sheffield
#BlackLivesMattters
demo today
I stayed at the back and made sure I distanced
COVID19 has shown again the racially based inequalities including health ones that we need to address to build a better world
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I am going to say it again Time for
@rcgp
@HelenRCGP
to cancel
@JuliaHB1
invitation to
#RCGPAC
We don't need to hear her intolerant hateful views She has plenty of other outlets It is not a free speech issue
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Test, trace, isolate, support has no chance of working if there are no f**king tests
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As we can’t do our usual walks in the Peak District, this afternoon Zara and me just went out of the front door and kept going
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Whatever I might feel about this place now I will remain INCREDIBLY grateful for the kindness you lovely people showed me 7 years ago
Seven years today since my wife died I generally take the day off clinical work (just in case) Kind colleagues are supportive
So I went for a walk and kept walking
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Having traversed the fence of uncertainty Nutmeg is now paralysed on the post of indecision
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My last counselling session today Of course still feeling so much loss but restoration is strong Feeling more positive
#bereavementnews
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