InnovAiT: Education and inspiration for general practice

Salivary gland disease represents a relatively minor proportion of a GP workload. On average, a GP will see a new case of head and neck cancer every 6 years. Early recognition and referral improves outcomes. This article aims to explain common salivary gland pathologies and their management, including the recognition and management of benign and malignant salivary neoplasms.

Dizziness is a common complaint in general practice and is used by patients to describe many different sensations. The key to making the diagnosis is to qualify exactly what the patient means by ‘dizzy’ in order to establish whether this represents true vertigo. This article aims to provide an overview of common causes of vertigo encountered in general practice.

In the UK, there are 9 million people who are deaf or hard of hearing and potentially facing significant communication barriers. Hearing loss can be broadly divided into two main types—conductive and sensorineural. The former is usually caused by pathology within the external or middle ear, the latter by inner ear disease (the cochlea or neural pathway to the auditory cortex). A patient can also have a mixed picture with both conductive and sensorineural elements. This article describes the initial assessment and investigation of a patient presenting with hearing loss, outlines the more common causes of both conductive and sensorineural deafness and outlines strategies to optimize hearing.

Adults with foot and ankle problems often present to the GP complaining of pain and impaired function, including difficulties with work, social and domestic activities. The aim of this article is to provide GPs with a knowledge base on the orthopaedic problems affecting the adult foot and ankle, so that the doctor can manage this sizeable part of the workload, with treatment and appropriate referral to allied health care professionals and to secondary care.

Hip pain can affect patients of all ages with vastly differing presentations. Presentation may be acute or insidious, and the patient may present with limp, immobility or no functional disturbance. Pain in the hip can also be misleading due to referred pain from the lumbar spine, abdomen, pelvis or knee.

The incidence of hip and knee replacement surgery is increasing rapidly as a consequence of our ageing and increasingly obese society. In the UK, 50 000 hip replacements are being performed each year, and this is expected to treble by 2030. The aim of this article is to discuss the principles behind hip and knee arthroplasty, the types of prostheses, the surgeon's aims and the potential complications that may be encountered.

The regulations determining eligibility for free health care in the UK have become increasingly complex and politically contested at a time of increased international migration. Eligibility for free health care in the UK is determined by the residency status of an individual and not by nationality or taxation status.

General practice is a wide and varied field which throws up many challenges and ethical dilemmas on a regular basis. To understand the challenges and thought processes that Muslim GPs specifically go through when dealing with these requires some discussion. It is also worth clarifying some mainstream Muslim beliefs and to understand some of the logic and reasons behind some requests that patients may make from their GPs from time to time.