A conversation with Dr Margaret McCartney

We have an interview this month with Dr Margaret McCartney, a Glasgow GP, broadcaster, and writer, who discusses her journey into media, the current challenges faced in general practice, and her views on technology, evidence-based medicine, and contemporary healthcare issues. Margaret shares how her media career began rather unexpectedly and gives some insights into her media engagement. She expresses significant frustration with outdated IT systems in Scottish general practice, in particular the current version of Docman, and argues for improvements and suggests integration of beneficial AI technologies could alleviate some of the administrative burdens.

The conversation also covers broader healthcare themes, including the application of evidence-based medicine, highlighting the necessity for doctors to interpret guidelines flexibly, and consider patient-specific contexts and complexities. Margaret discusses the application of shared decision-making, including some situations when this may not be appropriate, the implications of fragmented healthcare teams for continuity of care, and the ethical dimensions of assisted dying, advocating caution against expanding medical powers without adequately considering vulnerable populations. Additionally, the discussion touches on concerns regarding social media's impact on young people's mental health, recommending evidence-based approaches to address negative influences effectively.

Margaret McCartney Wikipedia page  

MedicsVoices: Holding medicine to account

The Contented Clinician podcast series

BBC Radio 4 Naked Week podcast   BBC Radio 4 Inside Health

Adolescence: what teen boys really think of girls, influencers and porn – Guardian Today in focus podcast

Atul Gawande: Being Mortal   Frontline TV Documentary

Written submission by Dr Margaret McCartney to the UK Parliament's Public Bill Committee regarding the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Registration and Programme for the 2025 SNUG members’ day on May 29, 2025 at Westerwood Hotel