'This book is not about nostalgia, and we are not suggesting a return to a 'better' time. It is not that as practising GPs, Jens and I object to being embedded within and accountable to the systems we are part of. But we do want to consider how, and with what, the gap left by the archetypal GP has been filled.'

In Fighting for the Soul of General Practice, Rupal Shah and Jens Foell, two practising GPs describe the reality of working within a failing and highly bureaucratic system. Drawing on years of experience treating a wide range of patients from all backgrounds, they show what is lost when regulation overrules relationships, standard practice eliminates discretion, and algorithms displace personal attention. While acknowledging that bureaucracy is inevitable and important, they argue for an approach to medicine that is about creating meaning for doctor and patient and that privileges connection, attention, and care within each encounter.

Rupal Shah is a GP in Inner City London and works as an Associate Dean for NHS England. As well as her many academic publications, she is a co-author of 'Our Mothers Ourselves', a memoir of mothering.

Jens Foell is a practising GP and Academic, who is deliberately choosing to work in undifferentiated primary care rather than a specialist service. He has an interest in mental health, chronic pain and health policy and was also trained in rehabilitation and social medicine.