TY - JOUR T1 - Primary care chaplaincy: a valid talking therapy? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 77 LP - 77 DO - 10.3399/bjgp17X689221 VL - 67 IS - 655 AU - Gordon Macdonald Y1 - 2017/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/67/655/77.abstract N2 - The end of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in Scotland from April 2017, I believe, heralds new opportunities for both clinician and patient alike. With the many benefits of QOF have come the negatives of the inverse care law,1 the prevention paradox,2 and target centredness. It is exciting to envisage new initiatives of person-centred care that can be organised around our patients as we form local practice clusters.As a practice we have run one such service for several years — chaplaincy. This has been delivered, irrespective of faith or non-faith background, by our part-time chaplain, in line with Scottish Executive guidelines.3 Our service is a synthesis of Prof. Hanlon’s ‘modern maladies’ approach and Karis Medical Centre’s ‘deepest human needs’ approach.4 Prof. Hanlon has helpfully described modern maladies such as loss of wellbeing, obesity, addictive behaviours, and depression. … ER -