Executive overview
Safe UK primary care uses several complementary sources: NICE for national recommendations, CKS for practical primary-care guidance, relevant SmPCs on eMC for authorised product particulars, and SPS, local or specialist guidance for medicines use and implementation. Point-of-care compendia such as BMJ Best Practice can provide additional synthesis where access is available.
This guide provides a definitive map of what to use, when, and how to combine these essential resources efficiently. We will also explore how a new generation of UK-centric AI assistants like iatroX can help you navigate this landscape, find cited answers from the wider evidence base, and accelerate your learning.
Quick-start toolbox for the GP workday
For the day-to-day demands of a busy clinic, these four resources form a powerful core:
- NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS): Your first stop for pragmatic, GP-focused summaries on common conditions.
- Medicines information: Use the relevant SmPC on eMC for product-specific licensed information and add applicable NICE, SPS, local or specialist guidance for treatment choice, dosing implementation and monitoring.
- BMJ Best Practice: An excellent point-of-care summary tool, available for free to NHS staff via the NHS Knowledge & Library Hub with an OpenAthens login.
- iatroX: A UK-centric AI assistant that helps you ask questions against UK-accepted guidance, providing explicit citations, and includes a free adaptive quiz for learning.
National guidance compass: NICE, SIGN, Right Decisions
- NICE Guidelines: These are the comprehensive, evidence-based national recommendations that underpin all NHS care, defining policy and shaping clinical pathways.
- SIGN: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network produces rigorous, evidence-based guidelines that are widely used and respected across the entire UK, often complementing NICE guidance.
- Right Decision Service (Scotland): For clinicians in Scotland, this is a key resource, providing "Once for Scotland" decision support tools and care pathways via a mobile and web app.
Prescribing & medicines safety stack: SPS, MHRA, PrescQIPP
- Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS): The NHS’s “first stop” for expert medicines advice, providing practical answers to complex questions on administration, monitoring, and legal mechanisms.
- MHRA Drug Safety Update: The monthly bulletin on new safety signals and regulatory actions. It is essential reading for all prescribers.
- PrescQIPP: An NHS-commissioned Community Interest Company that produces evidence-based bulletins and webkits on topics like low-priority prescribing and medicines optimisation.
Infection & antimicrobial stewardship: UKHSA + TARGET, NICE AMS
- Managing Common Infections (UKHSA): This is the definitive UK guidance for managing common infections. Interim summary tables are often hosted by the RCGP.
- TARGET Antibiotics Toolkit: Developed by UKHSA and the RCGP, this provides a wealth of resources for antimicrobial stewardship, including audit tools and patient leaflets.
- NICE NG15: This guideline provides the organisational backbone for setting up and running effective antimicrobial stewardship systems and processes.
Immunisation & travel vaccines: UKHSA Green Book
The Green Book is the UK's definitive, comprehensive guidance on vaccination. All chapters are updated online and are the single source of truth for the UK immunisation schedule.
Evidence & search: TRIP, Cochrane, NIHR Evidence, NHS Knowledge & Library Hub
- TRIP Database: A powerful clinical search engine that intelligently filters for high-quality evidence, such as guidelines, systematic reviews, and RCTs.
- Cochrane Library: The home of systematic reviews, with free nationwide access for everyone in England, funded by NICE.
- NIHR Evidence/Alerts: Provides bite-sized, practice-ready summaries of the latest important health research.
- NHS Knowledge & Library Hub: Your single search gateway to a vast range of high-quality articles, e-books, and point-of-care tools, accessed via your OpenAthens sign-in.
Dermatology in primary care: PCDS quick guides + local pathways
- Primary Care Dermatology Society (PCDS): An exceptionally practical resource for GPs, offering concise treatment and referral guidance for common skin problems via its website and A-Z index.
- Local pathways: Always check your local Integrated Care System (ICS) pathways for specific referral criteria and management tips for dermatology.
Patient-facing leaflets you can trust
- NHS.uk Conditions: The authoritative source for plain-English patient information. It is ideal for signposting in post-consultation text messages or emails.
- Patient.info: Provides a large library of clinician-authored, UK-aligned patient leaflets that are clear and easy to print or share.
Risk & decision calculators used in UK primary care
- QRISK3: The official, NICE-recommended calculator for assessing 10-year cardiovascular disease risk.
- Stroke risk in AF: Use CHA₂DS₂-VASc for stroke risk assessment, as per current UK guidance.
AI at the point of care (UK-centric): iatroX
AI assistants can help you navigate this complex information landscape more efficiently.
- iatroX Ask / Brainstorm: Provides conversational, UK-focused answers to clinical questions with explicit citations to the evidence, and can help you structure your thinking around a differential diagnosis. It is designed to be a fast front-door to the evidence, but it is not a replacement for the primary sources.
- How to use alongside CKS, SmPCs on eMC and BMJ Best Practice: Use an AI assistant for a rapid, cited overview, then follow the links to the applicable NICE or CKS page, the relevant SmPC on eMC, or another authoritative source and verify the information before acting.
CPD & learning
- RCGP eLearning & e-LfH: These platforms provide a huge range of free (for NHS staff/members) curriculum-mapped modules and courses.
- NHS Knowledge & Library Services CPD zone: A curated hub of CPD resources and study aids.
Micro-Workflows: Putting it all together
- Common presentation (e.g., sore throat): Start with CKS for the steps → Check the current UK medicines information for antibiotic dosing if required → Consult SPS for any tricky administration points → Document your sources in the note.
- Rapid evidence check: Run a targeted TRIP search (filtered to Guidelines) → Sanity-check the findings with BMJ Best Practice → Document the key sources.
- Derm query: Go directly to PCDS for images and treatment triggers → Record your final decision and reasoning.
FAQs
- Is BMJ Best Practice free for NHS staff?
- Yes, it is nationally funded and accessible via the NHS Knowledge & Library Hub with an OpenAthens login.
- Where do I find the UK immunisation schedule?
- The definitive source is the UKHSA Green Book.
- What’s the quickest way to check dosing in clinic?
- The relevant SmPC on eMC for product-specific licensed information, plus local or specialist paediatric guidance where the question concerns a child.
- Which AI tool is UK-centric and free?
- iatroX offers free, citation-backed answers from UK-accepted guidance and an adaptive quiz mapped to UK curricula.