This article summarises the aetiology and contributing factors of vaginismus, how a diagnosis can be made, the implications of vaginismus for primary care clinical practice and treatment options.

This article examines medicolegal pitfalls when assessing the decision-making capacity of cognitively impaired patients.

AJGP would like to thank all our 2023 reviewers for their generous contribution to the journal.

The adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ resonates strongly with medicolegal issues. Failing to recognise or manage problems early is likely to lead to worse outcomes and increased costs.

GPs can provide factual information about the risks and benefits of treatment in order to assist this process, but are advised to avoid taking sides.

This article examines what microaggressions are and outlines the key roles of protagonist, target, bystander and ally.

Treating GPs have an obligation to report impaired medical student patients if the GP forms a reasonable belief that the medical student patient has put the public at substantial risk of harm.

This article explores GP referrals to other health professionals and aims to describe a doctor’s medicolegal obligations and responsibilities when making a referral.

This article explores the benefits of having a system to accept and deal with patient feedback within a practice and identifies barriers preventing patients from raising their concerns directly.

These questions are based on the Focus articles in this issue. Please choose the single best answer for each question.

The adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ resonates strongly with medicolegal issues. Failing to recognise or manage problems early is likely to lead to worse outcomes and increased costs.

Education and learning activities that specifically target areas of medicolegal risk can help reduce the likelihood and severity of future medicolegal events.

Readers express their opinions on published articles and topics of interest.

This article discusses the assessment of acute- to subacute-onset erythematous and scaly plaques that are present on multiple body sites in a patient aged >65 years.

Steroid acne may appear in areas of topical steroid application or on patients taking systemic steroids. Treatment should include discontinuation of steroid medication until lesions have resolved.