How to use Reasoning GP
A two-minute orientation to the whole site: what it's for, the one framework that runs through every page, the four content layers, how the new top bar is organised, and exactly which page to open at each point in a ten-minute consultation.
01What this is — and what it isn't
Reasoning GP is a UK primary-care clinical-reasoning resource for the whole practice team — GPs, trainees, ANPs, paramedics and pharmacists — built case by case around one repeatable framework, with every recommendation anchored to NICE and the relevant UK guideline. It takes you across the full arc of a consultation: diagnose → treat → prescribe → document & safety-net.
It is not a replacement for your clinical judgement, a live formulary, or the patient in front of you. Pathways and protocols are decision support: confirm anything that matters against the live NICE and your local ICB/APC formulary before acting. The AI features draft and summarise — you check.
02One framework, every consultation
Every pathway, case and protocol is organised around the same seven steps. Once it's familiar, you always know where you are in a consultation and what the page will show you next.
03The four content layers
The clinical content sits in four layers. Knowing which one to open for the question in front of you is the whole skill of using the site quickly.
Visual, print-ready diagnostic flowcharts — one per presentation. Start here when you're still working out what's going on.
Open for: an undifferentiated symptom · triage · "what's the differential?" — Browse pathways →Stepwise management cards for a confirmed diagnosis — first-line to referral, with drug ladders, monitoring and review timing on one screen.
Open for: "I know the diagnosis — now how do I treat it?" — Browse protocols →100+ fully worked consultations that walk the seven steps end-to-end — the reasoning in full, with the SCA framing one toggle away.
Open for: learning a presentation in depth, or teaching — Open the Casebook →A concise A–Z reference of 400+ conditions — overview, features, management and referral — for a fast fact-check rather than a walkthrough.
Open for: "remind me about this condition" — Browse articles →04How the top bar is organised
Everything is reached from five places in the top bar. Hover any heading to open its menu; the four layers and every tool live inside these.
05In a ten-minute consultation
A typical reading flow moves left to right — and you can jump in at whichever box matches what you already know.
Worked example — a 58-year-old with new iron-deficiency anaemia
- ① Find it. Type "iron deficiency" into the homepage search (or Ask the assistant) → open the anaemia pathway.
- ② Reason. The pathway flags the NICE NG12 (updated April 2026) thresholds — iron-deficiency anaemia triggers a FIT (NICE HTG690), and a result of 10 micrograms Hb/g or more means a colorectal suspected cancer pathway referral; BSG 2021 advises bidirectional endoscopy for IDA in men and postmenopausal women even if FIT is negative. It tells you the bloods to confirm and the causes to screen.
- ③ Act. Jump to the protocol for iron replacement — preparation, dose, how long, when to recheck — and look the numbers up in the Guidance Explorer (work-up · lab results reference · medication options).
- ④ Close. Use Prescribing → Ready prescriptions to copy the ferrous-salt script into EMIS, check the safety-netting in the Consultation Spine, and send a patient leaflet via AccuRx.
06The Clinic Toolkit
The focused reference tools live in the Clinic Toolkit menu, each doing one job well. The three biggest jobs — diagnose, prescribe, admin — are consolidated into single hubs.
Prescribing lives in the Clinical Compass, not the Toolkit — open Prescribing for ready Rx, eligibility, FP10, the RAG list and sick-day rules.
07Finding anything fast
- The homepage search is a command palette over the whole site — pathways, protocols, cases, prescriptions, tools and articles. Type a symptom or condition and hit ↵.
- Ask the assistant (💬) answers a free-text clinical question from the library when you'd rather ask than browse, and keeps the thread going for follow-ups — open it here.
- Hover a top-bar heading — Clinical Compass, The Compendium, Clinic Toolkit — to open its menu without clicking; each lists its main contents.
- Install it as an app (📲 in the top bar / on the homepage) for one-tap access and offline reading of the reference content.
08Clinic vs SCA — and your CPD
The 🏥 / 🎓 toggle reframes the same medicine for two jobs. Clinic leads with the Compass, the Compendium and the clinic reference tools. SCA leads with timed AI patient practice, examiner marking and a 12-week plan — see the SCA Guide. Your cases carry a one-tap switch between a clinical summary and the SCA consultation blueprint, so the same case teaches both.
Reading & listening count as CPD — automatically
Time spent reading pathways, protocols, cases and tools — and listening to the audio briefings — is logged in the background and turned into reflective CPD entries you can edit and export as a certificate. Open CPD to see your hours, add reflections and print. Nothing to start — just use the site.