Originally published on Substack
1. Why this, why now
Welcome, I’m Dr Asif, a UK-trained General Practitioner and Family Medicine Consultant. I’ve spent over 18 years as a Doctor and in preventative medicine. During this time, I have seen the rise in misinformation and patients seeking answers for health concerns in the wrong places leading to delays in important conditions.
This Substack exists because patients — and my own family — have encouraged me to write. Not to promote services or offer shortcuts, but to explain medicine as it’s actually practised: thoughtful, nuanced, and often constrained by time.
In my clinical practice, I frequently meet people who present late in their diagnostic journey. Not always because they ignored symptoms, but because concerns were not always given due time and consideration, appointments were rushed, or they weren’t sure whether their symptoms were “serious enough” to raise. These quiet delays are common in modern healthcare — and they matter.
This space is my attempt to address that gap.
2. My Clinical Focus
My work sits at the intersection of primary care, preventative healthcare, and health screening, particularly where early intervention can meaningfully improve long-term outcomes and quality of life — what we increasingly refer to as healthspan.
I have a longstanding interest in men’s health and cancer screening, and I currently serve in an advisory role as Medical Adviser to the Graham Fulford Charitable Trust, a UK charity focused on improving prostate cancer awareness and access to PSA testing.
Through its screening initiatives, hundreds of thousands of men have been tested, leading to the early detection of thousands of prostate cancers that may otherwise have been diagnosed much later. That work has reinforced a principle I see repeatedly in practice:
…early conversations are often as important as early tests.
3. What you will find here
This is not a collection of generic health tips. Instead, I’ll be writing about:
- Real-world primary care cases — common presentations, diagnostic uncertainty, and clinical reasoning
- Preventative medicine and screening — what’s evidence-based, what’s debated, and what’s often misunderstood
- Men’s health — where delayed engagement still leads to avoidable harm
- Guidelines in context — how best practice applies to real people, not just protocols
Where relevant, I’ll reference current guidance and evidence, but I’ll also be open about uncertainty — because that’s where many patients feel most lost.
4. Why this matters to me
I firmly believe that listening is a clinical skill. Many missed or delayed diagnoses don’t occur because a test wasn’t ordered, but because the full story wasn’t heard or cut short.
If this Substack helps someone articulate symptoms more clearly, seek help earlier, or feel more confident asking questions, then it will have served its purpose.
4. A note on my clinical work
For context, I practise as a Private GP in London - Liverpool Street and Wimpole Street, and I also provide virtual consultations. I also work at Nuffield Health as a Corporate GP and in the NHS as an Urgent Care Doctor. I have also worked in Dubai, UAE as a Family Medicine Consultant where I still hold a practising license and medical advisor role.
I have previously served as the Regional Lead GP for London at Nuffield Health, overseeing clinical practice and clinical governance and compliance of all the London clinics and their clinical staff. I am currently the Chief Medical Officer for LSDC Healthcare. I provide consultancy services to private medical clinics requiring clinical input into their operations utilising my expertise in clinical governance, compliance and understanding of CQC Regulations.
I declare this as this blog is my personal perspective; the purpose of this Substack is education, reflection, and understanding, and not reflective or representative of any of the organisations I am associated with.
Independent patient feedback is available via my Doctify profile, which I share for transparency.
5. What’s next
I am kicking off 2026 with a series about Prostate Cancer and screening with more topics as the year progresses. So please subscribe and share if you find the posts useful and may help someone you know or loved one.
If there are topics or conditions you’d like explored, you’re welcome to suggest them. This is intended to be a conversation, not a broadcast.
Dr Asif