Pulse articles from March 2006

Pulse archives from March 2006

Exposed: national crisis in access to depression services.(General Practitioners mental health service)
March 2, 2006... Pulse investigation reveals lottery over psychological therapies and `appalling' waiting times Exclusive By Nerys Hairon A major Pulse investigation this week exposes shocking details of a crisis in access to services for treating...

Pulse action on Depression.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Pulse this week launches a new campaign - `Action on Depression' - to demand the Government improves access to treatments. We will be writing to all MPs, including Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and the health select committee, demanding...

GP takes on CBT burden.(General Practitioners)(Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy )(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Dr Ramez Gabriel is having to manage patients using his own limited knowledge of psychology after being left with no access to CBT or counselling. Dr Gabriel's patients have been stranded on waiting lists after his PCT - North Birmingham -...

Tough fraud check by QOF assessors.(Quality and Outcomes Framework)
March 2, 2006... GPs are shocked by scale of investigations aimed at uncovering fraud By Ian Cameron PCT quality framework assessors are to pore over blood pressure readings, exception codes and data entered by GPs on weekends as part of tougher fraud...

Conflict over flu guidance for asthma.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... GPs are faced with conflicting advice over influenza immunisation in asthma patients after the Government and GPC clashed over whether there was evidence of benefit. Vaccination of asthma patients has been dropped from the revised QOF -...

Much for GPs to be proud of.(General Practitioners practice)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The politicians in charge of the health service in England, Scotland and Wales have joined GP leaders and NHS managers in endorsing Pulse's Proud of Our Practice campaign. Patricia Hewitt said GPs had `much to be proud of' and she...

Support for Proud of our Practice.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... `The profession has much to be proud of. Any attempt to give GPs the recognition they deserve should be applauded.' Patricia Hewitt, Health Secretary `I'm proud to be a GP and proud that the profession continues to demonstrate its...

GPs attack referral centre `rationing'.(General Practitioners)
March 2, 2006... Referral management centres are being set up by PCTs purely to ration care, save money and deny patients choice, the BMA is claiming, writes Helen Crump. In a stinging attack, the association warned that referral management centres were...

GPs' drop-in clinic gets top marks.(General Practitioners)(health services for teenagers )(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... GPs at the Lutterworth Health Centre in Leicestershire have teamed up with a local school to improve teenagers' access to health services. Dr Jane Taylor leads the `Strictly Confidential' scheme, which provides lunchtime drop-in clinics at...

Patients to order own tests.(self-care promotion by the government)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The Government wants patients to be able to order their own diagnostic tests as part of a major new initiative to encourage self-care. A new Department of Health strategy document said it aimed to `enable people to book routine tests as...

In Brief: Flu pandemic QOF deal.(Quality and Outcomes Framework)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The GPC says it has a `tacit agreement' with ministers that GPs should not lose out on quality pay if a flu pandemic strikes. QOF points would be worked out pro-rata or the previous year's achievement score used if GPs had to focus all their...

In Brief: Nine-month delay on CCBT.(computerised cognitive behaviour therapy )(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... GP access to computerised cognitive behaviour therapy will be delayed by up to nine months after the Government extended the deadline for PCTs to fund it. PCTs have until February 2007 to implement the recent NICE technology appraisal on...

In Brief: Complaints backlog grows.(Primary Care Office criticised for backlog )(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The Healthcare Commission's backlog of complaints is still growing. It now has 1,946 cases which have been outstanding longer than its six- month target. From 1 April the commission has resolved to close 65 per cent of cases in eight weeks and...

In Brief: Call to reassess celecoxib.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Celecoxib increases risk of heart attack by as much as rofecoxib and should be urgently reassessed by regulators, researchers conclude. A new meta-analysis in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine found the drug doubled risk of MI....

In Brief: Asylum seekers moving.(General Practitioners to provide service to asylum seekers)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... GPs may find asylum seeker patients moving into their practice areas over the next four months. The National Asylum Support Service is awarding new contracts for the provision of accommodation to asylum seekers and some accommodation...

In Brief: Rotavirus vaccine licence.(Rotarix licence to be used in European Union)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The UK is a step closer to the introduction of rotavirus vaccine in infants after GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine, Rotarix, was granted a licence for use in the EU. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is looking into the...

In Brief: Disability act guidance.(Disability Discrimination Act)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The Department of Health has issued advice to GPs on complying with the Disability Discrimination Act. Practices must provide reasonable adjustments for disabled people including auxiliary aids and services, removing barriers to access and...

In Brief: Mumps suspension lifted.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The Health Protection Agency has lifted the year-long suspension of testing oral fluid samples for cases of mumps after a dramatic fall in the number of cases. In the first seven weeks of 2006 the number of cases was a third that of the same...

Antibiotic script delays backed in otitis media.
March 2, 2006... Research finds delaying scripts for ear infections has no adverse effects By Emma Wilkinson GPs should delay prescribing of antibiotics for otitis media as the strategy has no medium- or long-term adverse effects, researchers...

NICE faces BP guidance row.(Blood Pressure)
March 2, 2006... Hypertension specialists have told Pulse of their disquiet over new NICE draft guidance sidelining thiazide diuretics and Beta-blockers. Stakeholders to the guidance are set to give NICE a rough ride during the guidance consultation period,...

Trio of blows to GPs' PBC involvement.(General Practitioners)(Practice Based Commissioning)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... GP involvement in practice-based commissioning is looking shakier than ever after a trio of blows hit the scheme. The Department of Health last week suspended the Payment By Results tariff system because of `inaccuracies' in the pricing of...

Another brick in the wall raises #1,800.(fund raising to treat elderly patients)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Dr Anja Goossens has gone to great lengths to improve the lives of her elderly patients - the entire length of the Great Wall of China, in fact. She finished a 4,000-mile walk along the wall in November, raising #1,800 for a local...

`Big boys' will win out.(primary care nursing contracts)
March 2, 2006... You won't be able to compete for new GP services, practices are warned By Ian Cameron Most practices will find it impossible to compete with corporate giants in tendering for new primary care services, the GP lead of a major private...

My six-day desert hell.(fund raising marathon race by General Practitioners)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Dr Jo Chambers has put herself forward for one of the most gruelling races on earth. In a year's time, she will brave 120o temperatures, scorpions, snakes and extreme dehydration to run the equivalent of six marathons in six days across...

Private firms will not need to reveal all.(alternative provider of medical services)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Private firms that win APMS contracts will not have to reveal their details under the Freedom of Information Act. The decision means they will not have to disclose how much money per patient they are getting, their quality framework score...

Media Watch: `Alzheimer's cure near'.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The story A cure for Alzheimer's disease could be just a few years away, according to the Daily Express. The source Professor William Klunk, director of psychiatry at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Pittsburgh, US, told...

Media Watch: `Healthy chocolate bars'.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The story New `health food' chocolate bars containing flavanols and sterols could improve circulation, writes the Daily Express. The source Dr Harold Schmitz, chief science officer of Mars, manufacturer of the new product, told...

Media Watch: `Live longer with red wine'.(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The story A compound found in red wine could be the key to a longer life, the Daily Express reports. The source Italian researchers published a study in Current Biology showing that supplementing food with high-concentrations of...

GP services top of poll.(General Practitioners)
March 2, 2006... Patients rate GPs highly - so why does Government want a shake-up? By Helen Crump Patients rate GP services higher than any other part of the NHS and are increasingly satisfied with the service being offered by their practice. ...

GPs must screen for malnutrition.(General Practitioners)
March 2, 2006... NICE adds another item to the GP task list, suggesting practices assess new patients for signs of malnutrition By Daniel Cressey GPs are to be thrust further to the frontline of public health after new NICE guidance recommended...

Abortion referrals barrier.(General Practitioners refusing to refer for unwanted pregnancies)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... A quarter of GPs consider themselves to be anti-abortion and many are refusing to refer women with unwanted pregnancies, new GP research shows. The study found barriers in primary care to abortion access were contributing to a failure to...

Aggressive BP care caution.(Blood Pressure)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Primary care researchers warn GPs that following `aggressive' guidelines for lowering blood pressure in stroke patients could do more harm than good. They called for caution after their analysis of the landmark PROGRESS trial - which led...

Survey exposes GP frustration at dire access to depression services.(General Practitioners)
March 2, 2006... Pulse's investigation reveals long waiting times and severely limited access to psychological therapies Pulse Action on depression By Nerys Hairon GPs have inundated Pulse with stories of the difficulties they face dealing with...

`PCT bullying me over premises'.(Primary Care Trusts)
March 2, 2006... Go to new Lift premises or be closed down, GP told By Ian Cameron A GP has complained of being `bullied' by his PCT into moving his practice into new NHS Lift-funded premises. Dr Ken Uncle has been told his own plans to expand his...

Legal move on pensions.(primary care nursing superannuation payments)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... PMS practices in Avon are on the verge of taking legal action against five PCTs over `missing' superannuation payments. Avon LMC is preparing to take 10 test cases - two from each PCT - to the NHS Appeals Authority in an effort to wrest 7...

Journal Watch: Drugs aid heart signs.(Cardiovascular agents risk assessment)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Taking statins or Beta-blockers increases the likelihood that patients will present with angina rather than myocardial infarction, US research suggests. Researchers compared 916 patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction and 468...

JournalWatch: Alcohol use quiz effective.(questionnaire for alcohol consumption tests)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... A short, self-completed questionnaire appears superior to biochemical markers for detecting alcohol disorders in primary care, according to a UK team. The researchers evaluated alcohol consumption in 194 men at six practices in Wales. The...

Journal Watch: OA treatments ineffective.(osteoarthritis)(Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate treatment)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate do not reduce pain in osteoarthritis patients, a US study reports. Researchers randomly assigned 1,583 patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis to daily treatment with 1,500mg of glucosamine, 1,200...

Journal Watch: COPD exacerbation cause.(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Bacterial and viral pathogens interact to cause particularly severe exacerbations in patients with COPD, a UK study reports. Researchers prospectively studied 56 exacerbations in 39 patients with COPD, obtaining clinical data and pathogen...

Journal Watch: Diabetes drug benefits.(combination drug therapy)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Combination therapy with rosiglitazone and atorvastatin reduces vascular inflammation, a Taiwanese study concludes. Thirty patients with type 2 diabetes received 4mg rosiglitazone daily for three months, after which 10mg atorvastatin daily...

New GMC register criticised.(General Medical Council )(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... GPs have criticised the GMC's method of checking addresses for a new national register. In a recent letter the GMC tells GPs they do not need to reply if details noted are correct. But GPs said this increased the likelihood the GMC...

`Charge for some NHS care'.(National Health Service)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Patients should be asked to pay for certain NHS treatments in order to ration care and help pay for improvements to services, a report by an influential health academic has concluded. Professor Peter Smith, director of the Centre for Health...

Quest to unravel depression crisis.(guideline on depression treatment)
March 2, 2006... Dr Sally Whittet on her personal frustrations over depression services and her search for a solution A consultation on depression is one of the most intimate I have as a GP. It is detective work with compassion, working out a patient's...

Are PMS GPs offering value for their money?(General Medical Service)(General Practitioners)
March 2, 2006... Government review will question the pay gap between GMS and PMS By Rob Finch If UK GPs are the highest paid in Europe, as the Prime Minister keeps telling us, then PMS GPs are at the very pinnacle. Income figures for last year...

`Patients and practice benefit from PMS'.(Primary Medical Service)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... The Gate Surgery in Rotherham has used the flexibilities offered by PMS more than most practices. As well as being nurse-run, it is one of the few PMS practices to have developed its own quality and outcomes framework - tailored to the...

LETTER: Adapt or die? - Is this worth striking over?(Letter to the Editor)
March 2, 2006... From Dr Chanh Tran Harlow, Essex I found your headline `Adapt or die: White Paper warning to GPs' (News, 2 February) very sad. Despite GPs working flat out delivering the targets of nGMS we face yet another new barrage of threats and...

LETTER: Why our new referrals centre causes us concern.(Letter to the Editor)
March 2, 2006... From Dr Will O'Gorman Bicester I read with interest `Referral centres anger GPs' (News, 9 February). I am a GP working in Oxfordshire and our new referral management centre has generated an enormous amount of concern regarding...

LETTER: We did not fail on Choose and Book.(Letter to the Editor)
March 2, 2006... From Neil Mckay Chief Executive Leeds Teaching Hospital The item `Biggest teaching hospital faces IT shutout' (News, 9 February) stated: `Problems at Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust mean that the four Leeds PCTs were the only ones in England...

LETTER: Another move to wipe us all out.(Letter to the Editor)
March 2, 2006... From Dr Anita Sharma Oldham Your article about the critical examination of our prescribing and disease prevalence data to single out poor or excessive prescribers is causing a bit of anxiety (News, 16 February). As good clinicians we...

LETTER: Get real over ASCOT study.(Letter to the Editor)
March 2, 2006... From Dr Dylan Kay Nelson, Lancs Regarding the NICE hypertension guidelines (News, 23 February), I have said it before and will say it again: ASCOT has been hyped. To push calcium channel blockers ahead of thiazide diuretics suggests...

COMMENT: Note of disappointment.(scourge of modern general practice)
March 2, 2006... Patients request a doctor's note for the most surprising, and sometimes infuriating, reasons GANFYD. The acronym, which stands for `get a note from your doctor', strikes dismay into the heart of the GP. I would call it the scourge of...

Second Opinion: Switched on to IT at long last.
March 2, 2006... I believe one of the keys to improved health care is effective use of computers. Traditionally, the NHS has never made good use of IT. But this need not remain the case. The Government is currently investing #6 billion in the NHS...

Pulse Financial: How to make patient access pay off.
March 2, 2006... Payment for patient access is now based on a new patient experience survey - it is the patient who decides whether the GP service is satisfactory or not. Dr Jim Sherifi explains how his practice tries to keep patients onside Patient access...

Pulse Clinical: Diagnosing Meningococcal disease.
March 2, 2006... A new study identifies key early symptoms that could increase cases spotted in initial GP consultations. Study leaders Dr Matthew Thompson and Dr Anthony Harnden - GPs themselves - explain Missing a diagnosis of meningococcal disease can...

Pulse Clinical: Somatoform disorders.
March 2, 2006... Take-home points * It is estimated that 25-50 per cent of patients who present to their GP with physical symptoms but no apparent organic cause, have somatoform disorder. * Non-directive `interviewing' of the patient, rather than...

Pulse Clinical: Hip and knee surgery Mini knee prodecure.
March 2, 2006... Mr Fares Haddad and Mr Nicholas Wardle advise on the use of minimally invasive total knee replacement Case history A 60-year-old woman describes a five-year history of worsening left knee pain. She can no longer use public transport to...

Pulse Register: Locum starts making basis mistakes.
March 2, 2006... CASE HISTORY You have started to use a locum and initially he seems good and reliable. He is pleasant, efficient and a hard worker. But after a few weeks he starts turning up late. Then you start to get complaints that he is rude to...

Pulse Careers: Outback with the aboriginal bush men.(children still die of rheumatic fever)
March 2, 2006... After 22 years practising in a small Devon town, Dr Andrew Stainer- Smith took `early retirement' and went to work in Australia's harsh Northern Territory -he found a world where children still die of rheumatic fever and most black people die...

CV: Professor Peter Campion.(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 2, 2006... What/who made you decide to go into general practice? Being on call as a paediatric senior house officer for so long that my one-year-old didn't recognise me. What would you have done if you hadn't been a doctor? Possibly been a...

Let's practise in Inverness.
March 2, 2006... {{ Factfile Population 60,000 Whisky distilleries 9 Nessy' sightings since 2000 24 Each week we take a GP's-eye view of an area of the UK - this time we visit Inverness Where? Inverness is...

Pulse Comment: Act now over depression.(General practitioners access to mental health service)(Brief Article)
March 2, 2006... Three weeks ago, Pulse launched a major survey into access to services for treating depression. The response from GPs has been overwhelming, with well over 1,000 contacting us, many with heart-rending tales of desperate patients and overloaded...

GPs set to screen millions a year for cardiovascular risk.
March 9, 2006... Government plans a battery of tests in general practice for all patients reaching middle-age Exclusive By Emma Wilkinson The Government is planning a national screening programme for cardiovascular disease bas-ed in general practice,...

Tsar admits 7,000 therapist deficit.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Pulse Action on depression GPs cannot hope to implement NICE depression guidance without another 7,000 therapists in England alone, the mental health tsar has admitted. The concession came as Pulse confronted Professor Louis Appleby...

Target for 15% of GP services to be run by companies.
March 9, 2006... GPs say firms will cause practices to go under rather than add capacity Exclusive By Ian Cameron Ministers have set a target for more than 1,200 privately-run NHS GP surgeries to be set up in all parts of the country, Pulse can reveal....

PMETB fees up, but less than planned.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Certification fees for GP registrars will rise from #250 to #500 from April, the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board has declared. The PMETB had been planning to treble fees to #750, but after an outcry from GPs has decided...

Pulse: Memories of more active days.(Wells Park practice is helping keep its elderly patients alert, active and in touch with each other)(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Proud of our practice campaign The Wells Park practice in south-east London is helping keep its elderly patients alert, active and in touch with each other by hosting twice-weekly reminiscence groups. A health worker is on hand to...

Court suspends practice takeover.(to UnitedHealth Europe )(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... The High Court has suspended the award to UnitedHealth Europe of a contract to take over a practice in Derby. A judge gave Eastern Derby-shire PCT a week to explain why there should not be a judicial review into its choice of UnitedHealth...

NHS financial crisis forces reforms on to back burner.
March 9, 2006... The Department of Health is being forced to backtrack on flagship primary care reforms outlined only weeks ago as a result of the growing financial crisis engulfing the NHS, write Rob Finch and Ian Cameron. A series of policies revealed in...

Only 1% `gaming'.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... The great majority of practices have used exception reporting appropriately but around 1 per cent may be guilty of `gaming', the first national analysis of the system reveals. Preliminary findings from the National Primary Care Research and...

Saturday surgery mistake.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... GPs `realise they made a major mistake in abandoning Saturday surgeries', health minister Lord Warner is claiming. He told a conference last week the BMA had `got the message' that patients wanted GPs to open later and on Saturdays. ...

In Brief: SIGN v NICE on Alzheimer's.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network has set itself against NICE after deciding use of cholinesterase inhibitors should not be restricted to moderate Alzheimer's disease. An updated SIGN guideline on dementia concludes severity...

In Brief: Action on NHS staff abuse.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... The Government is considering fines of up to #1,000 for patients who abuse medical staff. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt told a GMB union conference there had been a 15-fold increase in prosecutions for attacking NHS staff in the past two...

In Brief: Pulse campaign in House.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Pulse's campaign to improve access to depression services has reached the House of Commons after featuring in a debate last week. Edward Vaizey, the Conservative MP for Wantage, used our investigation results and quotes from editor Phil...

In Brief: PBC toolkit online.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... The RCGP has drawn up a toolkit to help practices redesign services through practice-based commissioning. It advises GPs to consider choice and patient safety, not just money or time-saving changes. It also calls on practices to back up...

In Brief: 15 extra GPs in 3.5 years.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Northern Ireland's GP headcount has increased by just 15 in the last three-and-a-half years, latest figures show. Health minister Shaun Woodward said as of February 2006 there were 1,091 GPs in the province. Copyright: CMP Information...

In Brief: SSRI with digoxin caution.(Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor)(combination drug therapy)(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Researchers have warned doctors to be cautious about prescribing SSRIs with digoxin after reporting a potential interaction between the drugs. A case-report in The Lancet described nausea, vomiting, dizziness and delirium - all signs of...

In Brief: Ban drives smokers to GP.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Smokers are already visiting GPs with a view to kicking their habit following the vote for a ban in public places three weeks ago. A Cancer Research UK survey of 583 GPs found one in five had seen an increased number of patients asking about...

In Brief: PCTs face budget cuts.(Primary Care Trusts)(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... PCTs in London are to have a virtual 3 per cent cut in their budgets next year as part of plans to force the NHS in the capital to break even. The 3 per cent will be held in a special reserve fund by strategic health authorities. Any trust...

Asthma phone reviews not allowed for QOF.(Quality and Outcomes Framework )
March 9, 2006... Arbitration panel controversially insists on face-to-face consultations By Daniel Cressey Telephone reviews of asthma patients will not count towards quality achievement after an arbitration panel ruled there was `insufficient...

Extra patients can be costly.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... The new contract means GPs in rapidly expanding practices cannot expect extra funding to match the number of patients they are taking on, the GPC has conceded. In new guidance to practices, Financial Implications of Increasing List Size,...

Watchdog criticises stroke care.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... GPs have been urged to do more to help stroke patients access community services after a critical report from the Healthcare Commission. It warned stroke services needed to improve after finding many patients were dissatisfied with their...

Proud of our practice: Practice puts magic into kids' lives.(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... Dr Robin Buckland has helped give more than 100 severely disabled and sick children in his practice area a dream holiday. The charitable foundation he set up 13 years ago takes a group to Florida for a fortnight each year. Dr Buckland,...

GPC advises `keep PBC savings for yourself'.
March 9, 2006... New guidance says GPs can use savings to pay themselves and their staff By Rob Finch GPs can keep practice-based commissioning savings to pay themselves and their staff, the GPC is advising. In new guidance released last week, it...

`Poor deals' alert.(commissioning agreements management by primary care trusts)(Brief Article)
March 9, 2006... PCTs are using `over-zealous' tactics to coerce GPs into signing substandard practice-based commissioning agreements, LMCs are reporting. Londonwide LMCs has written to GPs warning them not to sign agreements from trusts which offered...