Pulse articles from May 2005

Pulse archives from May 2005

You're in - now keep your word.(general practitioners wasting no time in pressing Tony Blair to keep his election promises on National Health Service targets )
May 7, 2005... GPs are wasting no time in pressing the new Prime Minister to keep his election promises on NHS targets By Ian Cameron GPs are demanding the new Government follows through on election pledges to cut NHS targets - and have set out the...

`Say No to super-surgeries'.
May 7, 2005... Dr Sue Love's message to the incoming Health Secretary is to scrap plans for `super-surgeries'. Dr Love, a GP in Enfield, has even put up a poster in her waiting room warning patients of the potential threat. She said her three-partner...

GPC will battle to save vaccine pay.(general practitioners committee)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... The GPC has pledged to press for a Government U-turn to safeguard this year's vaccine pay after LMCs reacted angrily to changes in uptake calculations. Under the new rules, pay will be calculated on just two vaccines rather than four,...

Pulse is still the best read!(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Pulse is still the best-read medical publication, according to the latest industry survey. In the 12 months to March, Pulse was read on average by 73 per cent of GPs compared with 67 per cent who looked at GP. The figures are contained in...

Three-drug mix is best for CVD.
May 7, 2005... A statin, o-blocker and aspirin is the best combination of drugs to treat ischaemic heart disease, cutting mortality by 83 per cent, GP researchers conclude. The study of 11,000 patients, published online by the BMJ this week, is the first...

GPs notch up successes after backing our manifesto.(general practitioners)(Pulse Manifesto for General Practice)
May 7, 2005... Pulse's Manifesto for General Practice campaign has helped notch up some notable successes for GPs since we launched it eight weeks ago. In putting the major issues affecting GPs in the spotlight during the election period, it has also...

How we will step up pressure on the Government.(Pulse Manifesto for General Practice campaign)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... With the election now over, the Pulse Manifesto for General Practice campaign moves into its second stage. First of all, a big thank-you to the thousands among you who have pledged your support so far - we will now intensify the pressure on...

`Trust is using my accident to deny me premises cash'.(National Health Service)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Dr Paul Thomas is accusing NHS managers of `cynically' using his near death in a diving accident as an excuse to avoid funding his new premises. He said the lack of backing meant he had just brought up his 10th year practising from a...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Fluoxetine ruling overridden.
May 7, 2005... The UK's drug regulator has overridden European advice on SSRIs and insisted that fluoxetine (Prozac) is safe for use in children. The European Medicines Agency last week ruled SSRIs should only be used in children within their `approved...

NEWS IN BRIEF: `Complaints overhaul vital'.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... The GMC has acknowledged the complaints system needs overhauling after GPs complained they were being investigated by the council for `frivolous' complaints. In a letter to Pulse, Professor Sir Graeme Catto said the GMC shared GPs'...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Medical advisers sought.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Connecting for Health is asking the BMA, RCGP and other medical representative bodies to nominate members for a new advisory group. The move is aimed at increasing consultation with clinicians about the IT modernisation programme. The...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Vaccine label warning.
May 7, 2005... The Government has issued safety advice on the packaging of pre-school and teenage boosters after 93 school children were given Repevax instead of Revaxis. The National Patient Safety Agency and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Clinical governance move.(Royal College of General Practitioners)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... The RCGP is setting up an `innovation unit' in an attempt to bolster its clinical governance role. The unit will `harvest ideas' from international primary care organisations and academia and develop and pilot quality GP initiatives in...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Sharp rise in child obesity.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... There has been a sharp rise in childhood obesity in the last decade, Government figures reveal. In 2003, 13.7 per cent of children in England aged two to 10 were obese, compared with 9.9 per cent in 1995. The proportion of children who...

Disease re-emerges as GPs cut antibiotic scripts.(general practitioners)
May 7, 2005... Debate over microbial resistance took centre stage this week as a study examined the impact of falling scripts and the first antibiotic was approved OTC - Cato Pedder reports Dramatic cuts in antibiotic use appear to have caused the...

Chloramphenicol approved for sale OTC.(Over The Counter (medications not requiring a prescription) )(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... The Government's drug safety watchdog has ignored objections from antimicrobial advisers and decided choramphenicol can become the first broad-spectrum antibiotic to be sold over the counter. The Committee on Safety of Medicines approved...

GPC gives up on `pointless' talks on enhanced services.(government procurement card)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... The GPC is giving up on trying to secure more cash for enhanced services because negotiations are not worth the effort. Negotiators said this week they would focus in talks with NHS Employers on getting more money into global sums. The...

COMING YOUR WAY: `Baby bottle chemical risk'.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... THE STORY Babies are being put at risk by a chemical contained in plastic baby bottles, the Daily Express reports. THE SOURCE A US review published in Environmental Health Perspectives concluded low doses of a chemical called...

GP fights a losing battle over mumps.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Dr Barbara Fair is fighting a losing battle to gain control of a soaring mumps outbreak after MMR shortages left her unable to immunise thousands of students. Dr Fair's university practice has only a week left to vaccinate up to 3,500...

COMING YOUR WAY: `Spice dye in cancer fears'.(Bart Spices Ltd recalled ground paprika )(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... THE STORY Another cancer-causing dye has found its way into food, The Times and Daily Express report. THE SOURCE Bart Spices Ltd recalled ground paprika sold in supermarkets after finding it contained a dye called Para Red, which...

NICE researchers stand firm over dyspepsia controversy.
May 7, 2005... The researchers responsible for the controversial NICE dyspepsia guidance are standing by their recommendations after claiming routine endo-scopy would put patients at risk of serious injury. Gastroenterology experts have condemned the...

COMING YOUR WAY: `Garlic cuts fatty deposits'.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... THE STORY Garlic supplements can dramatically reduce the build-up of fatty deposits, the Daily Mail claims. THE SOURCE A German study presented at the 6th annual conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology in...

Wales heads for disastrous GP shortage.
May 7, 2005... Wales is on the verge of an unprecedented GP recruitment and retention crisis with the majority of doctors in many areas intending to quit in the next decade. Research by the Chief Medical Officer for Wales has found 60 per cent of GPs in...

GMC will back down over adjudication.(General Medical Council)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... The GMC is willing to concede to the Shipman Inquiry's demand that a new, independent body judge doctors' fitness to practise. In a response to the Chief Medical Officer's review of medical regulation, it agreed that `adjudication could be...

Salaried GPs miss out on job rights and pay benefits.
May 7, 2005... Hundreds of salaried doctors are missing out on pay rises and basic employment rights because they either have a second-rate contract or no deal at all. The National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP) warned that the salaried GPs were at...

Outcry at 0870 Scots ambulances.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... GPs are being forced to pay higher 0870 phone charges by the Scottish Ambulance Service - despite a ban on practices using the numbers in England and Wales. Dr William McAlpine, a GP in Kilmarnock, said the situation was `completely...

PCT bureaucracy putting GPs off practice-based commissioning.(Primary care trusts)
May 7, 2005... Practice-based commissioning has got off to a miserable start because of apathy and PCT bureaucracy, GPs report. Practices have been put off by PCTs' insistence that they band together, rather than take on a commissioning budget on their...

Out-of-hours cash row.(payments of general practitioners)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... GPs in Essex are embroiled in a row with two PCTs that are refusing to hand over out-of-hours development money. Thurrock PCT and Brentwood, Billericay and Wickford PCT have argued the money, amounting to several thousand pounds per...

GPC battles over release of quality data.(General Practitioners Council)
May 7, 2005... The GPC is battling to ensure a planned national spreadsheet of quality scores includes information that puts practices' performance into context. Patients will be able to download every GP practice's quality scores from the internet in...

New study supports intermittent steroid use in mild asthma.
May 7, 2005... Patients with mild to moderate asthma can control their disease by using inhaled ster-oids only during periods of worsening symptoms, a controversial UK study suggests. The research directly contradicts the British Thoracic Society/SIGN...

RSV bigger cause of bronchitis than flu.
May 7, 2005... Respiratory syncytial virus is a more important cause of respiratory infections than influenza in children under the age of four, according to a study of children presenting in UK general practice. Researchers found RSV was twice as likely...

JOURNAL WATCH: Vegetables reduce cholesterol.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... A diet high in vegetables and legumes can reduce cholesterol irrespective of fat content, a US study reveals. Researchers randomised 120 patients aged 30 to 65 to a low-fat diet high in vegetables and legumes or a conventional low-fat diet...

JOURNAL WATCH: Statin cuts CV events in diabetes.(cardiovascular)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Atorvastatin can significantly reduce cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes who do not have a history of coronary heart disease or elevated cholesterol. UK researchers analysed data on 2,532 patients with type 2 diabetes from the...

JOURNAL WATCH: Test for NO diagnoses asthma.(nitric oxide)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Measurement of exhaled nitric oxide is a rapid and effective diagnostic test for asthma, a new study reports. Israeli researchers tested exhaled nitric oxide in 40 patients who had asthma and 45 who did not, with seven parts per billion...

JOURNAL WATCH: CHD patients at gallstone risk.(coronary heart disease )(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Patients with coronary heart disease appear to be at increased risk of gallstone disease, according to Mexican researchers. Their case-control study matched 119 patients who had gallstones visible by ultrasound with 354 controls. The...

JOURNAL WATCH: Obesity increases dementia risk.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... People who are overweight or obese in middle age are at significantly increased risk of dementia, new research reveals. The US prospective cohort study followed up 10,276 men and women who underwent detailed health evaluations between 1964...

Sexually active teenagers miss out on Pill from GPs.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Sexually active teenage girls are only rarely receiving oral contraceptives from their GP, a new study suggests. Researchers found only 4.3 per cent of 10- to 16-year-olds were prescribed the combined contraceptive pill by their GP and 0.8...

Scots GPs demand revamp of NHS 24.(general practitioners )(National Health Service)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... NHS 24 dominated the debates at the Scottish LMCs conference last week with 13 separate motions - Rob Finch reports NHS 24 has been a disastrous waste of money and is only staying alive because GPs are filling in the huge gaps in its...

Call for pensions guidance.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Copyright: CMP Information Ltd. The Scottish Executive's failure to issue guidance on superannuation means GPs north of the border are losing out compared to their colleauges in the rest of the UK. LMC representatives castigated the...

`Planning blight' warning.(community health partnerships )(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... GPs warned there will be a `planning blight' unless they get greater representation on the boards of community health partnerships (CHPs). CHPs were set up last month to co-ordinate care across primary and secondary care and social...

Plea for more ambulances.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... GPs in rural areas demanded funding for more ambulances to ensure they don't have to `prop up' the service. Dr Dylan Murphy, chair of Shetland LMC, said the islands' single ambulance often got stuck waiting for a ferry, leaving GPs to fill...

Access in spotlight after Blair gaffe.
May 7, 2005... GPs watching the Labour leader on Question Time last week must have had a sense of deja vu, writes Ian Cameron It was one of the few highlights of the election campaign. Sporting a startled, rabbit-in-the-headlights expression, Tony...

MMR uptake varies widely with ethnicity.
May 7, 2005... White parents are far more likely than other ethnic groups to refuse the MMR vaccine, researchers reveal. Their study found an uptake of just 57.5 per cent in white children, compared with 87.1 per cent in children of Indian origin and...

Elderly living alone miss flu vaccine.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Elderly people living alone or without an independent means of visiting their GP are missing out on flu vaccination, a new study reveals. The researchers found GPs were successful at persuading elderly patients to have the vaccine but...

Letter: GPC will keep up pressure on child immunisations.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... Negotiations are never about one side winning 100 per cent of the arguments. There were many areas where the Government tried to change the statement of financial entitlement and where they didn't get their way. Changes to payments for...

EDITORIAL COMMENT: This campaign is not over - it's just begun.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Eight weeks ago we launched the Pulse manifesto for general practice and promised to campaign on the issues you said mattered most to you. To stop the core values of general practice being eroded. To ensure you are paid properly for the work...

Letter: Columnist demeaned female GPs.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... Phil Peverley's article `Bird's eye view' (Columnists, April 30) demeans your journal and demeans women in medicine. Referring to women doctors as chicks, boilers, broads, blart and totty, to name just a few, is offensive and insulting. ...

Letter: Racism problem should be on national agenda.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... Professor Aneez Esmail has once again highlighted the ugly situation of institutional racism in the NHS (News, April 23). As he points out, 30 per cent of the NHS workforce suffer disadvantage in fulfilling their career aspirations. ...

Letter: QOF targets will be health priorities, not political.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... Your article `Health groups scramble to lobby for new QOF targets' (News, April 23) is an inaccurate reflection of the role of the expert panel in the QOF review. It is incorrect to imply that any of the panel members will have the opportunity...

Letter: Funding solution for practice premises.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... In response to your article about premises and problems of funding (News, April 30), we sympathise with the `despair and frustration' expressed by Dr Peter Holden of the GPC. However, we can offer more than sympathy. Medical Property Fund...

Letter: GMC agrees that patients need local complaints portal.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... With reference to your article `My shock over GMC complaint' (News, April 23), the GMC agree that the current complaint system needs reviewing. We have long argued for a complaints portal to be established, which would help patients to...

Letter: Do we stand a hope in hell against the GPFC?(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... Rubric Legal are giving GPs no guarantee that they will be successful in appealing against GPFC redemption penalties (News, April 30). I asked Rubric solicitor Satish Jakhu what he felt the percentage chances of success were - I have had no...

Letters: While I'm here, Doctor.(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2005... * Dr Saul's article on reducing the paper mountain (Features, April 16) has me baffled. How is sorting paperwork and prioritising it doing anything other than creating another paper-led task? The work still has to be done, whichever neat...

Correction: Profit share calculations.(Correction Notice)
May 7, 2005... In last week's letter from Dr Martin Lockyer on adjusting profit share calculations, three figures were wrong: #878,000 should have read #87,800; #658,000 should be #65,800; and #8,000 should be #800. Apologies for the confusion. ...

ANDY JONES: Slippery slope for registrars.
May 7, 2005... Dr Andy Jones is a GP in Stamford, Lincolnshire `Just when you thought the deanery postal in-tray couldn't get any worse.' These are dangerous words in medicine and never have they been associated more closely with our beloved registrars....

PHIL PEVERLEY: Back again.
May 7, 2005... Dr Phil Peverley is a GP in Sunderland `I've got a bad back Doctor,' the patient says.' Great, I think. Try having mine. `Come in and take a seat' I say to my next patient, as he glides gingerly into my consulting room. `I'd rather...

What do patients really want to know about practices?
May 7, 2005... Patients realise simplistic league tables don't tell anything like the full story about their GPs' capabilities, so what would be of more value to patients? Professor Martin Marshall and Jenny Noble offer their thoughts It isn't easy for...

Is this private physiotherapist spinning things out for gain?
May 7, 2005... Case history For some time you have been aware that a local private physiotherapist treats patients for an inordinate length of time before admitting defeat and sending problems to you. You have often wondered how effective this...

The funding of new premises as public-private partnerships.
May 7, 2005... In his second feature on practice property, Dr Peter Stott examines the different ways that practices can consider funding new surgeries Eighty-six per cent of all GP premises are either owned by the GPs themselves or by the private sector...

Q&As: Must I sign peanut allergy protocol for a patient's school?
May 7, 2005... I have been asked by the mother of a child who has suffered from an anaphylactic reaction in the past to sign a school treatment form giving advice on allergy to peanuts. It appears to be an official hospital form with accurate advice on...

Q&As: Must I sign yet another agency health form?(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... A patient has asked me to sign a Declaration of Health BP11 - Health Assessment for Temporary Staffing Compliant with NHS Regional Framework. It asks for confirmation of physical and mental fitness for the work and confirmation that her...

Q&As: How should we deal with a sexual harassment case?(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... An employee has alleged sexual harassment by a patient. What should we do? You have a duty of care to your employee to investigate this matter fully and to take appropriate action. You must satisfy yourself that any action you take is...

Choosing what is best for you in general practice.
May 7, 2005... There is now a bewildering array of career options open to young doctors finishing their training - Dr Paula Wright sifts through some of them Young doctors finishing their training find themselves facing a bewildering array of career...

What's new in Dermatology.
May 7, 2005... Dr Sami Yones and Professor John Hawk outline five advances - and on page 54 we look at management of contact dermatitis 1 Ultraviolet A1 (UVA1) phototherapy The novel development of high output UVA1 (340-400nm) phototherapy gives new...

Update on management of contact dermatitis.
May 7, 2005... Dr Helen Horn and Anne Smith advise on identification of triggers and successful management Contact dermatitis is common and should be considered when managing any acute, chronic or recurrent dermatitis. Both the distribution and time...

10 TOP TIPS: Infertility.
May 7, 2005... ONE It is helpful to put the couple's situation in context. Some 75 per cent of normal couples trying for their first pregnancy will conceive in six months, 84 per cent in a year and 92 per cent in two years. Fecundity drops significantly...

Making use of cognitive behavioural therapy in 10-minute consultation.
May 7, 2005... Repeat consulters often have low self-esteem or depression - Dr Lee David, herself a GP, outlines a solution to get such patients out of the negative cycle Psychological symptoms and distress are widespread in the UK. This has a huge...

How I reduced co-proxamol prescribing by 95 per cent.
May 7, 2005... With GPs now facing the task of having to get patients off co-proxamol following its withdrawal by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, Dr Peter Frith explains how he reduced the number of patients on the drug from 438 to 20...

CLINICAL CASEBOOK: Managing multi-infarct dementia.
May 7, 2005... Case history Robert is a 65-year-old retired postal worker. He is accompanied by his daughter. She is worried that her father's memory is getting worse. He often leaves the house without his keys and then cannot remember why he went out in...

How will new contract shape your career now?
May 7, 2005... Dr Terry John discusses what the new GMS contract means for GP career development, what loose ends still need to be tied up, and whether it will it live up to its promise of adaptability Education is the one activity that continues...

LET'S PRACTISE IN ALDEBURGH.(Brief Article)
May 7, 2005... Where? `Aldeburgh is a charming and sedate seaside town, which grew from an old medieval fishing and shipbuilding centre. The wide high street has attractive Georgian shopfronts. Historic buildings include the Moot Hall (c.1520) and the church....

CV: Dr Michael Dixon.(Interview)
May 7, 2005... Dr Michael Dixon answers the Pulse careers questionnaire What/who made you decide to go into general practice? I have always been a butterfly. I like the unpredictability and comprehensiveness of general practice. When I was a child I...

Is GP spirit still alive?(general practitioner)
May 7, 2005... Copyright: CMP Information Ltd. What would Jobhunters from times gone by make of general practice today? Would they admire the sophistication - or yearn for the simple life? Once upon a time, best beloved, when Noddy and Big Ears were...

Carr-Hill may haunt GPs for years to come.
May 14, 2005... Delays in talks between the Government and GPC are threatening to leave GPs stuck with the discredited Carr-Hill allocation formula for years to come. GPC negotiators warned this week that hold-ups caused by the ministerial clearout at the...

Defiant GPs snub 48hr access crackdown.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... GPs are continuing to restrict bookings to 48 hours or less in defiance of a crackdown demanded by the Prime Minister. The number of practices with the policy may even be going up after figures from one of the most troubled areas,...

Epidemic as mumps rates soar.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... The UK is now officially experiencing an epidemic in mumps, the Health Protection Agency has announced. A new HPA analysis of mumps rates, published in the BMJ this week, has found the number of cases being reported has continued to soar...

Study issues CV warning on all NSAIDs.(Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents)
May 14, 2005... All non-aspirin NSAIDs appear to increase the risk of heart attacks and need to be assessed for their cardiovascular safety, a major new study concludes. The analysis of more than 110,000 patients found nap-roxen and other conventional...

Patients truly value continuity, says GP.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... Dr Phil Brookes is impressed by the high value patients placed on continuity of care. `I think continuity of care is an important part of British general practice,' said Dr Brookes, a GP in Newcastle. `I've shrunk my hours to three...

Common drugs linked to heart deaths.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... The UK drug regulator is to examine the safety of a group of widely prescribed drugs after a study found they increased the risk of sudden cardiac death almost three-fold. The Dutch study found a range of antipsychotics and drugs used to...

Patients share GPs' worry over Government policies.
May 14, 2005... Patients resoundingly endorse the Pulse manifesto for general practice - Rob Finch reports on survey results with serious implications for Government policy Exclusive Patients are as concerned as GPs about Government policies that...

Emergencies seen within six hours.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... Most patients who want an urgent appointment are seen by their GP within six hours. One respondent in six said they would be seen immediately if the matter was urgent, with a further quarter saying it would be within three hours. Only...

GPs still trusted despite Shipman.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... High-profile scandals such as Harold Shipman and Clifford Ayling have not dented patients' trust in GPs. Of the 600 patients who responded to Newcastle and North Tyneside LMCs' survey, 63 per cent disagreed with the statement that their...

Low-score practices could lose disease areas.
May 14, 2005... Practices that miss out on quality points for diseases such as CHD, COPD or epilepsy could see their patients diverted to alternative providers, NHSmanagers claim. The warning follows a major new analysis of GP quality achievement that has...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Young left vulnerable to flu.(Brief Article)
May 14, 2005... The Health Protection Agency and RCGP are urging GPs to focus on increasing uptake of influenza vaccine in young children with high-risk conditions. Young children have been left particularly susceptible to flu because of low circulating...