GP articles from April 2009, page 4

GP archives from April 2009

Board mergers spark GP fears.(Conference news)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Primary care in Wales faces both a lack of representation and a lack of funding as health boards reorganise, Welsh GPs fear. The conference heard that LMCs will be bypassed as primary and secondary care boards combine into seven local...

Late scramble to use DES funding.(directed enhanced services)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Money promised for a 'basket' of enhanced services in Wales has been squandered elsewhere, according to GPs. GPs only received funding for directed enhanced services (DESs) in the third quarter of 2008/9 and health boards struggled to...

Wales to set up its own process for revalidation.(British Medical Association. General Practitioners Committee)(Royal College of General Practitioners)(Conference news)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... GPC Wales and the Welsh Deanery are developing a separate revalidation process to the rest of the UK. GPC Wales chairman Dr David Bailey told LMC representatives that revalidation in Wales would be a less bureaucratic version of the RCGP...

RCGP publishes revalidation detail for first time.
April 3, 2009... The RCGP has called for doctors to debate how revalidation should work as it launched a 52-page guide to the system. The Guide to the Revalidation of GPs, published this week, sets out for the first time the full detail of plans for...

GP Diary.
April 3, 2009... In a pickle To improve men's health, fire the lot of them. So says popular health minister Ben Bradshaw who points out that 'more men go and see their GPs if they are unemployed'. Oddly, he was branded 'insensitive' by Tory party...

Government may not fund pay deal.
April 3, 2009... Northern Irish LMCs Conference; Pay deal threat; Prevalence losers hit; Problems with DES roll-out Practices in Northern Ireland could be denied tens of thousands of pounds each after GP leaders revealed fears the province's government...

General practice strategy devised.
April 3, 2009... GPC Northern Ireland has developed a strategy paper with the RCGP that aims to maintain and build on the role of general practice over the next decade. The document explores current and future challenges facing general practice and how...

Prevalence negotiation hit by health boards merger.(British Medical Association. General Practitioners Committee)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... LMCs warned that the amalgamation of health boards could undermine efforts to negotiate support for practices that lose out under changes to the prevalence formula. They also fear that areas in Northern Ireland that lose out overall...

DES rates described as 'insulting'.(directed enhanced services )(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Directed enhanced services (DESs) in Northern Ireland are poorly written, badly negotiated and pay rates are insulting to the profession, LMCs believe. GP leaders carried motions criticising the DESs and their implementation, and called...

Exclusive - Outgoing GMC chairman decries piecemeal regulation.
April 3, 2009... Regulation is becoming too complicated, warns Catto. GPs are in danger of becoming over-regulated, outgoing GMC president Professor Sir Graeme Catto has warned. Speaking to GP a week before he departs the GMC on 6 April, he said...

Cardiovascular polypill may not work in UK.
April 3, 2009... Using the polypill in the UK could harm patient care and increase side-effects, a leading cardiovascular GP says. The warning comes as the first polypill trial found it cut heart disease risk by a quarter. The trial, of 2,053 people...

Horse whisperer.
April 3, 2009... Former Berkshire GP Dr Anna-Louise Mackinnon kicked off 2009 by taking up the reins as the first ever medical adviser to the Professional Jockeys Association. A racing start to a new career, page 56. -------------------- Did you...

Test can distinguish moles from malignant melanoma.
April 3, 2009... Cancer US researchers develop protein test to cut misdiagnosis. Protein markers that can be used to distinguish benign moles from malignant melanoma have been found by US researchers. These markers could be used to prevent future...

Research Briefs.(Report)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... COPD mortality Influenza, but not pneumococcal vaccination, appears to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality among patients with COPD, according to the findings of a UK study of 177,120 patients (Thorax Online 2009). Wounds ...

CRP 'as important' as LDL cholesterol.
April 3, 2009... Reducing levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein is as important as lowering LDL cholesterol levels for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, US research suggests. A follow-up study of the JUPITER trial, presented at the...

DoH predicts pounds 72m generics saving.
April 3, 2009... Pharmacists could cut millions from drugs bill by altering scrips. Allowing generic substitution by pharmacists will save up to pounds 72 million a year, the government believes. A DoH spokesman told GP that, if introduced in January...

MIMS relaunch.(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... MIMS, the monthly prescribing and clinical reference for healthcare professionals, has launched a new website. Thousands of GPs have used MIMS as part of an integrated service within Healthcare Republic. MIMS now has its own site -...

MedEconomics: Ask the experts - Superannuation and solo practice.
April 3, 2009... Q: SUPERANNUATION I decided to take my NHS pension last September aged 61 and returned to the practice as a full partner. The PCT has recognised this and stopped payments to NHS Pensions on my behalf but the monthly sum for...

MedEconomics: 'Barefoot doctors' come to Liverpool.(United Kingdom. National Health Service)
April 3, 2009... Chinese-style health trainers in the community help GPs' patients to take better care of themselves. Fifty years after the success of the so-called barefoot doctors in China, the idea of training local people in the basics of health care...