GP articles from March 2005

GP archives from March 2005

MPs demand sexual health quality points.
March 25, 2005... Sexual health services must be included in the quality framework, according to the House of Commons Health Select Committee. In its second report on sexual health in two years, published last week, the committee described negotiations...

GPs reject patient surveys.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Half of GPs think that patient surveys should attract fewer points in the quality framework or none at all, according to a GP survey. The content of the quality framework is under review. The survey revealed that GPs wanted to see a shift...

GP columnist shortlisted for top award.
March 25, 2005... GP's Dr Liam Farrell has been shortlisted as Columnist of the Year at the annual awards of the Periodical Publishers Association. Dr Farrell, who faces competition from columnists from a range of business and professional magazines, has...

Glucose tolerance linked to COPD risk.(Chronic obstructive lung disease)
March 25, 2005... Patients with impaired glucose tolerance are at an increased risk of developing COPD, according to a UK study. The researchers looked at data on the lung function and glucose tolerance of 4,257 people without a prior diagnosis of diabetes...

Blood test may allow early detection of MS.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... A blood test for MS could soon be available which would make diagnosing the condition much simpler, according to a US study. Researchers took blood samples from 25 patients, with an average age of 29 years, who had recently been diagnosed...

Research brief: Antipsychotics for TB.
March 25, 2005... Drugs used in the treatment of schizophrenia are effective against TB, a joint UK and US study has shown. The researchers found that phenothiazines could kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis in culture and suppress its growth in mice with an acute...

Research brief: Crohn's mistaken for anorexia.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Crohn's disease could be misdiagnosed as anorexia nervosa in very thin children and adolescents, thus delaying treatment. Speaking at the annual scientific meeting of the British Society of Gastroenterology, Professor Ian Booth, professor of...

Research brief: Hostility in young cardiac patients.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Young patients who have had an MI should be given therapy to reduce hostility, according to a US study. The researchers assessed behaviour, quality of life and cardiac risk factors in 500 patients. They found that hostile young patients had...

Research brief: No brain tumour risk from mobiles.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Long-term mobile phone use does not increase the risk of brain tumour, according to Swedish research. The researchers looked at the past mobile phone use of Swedish patients aged 20-69 years diagnosed with glioma or meningioma between 2000...

Research brief: Marital healing.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Wounds heal faster in people who are happily married, according to research presented to the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Researchers gave minor blister wounds to 42 couples and monitored their healing. Those...

Downhill only.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Dr Peter Quigley hit his target of skiing a total vertical descent of 27,000m in a weekend on a whirlwind tour of the Alps. The Newcastle GP and his 50-strong team braved runs at Chamonix in France, Verbier in Switzerland and Courmayer in...

EMIS deal ends threat of enforced IT change.(Emergency Management Information System )
March 25, 2005... GPs will have a much wider choice of practice IT system following a deal with EMIS and a major U-turn by the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). EMIS, which supplies IT systems to over 5,000 practices in England, has agreed a deal with...

All GP NHS work is pensionable.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... All NHS work by GPs, inside or outside of general practice, is superannuable, the NHS Pensions Agency has confirmed. Updated guidance and certificates for pensionable income, expected in January, were finally released last week confirming...

Support network for PCO clinical governance staff.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... The NHS Alliance launched its clinical governance leads network this week to provide support where primary care organisation workers 'feel beleaguered'. Dr Ruth Chambers, the NHS Alliance's lead for the group, said: 'There's quite a high...

Check printouts for 1990 unpaid PGEA payments.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... GPs who think they are owed PGEA payments should check their Exeter pay printouts from 1990, the GPC has advised. It says GPs who received no PGEA payments in either July or September 1990 should consider a claim against their primary...

Choice widened to 50 providers.
March 25, 2005... GPs will be expected to offer the choice of any foundation hospital or private provider as referral alternatives by April 2006 under the Choose and Book scheme. Originally, the four or five secondary care choices to be offered to...

'Primary care in UK is the envy of the world'.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... A report highlighting the importance of primary care has been endorsed by a special adviser on health to the prime minister. Professor Julian Le Grand spoke at the London launch of NHS Alliance report, 'So you think you know all about NHS...

Making waves.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Dr Paul Charlson is one of the first GPs in the country to use radiowaves for minor surgery in his dermatology clinic. His practice in Brough, East Riding, has invested in a pounds 3,000 Radiolase instrument, which can be used as a scalpel or...

Direct colonoscopy saves time and funds.
March 25, 2005... British Society of Gastroenterology Conference - Colonoscopy, Crohn's and endoscopy. GPs should refer patients with suspected lower GI cancer directly for colonoscopy instead of for an outpatient visit, according to research presented at...

Mortality from Crohn's no better than in 1970s.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Current treatments for Crohn's disease are no better at cutting mortality than treatments used in the 1970s, according to research presented at the conference. It revealed that, contrary to widespread belief, the mortality rate in...

Endoscopies done just as well by nurses.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Nurses perform endoscopies more thoroughly and just as effectively as GPs, according to a Welsh study. Researchers from the University of Wales and the York Trials Unit found that there was no difference in clinical effectiveness between...

GPs must extend sexual health testing.
March 25, 2005... GPs should be doing more opportunistic sexual health promotion, targeting new patients and those attending for travel vaccination, according to standards for sexual health services published last week. The standards also recommended that...

GPC rejects concept of GP knowledge test.(General Practitice Council)(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... The GPC will overwhelmingly reject the concept of knowledge tests for revalidation when giving evidence to the chief medical officer's (CMO's) review of the process. CMO Sir Liam Donaldson has asked for evidence from the GPC by 11 April....

Poems in waiting room enhance visits for patients.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... The calming words of bards are proving music to the ears of waiting patients, according to a charity's survey. Poems in the Waiting Room, which supplies free poetry pamphlets to 1,200 GP waiting rooms across England, Scotland and Wales,...

GPs want more clinical focus in quality plan.
March 25, 2005... GPs want more emphasis to be placed on clinical conditions when the GMS quality framework is reviewed, according to a survey by GP. GPs have called for a raft of new clinical domains to be introduced from April 2006. The majority want a...

Budget cigarette tax 'too low to save lives'.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... The BMA has criticised the inflation-only tax increase on tobacco in last week's Budget, which increased the cost of a packet of cigarettes by 7p. It welcomed government plans to increase stem cell research, but said it was 'dismayed' by...

Meet the Coughs.(smoking cessation)(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... South Londoners can follow the adventures of a cartoon strip family as part of Southwark PCT's bid to encourage people to quit smoking. The Coughs include dad Calvin Cough, a 20-a-day smoker who fritters away pounds 130 a month on cigarettes,...

Few savings from commissioning.
March 25, 2005... GPs are unlikely to make significant savings from practice-led commissioning due to national secondary care tarriffs and local agreements, according to a GP negotiator. The comments followed news that GPs in Sunderland will only make...

Rocketing child obesity is lifelong health threat.
March 25, 2005... Opinions differ on the urgency of tackling child obesity. Rachel Bowden takes a look. Children could have a shorter life expectancy than their parents if levels of child obesity continue to rise, US researchers warned last month. ...

Behind The Headlines: 'Sleeping pill' stops cancer cells.(skin cancer)
March 25, 2005... Research into 'switching off' cancer promises much, but not for a decade. Emma Baines reports. What is the story? UK scientists have made a major advance in the battle against cancer, according to last week's media reports. The...

Letter: On the Medical Aid for Palestinians leaflet.
March 25, 2005... A leaflet was delivered with the 18 March issue of GP supplied and paid for by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). MAP is a charity registered in the UK that has received grants from the National Lottery and the European Union. The...

Opinion: Detention without trial is wrong.
March 25, 2005... During the Cold War, a rising MoD professional found himself seconded to insignificant projects, and repeatedly bypassed for promotion. Only after retirement did he manage to obtain his personal files and discover why. There had...

Opinion: Wasp stings... Whatever next?
March 25, 2005... When my partner goes on holiday I don't employ a locum, because for some strange reason they expect to be paid. Instead, I work twice as hard and see patients twice as quickly as usual. This may seem tricky but it actually works well in...

Opinion: Leader - If the QOF isn't broken, then why throw it out?
March 25, 2005... 'Leave well alone' is GPs' message to the DoH on how it should revise the quality framework next year. GP asked for your views on how the quality framework should be changed and the overwhelming message was 'no drastic changes now...

Opinion: Leader - Patient choice bandwagon rolls on.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... The Choose and Book bandwagon continues to twist and turn through the health policy landscape, throwing off and taking on new combinations of baggage as it goes. Likewise, the DoH's job description for the new community matron has had an...

GP Practice: In Practice with... Dr Mark Hunt, Frome, Somerset.(Interview)
March 25, 2005... Every week we profile GPs and their practices. This week Debbie Andalo visits Somerset. How did you start in general practice? My dad was a GP in the forces so general practice appealed because I enjoy people. I wasn't keen to be in...

GP Practice: Starting with a blank sheet on depression.
March 25, 2005... GPs are leading the way with local enhanced services for the treatment of depression, says Fiona Barr. Enhanced services schemes for depression have been few and far between this year, despite the fact that management of depression is a...

GP Practice: How self-care can reduce risk of CHD.(coronary heart disease)
March 25, 2005... Lucie Benson reports on a pilot scheme that encourages people to take charge of their coronary health. With CHD accounting for over 120,000 deaths a year in the UK, it is important to raise awareness of the risks among the patient...

GP Practice: Optimise the management of epilepsy.(general practitioners)
March 25, 2005... 'Holistic' points are available for improving epilepsy care. Sue Mayor takes a look. Epilepsy is moving up the primary care agenda with recently published NICE guidance designed to improve treatment and the inclusion of points for...

GP Practice: When laughs are not funny.
March 25, 2005... Employment law specialist Rehan Pasha points out some pitfalls of jokes. While a sense of humour can often help in the workplace, recent events have proved that it can also get you into trouble. One need look no further than the...

GP Practice: From chip shop to one-stop super surgery.
March 25, 2005... A new breed of super surgery is changing the landscape of primary care, writes Helen Gilbert. GPs in South Yorkshire have struggled for years in run-down premises, with a former chip shop and converted house among the sub-standard...

GP Practice: Connected - Pocket-sized ECG recording.
March 25, 2005... A portable ECG machine could lead to faster diagnosis of cardiac events, writes Carol Davis. GP practices in Bury, Greater Manchester, are launching a pilot study to identify patients who could benefit from using a portable ECG device....

GP Practice: Medicine on the Web - Sites for red eyes..(general practitioners)
March 25, 2005... Dr Keith Barnard recommends websites relating to this week's Clinical Review (page 57). Go to gponline.com for live links to these pages. TRAUMATIC CONDITIONS OF THE EYE The acute red eye does not just mean glaucoma or an infection....

GP Practice: Three points on... organising software disks.(general practitioners)(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Dr Nigel Kendall explains how he saves time and avoids frustration simply by by keeping his system disks in order. Even though I work in a small practice that uses a small computer network, we have accumulated many CDs with essential...

GP Registrar: Medicolegal - Top tips for handling complaints.(general practitioners)
March 25, 2005... Complaints can be used to your advantage if you handle them well. Dr Nicholas Norwell of the MDU advises. Keep cool Doctors are allowed to make mistakes but should never, ever, become angry. An MDU survey in 2002 found that rudeness...

GP Registrar: MRCGP Exam Update - Is St John's wort effective?(Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners)
March 25, 2005... Current situation - The use of natural health products, including herbal medicines, vitamins, and supplements, is widespread. - More than 30 per cent of the population use alternative medicine. - Evidence for much alternative...

GP Registrar: Pictorial - Case Study.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... THE CASE A 40-year old South Asian woman presented with whitish-yellow patches on her arms and legs that started to expand gradually. On examination the localised patches were symmetrical with irregular borders. The woman explained that...

GP Registrar: What They Forgot to Tell You... Examining a Toddler's throat.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Not all youngsters are co-operative. Ask mum or dad to hold the baby quite still - the method shown is effective for babies and young children. Hold the light in one hand, and advance the spatula into the mouth. If the child clamps their...

GP Registrar: How to... give a presentation.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... - Research your audience Before you start to prepare the presentation, ensure you will be speaking to the right audience and have geared your talk to their needs and interests. Use specific and relevant examples. - Aims and...

GP Life: Food - A wholesome full English warmer.
March 25, 2005... While he cannot imagine why people eat ready meals, Dr Chris Duckham offers a hearty alternative. With each national food scare, such as the one over food dye last month, I think of the gulf between the public's apparent interest in food...

GP Life: Drink - How much is a wine really worth?
March 25, 2005... The price of a bottle of wine will rise as a new tax comes into force, warns Dr Sarah Bamford. On the business front we are battling to make sense of the new licensing law that will come into force later this year. The law will...

GP Life: Why I changed my tune about running.
March 25, 2005... Music can relieve the boredom of jogging, says Professor David Haslam. Nearly 18 years ago, GP carried an article by a young doctor - me - who moaned about the tedium of running and keeping fit (24 April 1987). Not much has changed. ...

GP Life: Happier snaps with digital.
March 25, 2005... Capture your family holiday with a digital camera and these tips from Dr Nicholas Posner. Digital cameras have never been better or cheaper and without one you are missing all the fun. The best-value cameras fall into the pounds...

GP Life: Living on pounds 5 for a week.
March 25, 2005... To highlight the plight of failed asylum seekers, Dr Paul Williams survived on pounds 5 and a bag of food. As a GP who works with asylum seekers and refugees on a daily basis, I felt compelled to draw attention to the plight of the people...

Plain Tales From The Surgery.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... PAINFUL LESSON A rather strident young patient of mine contacted the on-call service over the weekend and, against my advice, insisted on visiting the surgery on a cold and icy Monday morning for a second opinion, because 'the locum...

No names, please.
March 25, 2005... When life becomes stressful, you can either give up, or climb a mountain and get it into perspective. I was reminded of this today, when a patient insisted she had seen me three times about the same problem, only on those occasions I had a...

GP Clinical: Journals Watch - HRT, telemedicine and cholesterol.
March 25, 2005... Too busy to keep up with medical research? Let Dr Alison Glenesk be your guide to the latest papers. COMMON SENSE ON HRT - BR J GEN PRACT 2005; 55: 172-4 Following the publication of the WHI and Million Women studies, HRT was...

GP Clinical: Managing shoulder problems.
March 25, 2005... RUPTURED LONG HEAD OF BICEPS A sharp pain in the arm heralded a problem for this 64-year-old man. Examination revealed a ruptured long head of the biceps. The biceps muscle has two heads. The long head passes down the bicipital groove and...

GP Clinical: Malaria - causes, treatment, prevention.
March 25, 2005... THE BASICS - Malaria remains a global health problem. Dr Roo Tindall provides all of the facts and figures. Malaria is a global problem. About 300-500 million people get malaria every year (6-9 per cent of the world's population). In...

GP Clinical: Finding a strategy against hepatitis C.
March 25, 2005... HCV presents serious health risks because it often evades diagnosis, says Sir Liam Donaldson. As you know, hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that can cause serious liver damage such as cirrhosis and primary liver cancer. ...

GP Clinical: At a Glance - Hodgkin's disease.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... EPIDEMIOLOGY - Relatively uncommon disorder. - About 1,200 cases occur annually in the UK. - The common form affects more men than women, but nodular sclerosing lymphoma affects more women. - Age at presentation is usually 15-35...

GP Clinical: The Good Old Days - Consumption and cod liver oil.
March 25, 2005... Consumption is a portion only of a constitutional malady, which very frequently develop its intensity in the organs of respiration. Its nature requires to be impressed upon the mind of the people, for if it is regarded only as a disease of...

GP Clinical: From 'Old Sparky' to user-friendly CPR.
March 25, 2005... Equipment Review - This easy-to-use defibrillator is ideal for GPs, according to Dr Stefan Cembrowicz. Our first defibrillator was affectionately known as Old Sparky. We acquired it when attempts to have our new health centre properly...

GP Clinical: Compact Guidelines - Your weekly review of key GP guidance from MIMS.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2005... Commentary - In the late 1980s many clinicians were sceptical about the value of lipid-lowering treatments. In fact many authors studied their safety and looked into depression and mortality, which could be associated with lowering lipid...

GP Clinical: Diagnosis and treatment of dyspepsia in spotlight.
March 25, 2005... Viewpoint - NICE guidance on managing dyspepsia fails to recognise the views of GPs or patients, argues Dr Ian Allwood. NICE places responsibility for the management of dyspepsia firmly with primary care. Its 2004 guideline outlines the...

GP Clinical: Dealing with the acute red eye.
March 25, 2005... THE ESSENTIALS - Serious causes may be excluded by thorough history and examination - Topical steroids in the eye are best avoided in general practice. - A detailed history can help distinguish between episcleritis and scleritis. -...

GP Clinical: Shared care required for treating ADHD.(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
March 25, 2005... Parental worries about a child's hyperactivity can be helped by GPs, says Dr Walid Sorour. With the increased awareness of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), also known as hyperkinetic disorder, it is not uncommon for...

GP Clinical: A coma with an unusual cause.
March 25, 2005... Case Study - An old lady is semi-conscious. Mr Darren Gillett and colleagues solve the problem. Mrs Baker was an elderly lady living in a residential home. She was crippled by rheumatoid arthritis, but was normally alert and orientated....

PMS GPs earning pounds 130,000.
March 18, 2005... Average PMS profit per partner will exceed pounds 130,000 by April, according to figures from specialist medical accountants. PMS profit growth among practices with year-ends in June and September 2004 is in line with 20-30 per cent rises...

UK sidesteps human cloning ban.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... The UK did not sign up to the UN declaration on human cloning last week. The UN called for a ban on all forms of human cloning earlier this month, including that used in stem cell research. Although human reproductive cloning is illegal in...

'GPs should run housing budget'.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Practice-led commissioning budgets should include funds for housing, social care and incapacity benefit that are currently held by councils, according to the NHS Confederation. Its election manifesto, 'Our prescription for a healthy...

Anti-acid drugs fuel allergy risk.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Patients taking common acid-suppressive drugs have an increased risk of developing new food allergies, according to an international study. The research, which won an award from the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation last...

Topical BCG use can tackle genital warts.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Topically applied BCG is an effective treatment for genital warts, according to an Egyptian study. Researchers treated 50 patients from Cairo University Hospital who had untreated genital warts for at least six months. Half of the group...

Research brief: Schizophrenia suicide risk.
March 18, 2005... The lifetime risk of suicide in patients with schizophrenia is 4.9 per cent, according to US research. A review of 61 existing studies, involving 48,176 patients with schizophrenia, found that young, new-onset patients were more likely to...

Research brief: Asthma caused by cockroaches.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Cockroach allergens exacerbate asthma symptoms more than dust mite or pet allergens, according to a US study. It involved 937 children with asthma aged 5-11 years in inner-city areas, and found that 69 per cent were sensitive to cockroach...

Research brief: Salmonella link to lettuce.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... An outbreak of drug-resistant salmonella in Scotland has been linked to eating lettuce. A total of 23 cases of S typhimurium DT104 resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulphonamides, spectinomycin and tetracycline were...

Research brief: Poor diagnosis of endometriosis.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Women with endometriosis wait an average of nine years to be correctly diagnosed, according to a survey by the Endometriosis All-Party Parliamentary Group. The survey included 2,559 women from across Europe. It found endometriosis was...

Research brief: Aggressive fingers.(Research conducted to study aggressive behavior in men by examining their fingers)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... To see how aggressive a man is you should look at his hands, according to US research. A study of 300 men found that the longer the index finger compared to the ring finger, the more physically aggressive a man was inclined to be. The same...

Opt-out system for patient data is 'unacceptable'.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... The National Programme for IT's (NPfIT) mechanism for enabling patients to opt out of the national care records system is 'unacceptable', according to the GPC. Under the mechanism, the patient's information is still placed on the...

NICE turnaround on Alzheimer's.(National Institute for Clinical Excellence)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... NICE is expected to reverse its recommendation that cholinesterase inhibitors should not be given to Alzheimer's patients on the NHS, following criticism from a government minister. Earlier this month, NICE released the first draft of a...

GP retainers paid pounds 17-pounds 68 per hour.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Rates of pay for GPs on retainer and flexible career schemes (FCS) have become hugely variable since the BMA was prevented from publishing recommended pay scales by the Office of Fair Trading, a survey has shown. The survey found that...

RCGP calls for wider HIV testing.(Royal College of General Practitioners)
March 18, 2005... GPs should consider wider testing for HIV and include lower-risk groups, according to the RCGP. The advice follows Health Protection Agency (HPA) figures released last week showing that the number of HIV infections acquired through...

Abuse of enhanced funding widespread.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... The GPC has condemned primary care organisations (PCOs) for widespread abuse of enhanced services funding. Co-chairman of the GPC enhanced services subgroup Dr Chaand Nagpaul said Manchester, Sheffield and parts of Essex were among the...

Northern Ireland wins pounds 95m cash injection for IT.
March 18, 2005... GPs in Northern Ireland have welcomed the launch of a pounds 95 million, 10-year NHS IT programme for the country. Under the scheme, all GP practices will be linked to broadband connections by the end of the year. Eventually the plan...