Hospital Doctor articles from February 2005

Hospital Doctor archives from February 2005

New urology roles spark junior anger.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2005... Urology By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk A split is emerging between senior and junior urologist leaders, with juniors alleging they have not been adequately consulted on controversial moves to create two types of consultant. The...

SAS pay team not in place.(staff and associate specialist)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2005... contract NHS Employers, the body charged with handling the staff and associate specialist (SAS) contract, has not yet assembled a negotiating team despite the talks being due to begin in January. It is almost a month since the Department...

Pension turmoil.
February 3, 2005... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Doctors and nurses are to join the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in a national day of protest against proposed changes to public sector pensions. NHS Employers is proposing to raise the normal retirement...

Training.(government aid for training medical students in day surgery)
February 3, 2005... The Government recently announced funding for five NHS centres, anticipated to lead innovation and training in day surgery. So how will these centres help train the surgeons of tomorrow? Janis Smy reports Day surgery is in the ascendancy,...

Consultation is two-sided.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
February 3, 2005... editorial comment If one theme has dominated this column, it has to be the Government's lack of dialogue with doctors. As fas as the Government is concerned, consultants always had too much control over service delivery and were part of...

Hospital cancels mobile MRIs.(Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2005... quality Lewisham University Hospital has stopped referring patients to Alliance Medical's mobile MRI scanner because of concerns over the quality of its service. Last year Alliance won a five year contract to provide 12 mobile scanners...

NHS facing a bleak future.(National Health Service)
February 10, 2005... The NHS Improvement Plan is a threat to quality and continuity of patient care, so all clinicians should be aware of its implications, warns Dr Jonathan Fielden The NHS Improvement Plan establishes a quasi-market in health care,...

Trusts used 'bullying tactics' on contract.(National Health Service)
February 10, 2005... Consultant contract By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk The BMA's seniors' leader has blasted NHS managers for bullying and cheating consultants during implementation of their new contract. Dr Paul Miller, consultants' committee...

An exception needs to be made.(government's new pension scheme)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
February 10, 2005... editorial comment The Government delivered a sucker punch when it launched proposals to scrap the profession's current pension scheme. The consultation document from NHS Employers suggests that pensions should be based on career-average...

Sucker punch.(phyisicians angry over pension schemes)
February 10, 2005... We launch a petition as anger grows over pension proposals By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Anger is growing as doctors start to realise the financial consequences of the new pension proposals. Hospital Doctor has been contacted...

Support for IT system roll-out hits new low.(National programme for information technology.)
February 10, 2005... technology By Emma Vere-Jones emma.vere.jones@rbi.co.uk Doctors' support for the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has hit an all-time low, the latest Medix UK survey shows. Just 51 per cent of the 414 hospital doctors surveyed are now...

Balancing act.(government's child care strategy)(Natioanl Health Service fails)(problems of women doctors)
February 17, 2005... The NHS's failure to provide 24-hour childcare threatens to diminish the contribution to the service its growing number of women doctors can make. Mother and SPR Dr Tamara Everington explains why Earlier this year, Gordon Brown outlined the...

Support pension petition.(new pension proposals anger doctors.)
February 17, 2005... workforce By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Hospital Doctor's pension petition has provoked an overwhelming response from doctors of all ages and grades. Hundreds have replied to say they want the final salary pension scheme and...

letters .
February 17, 2005... Revert GMC to original role Sir, Sir Donald Irvine's doctor-bashing routine has become rather tiresome. The former GMC president has no objective evidence on which to base his claim that 11,000 doctors are unfit to practise. Sir Donald's...

Half of pilot trusts miss targets.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2005... fee for service More than half of the trusts piloting 'fee for service' (FFS) schemes have failed to meet targets for additional activity, a review of the schemes says. The schemes, which reward doctors in a variety of ways for doing extra...

Help to scrap pension plans.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2005... editorial comment We have been inundated with support from doctors for our pension petition. Hundreds contacted us this week expressing their dismay at the Government's proposals to scrap their final salary pension schemes, and extend...

Rights to records threaten careers.(misuse of Freedom of Information Act.)
February 17, 2005... By Emma Vere-Jones emma.vere.jones@rbi.co.uk Medical leaders have warned that doctors' careers could be damaged if the data increasingly being given out under the Freedom of Information Act is inaccurate or used incorrectly. The BMA and...

Wait for flexible posts hits all-time high.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2005... recruitment Waiting lists for flexible training posts have reached an all-time high in some parts of the country. The rise has been caused by the current flexible-working pay deal, which serves as a disincentive to trusts to offer such...

'Critical' shortage of surgeons is looming.(consultant surgeons)
February 17, 2005... WORKFORCE By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Shortages of consultant surgeons are plunging the NHS into crisis, while juniors hoping for a surgical career cannot enter specialist training, a new report says. The Royal College of...

Fertile.(achievements of Aberdeen Maternity Hospital)
February 24, 2005... Persuading more young doctors to take up O&G and improving maternity care are just two of the challenges Prof Allan Templeton, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has set himself. Melanie Newman finds out what...

letters.(Letter to the Editor)
February 24, 2005... Appraisal not for discipline Sir, It was interesting to read Prof Sir James Underwood's comments in response to the Shipman Report (Tougher appraisal 'is not the answer', 20 January, front page). Sir James says that improved death...

Patients 'discharged to meet A&E target'.(Accident & Emergency)
February 24, 2005... Waiting times By Emma Vere-Jones emma.vere.jones@rbi.co.uk Patients are being incorrectly discharged from A&E to meet the four-hour waiting time target, a leading consultant has warned. In some cases, patients are being admitted to an...

Rigid targets help no one.(Healthcare Commission plans for new performance assessment.)
February 24, 2005... editorial comment Every week seems to witness the passing of another Government consultation on health care reform. This week, the Healthcare Commission's consultation on its plans to develop a new system of performance assessment for...

Disciplinary review causes confusion.
February 24, 2005... MEDICal defence By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Confusion surrounds new disciplinary procedures after the Department of Health claimed doctors would be treated the same as other NHS employees. The framework document, released...

Pension plans 'a betrayal'.(warning of Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA))(National Health Service)(Brief Article)
February 24, 2005... campaign The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) has warned of 'serious disruption' if proposals in the NHS pension scheme review are introduced. NHS Employers is currently consulting on plans to raise the retirement...

Training row is brewing.(new system for application to medical training.)(Modernising Medical Careers (MMC))(Brief Article)
February 24, 2005... mmc A row could be brewing over a new system for application to medical training. Early this week, the BMA released its proposed model which would axe application through regional deaneries and instead use a centralised body, thereby...

Trust grade left out of talks.(Health Minister John Hutton writes to BMA's Staff and Associate Specialist committee.)(Brief Article)
February 24, 2005... Trust grade doctors will not be included in the national contract negotiations for staff and associate specialist (SAS) doctors, the Health Minister has said. In a letter to the BMA's SAS committee, John Hutton said: 'The basic pay, terms and...

Pay offer the 'final insult'.(Brief Article)
February 24, 2005... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Doctors' leaders are questioning their involvement with the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body as it produced below-inflation pay recommendations for 2005. It recommended three per cent pay rises for...