Hospital Doctor articles from June 2004

Hospital Doctor archives from June 2004

NHS still runs on goodwill.(National Health service)(Brief Article)
June 3, 2004... Concern is growing over how the raft of proposed changes to the way doctors work will affect the delivery of services. It prompted one senior BMA figure last week to warn that, come August, the NHS will face a 'potential national meltdown' in...

What choice really means.
June 3, 2004... Patient choice is the buzzword at the Department of Health. So what is it exactly? Francesca Robinson reports From August this year, all patients who have waited over six months for elective surgery must be offered the choice of moving to...

College chief attacks training body payouts.(The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board)(Brief Article)
June 3, 2004... The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) has come under fire from one of the royal colleges' most influential presidents for remunerating its members. Prof Sir Peter Morris, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of...

Changes to training march on.(Brief Article)
June 3, 2004... The head of the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) team has ruled out any delay in its implementation. National MMC coordinator Prof Alan Crockard, writing in Hospital Doctor this week, says a delay to the August 2005 start time would not...

letters.
June 3, 2004... cycle safety Helmet law is useless Sir, Compulsory bicycle helmet legislation has had little discernible effect on the incidence of head injury where it has been introduced and has reduced the number of injuries only by discouraging...

Fat-fighters' NSF urged.(National Service Framework)(Brief Article)
June 3, 2004... MPs have demanded a national service framework for obesity in a wide-ranging report on tackling the UK's increasing weight problem. The Commons Health Committee's report accuses the NHS of failing obese patients and says decision-makers view...

EC to introduce third category; of on-call work.(Brief Article)
June 3, 2004... By Emma Vere-Jones emma.vere.jones@rbi.co.uk The European Commission (EC) is to add a third category of on-call work to its Working Time Directive in a move that could increase junior doctors' time at hospitals. But with no firm date as to...

Call for action to avert 'meltdown'.
June 3, 2004... By Hospital Doctor reporters hospital.doctor@rbi.co.uk The Government has just two months to avert a 'national meltdown' in the NHS, senior figures in health care have warned. Representatives from the BMA, Hospital Consultants and Specialists...

Pay row sparks talk of industrial action.(health care industry)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk The BMA's staff and associate specialist doctors committee (SASC) is to assess support for industrial action over pay. A motion was passed at the annual SAS doctors' conference demanding an immediate...

letters.(Letter to the Editor)
June 10, 2004... Doctors need proper PR too Sir, Mr Paul Levick's diary (13 May, page 27) during his GMC hearing was spot-on. In another trust, I accompanied a doctor to a hearing for professional misconduct. As an interested observer and colleague, the impact...

'Push for implementation'.(Medical consultants)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... Consultants have to show the same determination in getting the contract implemented as they did when opposing Government plans for local deals last year, the chairman of the BMA's seniors committee claimed at its annual conference. Dr Paul...

Slow progress on contract delivery.
June 10, 2004... By Emma Vere-Jones emma.vere.jones@rbi.co.uk Nearly half of consultants have not yet signed the revised consultant contract, preliminary results from Hospital Doctor's consultant survey reveal. Senior figures in the profession claim the figure...

Decent deal is worth the wait.(medical consultants compensations)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... This week, Hospital Doctor reveals some preliminary findings from its research into the implementation of the consultant contract. The figures back up the view that in many parts of the country it is taking a long time to get the contract into...

The dream team.(health care industry)
June 10, 2004... If the 1990s saw the rise of inspectorates and audit bodies, then the new millennium is all about fulfilling the vision of The NHS Plan, patient choice and reducing the number of quangos that the Government set up in the '90s. Implementation is...

in contention.(health care industry)
June 10, 2004... Okay, so that's the squad, but here are the players who almost raised their game high enough to convince the selectors going down 24 (15) Mr Simon Eccles Chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee Fast-rising star sparks...

the first XI.(health care industry)
June 10, 2004... going up 7 (16) Clive Morton Chairman of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board Tough regime could lead to training ground bust-up The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board was established a year ago and...

the squad players.(health care industry)
June 10, 2004... new entry 14 (-) Dr Simon Calvert Deputy chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee Storming debut for BMA's answer to Wayne Rooney The A&E doctor storms in the charts - we know, higher than his chairman, but with a portfolio...

A measure of performance.
June 17, 2004... Initiatives continue to be rolled out to monitor the performance of doctors. Francesca Robinson finds out what they involve Measuring clinicians' performance is an emotive and complex issue. In the 1960s, doctors had a god-like status and...

Double jeopardy risk for doctors.(Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals)
June 17, 2004... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk A body with powers to challenge GMC findings has referred six doctors' cases to the High Court in recent months. The Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals (CRHP) was established last...

letters .
June 17, 2004... Retiring age change unfair Sir, I was astounded by the editor's views (27 May, page 2). The proposal to change the NHS retirement age from 60 to 65 years after a retirement date of 2013 will have a massive impact on the lives of the...

Doctors responsible for postcode lottery.(antineoplastic agents usage)(Brief Article)
June 17, 2004... By Lisa Hitchen lisa.hitchen@rbi.co.uk Doctors' personal preferences on cancer treatments are contributing to the variation in prescribing practice for National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved drugs for neoplasms, a new...

All change for Scottish NHS.(National Health Services)(Brief Article)
June 17, 2004... The Scottish NHS needs to be restructured if it is to survive, claims a report released by the Scottish Executive last week. The report, called Securing Future Practice: Shaping the New Medical Workforce for Scotland, says: 'More resources...

Double trouble in High Court.(Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals)
June 17, 2004... Mr Paul Levick recently penned an article for Hospital Doctor about his experience of facing a GMC hearing for serious professional misconduct (13 May, page 27). The surgeon explained how his professional reputation was savagely attacked by...

Are surgeons just pigs with their snouts in the trough?(health care industry)
June 24, 2004... 'Pigs with their snouts in the trough' is how a surgeon has described some of his colleagues. He told a BBC Radio 4 audience earlier this month that a small core of 'exceptionally aggressive, exceptionally ambitious' consultants were blocking...

PMETB to charge for services.(Postgraduate Medical Education Training Board)
June 24, 2004... The new education and training body has confirmed that it will charge for its services. The Postgraduate Medical Education Training Board (PMETB), which is due to come into operation in October, is consulting a financial adviser before...

Call for change to disciplinary rules.(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... Ethnic minority doctors are calling for changes to disciplinary procedures after figures reveal that a disproportionately high number of them face disciplinary action. Twenty-two of the last 30 cases of doctors charged with manslaughter came...

Foreign surgeons not on specialist register.(management of overseas surgeons)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Most of the overseas surgeons working under a private sector contract for Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust last year were not on the specialist register. Only six out of 24 orthopaedic surgeons at the...

Post-PLAB joy only first step.(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... As a journalist, you can often judge the significance of an issue by the size of the mailbag your magazine receives. If this is an accurate indicator, then the problems that overseas doctors have faced in getting work in the UK have been...

letters.
June 24, 2004... We are the real masters Sir, Consultants who take up the new contract must not allow themselves to carry out work for which they are not paid. The new contract is not perfect, but it will be utterly useless if consultants do not stand up...