Doctor articles from April 2004

Doctor archives from April 2004

No flu epidemic meant GPs coped well over the winter.
April 1, 2004... GPs coped well with workload this winter, a Department of Health report on NHS performance has concluded, but without the pressures of a flu epidemic. A record 71 per cent of people aged 65 and over had a flu jab last year, said emergency care...

Home BP reading 'provides better prognostic value'.
April 1, 2004... Michelle Roberts Home blood pressure measurements have a better prognostic accuracy than surgery readings and should be used to guide treatment, according to US researchers. The study, involving 4,939 treated hypertensive patients, showed...

Premises upgrades may depend on extra services.
April 1, 2004... Christina Golding GPs trying to upgrade their premises may only be considered if they are prepared to offer extra services under the new contract. New rules for premises funding could lead GPs into bidding wars. Unless they provide...

Antidepressant safety worries grow.
April 1, 2004... Michelle Roberts International drug regulators are getting increasingly worried about the suicide risk in patients using a number of newer antidepressants. Last week the US Food and Drug Administration increased warnings about the...

GPs in Wales forced to shut branches.
April 1, 2004... Rachel Solotti GPs in Wales are being forced to close branch surgeries because they will struggle to qualify for funding under the new contract and meet clinical governance requirements. Eight practices in Ceredigion, west Wales, have...

MP highlights plight of GPs with ban on redevelopment.
April 1, 2004... The plight of GPs whose premises development plans have been blocked because of the advent of the new contract has been raised in Parliament. GPs at eight practices in Worcestershire have had their plans to develop premises frozen while funding...

GP sex case 'was reason audit and appraisal are in contract'.
April 1, 2004... Cathy Comerford A GP imprisoned for sexually assaulting nine patients has left a legacy of appraisal and audit and a revamped complaints system, says a new report. A Commission for Health Improvement paper says its 2001 inquiry into...

Government slashes penalty for PMS quality framework.
April 1, 2004... THE GOVERNMENT has lowered by more than [pounds sterling]1,000 its penalty fee for PMS contractors who choose to use the new contract's quality and outcomes framework. The Department of Health originally issued a penalty of 196 quality points...

Welcome to.
April 1, 2004... With today's birth of the new contract, general practice will change dramatically. Christina Golding looks at what the future holds THE contract is here and general practice is set to change forever. After three years of talks,...

Goodwill sales 'will break up primary care'.
April 1, 2004... The Government has given GPs the power to sell practice goodwill, provoking claims that it is deliberately trying to break up general practice. From today, practices can sell the goodwill associated with out-of-hours care, and additional and...

Remote reviews an answer to; hitting contract asthma targets.
April 8, 2004... Steve Ford Conducting asthma reviews over the phone or by email could help GPs hit contract targets, according to respiratory experts. The new GMS contract offers 20 points for reviewing 70 per cent of asthma patients within the past 15...

PCOs deal with violence at last.(Primary Care Organisations)
April 8, 2004... Christina Golding Most PCTs in England finally seem to have met last month's deadline to set up facilities to protect GPs against violent patients, after two years of pressure. In a Doctor straw poll of 50 PCTs, 44 said they had measures...

Nurses call for GP training to prevent another Climbie.(General Practitioners )(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Christina Golding GPs should undergo training to help them detect child abuse, say new reports responding to the Victoria Climbie inquiry. The Commission for Health Improvement - the Government's outgoing health watchdog - and the Royal...

Ruling adds; new peril for GPs cleared; by the GMC.(General Medical Council)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Cathy Comerford A landmark High Court decision has effectively ended self-regulation in medicine by allowing civil appeals of GMC misconduct rulings. Mr Justice Leveson last week ruled that the new Council for the Regulation of Healthcare...

Penny-pinching health; board hits successful; GP drug addict scheme.
April 8, 2004... Simon Ebbett The world's most successful drug addict treatment programme is in danger of collapsing because of health board cost cutting, say GPs. GPs have attacked the Greater Glasgow NHS Board for changing a scheme in which they treat...

PCTs offer [pounds sterling]110K p.a. to first OOH GPs.(Primary Care Trusts)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Two PCTs are aiming to recruit what is believed to be the first batch of purely out-of-hours GPs. Durham Dales, and Sedge-field PCTs are advertising for six salaried GPs to work solely on-call. They will man an urgent-care centre at Bishop...

Call to educate patients on OOH.(Out Of Hours)
April 8, 2004... Rachel Solotti More than a third of GPs believe the new contract will increase patients' uncertainty about how to access out-of-hours care, says new research. A survey by Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP), released last week, says 36 per...

GPs overprescribing depression drugs 'for lack of alternatives'.(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Steve Ford GPs SAY they are being forced to overprescribe anti-depressants for stress and anxiety. Of 250 GPs questioned, more than 80 per cent openly admitted they wrote too many anti-depressant scrips for anxious and stressed patients...

Last-minute rush, but; almost everybody is in.
April 8, 2004... Doctor reporters Nearly every practice in the UK signed new contracts by the deadline, but it was a close shave in some areas. Of the 58 PCOs Doctor spoke to on 1 April, virtually every one was reporting a 100 per cent sign-up. It appears...

GPs bullied into working unpaid.(General practitioners)
April 8, 2004... PCOs threaten doctors with GMC referral if they refuse to keep providing services for free Rachel Solotti PCOs are bullying GPs into providing services for free under the new contract, and are even threatening to refer doctors to the...

Calls for BMA chiefs to quit.(British Medical Association)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... Christina Golding THE BMA is facing calls for its chairman and secretary to resign after it got embroiled in a racism row that could cost [pounds sterling]1m in compensation and legal fees. Doctors have accused the organisation of wasting...

IT firms warned over scare tactics.(Information technology services industry)
April 15, 2004... Christina Golding THE GOVERNMENT has written to all clinical software suppliers to warn them against forcing GPs onto their systems. National Programme for IT head Richard Granger has written to all local service providers (LSPs) to make...

Bid to overrule GMC fails.(General Medical Council )(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... Cathy Comerford The UK's new health care regulator has failed in its first attempt to have a GMC ruling overturned in the High Court. The court last week refused to order the GMC to rehear the case of Croydon GP Dr Olagbalekan Solanke,...

GPs reject 'potentially threatening' clause.(General practitioners)
April 15, 2004... Christina Golding A group of GPs have refused to agree to a clause in the new GMS contract that allows the Government to change the deal without their consent. In Shropshire, 28 of the 35 practices which signed the contract are disputing clause...

Future obesity 'predictable before age one'.
April 15, 2004... Steve Ford GPs CAN predict future obesity in children using routine height and weight measurements before the age of one, say Liverpool researchers. They say standard growth charts and three simple screening scenarios can identify a...

GPs have limited chances; to prevent male suicides.(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... Steve Ford GPs GET few opportunities to intervene with young men consodering suicide, says new research. Despite the Government pushing for primary care to play a large part in its National Suicide prevention Strategy, studies have found...

GPs to use e-alerts to beat child abuse.(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... GPs are to join an integrated Internet-based alert system which the Government is hoping will prevent another Victoria Climbie case. The Ryogens program is designed to act as an early warning system, allowing GPs, health workers, police and...

Smooth start for first OOH services after GP opt-outs.(Out-Of-Hours services)
April 15, 2004... Rachel Solotti A PCT in Cheshire is running an out-of-hours service which integrates GPs, nurses and paramedics. Further north, three Cumbrian PCTs have banded together to provide an out-of-hours service based on an existing GP...

GPs' appraisal cash; halved at 11th hour.
April 15, 2004... Lack of consultation angers GP leaders as appraisees receive only [pounds sterling]7.65m of the [pounds sterling]17m funding promised in February Cathy Comerford GPs will get around [pounds sterling]239 to be appraised this year,less...

Rebels with a cause - GPs ; are medicine's rule-breakers.(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... GPs ARE the rebels and rule-breakers of medicine, according to a new study. Researchers have found that medical students who go on to choose general practice tend to be the ones who pay least attention to rules, and reject hospital medicine...

Hospital refuses GPs' blood tests.(General practitioners)
April 22, 2004... Christina Golding GPs rushing to boost their aspiration points have forced a phlebotomy department to close to GPs' patients but speeded up PCT plans for enhanced services. GPs in Harrow, Middlesex, flooded the phlebotomy department at...

CBT 'effective treatment' for hypochondria.(Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)(Brief Article)
April 22, 2004... Steve Ford HYPOCHONDRIA CAN be effectively treated with cognitive behavioural therapy, accord- ing to US psychiatrists. Compared with usual care, weekly CBT sessions over six weeks led to improved social functioning and reduced fears of...

'Rosy picture' painted on recruitment.
April 22, 2004... In a new report, the Government claims to have made major progress in solving the recruitment crisis in general practice but the RCGP has accused it of massaging the figures. Christina Golding reports The Government has hailed its GP...

GPs to use inspections to bid for resources.(Brief Article)
April 22, 2004... Rachel Solotti GPs IN Wales say new powers given to patient advocacy groups, which will allow them to inspect doctors' surgeries, could work in their favour by highlighting the need for more resources. But they have also stressed that the...

GPs get tough on PCOs that refuse; to fund services.
April 22, 2004... Christina Golding THE GPC is calling for GPs to get tough with PCOs that use the excuse of lack of funding to delay commissioning enhanced services. It wants GPs to report PCOs that claim they cannot reach the minimum expenditure floor for...

Nurse specialists supplement; rather than ease GP workload.
April 22, 2004... Steve Ford New research shows that nurse practitioners do not reduce GP workload, at least in the short term. Researchers from Manches- ter and Nijmegen in the Neth- erlands warn nurses will only ease pressure on GPs if they take on...

Asthma care threshold cut.(Brief Article)
April 22, 2004... Inhaled steroids should be given to patients with milder asthma than previously advised, according to new guidelines. Updated BTS/SIGN guidance says patients should now move from treatment step one to step two if they have had an asthma attack...

GPs slam Government's handling of contract.(General practitioners)
April 22, 2004... Rachel Solotti Northern Ireland's GPs have had the profession's first public bust-up with a health department over its handling of the new contract. At the LMCs conference in Derry last week, GPs passed a vote of no confidence in the...

Shipman expert backs; tougher GP scrutiny.
April 22, 2004... Government looking 'seriously' at calls to make public data on audit, appraisal, contract targets, death rates and investigations Cathy Comerford The Government's exp-ert on Shipman wants information about GPs' appraisals, audits,...

GPs urged to act over teenage; sexual health privacy fears.(General practitioners)(Brief Article)
April 29, 2004... Steve Ford GPs have been warned that a perceived lack of confidentiality in surgeries could be hindering efforts to cut teenage pregnancy and sexual infection. Delegates at a recent RCGP conference on adolescent health were told...

Post-Shipman reforms leave certification in hands of GPs.
April 29, 2004... Cathy Comerford Government reforms of death certification have rejected the Shipman Inquiry's call to remove the responsibility from doctors. In future, GPs will receive training to certify death, but a new 'verifier' - a doctor, paramedic...

Hutton targets Polish GPs.(General Practitioners)
April 29, 2004... Christina Golding THE GOVERNMENT is to target Polish doctors to help fill UK GP vacancies when Poland and nine other countries join the EU next week. Health Minister John Hutton met his Polish counterpart last month and the two countries...

Is public scrutiny of GPs a step too far?(General practitioners)
April 29, 2004... The Government's expert on Shipman has suggested much tougher public scrutiny of GPs to protect patients. But, as Cathy Comerford reports, some question whether the public should take responsibility too GP academic and Shipman...

Anxiety clue in children with abdominal pain.(Medical research)
April 29, 2004... Steve Ford Most children who present with recurrent abdominal pain are likely to be suffering from anxiety and depression, say US researchers. A team from Pittsburgh University compared psychiatric symptoms in 42 children, aged eight to...

NI gets PMS but no growth cash.(General practitioners council,People's Medical Society)
April 29, 2004... Rachel Solotti GPs IN Northern Ireland are set to be given the option to switch to PMS contracts. But GP leaders expect most practices in the region to stick with GMS because PMS practices are no longer entitled to growth money, which has...

GP exposes seniority loophole.(General practitioners)(Brief Article)
April 29, 2004... Jane Potter a loophole in rules about overseas experience has robbed a Scottish GP of 20 years' of seniority pay. Stirling GP Dr William Connor will only be paid ten years' of seniority pay because he spent 20 years working as a GP in...

Hospital shuts as GPs; demand fair pay deal.(Brief Article)
April 29, 2004... Rachel Solotti The first community hospital in the UK has had to close its doors because GPs are refusing to work there in protest at poor pay and working conditions. Warminster Community Hospital in Wiltshire was forced to close a 24-bed...

GPs demand PCO reforms.(General practitioners,Primary Care Orgnizatons.)
April 29, 2004... LMCs attack PCOs for bungling contract Cathy Comerford GPs are demanding a radical overhaul of primary care organisations which they say they are not up to implementing the new GMS contract. LMCs at this year's June national conference...