Doctor articles from December 2004

Doctor archives from December 2004

PCOs cook contract books.
December 3, 2004... Access to a vicar among 'creative' schemes used by trusts to fudge enhanced services spending Cathy Comerford GP leaders are accusing PCOs of including bizarre schemes in enhanced services lists in order to meet their spending floors...

Ambulance crew refuses to help 'unclean' patient.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2004... Emergency medicine NHS managers are investigating why an ambulance crew refused to attend a GP's emergency call until the patient was 'cleaned up'. St Helens GP Dr Eithne MacRae was left fuming after the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service...

Hyde Six lawyers quiz local GPs on Form C practices.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2004... Shipman LAWYERS defending the GPs facing the GMC over the Shipman case are using a survey of Greater Manchester doctors' practice over cremation forms as evidence. The team from Leeds-based firm RadcliffesLeBrasseur surveyed all GPs in the...

Adviser queries safety of five common drugs.
December 3, 2004... Prescribing A US drug regulatory adviser has questioned the safety of five drugs in the wake of the withdrawal of COX2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx). Dr David Graham, associate director of the US Food and Drug Administration's office of...

Hypnotics 'overprescribed'.
December 3, 2004... Prescribing A drugS watchdog has attacked the long-term prescribing of sleeping pills. The level of hypnotic drug prescribing in the UK is a risk to public health which cannot be justified, the Drug And Therapeutics Bulletin says. Over...

GP jobs taking longer to fill.(general practitioners)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2004... Recruitment Simon Ebbett Practices are taking longer to fill vacancies than a year ago, despite there being more applicants for each job and fewer gaps. Government figures show that it takes 4.5 months on average to fill a GP vacancy...

GPC split on commissioning.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2004... GPC Derren Hayes The GPC is split over whether to support Government proposals on patient choice and practice-led commissioning in-cluded in The NHS Improve-ment Plan. With the plan due to be implemented next April, GPC chairman Dr...

Green light for change; all round.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry publication of the final Shipman Inquiry report will trigger action on two other major public inquiries into doctors - with far-reaching implications for GPs. The Government has been waiting for the Inquiry to end before...

PCOs to fine GPs over complaints.
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry Derren Hayes PCOs should be able to fine GPs and co-ordinate investigations into complaints against them, says Dame Janet Smith. Her report says individual PCOs are not 'equipped' to carry out investigations into...

Tough new model for revalidation.
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry Cathy Comerford REVALIDATION must be toughened up and the profession has to make up its mind over its relationship with appraisal, says the Shipman Inquiry. The Inquiry's report also suggests taking responsibility for...

GMC 'must put; the patient first'.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry THE GMC should be less 'representative' of the profession, with the majority of members no longer elected by doctors, the inquiry says. There should be an increase in medical and lay members appointed by the Privy Council...

'Doctors are best judge of bad GPs'.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry The days of trusting your colleagues are over, says Dame Janet Smith. The overriding message from her 1,260-page report is that the people with the most power to prevent doctors harming pat-ients are other doctors. 'The...

Controlled drugs checks mandatory.(Shipman Inquiry report )
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry Steve Ford PCOs must appoint an officer to ensure controlled drugs are adequately managed under new government rules. The Department of Health yesterday published its response to an earlier Shipman Inquiry report on...

Performance data to go public.
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry Derren Hayes The public should get unrivalled access to a GP's performance record and professional history, says the Shipman Inquiry. Chairman Dame Janet Smith says information about GPs' current registration and...

Profession cannot hide; from challenge of reform.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2004... DoctorComment Dame Janet Smith's final report on the Shipman Inquiry will change the culture and standing of the profession forever. She has been uncompromising in her efforts to ensure that patients are protected, not just from the...

What happens now?
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry Immediate reaction Health Secretary John Reid welcomed the report, and said he was working with doctors. Government response Full response to the Inquiry's fourth report, The Regulation Of Controlled Drugs In The...

What the inquiry says about . . .
December 10, 2004... Death and prescribing data The Department of Health must set up a national system for monitoring GP mortality rates. This should be supported by well-organised, consistent and objective means of investigating GPs whose death rates are...

'This will cut the time we have for patients'.
December 10, 2004... Shipman Inquiry Doctor reporters The Shipman Inquiry report will add layers of bureaucracy to GPs' workload and strip away patients' trust, but gives solo GPs lots of ammunition. GP representatives say the report's proposals will put...