Doctor articles from January 2005

Doctor archives from January 2005

Appeal for quake cash.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... Tsunami appeal A GP from Plymouth has put his out-of-hours pay to good use. Dr Martin Rankin is donating all of his next shift's pay to the disaster effort following the earthquake and tsunami in South East Asia. Dr Rankin posted his idea...

Plan adds five years ; to new GPs' service.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... Pensions YOUNG GPs will be forced to work five years longer than their predecessors did to pick up their full NHS pension benefits, under proposals announced yesterday. That is the price to be paid to balance the books under the biggest...

DoH plans routine pneumococcal jab for all children.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... Immunisation Ministers are considering the addition of pneumoccocal immunisation to the routine child vaccine schedule. The Department of Health says the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended the move in...

Drug adverts step up prescribing workload.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... Prescribing GPs ARE facing increasing pressure from patient requests for fungal nail infection treatments due to indirect pharmaceutical advertising. A Doctor prescribing survey, carried out last month, asked GPs to identify examples of...

Plan adds five years ; to new GPs' service.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... Pensions YOUNG GPs will be forced to work five years longer than their predecessors did to pick up their full NHS pension benefits, under proposals announced yesterday. That is the price to be paid to balance the books under the biggest...

Cleared Hyde doctor rues 'hollow victory'.
January 11, 2005... Shipman Inquiry A GP cleared by the GMC over his involvement with Harold Shipman is angry that four colleagues are still on trial. Hyde GP Dr Raj Patel spoke to Doctor about his ordeal, after the GMC dropped its case against him and fellow...

GMC 'weak' on revalidation.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... Shipman Inquiry HANDING over the design of revalidation to the Government has shown the 'weakness' and 'failure' of the GMC, according to one of its leading GP members. Former RCGP chairman Prof Mike Pringle said it was 'a sad day for...

GP faces murder inquiry.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2005... A RETIRED GP is being investigated by police in County Durham for allegedly murdering an elderly cancer patient with diamorphine. Dr Howard Martin, who worked across three Durham surgeries in Newton Aycliffe, Eldon Lane and Sheldon, is on bail...

GPs get three years to start commissioning.
January 11, 2005... Ministers expect all practices to commission services by 2008 Doctor reporters The Government is set to make commissioning compulsory for all practices. Under guidance which was published late last year, the Department of Health says...

Matrons to take over long-term sick care.
January 11, 2005... Working practices Steve Ford THOUSANDS OF community matrons are to be introduced across England to manage patients with complex long-term conditions, the Government says. But GP leaders say the matrons must be integrated into primary...

Public warnings plan; 'poses GP suicide risk'.
January 11, 2005... Shipman Inquiry Cathy Comerford A LEADING GP at the Shipman Inquiry has warned that a proposal that PCTs could publish concerns over poorly performing doctors could put GPs at risk of suicide. In her final report, published last month,...

Patient death sparks electronic data fear.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Information technology Craig Kenny GPs have been warned about the dangers of moving to electronic records after a computer's failure to flag up a risk factor may have contributed to a patient's death. A GP in Devon issued 'standard...

Locum costs refusal hits single-handers.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Small practices Single-handed GPs could be left out of pocket because of a mistake by the GPC in negotiating the GMS contract. The GPC has admitted it 'inadvertently omitted' from the Statement of Financial Entitlements provision for...

A testing time.
January 18, 2005... Six months into his presidency of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Mr Hugh Phillips has already courted controversy. But does he have what it takes to fight for surgeons' rights? Melanie Newman reports All college presidents say...

GP is made; Wales health; minister.(Dr. Brian Gibbons a new Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Dr Brian Gibbons, a GP in Blaengwynfi, has been made the new Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales. Dr Gibbons, who has worked at the Upper Afan Practice for 25 years, takes over from Jane Hutt, who held the post for five years....

SPA warning on privatisation.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Small practices Allowing private companies to run GP surgeries poses a threat to the continuity of care that small practices provide, warns the Small Practices Association. The SPA was due to meet with national director of primary care Dr...

Pilgrimage; jab advice.(health concerns of Hajj pilgrims)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Travel health The government has told the 50,000 people expected to travel to Hajj this year to get meningitis jabs. It highlighted that there will be two pilgrimages this year. The 2004 Hajj will take place between 17 and 21 January, with...

GP rebels snub; e-records over; confidentiality.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Electronic records Doctor reporters GPs are boycotting the trial of a new centralised patient record system amid concerns over its legality and patient confidentiality. Practices in Wirral have been asked to pilot the electronic...

[pounds sterling]500m budget deficits.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Finance NHS trusts in England are facing a [pounds sterling]500m budget deficit, mostly due to overspends in hospitals. However, forecasts for the end of the financial year suggest this will fall to [pounds sterling]225m, with 13 strategic...

Battle lines drawn as trusts divert GP cash.
January 18, 2005... GPs walk away from enhanced services over 'illegal' debt deal Craig Kenny THE GPC is locked in battle with trusts trying to use unspent enhanced services money to service hospital debt and pay privately-employed nurses. Last month,...

Reid's grand plan; to slash GP work.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Health improvement The Government expects its plans for long-term care to cut GP consultations by 40 per cent and prescriptions by up to two-thirds. In guidance on its model for improving care of long-term conditions, released last week,...

Patients don't want to travel.
January 18, 2005... editorial comment Most of the time you should resist saying 'I told you so', but on the odd occasion you have to say it. And this week is one of those occasions. In Southampton, people are being told that they cannot be seen at their...

Doctor suspended in free speech row.
January 18, 2005... suspensions A consultant suspended for publicly criticising his trust may have had his contractual right to free speech violated. Gynaecologist Mr Chris Overton was suspended after he handed out leaflets in his local town centre opposing...

Juniors' leader angry at MMC's lack of progress.(Modernising Medical Careers)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... training Modernising Medical Careers, (MMC) the new method for training doctors, has been slammed for not advancing quickly enough. Chairman of the BMA's juniors committee, Mr Simon Eccles, said he was 'pissed off' at the lack of progress....

Patient choice fiasco.
January 18, 2005... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk The Department of Health's (DoH) patient choice initiative is not only denying patients access to their local hospital, but leading to NHS service cuts. In Southampton, many orthopaedic patients are...

Tougher appraisal 'is not the answer'.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... shipman Improved death certification and clinical audit will do more to catch another Shipman than tightening doctors' appraisals, the president of the Royal College of Pathologists has said. Discussing a response to the Department of...

letters .(Letter to the Editor)
January 18, 2005... GMC requires professionals Sir, Doctors find themselves in positions for which they have no special expertise and no formal qualification. We become medical educators without a teaching qualification and conduct research without...

GPC in fight to get back cash for GPs.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2005... Enhanced services The GPC looks set to fight a test case over a PCT's use of unspent enhanced services cash for hospital debts. This comes after Avon LMC has registered a formal dispute with the GPC against Bristol South and West PCT,...

1/8W+(D-d)3/8xTQMxNA = awful 24/1/05.
January 25, 2005... I don't like Mondays If you saw an unusually large number of patients claiming they were depressed yesterday, there is a scientific explanation. Monday 24 January was the worst day of the year, according to calculations by Dr Cliff...

QoF budget shortfall.
January 25, 2005... Christina Golding Funding for GPs' quality and outcomes framework (QoF) payments will be well short next year because the Government has again underestimated practices' achievements. The news has provoked fears that PCOs will have to raid...

GPs paid to push private treatment.
January 25, 2005... After patient choice fiasco leaves trusts millions in debt, GPs face pressure to refer to unpopular private treatment centres Christina Golding GPs ARE are being targeted with a range of 'unethical' incentives to refer to private...

GPs fume at Reid's '14 minutes' gaffe.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2005... Consultations Tony Blair got into trouble over a 45-minute claim - John Reid has followed suit by saying he can deploy GPs for 14 minutes a time. The Health Secretary enraged the profession last week by boasting that GPs enjoyed...

Celecoxib delayed.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2005... COX2 inhibitors DRUG firm Pfizer is delaying the European launch of a new indication for its COX2 inhibitor celecoxib until a major review of the class is finished. The European Medicines Agency's medical products committee requested the...

Choose and Book in tatters as GPs choose not to use system.
January 25, 2005... Information technology Choose and Book, (CaB) another key plank of the Government's choice agenda, is in disarray and at serious risk of failing altogether, according to a report by the UK's spending watchdog. The National Audit Office,...

GPs face sick note scrutiny.
January 25, 2005... Government calls for link to revalidation and retraining Simon Ebbett GPs who issue too many sick notes face retraining and having their certification practices linked to revalidation under proposals backed by Prime Minister Tony...