Doctor articles from July 2004

Doctor archives from July 2004

IT may scupper GPs' funding appeal success.(Information Technology )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... GPs are worried that any successful appeals against their funding under the new contract could be undone because PCOs cannot adjust the relevant computer system. PCTs in Nottinghamshire had told GP representatives that there was 'a question...

Risk of relapse in; depression cut by; reaching remission.
July 1, 2004... Anna Sayburn Patients with depression need to be treated until they are in complete remission from physical as well as emotional symptoms, to cut the chance of relapse, according to top psychiatrists. Speaking at an international...

GPs set ; to escape death rate scrutiny.
July 1, 2004... Close investigation 'unfair to GPs and too expensive' Cathy Comerford THE shipman Inquiry is ex-pected to call for a light-touch approach to investigating GPs with high death rates, following warnings from academics. In the wake of...

DoH opens NHS to further private sector involvement.(National Health Services)
July 1, 2004... Christina Golding The Government has further opened up the NHS to the private sector in plans to improve the health service over the next five years. In a paper published last week, The NHS Improvement Plan, the Department of Health said...

Missed-Pill window for Cerazette.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The progestogen-only Pill desogestrel (Cerazette) has been relicensed with the same 12-hour 'missed Pill' window as the combined Pill. The change to the licence means the missed-Pill window for 75mg desogestrel is now four times longer than...

GP wins groundbreaking victory over global sum.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A GP has won an unprecedented victory by making her PCT recalculate her practice's global sum under the new contract. Camden PCT had calculated Dr Elizabeth Robinson's global sum equivalent using 2002-03 baseline earnings, the method used for...

A&E doctors rush to be GPs.(Accident & Emergency doctors want to be general practitinors)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Rachel Solotti The new GMS contract is attracting A&E doctors to primary care in droves, say emergency care leaders. They say staff grade and associate specialist doctors are increasingly leaving hospital medicine to re-train as GPs or...

Buying powers for GPs.(General practitioners)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... GPs are to get extra powers to commission care, under new Government plans. Under the Department of Health's NHS Improvement Plan, published last week, GPs will have more say in identifying local needs and commissioning services such as...

'End NHS exploitation'.(National Health Service)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... BMA chairman Mr James Johnson has demanded an end to the NHS's 'shameful record of exploitation' of foreign-trained doctors. Opening the BMA Annual Representative Meeting in north Wales this week, Mr Johnson said the NHS had for too long relied...

Legal loophole may leave locum GPs out of pocket.(General practitioners)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Christina Golding Locum fees could become depressed because of a loophole in competition law that allows PCOs to fix rates among themselves. Some GPs believe the loophole will result in PCOs getting together to put pressure on rates once...

Founder quits co-ops group over views on GP ownership.
July 8, 2004... Rachel Solotti THE FOUNDER of the National Association of GP Co-operatives has quit the body because he disagrees with plans to strip GPs of full ownership of co-ops. Dr Krishna Korlipara, who set up the NAGPC in 1981, said he had stood...

'Care plans underused in asthma'.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2004... Only three per cent of asthma patients currently receive a self-management plan, despite guidance that all patients with the disease should receive one, delegates at the British Thoracic Society's recent summer meeting heard. Prof Martyn...

Parents want MMR fees scrapped.
July 8, 2004... Steve Ford Parents want GPs' vaccine target payments dropped in the wake of the MMR crisis, according to researchers. Study authors found parents in Leeds considered GPs' advice on MMR to be 'hampered by questions over partiality', and...

NSAIDs and diuretics top avoidable ADR list.(Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents,Adverse Drug Reactions)
July 8, 2004... Steve Ford ADVERSE DRUG reactions in the community cause one in 16 hospital admissions, according to findings from the UK's largest prospective study into ADRs. The authors assessed all adult admissions at two large Liverpool hospitals...

'Chaos' predicted over quality points visits.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2004... GPs ARE predicting chaos and unfair treatment at the hands of PCTs when a national crackdown on practices' quality points claims begins later this year. Single-handers expect to be worst hit by the exercise, which could see practices suspected...

GPs urged to refer TIAs in seven days.(Transient Ischaemic Attack, prevention.)(Brief Article)
July 8, 2004... Patients who suffer a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) should be referred for specialist assessment within seven days of the incident, according to new stroke guidance. TIA patients should also be prescribed aspirin once all symptoms have...

Anonymous error reporting begins.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2004... A SYSTEM for anonymous re-porting of mistakes is being rolled out across the country by the National Patient Safety Agency to build up a database of errors. GPs will be encouraged to report incidents directly to the NPSA through a Web-based ...

BMA dodges bullet on representation.(British Medical Association)
July 8, 2004... BMA Annual Representative Meeting, North Wales Conference Centre, Llandudno, 28 June to 1 July Simon Meek The BMA managed to deflect any direct criticism of its overall representation of grass-roots doctors. Motions were put to the...

Government drops plans for accessing patient information.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2004... Christina Golding The Government has shelved controversial plans that would have given the Health Sec- retary power to access patient- identifiable data without consent. The proposals had been condemned by the GPC, which said they could...

PMS snub to LMCs 'threatens GP unity'.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2004... GPs accuse local representatives of over-focusing on GMS Doctor reporters PMS practices are boycotting local medical committees and setting up their own groups for contract negotiations. The move, thought by PMS leaders to be a symptom...

Screening chief attacks plan to pay GPs for under-25s smears.(General practitioners)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2004... Cathy Comerford A group of PCTs are paying GPs to carry out three-yearly cervical smears on women under 25, despite clinical evidence that this could do more harm than good. Doctors in Warwickshire are being commissioned to carry on giving...

Ombudsman attacks OOH firm.(Out-Of-Hours)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2004... Rachel Solotti England's health ombudsman has criticised deputising service Primecare over the quality of its out-of-hours care. In a report released last week, Health Service Commissioner Ann Abraham said she had investigated a number of...

GMC jeopardy for overseas GPs.
July 15, 2004... Cathy Comerford NHS managers are fuelling the 'disproportionately high' number of disciplinary hearings against overseas doctors, says the GMC. Overseas doctors are the subject of nearly half of all GMC disciplinary hearings, despite...

Study calls standard asthma management into doubt.
July 15, 2004... Steve Ford Doubling the daily dose of inhaled corticosteroids at the first sign of an asthma attack has little benefit, according to Canadian researchers. The study has muddied the debate over whether patients should be advised to increase...

Doctors caught out by unclear pension rules.(Brief Article)
July 15, 2004... The BMA has called for more clarity over the Government's new retirement fund rules, which have caused widespread confusion and nearly cost one GP his full NHS pension. Superannuation experts are warning doctors to take professional advice...

Leap in mumps cases sparks call for wider MMR campaign.(Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccines.)
July 15, 2004... Steve Ford Mumps cases in England have reached an all-time high, according to figures from the Health Protection Agency. There were 1,272 mumps cases reported between January and March this year, the HPA's latest disease surveillance...

Row over the ownership of GP co-ops.(South East London Doctors' Co-op protests.)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2004... Protests are growing over plans to end full GP ownership of GP co-operatives. Dr Matthew Kiln, secretary of South East London Doctors' Co-op (SELDOC), said he would ask members at a meeting next week to consider cancelling the co-op's...

Salaried jobs threat to partner practices.(Brief Article)
July 15, 2004... Cathy Comerford PCT-run surgeries offering well-paid salaried GP posts are posing a recruitment threat to GPs' practices, according to local doctors. Sefton LMC says a PCT medical services (PCTMS) practice, set up under new rules in the...

Battle to be GPC leader; ends today.(General Practioners Councils new leader)
July 15, 2004... GPs will find out today who is to lead the GPC negotiating team through the first years of the contract. The competition is between the current deputy chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, and senior negotiator Dr Laurence Buckman. The two doctors put...

GP contract cash to fund pharmacists.(General practitioners )
July 15, 2004... GPs face having to share [pounds sterling]1.4bn enhanced services funding Simon Meek GPs face losing a large chunk of enhanced services cash as the Government looks to part-fund the new pharmacy contract with monies negotiated by the GPC....

New regulator's role challenged in court.
July 22, 2004... Cathy Comerford THE GP at the centre of a test case over GMC rulings is going to court to protest against the Government's new regulator. Lancaster GP Dr Guiseppe Ruscillo has appealed against a High Court decision which allows the Council...

Legal warning over post-TIA strokes.(transient Ischaemic Attack ,prevention and cure.)
July 22, 2004... Steve Ford GPs could be sued if patients have a stroke after a transient ischaemic attack and they were not seen by a specialist within seven days of the TIA, medico-legal experts warn. New stroke guidance says TIA patients should be seen...

Ombudsman orders GP to apologise for practice nurse's error.(General practitioners)(Brief Article)
July 22, 2004... A GP has been ordered to apologise after a practice nurse used the wrong dressing on a diabetic patient's leg ulcer. Medical defence bodies say such cases could become more common as nurses' powers widen, and that the case should remind GPs of...

Private firm runs GMS practices.(General Medical Services, health care industry contracts)
July 22, 2004... Simon Meek The first contract for an 'alternative provider' to run GMS practices under the new contract has been signed. Brighton and Hove PCT has commissioned ChilversMcCrea Healthcare to run three local practices after struggling to fill...

GP in chaperone case guilty of misconduct.(General practitioner found guilty)(Brief Article)
July 22, 2004... A GP who asked an elderly female patient to undress without a chaperone has been found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the GMC. Peterborough locum Dr Julian Selwyn was reprimanded for acting 'inappropriately and insensitively' in...

PCO pays one-fifth of enhanced services cash to pharmacists.(Primary Care Organisations)(Brief Article)
July 22, 2004... A PCO is paying almost 20 per cent of its enhanced services budget from the new GMS contract to pharmacists. St Helens PCT has earmarked about [pounds sterling]200,000 of a [pounds sterling]1.27m enhanced services budget to spend on...

Call for OOH back-up plan.(out-of-hours)(Brief Article)
July 22, 2004... THE HEAD of the UK's biggest out-of-hours deputising service has warned that PCOs are leaving themselves open to disaster by providing too little OOH back-up. Primecare medical director Dr Mike Sadler said many organisations had only one OOH...

Chisholm urges GPs: Go public on points.(General Practitioners Councils)
July 22, 2004... Outgoing GPC chief says public scores will force improvement Rachel Solotti THE outgoing GPC chairman says top-performing practices should voluntarily publish their contract quality scores which would pressure others to improve. Dr...

Enter the communicators...(Generap Pratitioners Council)(Brief Article)
July 22, 2004... Simon Meek THE NEW chairman of the GPC has vowed to take a 'more inclusive' approach and im-prove communication between LMCs and the negotiating team. Dr Hamish Meldrum said there had been criticism that the negotiating team had become 'a...

GPs welcome controlled drugs report.(general practitioner)
July 22, 2004... Cathy Comerford GPs have broadly welcomed the Shipman Inquiry's recommendations on the regulation of controlled drugs, despite worries about workload and potential errors. The inquiry last week published The Regulation Of Controlled Drugs...