Doctor articles from June 2005

Doctor archives from June 2005

GPs divided on OTC antibiotic.
June 14, 2005... Prescribing An antibiotic is to be made available over-the-counter for the first time, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has announced. Chloramphenicol eye drops will go from being available only on prescription to...

CHD checks threat.(coronary heart disease management )(Brief Article)
June 14, 2005... Cardiac care The Healthcare Commission is threatening to introduce new annual GP progress checks as part of its monitoring of coronary heart disease services in England. Annual performance indicators could be introduced to measure the...

Fresh blow to GMC over revalidation.(doctor evaluation)
June 14, 2005... Working practice Cathy Comerford A RADICAL turnaround in the way doctors will be revalidated has been proposed by one of the leading voices in general practice. Prof Mike Pringle, former RCGP chairman and current GMC member, spelled...

GMS beats privateers.(effects of general practitioner contract changes )(Brief Article)
June 14, 2005... Private practice The new contract has removed the financial incentive to move into private practice, say GPs. Average annual earnings for an NHS GP are about [pounds sterling]110,000, say medical accountants. But the Independent Doctors...

GPC wants limit on prescribing by pharmacists.(Brief Article)
June 14, 2005... Prescribing Pharmacists are not trained well enough to prescribe many more drugs than they do already, says the GPC. The Government has set out proposals to extend pharmacist prescribing, potentially up to a full formulary for any...

GPs seek freedom to levy fees.(general practitioners want right to bill patients for extra services)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2005... GPs across the country want restrictions lifted that prevent them from charging patients for services outside core hours. Next week's LMCs conference will debate whether the GPC should renegotiate the limited list of activities for which...

Loss of health visitors 'puts patients at risk'.(visiting nurse cutbacks)
June 14, 2005... Opposition to the removal of health visitors from practices and restrictions on private fees are high on the LMCs' agenda Christina Golding Vulnerable patients could be put at further risk because of moves by PCOs to remove health...

Small practices told: 'Prove we need you'.(changes to UK health policy)
June 14, 2005... Government architect of super-surgeries plan calls for report on how single-handers will 'fit in' to the DoH's primary care vision Christina Golding SMALL practices have been told to justify their existence before publication of a...

Bid to force GPs into scheme is exposed.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Pressure on GPs to take part in the Choose and Book scheme has reached the point where some PCTs have told practices they must take part, Doctor has learnt. Although LMCs across the country have said there has been pressure on practices to take...

Poor prognosis post-TIA.
June 21, 2005... Mortality More than 60 per cent of patients who suffer a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or minor ischaemic stroke will be dead within ten years, according to a new Dutch study. The study followed 2,473 patients over an average of ten...

PMS baseline call.
June 21, 2005... The GPC has been tasked with ensuring that increases in PMS baselines are agreed centrally rather than at a local level. The LMCs conference received a unanimous vote to have one baseline uplift agreement and to ban PCOs from interfering. GPC...

GPs unite to reject Choose and Book.
June 21, 2005... Working practices Doctor reporters The Government's plans to roll out Choose and Book (CaB) have suffered a major setback, with GPs voting overwhelmingly to reject the scheme. Last week's LMCs conference told the GPC to oppose the...

GPs stand defiant on; super-surgeries plan.
June 21, 2005... LMCs fight back after being told US care model is 'inevitable' Christina Golding GPs will fight the Govern-ment over its super- surgeries plan, despite being warned that doing so will increase the threat of widespread privatisation....

Leaders tackle GMC over online register.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Complaints GP leaders have met the GMC in a bid to stop the council routinely removing doctors from its online register after they have been referred over a complaint. GPC negotiator Dr Peter Holden told last week's LMCs conference that...

More targets for; CHD prevention.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... CHD The Government is set to create more targets for CHD care after Health Minister Rosie Winterton promised to step up preventive medicine and rehabilitation following surgery. Ms Winterton made the pledge during a special parliamentary...

QOF used; to name; and shame.
June 21, 2005... Doctor reporters GPs' fears that their quality scores could be used to persecute them have been confirmed after revelations that a PCT is 'naming and shaming' practices which achieved less than 750 points. Birmingham LMC member Dr Charles...

Alert over new threat; to enhanced care cash.
June 28, 2005... Commissioning Paul Stephenson GP leaders have had to step in to stop cash-strapped PCOs using enhanced services money to pay for the start-up costs of practice-based commissioning. The GPC has issued a written warning to LMCs to say...

Doctors hail updated cancer referral guide.(Brief Article)
June 28, 2005... Oncology New cancer referral guidelines have been hailed as one of the most important advances in the field for GPs in years. They set out diagnostic and referral criteria for a wide range of cancers, including those affecting children and...

Here we go again...
June 28, 2005... Simon Ebbett New Health Secretary, new reform plan. At almost the halfway point of the last major NHS overhaul, the ten-year NHS Plan launched in July 2000, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has promised a public consultation exercise to...

Key areas for reform.(Brief Article)
June 28, 2005... Consultation Access, out-of-hours and weekend care, public health and teenagers - those are the key areas Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt wants to target in her reform of primary care. While Ms Hewitt announced this autumn's consultation...

Maternity cover; shortfall hits female principals.(Brief Article)
June 28, 2005... Remuneration Female principals are falling victim to a shortfall in GP maternity cover, with PCOs hamstrung by how much they are allowed to pay for locum cover. The Government only allows English PCTs to pay about [pounds sterling]980 a...

TIA scoring improves stroke risk prediction.
June 28, 2005... Cardiovascular Steve Ford A simple scoring rule can help GPs predict which transient ischaemic attack patients are at highest early risk of stroke and so in most need of referral, say researchers. Latest national stroke guidelines...

Trusts fail on complaints.
June 28, 2005... Complaints The Healthcare Commission has ordered the NHS to sort out more complaints at a local level, pointing out that it rejects more than one-quarter of the cases referred to it. The commission says PCTs and acute trusts are failing to...