Doctor articles from November 2004

Doctor archives from November 2004

Quality teams lack GPs.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Quality Cathy Comerford PCTs in some areas are struggling to find GPs to join quality framework assessment teams, raising fears that some have no GP representation. Problems have arisen because the GPs most likely to do the work are...

Resource fears over changes in training.
November 5, 2004... Training Rachel Solotti GP leaders have raised fears about whether practices will have enough cash and time to help implement medical training reforms. They say supervising doctors on the new two-year foundation programme, which is...

Registrar pay cuts slammed.(medical residents)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Remuneration GP leaders have lambasted proposed cuts to registrar pay. The Department of Health has asked the Review Body to consider whether the registrar pay supplement of 65 per cent should be dropped to aid recruitment to hospitals....

University challenge.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... GPs with lists dominated by students and young people should consider switching to PMS, says GPC chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum. Dr Meldrum said that while new GMS contract covered the 'vast majority' of practices, it appeared not to properly cover...

Students told to visit GP for MMR jab.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Immunisation Universities ARE telling students to visit their GPs for MMR vaccination, after a dramatic increase in mumps cases in young adults. Birmingham University med-ical practice has seen 27 probable mumps cases since the start of...

Appraisals to be toughened.
November 5, 2004... Regulator plans a crackdown on 'cosy chats' Cathy Comerford and Emma Vere Jones GPs' appraisals are set to get tougher to ensure problem doctors are flagged up during revalidation. The Healthcare Commission plans to look at how it...

Fresh quality data warning.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Confidentiality GPs have been told to either 'completely anonymise' patient records for quality visits or not release data at all. In new GPC interim guidance, the committee says if practices are unable to completely anonymise records,...

New Good Medical Practice.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... GMC CENTRAL guidance for GPs on daily practice is being reviewed by the GMC. Informal consultation began last week, with professional bodies, patient and public organisations and charities invited to comment on how Good Medical Practice...

QOF visits take toll on practices.(Quality and Outcomes Framework )(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... Quality Some small practices have spent more than 50 hours preparing for QOF visits, according to a survey. Around a fifth of small and single-handed practices that replied to a survey by the Small Practices Association spent over 50 hours...

ACE inhibitor loses to calcium channel blocker.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... Cardiology Coronary artery disease patients with 'normal' blood pressure experience fewer cardiovascular events when taking a calcium channel blocker than an ACE inhibitor, say researchers. The CAMELOT study invol-ved 1,991 patients with...

Failing GP practices; will be closed down.
November 12, 2004... Trusts can cancel contracts under new commissioning powers Doctor reporters PCTs are to close failing practices under commissioning plans which take effect next year. PCTs are to identify practices, which consistently perform badly or...

GP pay rise 'too late' to solve community hospitals crisis.
November 12, 2004... Remuneration Rachel Solotti GP leaders have warned that it may already be too late to solve the impasse over community hospitals. The BMA has told the Review Body to give GPs working in community hospitals a hefty pay rise if they are...

GPs predict end of PCTs.
November 12, 2004... PCTs Doctor reporters Practice-led commissioning could spell the beginning of the end for PCTs in their current form, predict GPs. GP representatives believe the Government will use the plan to either cut the number of trusts or scrap...

Heart failure therapy; is first 'ethnic drug'.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... Prescribing A new treatment combination that cuts mortality in black heart-failure patients looks set to become the world's first drug tailored for an ethnic group. BiDil, which combines two older heart drugs, isosorbide dinitrate and...

GPs to play bigger role in health promotion.
November 19, 2004... Lifestyle Doctor reporters GPs are to get more training and responsibilities in health promotion under the Govern-ment's new white paper. The paper, Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier, gives GPs new roles in targeting...

GPs 'playing into the; hands of privateers'.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Privatisation The new GMS contract has opened the door to priv- atisation if GPs close their lists, a GPC negotiator has admitted. GPC deputy chairman Dr Laurence Buckman says practices claiming to be closed to new patients will play...

White paper piles on the work.
November 19, 2004... Public health * GPs to develop personal health plans * Increased focus on GUM services * Greater public health role in domestic violence, teenage care, alcohol misuse Rachel Solotti THE GOVERNMENT'S long-awaited public health...

GPs to face tougher scrutiny of expenses.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Pensions GPs FACE closer inspection of income and expenses under draft proposals for calculating profit-related NHS pensions. A leaked document obtained by Doctor says GPs earning more than [pounds sterling]25,000 and/or ten per cent of...

GP who smacked child faces [pounds sterling]15,000 court case.(Brief Article)
November 26, 2004... Litigation Doctor reporters The GP in trouble for smacking a three-year-old patient has now been confronted with a [pounds sterling]15,000 court case from her parents. Ali and Nadia Fahmi have launched civil proceedings against Surrey...

GPs 'ignored alarm bells'.
November 26, 2004... Shipman Cathy Comerford SIX GPs facing misconduct charges over the Shipman case were accused this week of ignoring 'alarm bells' that could have caught him earlier. Serious professional misconduct cases against Dr Peter Bennett, Dr...

New drug cuts fractures with fewer side-effects.
November 26, 2004... Osteoporosis Steve Ford A newly licensed osteo- porosis drug significantly cuts fracture risk but has fewer side-effects and an easier dosing regimen than a bisphosphonate. Strontium ranelate (Protelos) is the first of a new class of...

Why it's not just GPs in the dock.(Brief Article)
November 26, 2004... Shipman Four years after the six GPs who signed Shipman's cremations forms first faced the media following his conviction for murder, they find themselves in the dock. The timing of the GMC hearing in Manchester this week is crucial. It...

GPs given duty to spot risk of falls.
November 26, 2004... Older people Lisa Hitchen GPs must identify and refer elderly patients on their lists who are at risk of falls, says new NICE guidance. Patients who have fallen in the past year are to be checked for balance and gait deficits, under...

GPs on trial.(Brief Article)
November 26, 2004... 'In Manchester, there is an overwhelming feeling of dismay that local GPs might be scapegoated for the deeds of Shipman. Their practice was no better or worse than any of their colleagues' across the country. This has been magnified by the...