Doctor articles from November 2006

Doctor archives from November 2006

QOF admin a struggle for single-handed GPs.
November 7, 2006... Contract Single-handers may be disadvantaged by the quality and outcomes framework, because they have less administrative support than larger practices, research suggests. Researchers assessed the relationships between last year's QOF...

BMA launches attack on regulation reforms.(British Medical Association)(Brief article)
November 7, 2006... CMO's report Cathy Comerford Doctors' leaders have branded the Chief Medical Officer's review of medical regulation as a 'missed opportunity', which has failed to engage the profession. In a highly critical response to the review,...

Chlamydia testing snub.
November 7, 2006... Screening Adam Legge The Government looks set to sideline GPs in favour of high-street chemists as it seeks to extend the chlamydia testing programme. In an address to the National Chlamydia Screening Pro-gramme (NCSP) conference last...

Call to unite against access DES.(Directed Enhanced Services )(Brief article)
November 7, 2006... Enhanced services LMCs HAVE called on GPs to join forces to oppose government attempts to chip away at the GMS contract. Last month negotiations broke down over the directed enhanced service on access, after ministers added two extra...

GPs coerced into referrals.
November 7, 2006... Referrals GPs IN the north-west may be forced to refer thousands of patients to a private company, in breach of DoH guidance, because commissioners are set to agree to guarantee volumes of referrals to the company. PCTs in Cumbria and...

Minister renews call for APMS in primary care.(Lord Warner, Alternative Provider Medical Services)(Brief article)
November 7, 2006... Reform The Government last week stepped up the pressure on PCTs to bring alternative providers into primary care. Health Minister Lord Warner said: 'It is crucial that where practices are failing to meet the needs of their population,...

Private firms using nurses in GP roles.
November 7, 2006... Providers slammed for operating 'on the cheap' Amena Saleem Private health providers are increasing the clinical role of nurses at the expense of GPs in practices they have taken over, Doctor has discovered. GPs have described the move...

Call to extend statin prescribing.
November 14, 2006... Cardiovascular Statins should be given to many more patients than those currently identified in guidelines, according to the authors of a major UK study. Researchers estimated lifetime risks of cardiovascular events and the associated...

Dr Google will know.
November 14, 2006... Diagnosis The popular online search engine Google may be a useful aid to GPs when confronted by rare conditions that have unique symptoms, suggest Australian researchers. They used Google to search for symptoms identified in 26...

GMC signals end of self-regulation.
November 14, 2006... Patients given equal billing in council's response to CMO plans Cathy Comerford The GMC has sounded the death knell for professionally- led regulation, marking a major shift in its relationship with doctors. Council president Prof Sir...

GPC fears return to dark days of 1990.(General Practitioner Committee)
November 14, 2006... Politics Cathy Comerford Relations between GPs and the Government have hit the worst low since Kenneth Clarke's 1990 contract, say negotiators. Mr Clarke's tenure as health secretary was notable for acrimonious conflict between the...

Ministers pull plug on returner scheme.(general practitioners' career breaks)(Brief article)
November 14, 2006... Staffing Ministers have 'washed their hands' of schemes to help doctors return to work after career breaks, say GPs. Dr Vicky Weeks, chairman of the GPC's sessional GPs subcommittee, said ministers had previously guaranteed funding for...

Nothing wrong? I'd better see my GP about that!
November 14, 2006... Working practices The increasing medicalisation of 'non-disease' is significantly adding to GPs' workload, according to the findings of an exclusive survey by Doctor. Nearly 90% of the 540 respondents to the poll said they had seen an...

Old sphygs face ban.
November 14, 2006... Legislation Take care of that old sphygmomanometer - it could be literally irreplaceable. The European Parliament meets today to decide whether to ban the sale of measuring devices containing mercury, including thermometers and...

Teledermatology 'unsafe'.
November 14, 2006... Referrals Adam Legge Teledermatology is not a safe or effective substitute for a conventional referral and has no place in the health service, says a Government-commissioned report. Feasibility studies have been assessing the...

Conmen target GPs in surgeries.
November 21, 2006... Crime Conmen are targeting GPs in their own practices in a barefaced scam that has netted them hundreds of pounds. Two smartly dressed criminals are stealing doctors' credit cards from their consulting rooms and then ringing the...

GP does a storming job.(Christine Bradshaw, general practitioner)(Brief article)
November 21, 2006... Emergency medicine Dr Christine Bradshaw showed her mettle last week when she was involved in a maritime rescue operation in storm-force conditions. The locum, from Longhope, Orkney, went to the aid of an oil tanker in the Pentland...

GPs sidelined in shake-up of urgent care.
November 21, 2006... GPC fears further primary care fragmentation Cathy Comerford & Steve Ford GPs are being snubbed in government plans for future community and out-of-hours health provision, warn doctors' leaders. The warning of a further blow to the...

Negotiators to go on the offensive.
November 21, 2006... Medico-politics GP leaders are planning a campaign to raise the profile of general practice in the face of increasing indifference from the Government. GPC chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said he would be more proactive in driving the...

Patient surveys lose practices C&B pay.
November 21, 2006... Choose and Book Amena Saleem More than two-thirds of patients do not remember being offered a choice of hospital under Choose and Book, according to a survey for the DoH. The results reinforce a key concern raised by GPs that relying...

Private providers offered first practice in Scotland.
November 21, 2006... APMS Amena Saleem Private health companies could gain a foothold in Scottish primary care following the tendering of a GP practice near Glasgow. An advert inviting bids for the Harthill Health Centre is the first north of the border...

Unison fights private triage.(Brief article)
November 21, 2006... Services Health workers' union Unison is mounting a legal challenge against the creation of a privately-run NHS triage and treatment service. The DoH is finalising a five-year contract with private company Netcare - its preferred...

Axed PCT chiefs stay on with full pay.(Primary Care Trusts)(Brief article)
November 28, 2006... PCTs Senior PCT staff whose jobs were made redundant following the trusts' reorganisation are being paid full salaries until the end of June 2007 under DoH policy. The number of PCTs in England was reduced from 303 to 152 on 1 October...

Children and over-50s set to get flu jabs.
November 28, 2006... Extension of winter campaign likely next year Adam Legge GPs can expect a massive expansion of the annual flu vaccination programme, to include children and everyone over the age of 50, next year. Government immunisation advisers have...

Folic acid 'cuts CV risk'.
November 28, 2006... Cardiovascular GPs could consider lowering homocysteine levels with folic acid to cut cardiovascular risk, a review suggests. Researchers from the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London said 0.8mg folic acid daily reduced...

GPs' fate decided by PCT costing review.
November 28, 2006... APMS Cathy Comerford GPs AT a practice run by Brent Teaching PCT face an uncertain future as the trust carries out a review to establish whether patients are getting value for money. If the review indicates that this is not the case,...

NICE looks at early tests for age-related dementia.
November 28, 2006... Assessment GPs should consider referring people who show signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) for assessment by memory assessment services, say the latest NICE guidelines. The institute said it would aid early identification of...

Plans for fewer GPs on executive boards.
November 28, 2006... PCTs Cathy Comerford The number of GPs on professional executive committees is likely to shrink in a major shake-up of their structure. The extent of GPs' influence within PCTs has been opened up for debate with the launch of a...

'Discredited' survey goes ahead.
November 28, 2006... Access The Government has forced the addition of extra questions on access to the new patient experience survey, despite strong opposition from GP negotiators. The survey was formally unveiled by ministers yesterday. The GPC had...