Doctor articles from September 2006

Doctor archives from September 2006

GP removals soar as PCTs flex muscles.
September 5, 2006... Government urged to act to ensure fair hearings Cathy Comerford There has been a three-fold increase in the number of GPs removed from lists of performers over the past year, as PCTs flex their new powers to deal with complaints...

Allergy admissions rise.
September 5, 2006... Immunology HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS for anaphylaxis and food allergies have risen dramatically since 1990, say researchers, but the prevalence of rhinitis appears to be falling. After reviewing UK data on a range of allergic disorders,...

Doctors 'must have a role in health policy'.
September 5, 2006... Reforms POLITICIANS MUST involve doctors in developing health policy or risk damage to the NHS, BMA leader Mr James Johnson has warned. Ahead of the party conference season, Mr Johnson has written to MPs and peers in an effort to...

Woes mounting for GP IT programme.
September 5, 2006... Technology Doctor reporters Fears are growing of a looming disaster for GP computing, as problems mount for the Government's creaking IT programme. One of the programme's key software suppliers, iSOFT, has posted a multi-million pound...

NICE tackles child exercise.
September 5, 2006... Guidelines NICE is to develop guidance on promoting physical activity in children in order to tackle the growing burden of obesity. Ministers last week confirmed that the subject was to be included in the latest work programme referred...

Scots GP appraisers win improved contract.
September 5, 2006... Appraisal GP appraisers and appraisal advisers in Scotland are to get improved contracts, following negotiations by the Scottish GPC. A deal struck with NHS Edu-cation for Scotland includes recognition of previous NHS employment to...

Doctors 'must have a role in health policy'.
September 5, 2006... Reforms Politicians must involve doctors in developing health policy or risk damage to the NHS, BMA leader Mr James Johnson has warned. Ahead of the party conference season, Mr Johnson has written to MPs and peers in an effort to...

Allergy admissions rise.
September 5, 2006... Immunology Hospital admissions for anaphylaxis and food allergies have risen dramatically since 1990, say researchers, but the prevalence of rhinitis appears to be falling. After reviewing UK data on a range of allergic disorders,...

GP removals soar as PCTs flex muscles.
September 5, 2006... Government urged to act to ensure fair hearings Cathy Comerford There has been a three-fold increase in the number of GPs removed from lists of performers over the past year, as PCTs flex their new powers to deal with complaints...

GPs 'not afraid to tackle obesity'.
September 5, 2006... Public health GP leaders have refuted claims that doctors often avoid discussing weight issues to spare patients' feelings. A survey carried out by Norwich Union Healthcare reported that 44% of GPs questioned attempted to avoid the...

Victory for patient power.
September 5, 2006... Privatisation Patients now have the power to put the brakes on primary care privatisation, claim campaigners after winning an appeal court ruling. The Appeal Court said last month that North Eastern Derbyshire PCT would have to...

'Don't prescribe for acute adult cough'.
September 5, 2006... Respiratory Adam Legge GPs should not prescribe anything to adult patients with cough lasting less than three weeks, but should instead recommend home remedies or over-the-counter (OTC) treatments, according to latest guidance. The...

GP way ahead on BP guidelines.
September 12, 2006... Hypertension The latest NICE guidance on hypertension caused a stir, with beta-blockers no longer recommended for first-line treatment. But for one Suffolk GP the guidance was old news. A year ago, Dr John Cannon, a partner at the...

GP wins maternity pay battle.
September 12, 2006... Discretionary payments A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GP who faced paying thousands of pounds for locum cover during her maternity leave has won a battle to get funding. Cotswold and Vale PCT told Stroud GP Dr Anne Hampton that she had lost her...

Housing boom opens way to privatisation.
September 12, 2006... APMS Amena Saleem Private providers are poised to gain a footing in general practice outside deprived areas, as PCTs in areas of rapid population growth tender contracts. Wokingham PCT in Berk-shire has placed an advert in the...

Patient involvement is now best practice.
September 12, 2006... Medico-legal Doctors must encourage patients to use their own knowledge to decide about their care, according to latest GMC guidance. A revised version of Good Medical Practice will be published next month that includes an added...

NICE to rule on futile treatments.(National Institute for Clinical Excellence)(Brief article)
September 12, 2006... Guidelines Tonsillectomies and antibiotics are likely to feature in a new NICE work programme to identify areas of ineffective practice. NICE will issue formal guidance on ineffective treatments, as well as monthly reminders and a...

Pension earnings cap averted.
September 12, 2006... Superannuation A Government cap on uplift to GP pension earnings from the past two years has been staved off for the time being, negotiators say. A leaked letter from Health Minister Lord Warner - believed to set out plans for an...

Majority missing new lipid targets.
September 12, 2006... GPs' fears over stricter CHD guidelines are vindicated Adam Legge TWO-THIRDS of patients with diabetes or established coronary heart disease (CHD) may be missing strict lipid targets set by national guidelines. Researchers analysed...

Vaccines cleared of raising asthma risk.
September 12, 2006... Immunisation Paola Accalai Vaccination does not increase the risk of childhood asthma, and indeed may reduce this risk, UK data shows. The latest evidence contradicts previous suggestions that the opposite might be the case and should...

Prescribe patience.
September 12, 2006... Otitis media Wait-and-see prescriptions can reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in children with acute otitis media, say US researchers. They randomised 283 children aged six months to 12 years to receive a standard prescription or a...

Ailing NHS IT scheme faces second review.(United Kingdom National Health Service )(Brief article)
September 19, 2006... Technology Whitehall auditors are to launch another inquiry into the struggling NHS IT upgrade programme, it has been revealed. A National Audit Office (NAO) report, published in June, criticised delays in the [pounds sterling]6.8bn...

Benefit of antibiotics quantified in URTIs.
September 19, 2006... Public health Paola Accalai Prescribing antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat and otitis media has minimal effect on reducing risk of complications, say public health specialists. Researchers from University...

GP role under scrutiny in PECs rethink.
September 19, 2006... PCTs Amena Saleem The future of GP input on how PCTs are run is to be examined, following the ann-ouncement of a Department of Health review. The number of GPs sitting on PCT-run professional executive committees (PECs) has been...

GPs predict rise and rise of private sector.
September 19, 2006... EXCLUSIVE SURVEY ONE-third of GPs believe that 25% of NHS practices could be run by the private sector in five years' time, an exclusive Doctor survey on the future of primary care reveals. A similar number of GPs feel that the private...

Glitazones can help stop diabetes onset.
September 19, 2006... Prescribing Prescribing oral hypoglycaemics to patients at high risk of type 2 diabetes can reduce the risk of developing the condition by about a third, say Canadian researchers. They randomised 5,269 adults with impaired glucose...

IT plans 'still on track'.(United Kingdom National Health Service )(Brief article)
September 19, 2006... Technology Financial problems at one of the NHS's main software suppliers will not halt the national IT programme, claim GPs involved with the project. Reports that iSoft had posted a multi-million pound loss led to fears for the...

PBC plans still waiting for funds.
September 19, 2006... Nearly 75% of practices are involved in a practice-based commissioning (PBC) group or consortium, according to Doctor's poll of nearly 300 GPs. However, only 39% of these have been allocated an indicative budget for commissioning. ...

Patients and GPs join to battle APMS deal.
September 19, 2006... APMS Cathy Comerford GPs have joined forces with patients to try to thwart a Government-brokered APMS contract in Liverpool. The DoH said in July last year that it was leading negotiations on six APMS contracts, as part of a scheme...

Budget cuts 'cripple' GP training schemes.
September 26, 2006... Funding Amena Saleem GP COURSE organisers are threatening mass resignation after being told to cut the time GP registrars spend training in general practice by six months. The cuts stem from a funding crisis within deaneries. which...

Clot drug combos raise GI bleed risk.
September 26, 2006... Prescribing Paola Accalai Patients taking antithrombotic drug combinations are at a significantly higher risk of gastrointestinal (GI) complications than those taking monotherapy, researchers warn. Study authors said combinations of...

GMC blasts regulation reforms.
September 26, 2006... CMO review THE GMC is planning to reject the Chief Medical Officer's reforms of medical education and regulation, which it believes would cause 'profound damage to the future of patient care'. A confidential internal document seen by...

GP slates NHS 'commercialisation'.
September 26, 2006... Privatisation FEARS that traditional healthcare will suffer as more NHS contracts are awarded for commercial reasons have led East London GP Dr Anna Livingstone to speak out against primary care privatisation. The DoH recently ordered...

GP takes platform at party conference.
September 26, 2006... Politics GPC negotiator Dr Richard Vautrey got a taste of mainstream politics last week when he addressed a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton. Dr Vautrey spoke on a platform with the King's Fund and the NHS...

GPC to bypass pay talk deadlock.(General Practitioner Committee )(Brief article)
September 26, 2006... Remuneration GP leaders plan to submit evidence to the Review Body on doctors' pay by the end of this month unless a deadlock in contract negotiations can be broken in time, GPC chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum has said. The option to go to...

GPs face screening for 'lost' diabetics.
September 26, 2006... Over 95,000 go undiagnosed, says National Diabetes Audit Paola Accalai ONE IN five people with diabetes are not on a register, according to new figures for England and Wales, leading to renewed calls for national screening. The 2004-05...

Only 20% of COPD sufferers aware of it.
September 26, 2006... Respiratory Four out of five adults with COPD are unaware they have the condition and believe they merely have a smoker's cough, UK research suggests. A study compared saliva and lung function tests with questionnaires from 8,215...

Scotland demands more training posts.(general practitioners)(Brief article)
September 26, 2006... Workforce GP leaders have called for an increase in the number of training posts in Scotland, amid fears that the shortage of GPs in future will be far worse than expected. Analysis by RCGP Scotland estimates a deficit of 750 GPs by...

Transfers on track.
September 26, 2006... Patient records Software that runs transfers of patient records between GPs is being delivered to 500 practices, half of which should be up and running by the end of the year, according to NHS Connecting for Health (CfH). Training and...