17 Wednesday Feb 2016
Tags
Dr Mathew Stone is on strike. He is one of around two dozen people stood holding placards in the cold drizzle waving at tooting horns from the adjacent road. The conversation between this small group of doctors skips between two topics: the contract and Australia. As they speak through scarves and hoods, the temperature across the coast of New South Wales creeps over 20°C, there is a 0% chance of rain. Dr Stone has a plane ticket to Sydney leaving in three weeks. Continue reading
02 Tuesday Feb 2016
109 GP surgeries in the capital could close over the next three years according to a recent survey.
Over 100,000 patients could be left without care by 2019 according to a survey conducted on behalf of Londonwide LMC, a group that represents the capitals GPs. The survey involved nearly half of London’s 1,300 GP practices, 19 of which said they intended to close in the next three years. Continue reading
15 Tuesday Dec 2015
Tags
NHS Staff from south east London are making a bid for the prestigious festive top spot.
Dr Harriet Nerva, from Queen’s Park London, started promoting the song with the campaign #NHS4XmasNo1 through Facebook and Twitter in October.
The song is performed by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir, a group that includes nurses, physiotherapists, porters, doctors and administrators. They are performing a mash-up of ‘Bridge over troubled water’ and ‘Fix you’ by Coldplay.
As well as the likes of Justin Beiber and Adele the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir must battle NHS colleagues the National Health Singers who are also in the running.
The rival choir is formed of junior doctors from across the country. Their tune ‘Yours’ currently sits at number 90 in the iTunes download chart. But Dr Nerva, who works at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, is not worried about the competition.
“I’m really happy that we’ve got this kind of creativity in the NHS and it’s great that we’re getting this exposure. Their song’s message is fantastic, the lyrics very much focus on not overworking junior doctors.” she said.
She added: “The junior doctor contract does go to the heart of the NHS. You’d be quite hard pressed to find a junior doctor who doesn’t have quite low moral at the moment”
Even if the song does reach number one Dr Nerva said she won’t be celebrating. She is working a night shift in A&E on Christmas Day, but she is excited for what the songs success could do for the NHS staff moral:
“It would be a celebration in itself. To get the song out there to the NHS staff who will need a moral boost while working over the festive period. I will be happy for NHS staff to receive recognition for the really hard work there going to be doing over Christmas, it’s going to be a grueling time.”
Any money made from sales will be split between the charities Carers UK and Mind who support mental health and its research. Explaining the choice of charities Dr Nerva said:
“Carers are our partners in care they’re often unsung heroes who don’t get enough recognition.”
The campaign ‘Love your NHS’ was started in conjunction with Dr Nerva’s bid to make Lewisham and Greenwich choir number one this Christmas. They are asking people to post selfies to Twitter and Facebook holding a sign that says “I DO”.
Dominoes staff showing their support:
This year the Christmas number one will be revealed on Christmas Day. BBC Radio One will be counting down the festive chart from 10am.
11 Friday Dec 2015
An E-Cigarette will now be offered as part of the NHS aids to quit smoking.
The news was quietly revealed by Jane Ellison MP during questions in the Commons at the end of November. The ‘Voke – nicotine inhaler’ which has been developed by British American Tobacco, was approved by Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) earlier in the month.
MHRA said in a statement: “the Voke is the second product meeting the definition of an e-cigarette to receive a marketing authorisation, but is the first product that electronically produces a vapour containing nicotine for inhalation, and thus would be considered a true e-cigarette.”
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) welcomed the move. The group said: “Other electronic cigarette manufacturers and importers should be encouraged to apply for licences too.”
Professor Kevin Fenton, from Public Health England said: “Evidence showed e-cigarettes can help smokers to quit, particularly when combined with additional support from local stop smoking services.”
It is hoped the approval of the “Voke” by MHRA will provide some clarity on safety of E-Cigarettes since research shows a growing number of smokers are failing to understand the growing risk of smoking versus “vaping”. Between 2013 and 2015 the proportion of people surveyed who believed E-Cigarettes were as harmful as regular cigarettes increased from 6% to 20% according to polls conducted by YouGov for ASH.
Since becoming available to buy in 2004 E-Cigarettes have been shrouded in safety concerns including worries they will become gateway for young people into smoking. However in 2015 about 60% of UK users are smokers and about 40% are ex-smokers, while use among those who have never smoked remains “negligible” according to a report by ASH.
Concerns still remain
In a statement on its website the World Health Organisation has expressed concerns regarding E-Cigarettes: “These devices have become popular over the last four or five years, so there are only a few studies on the health risks and we don’t know the long-term effects. We don’t have epidemiological studies, such as those on the links between tobacco and cancer, because such studies take decades to complete.”
Controversy amongst Doctors
With the NHS set to make £22bn of efficiency savings over the next parliament the decision has led to some negative reactions from some doctors.
In a comment on Pulse, the GP magazine, Dr Peter Swinyard said: “Why should the NHS pick up the tab for these scripts? If people can afford to smoke, by and large they can afford the nicotine replacement. And how long to continue?”
He added: “We have to have a reality check about what the NHS can afford on its drug budget and on our time and effort in prescribing.”
Featured Image accredited to Vaping360.com
02 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Mental Health, News, The NHS
In a question of mental capacity a woman known as C has been ruled the right to refuse life saving treatment following a paracetamol overdose.
27 Friday Nov 2015
Posted in Mental Health, News, The NHS, Uncategorized
Dr James Halcrow, 34, had been told not to drink by General Medical Council (GMC) following his self referral for “other issues he was having”.
He was found dead by friends in his flat in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on June 24. An inquest heard he had hanged himself due to fears he would fail an alcohol test.
Since his death it has come to light he had won the national award ‘Trainee GP of the Year’. The note which was found with his body read: “I’m sorry.”
At the inquest into his death Ian Halcrow, his father and former soldier, said: “He had an amazing number of friends. He thrived on friendship and had a very close family as well.” According to the Manchester Evening Standard.
He added: “He chose to refer himself to the GMC off his own back. He was a very honest person and felt it was the correct thing to do as a responsible individual and medical practitioner.”
Dr Halcrow had attended two interviews with the GMC both leaving him hopeful of getting the restrictions lifted. However he felt the final interview had gone badly after he said he would drink socially once the GMC had finished their investigation.
Coroner Dr Jean Harkin said of his death: “It is clear James was an excellent doctor, so much so he was given an award. He was very sociable and this restriction affected him deeply and affected the social side of his life also”
In 2014 a doctor under investigation by the GMC was 20 times more likely to commit suicide than a member general public according to figures from the Department of Health.
South London GP and blogger Dr Una Coales, who has herself faced investigation from the RCGP said:
“The GMC must reform and ensure they arrange counselling and support for any doctor they are investigating or putting under restrictions that may affect employment and pay.”
If you feel affected by any of the issues raised here and need someone to talk with the Samaritans are always happy to listen. They provide a 24 hour, free and confidential service:
Call 116 123
Featured image accredited to DarkoStojanovic
13 Friday Nov 2015
Tags
The BMA has announced details of it’s plans for strikes if the ballot finds junior doctors in favour of industrial action.
The ballot, which closes on 5pm Wednesday 18 November, could see that junior doctors are involved in the “all out” strike the NHS has ever seen.
The strikes will begin with one day of emergency care only, the same level of service seen on Christmas day, followed by two days of full walk outs which includes emergency care.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has condemned the plans. He says: “Threatening extreme action is totally unwarranted and will harm vulnerable patients. Refusing to talk to a government that wants to improve weekend care for patients and reduce doctors’ hours can only damage the NHS”
Dr Mark Porter, BMA council chair and consultant anaesthetist, defends the decision. When he spoke to radio 4’s Today program he said: “The reason were giving the service this notice, which is three times the length of time required by law, is so that we can plan the service properly to be delivered safely”
He claims that the government has been unwilling to take part in negotiation: “Were doing this because the alternative to industrial action is to get round the negotiating table. But what we’re being told at the moment is unless junior doctors agree to every one of the proposals that are being put forward for a new contract then that contract will be imposed”
Dr Sarah Wollaston, who has was a GP before becoming a Conservative MP tweeted:
If industrial action does go ahead, one of the key questions is who will the public support?
The breakdown in contract negotiations led to a number of protests on October 17. In Waterloo Palace over 20 000 people demonstrated their support for junior doctors.
Before details of strike action were published, the Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network conducted a poll asking: Should junior doctors strike over the government’s proposed contract? 28,562 people took part. 95% answered yes, 3% said no and remaining 2% were unsure.
Featured image accredited to Kip Dudden
05 Thursday Nov 2015
Tags
This morning the ballot opened for doctors to vote on whether or not to strike. This is the result of a complete breakdown in contract negotiations which began in 2014.
For an overview of the contract follow the link below:
Featured image accredited to Kip Dudden
18 Sunday Oct 2015
Tags
doctors, harry leslie smith, heidi alexander, jeremy hunt, march, NHS, protest, signs
“There are thousands of us here today, and no matter what hunt says BMA represents all of us” Dr Janj Singh
“NHS NHS NHS”
“Nobody wants industrial action but nobody wants junior doctors who are to exhausted to provide safe care” Heidi Alexander
Aneurin Bevan
“The NHS is Britain’s greatest achievement” Harry Leslie Smith
13 Tuesday Oct 2015
Tags
genetics, GP, jeremy hunt, KCL, NHS, primary care
The health secretary has predicted that in 20 years GPs would cease to make a diagnosis.
The comments were made while speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
Quoting conversations with “LA tech gurus” he said: “You can get 300,000 biomarkers from a single drop of blood, so why would you depend on a human brain to calculate what that means when a computer can do it for you?”
His comments which were published in an article by Pulse, a GP magazine, have caught the attention of family doctors. The remarks came at a time when relations between UK doctors and the government were already frosty
Speaking to littlegreycells blog (LGC), Prof. Barbara Prainsack of King’s College London and an expert in DNA databasing and personal medicine said these predictions were “rather far fetched”.
She continued: “It is highly unlikely, and clearly highly undesirable, that algorithms will replace human doctors.”
“The human brain can filter our ‘noise’ much better than computers, and there is always something that human experience and the ‘personal touch’ brings to the table that cannot be coded into algorithms,” Prof Prainsack added.
LGC also spoke to Dr Steve Clayton a Dorset GP who has been running a family-based practice for 23 years. He said: “If one was ‘screening’ for all these things then one may identify them and provide a diagnosis before they were symptomatic. This would have great benefit if something can be done to prevent or offset any potential physical damage coming to that patient.”
He added, however: ”This blunderbuss approach of three hundred thousand biomarkers has the potential to give someone a diagnosis that they harbor and may never develop symptoms from and so create unnecessary anxiety. The medical code is above all, do no harm.”
According to Prof. Prainsack there are other serious consequences regarding liability not considered by the health secretary “Handing over diagnosis or treatment decisions to computers would be very problematic because these decision makers would not be accountable to anybody (while doctors are).”
This is supported by figures that were released in 2013 by the NHS Litigation Authority which state that legal costs have risen by 22 per cent in just one year, and almost doubled in five years.
The comments come at a time when several studies have shown GPs’ morale to be at an all time low. Dr Clayton said he sees the glass as “half full”. Although he added: “I can see that many of my colleagues who already feel beleaguered after the relentless battering that GP’s have had in the last 2 years will feel this is just about the final straw”
The public is already witnessing a candescent contract dispute between Hunt and junior doctors over hours and pay. These have so far culminated in protests and no agreement has yet been reached.
More protests are planned for the 17th October but the prospect of strikes looms.
Featured image accredited to Ted Eytan
