Last Updated Saturday 6th March 2010
Charles Street news
Seasonal
Flu – if you are over 65 or are in the at-risk medical groups please contact
reception now for your flu jab appointment.
Swine
Flu – We are now holding special clinics. Jabs
are available now and the practice is contacting all eligible patients for
vaccination.
Parents – you may have noticed that
our playroom is now closed. We did have to remove toys from here due to the
risk of cross-infection between children, especially in relation to Swine Flu.
As we are short of clinical rooms this has now been converted for clinical use,
and we are in the process of recruiting a new additional doctor. Watch this space.
Health elsewhere in the National Press
Family doctors who work alone earn an
average of £120,000
Daily Mail – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Doctors who work on their own in 'single-handed' GP practices are raking in an
average of more than £120,000 a year, NHS figures reveal. Such GPs earn an
average of £20,815 more than those in practices with six or more doctors.
Plans to store patients' records under fire
from doctors
The Journal – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
LEADING doctors in the North East have attacked Government plans to upload
patients’ medical records onto a centrally-stored electronic database. Summary
Care Records (SCR) is an electronic version of patients’ key health information
derived from their doctor’s notes and shared between healthcare staff. Charles Street Comment: Happening in Leeds during March and April. If you object,
respond to the central mailing coming your way soon.
The taxman cometh
Evening Standard – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Are you a doctor having trouble sleeping at night? Are you anxious about that
tasty Bupa payment that you put in the wife's bank
account that underwrote the week skiing with the kids in Verbier?
Are you concerned that that amiable Kuwaiti whose hip you replaced the other
day can't really be trusted not to mention that he paid you in cash? Are you
generally stressed? If you are a doctor or surgeon who answers “Yes” to any of
these questions, you should probably consult an accountancy professional
Students backing alcohol price plan
The Herald – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Students have thrown their weight behind plans for minimum pricing on alcohol,
but asked Ministers to think again about raising the age for off-sales to 21.
WHITTINGTON: Hospital staff join march
Islington Gazette – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
IT is not just patients who want to save The Whittington Hospital - staff are determined to stop cuts too. Doctors and nurses
were among those who marched from Highbury Corner to Archway in an impassioned
bid to stop the proposals being drawn up by NHS managers.
Keep kids away from detergent capsules,
parents warned
BBC Online – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Parents are being warned to keep washing detergent capsules away from children
after an increase in chemical injuries at a London eye hospital. Thirteen
children treated for this type of injury who were aged under
five had been playing with the capsules.
The Dispossessed: I see undernourished
children with bloated stomachs... like in Africa
Evening Standard – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Zimbabwe springs to Dr Sam Everington's mind when he
considers the plight of his East End patients. It is the malnutrition the
52-year-old GP witnesses at his surgery in Bromley by Bow that recalls his time
in the failing African state. “A lot of children are underweight because of
poor nutrition,” he explains.
Prosecutions for assisting suicide
The Independent – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Keir Starmer's published
policy on assisted suicide is a step in the right direction, providing a clear
framework for prosecutors to decide which cases should proceed to court and
which should not. However, seriously ill patients who wish to end their lives
will continue to be denied a humane death.
Inquiry into NHS provider rule halted
Financial Times – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Primary care trusts across the east of England were ordered to suspend
procurement for community services on Wednesday in a move that halted an
independent investigation into the legality of Andy Burnham’s “preferred
provider” policy for the NHS.
Treasury plans to set out £11bn government
spending cuts
The Guardian – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
The Treasury is planning to set out how it will save £11bn across government
departments in the forthcoming budget. Ministers are also looking at extending
the public sector pay squeeze beyond the two years set out in the pre-budget
report last December.
Patients win the right to register at any GP
surgery
Daily Mail – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Patients will be able to register with a GP anywhere in the country under a
radical shake-up to be ordered by Health Secretary Andy Burnham today. Charles Street Comment: Interesting to see when they will tell GPs, and how they will
do this.
Branson’s new adventure, running GP surgeries
The Times – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Sir Richard Branson entered the world of GP healthcare last night by taking a
controlling stake in an NHS walk-in centre operator — only to see shares in the
company he is partnering lose an eighth of their value.
Care UK goes private via Bridgepoint
Financial Times – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Care UK has agreed to be acquired by Bridgepoint, the
private equity group, in a deal that values the provider of nursing and elderly
home care at £423m ($638m).
TORIES: THE NHS IS OUR NO 1 2 3 4 PRIORITY!
Daily Mirror – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
huge u-turn after poll slide David Cameron has dropped the NHS as his
"number one" priority, it was revealed last night. Leaflets issued
just two weeks ago to people thinking of voting Conservative listed the party's
top 10 policies in order.
Hospital staff under 'pressure' to hit
targets
BBC Online – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Staff at a Nottingham hospital "bent rules" on recording patient
waiting times due to "enormous pressure" to hit targets, a review has
found.
Ex-minister: Billions wasted on NHS pay
The Sun – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
AN ex-Labour health minister has savaged the party for wasting billions paying
for NHS staff instead of services.
John Radcliffe Hospital suspends children's
heart surgery after four recent deaths
The Times – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Children’s heart surgery has been temporarily suspended at one of the country’s
leading cardiac centres after four deaths during recent operations, it was
announced tonight.
NICE says no to bone marrow disease drug
BBC Online – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
A drug for treating rare blood cancers will not be made available through the
NHS in England and Wales. The National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE) has decided not to recommend azacitidine
or Vidaza for treating myelodysplastic
syndromes because it is too costly.
Labour’s obsession with targets and red tape
created ‘tick-box’ society, Catholic archbishops warn
Daily Telegraph – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Britain has become a "selfish society" with a “tick-box
mentality" due to Labour’s obsession with targets and red tape, Roman
Catholic leaders have claimed.
Headley Court rehabilitation unit for troops
'could run out of space next year'
Daily Telegraph – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
The rehabilitation unit for wounded soldiers, Headley Court, is likely to run
out of space by the middle of 2011, a parliamentary report warns. Last year the
number of injured serviceman arriving at Headly Court
exceeded capacity for its beds in complex trauma, though not for its overall
bed capacity.
Absent patients cost Scotland's NHS £5m in
three months
BBC Online – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Patients who failed to turn up for hospital appointments cost the NHS in Scotland
£5m in just three months, an Audit Scotland report has found. The watchdog said
about one in ten patients did not attend their first outpatient appointment.
NHS waiting lists fairer, says study
BBC Online (Scotland) – Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Changes to NHS waiting lists have made the system fairer for patients according
to the public sector watchdog Audit Scotland. In a report it said an overhaul
of the system two years ago had resulted in most patients waiting less than the
15 week target
NHS secrecy on cutting services is an
affront to the public
The Guardian – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Last Thursday evening, about 300 GPs, consultants and junior medics braved
lashing rain to gather in the Great Hall at BMA House, the central London
headquarters of the doctors' trade union. The agenda would not have been out of
place at a leftwing public meeting: sinister NHS plans to run down or shut
services at many of the capital's hospitals, and how to oppose them.
O'Brien claims govt may lock-in NPfIT
E-Health Insider – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Conservative health spokesman Stephen O’Brien has accused the government of
trying to tie the hands of an incoming Tory government over the future of the
National Programme for IT in the NHS.
Opting out of NHS Spine
The Guardian – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Doctors are concerned about the rapid roll-out of the patient database, and are
helping people who don't want to be on it
Brutal truth of primary care cuts finally
emerges
Pulse – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
GPs are finally realising the extent to which NHS 'efficiency savings' are
going to directly affect primary care. It's time to fight back...
PCTs squeeze LES funding as efficiency
savings begin to bite
Pulse – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Exclusive: The future of enhanced services is under threat at many PCTs, with
managers reviewing funding as part of plans to deliver millions of pounds in
efficiency savings.
Warning over damage to children's eyes from
detergent capsules
Daily Telegraph – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Children
have been playing with the capsules, which contain detergent in dissolvable
coatings, and popping them which can result in the liquid getting into their
eyes.
Patients hit as NHS cash crisis forces big
cutbacks
The Guardian – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Exclusive: More than a third of NHS primary healthcare trusts, which fund
hospitals in England, are running deficits that have led to a cutback in
surgical operations and seen calls to close casualty departments, according to
a joint study by the Guardian and the thinktank Civitas.
Former minister points to 'incompetence' in
NHS
The Guardian – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
The
management of the NHS has been characterised by "monumental
incompetence" driven by "too much money given too quickly",
which has left some trusts facing severe budget shortfalls, according to a
former Labour health minister.
Nurses should be more caring to restore
public confidence: report
Daily Telegraph – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Nurses should be more caring and compassionate towards patients in order to
restore public confidence in the NHS, a Government review has said.
These wonderful carers deserve to be called
nurse
The Times – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Ilora Finlay: Frightened of needing care, of losing
control, of being treated in a way that strips a person of dignity? It’s a
familiar worry. Yet what is the true experience of those of us who have been
dependent on those low-paid, unsung heroines of care — care assistants?
THE GREAT BETRAYAL: Elderly still forced to
sell homes as health boards flout rules
Daily Mail – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Sick, elderly people are still being forced to sell their homes and use their
life savings to pay for their care when the NHS should be picking up the bill.
Virgin GP surgeries: Sir Richard Branson
buys into NHS drop-in group
Evening Standard – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Sir Richard Branson today branched into GP healthcare as Virgin bought a
controlling stake in an operator of NHS walk-in centres. Branson will be
offering outpatient services, diagnostic procedures and even day care surgery
under the NHS — although he will gauge opinion before rebranding centres under
the Virgin name.
NHS Trust criticised for spending £1.4m on
consultants
Lincolnshire Echo – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Fees for non-medical consultants incurred by Lincolnshire hospital bosses has
cost the NHS £1.4million in just 11 months. United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust
– which runs sites in Lincoln, Boston, Grantham and Louth – has increased its
spending on consultancy from £1.1m in the 2008/09 financial year to £1.4m so
far during the current 2009/10 financial year.
Welsh NHS lacks accountability claim
Conservatives
BBC Online – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Health spokesman Andrew RT Davies wants medical staff to be given a greater say
over the way the service is run. Mr Davies, who is also worried at plans to cut
the number of community health councils, was speaking ahead of an opposition
assembly debate on the NHS.
15,000 young women 'need early cervical
examinations'
The Times – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Young women with possible symptoms of cervical cancer are having their
diagnoses delayed by GPs who recommend a smear test rather than full pelvic
examinations, Britain’s leading oncologist warns today.
Surgeon who removed baby's bladder guilty of
misconduct
BBC Online – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
A surgeon who mistakenly removed a baby's bladder
instead of a hernia has been found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical
Council (GMC).
Asda to sell IVF drugs with £820 discount
Daily Mail – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Not-for-profit: Asda will be the first chain to sell
IVF drugs at cost price Women undergoing private IVF treatment will be able to
buy the drugs involved for bargain prices at Asda,
the supermarket announced yesterday.
Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers to be denied
drug
Daily Telegraph – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
Thousands of patients will suffer as the NHS rationing body is to turn down a
drug that can ease the pain of rheumatoid arthritis, campaigners have warned.
The National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) does not
recommend the use of abatacept, also known as Orencia, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have not
responded to other treatments.
Royal row 'threatens alternative medicine
research'
The Times – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
One
of the world’s leading centres for alternative medicine research is facing
closure for lack of money after a row with a senior aide to the Prince of
Wales.
Musician dies after fall at troubled
hospital
Daily Telegraph – Wed, 03 Mar 2010
A talented musician died after falling from a trolley where he had allegedly
been left untreated for hours in the accident and emergency unit of the shamed
Stafford hospital, it was claimed yesterday
Thousands of children damaged in womb by
drinking mothers
The Times – Mon, 01 Mar 2010
Thousands of Scots children are born suffering internal organ damage, facial
malformation or have learning difficulties as a result of their mothers
drinking too much during pregnancy, according to a report.
The cult of omega-3
BBC Online – Mon, 01 Mar 2010
Hardly a week goes by without a new health claim being made of eating oily
fish. But is it really as magical as we are told? If there were a top 40 of
good foods, a chart rundown of the right things to eat, then anything
containing omega-3 fatty acids would have been number one for years.
Medicines shortage: ministers hold summit
Daily Telegraph – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Ministers are due to hold a summit with pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies
in a bid to reach an agreement on exporting drugs which has caused severe
shortages in Britain.
Revealed: How pensioners
are punished by the care lottery
Daily Mail – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
The appalling extent of the postcode lottery of council-funded care for the
elderly can be laid bare today. Figures obtained by the Daily Mail show
that you have three times the chance of having care paid for by the council in
some parts of the country than you do in others.
More questions over Mid Staffs trust
The Guardian – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Tweet this Quite apart from the appalling way in which the basic needs of
vulnerable people were neglected, their dignity ignored and their care
sub-standard, (Mid Staffordshire NHS trust inquiry, 25 February), the lack of
any effective local patient and public involvement in the NHS stands out as one
of the glaring mistakes of the present government.
NHS IT deal 'stitch up' claim by
Conservatives
BBC Online – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
The government is trying to fix a quick deal with suppliers for its controversial
£12.7bn NHS IT programme ahead of the next General Election, the BBC has been
told.
Doctors must have flu vaccine as part of
regular medical MOT
The Times – Mon, 01 Mar 2010
Doctors on the NHS front line who refuse vaccinations
against common infections risk losing their right to practise under a new
appraisal system. Annual assessments being introduced next year to maintain
standards of medical competency will include whether doctors are immunised
against common serious communicable diseases, such as seasonal flu.
Andrew Lansley:
Speech in full
ePolitix.com – Sun, 28 Feb 2010
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley's speech to
the Tory spring conference in full. Do you know when is the
hardest time to speak to a Conservative conference? Right
after William Hague.
Jeremy Laurance:
If it makes you better, it doesn't really matter how it works
The Independent – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
I am not a doctor, but my family sometimes require me to act as if I were,
there being no-one else to examine their rash, bad knee, sore lip. The trouble
is that my standard prognosis – "Don't worry, do nothing and you'll get
over it" – is not seen as taking matters sufficiently seriously.
Child cocaine treatment rises by more than 65%
The Guardian – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
The number of under-18s receiving treatment for cocaine addiction in England
has increased by more than 65%, NHS figures reveal. The release of the figures
today coincides with the announcement by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs (ACMD) of a review into the drug's effects based on separate statistics
showing that cocaine use has increased five-fold among 16- to 59-year-olds
since 1996.
Cord blood: a wasted lifeline?
The Independent – Tue, 02 Mar 2010
The blood from umbilical cords may be a better source of stem cells than bone
marrow.
Chinese medicine has caused kidney failure
and even cancer. So how safe are these popular 'cures'
Daily Mail – Mon, 01 Mar 2010
For five years, Patricia Booth took a Chinese herbal
remedy for a skin complaint. As a result, she has lost both kidneys and
developed cancer of the urinary tract
