Patients face five-year wait for new drugs as NICE target slips
NHS patients wait more than five years to receive new medicines because NICE misses its own deadlines for over 75% of drugs, a report has revealed.
NHS patients wait more than five years to receive new medicines because NICE misses its own deadlines for over 75% of drugs, a report has revealed.
The NHS Commissioning Board's chairman has been rebuked for suggesting that GPs 'playing golf' was leading to patients being unnecessarily admitted to hospital.
GPs will have patient-specific decision-support tools which incorporate NICE guidance in their consulting rooms in the near future, NICE chairman Sir Michael Rawlins believes.
NICE will for the first time develop guidelines to help GPs manage patients with multiple conditions, the institute's chairman has said.
Cheshire GP Dr Amar Ahmed has cut waiting times for patients needing treatment for cataracts and other eye problems by setting up an ophthalmology clinic in his practice.
A judicial review could be launched in a bid to get the government to publish the transitional risk register into the implementation of the Health and Social Care Act.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has said the NHS Commissioning Board will ensure nurses play a role in clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), after warnings they have been left out.
Revalidation and registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are both due to start this year, but many GPs say they are simply not ready, a GP poll reveals.
The GPC is resisting calls to boycott key DH reforms including clinical commissioning, Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration and revalidation, which GPs fear will distract them from core work.
Health ministers should consider a ban on exports of prescription medicines to ensure NHS patients can access the drugs they need, a group of MPs has warned.
Medical device regulators must start to use safety data from a wider set of sources, a government review of PiP breast implants has concluded.
Ballot papers will be sent out this week in elections for six RCGP council posts, after a list of candidates was announced.
All GPs should take part in the ballot on industrial action over changes proposed by the government to the NHS pension scheme, the BMA has said.
GPs have been urged to do more to ensure patients' end-of-life wishes are respected, after a poll found more than a third had never initiated talks with patients about end-of-life care.
2012 has been a momentous year for general practice for two reasons: the Health Act mandates the formation of GP commissioning groups, and GP training is being extended to four years.
UK patients will gain earlier access to innovative drugs at a lower price to the NHS as part of a new regulatory model being developed by the DH.
GPs will begin to receive letters from 3 December this year telling them when they will be revalidated, the GMC has said.
GPs should carry out audits of patient records to help identify two million people with undiagnosed COPD, the DH has said.
Early diagnosis of the most common inflammatory rheumatic disorder seen by GPs is being hindered by a lack of primary care research, an expert has warned.
A glance back over this week's primary care news, opinion, top tweets and best gaffes.
Clinicians have often been sceptical about partnering with the pharmaceutical industry but a Nottinghamshire CCG is leading the way, writes Neil Durham.
A GP investigation finds practices quitting PMS and merging together. Abi Rimmer and Stephen Robinson report.
A glance back over this week's primary care news, opinion, top tweets and best gaffes.
Read the latest opinion pieces from our regular GP columnists Mary Selby, Liam Farrell and Chris Lancelot
The ability to benchmark practices against each other on achievement was made easier when the QOF was introduced in 2004. Suddenly, the DH had a points-related measure applying to all UK practices which had been negotiated with the GPC.
The results were alarming, the dangers real and the responses inadequate. Recent research suggests that one in 20 patients receives an erroneous GP prescription.
When people get better they tend not to come back - so when they do we are sometimes puzzled (or even alarmed, as when Mrs Fester turned up with the fruit cake to thank us for trying after she drowned the maggots in her legs).
When I was a junior doctor in a rural hospital, the local community had been fundraising for years for an ultrasound scanner, which back in the early eighties was the very latest thing.

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