BLOGS

LMCs and GPC have a crucial role in the new NHS Neil Durham 22-Feb-2012
The centenary meeting of the GPC takes place on Tuesday (28 February).

One hundred years after its birth, is it, and LMCs (some of which are slightly older) fit for purpose?

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Patient underwear and a shocking encounter Dr Anuradha Arasu 22-Feb-2012
The strangest thing happened to me the other day. A patient came in, requiring examination, and they were actually wearing nice underwear. Matching florals! I have to admit the shock of it threw me right off.
Whilst palpating the abdomen I was preoccupied with stopping myself from asking: ‘What happened? You’re supposed to waddle up onto the couch, take 10 minutes lying there whilst I undress you like a baby and then, at the critical moment, apologise for not having showered recently.’
That’s unjust. I have of course forgotten those patients who come in with a vaginal complaint and whip up their skirts, exuding a pungent whiff of flora and fauna before you realise that they’re not wearing any underwear at all.
Now a lot of people allegedly worry about being struck down by a car when they are wearing their holiest (in the atheist sense of the word) grey pants from the 80s, the ones that are too tight and would leave elastic cuts in their bellies and thighs if they had any elastic left in them.

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No downside to the Health Bill! Dr Custodes 21-Feb-2012
I was speaking to a lawyer friend of mine. He has a passing interest in the NHS, having built his house on the spoils of litigation. Of course he’s been watching the progress or the Bill with great interest. His take on the outcome of it all is interesting.

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Practice faces closure as PCT suggests sending patients to A&E Laurence Slavin 21-Feb-2012
There is a time for flippancy and humour in these weekly blogs, but not today.

Today it is time to be serious, the issues are serious, the consequences serious, and this episode illustrates the serious position in which GPs may likely find themselves.

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What is fair when there’s not enough to go around? Tom Moberly 17-Feb-2012
The limited global supply of the shingles vaccine Zostavax has raised an interesting new question on access and equity: how should the NHS share when there is not enough to go around?

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Medical education for the iPhone generation Dr Anuradha Arasu 15-Feb-2012
Just like those in government, those in medical education also love the concept of change for change’s sake. I’ve been on lots of teaching courses where all people do is sit around and play with their haemorrhoids and debate how they can make teaching even more abstract. These factors, plus the free biscuits, day off patients and the Blue Peter badge equivalent of a certificate of attendance are exactly why I attend these courses. But I’m going to stop, because they’re beginning to make me feel old.

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GPs are working harder in response to funding cuts Laurence Slavin 14-Feb-2012
A GP client of mine once told me how she deals with obese patients who protest that they cannot understand how they put on weight – they hardly eat a thing.

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Will Lansley win or lose at NHS Monopoly? Dr Custodes 14-Feb-2012
About now the Silver Fox household will be seeing the game of NHS Monopoly undergoing a rule change.

The idea will be to collect all the money previously promised to the GPs and stick it in the community chest run by the Health and Wellbeing Boards – that way the local politicians get to control the NHS and the GPs get the blame.

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Don’t blame GPs for poor flu jab uptake Stephen Robinson 14-Feb-2012
The government should think twice before blaming GPs for too few pregnant women having the flu vaccine, especially as it has done so little to address women’s concerns over vaccination in pregnancy.

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How GPs in CCGs can avoid conflict of interest accusations Neil Durham 8-Feb-2012
Potential conflicts of interest between the commissioner and provider roles of GPs have been clear from the start of the government’s plans to axe PCTs and replace them with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

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The government is just making the fat cats fatter Dr Anuradha Arasu 8-Feb-2012
One of my friends had a patient who came in angry that his prescription wasn’t ready for him.

‘What was it for?’ she asked. To which he replied: ‘An exercise bike.’

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Industrial action on pensions? Next contract is battle to fight Laurence Slavin 7-Feb-2012
Readers of this blog will probably know that I am married to a GP, and this past weekend we celebrated my niece’s wedding in style, a fantastic party with family and friends.

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Why are GPs responsible for everything? Dr Custodes 6-Feb-2012
Who elected the government? Who pays the bankers? Who decides when you will retire? Who decides which drugs you prescribe? Who decides which hours you’re open? Who decides how much money it costs to run the practice? Who decides if you’re any good as a GP? Who decides which operations are “low priority”? Who closes the local AED? Who needs to spend more on British Pharmaceuticals to save UK PLC? Who commissions for Quality in General Practice? Who writes prescriptions for food supplements? Who stops patients from getting DLA? Who is responsible for all those benefits scroungers? Who supplies addicts with their gear? Who protects nurses from making decisions? Who runs the CCG?

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Health secretary Andrew Lansley’s commissioning own goal Neil Durham 2-Feb-2012
Will clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) become ‘rebadged’ PCTs in everything but name only?

It’s probably one of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s biggest nightmares as the number of CCGs (currently 240-ish and ever dwindling) plunges towards 152 (the number of PCTs there were when it was decided CCGs would replace them).

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Harry Redknapp and reasonable excuses for not submitting tax returns Laurence Slavin 1-Feb-2012
By the time most of you are reading this, you will hopefully have ensured your tax return for the year ended 5 April 2011 has been submitted. As you probably know, the penalty for the failure to submit the return is £100, and for the first time, the penalty is due whether or not there is any tax to pay. The deadline was 31 January 2012, although you may have noticed that the deadline was extended to 2 February this year after HMRC’s call centre announced a strike on 31 January.

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