PROGRESS ON PRACTICE-BASED COMMISSIONING
Strategic health authorities have reported that 85 per cent of practices are now involved in PBC, compared to 74 per cent in August. These are practices that have taken up an incentive payment - the nationally negotiated DES or a local alternative. Read more
NEW RCGP PRESIDENT STARTS WORK
Cambridgeshire GP Professor David Haslam has begun his first week as the twenty-first President of the RCGP, having been elected by national ballot earlier this year. He was chairman of the college from 2001-2004, is a visiting Professor at De Montfort University and also national clinical adviser to the Healthcare Commission. He has recently taken up the new post of Equality and Diversity Lead for the college. Read more
'HANDWRITING COULD DAMAGE PATIENT CARE'
A survey of 50 surgeries has suggested that GPs could improve the efficiency of patient care by cutting out handwritten forms. About a third of the GPs surveyed believed that problems filling out paperwork by hand was delaying test diagnosis. Printed labels and forms are common practice in Scotland and Northern Ireland, say the manufacturers, but the majority of English practices have yet to employ the new technology. Read more
