Weekly round-up: When you are in a hole, GMC...

 

When you are in a hole, GMC…

digging hole getty images 496235837 3x2

I would not like to work in the GMC press office at the moment.

First there is the furore over its handling of the case involving Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba. All you have to do is look at Pulse’s front cover this month to see how high feelings are running among doctors.

Secondly, there is the case of surgeon David Sellu, where the GMC’s attempt to strike him off has been blocked by its own tribunal.

Then, you have the revelation this morning that the GMC has the brass neck to against its own guidance (see paragraph 16b), and new advice from Public Health England, by giving its staff £35k worth of private health screening each year, some of which is not even recommended on the NHS.

And you can bet that any abnormalities picked up during those screens will be seen by – yes, you have guessed it – hard-pressed GPs paying the GMC’s fees.

You could not make it up.

Don’t doff your cap

IT - touch screen - patient registration - appointment - online

Source: © Julian Claxton

NHS England has rather curtly rebuffed any suggestion that GPs can set a safe limit on the number of patient contacts they have.

The BMA has suggested a limit per GP of 25-35 routine consultations - or 15 complex consultations - as a recommended ‘safe’ limit this week, with any overspill being managed by a local GP hub.

It comes after a Pulse survey revealed that GPs in the UK have an average of 41.5 patient contacts every day - 60% more than the number considered safe by European GPs.

But in a comment given to Pulse on the plans, a NHS England spokesperson has clarified that ‘arbitrary caps on patient appointments’ would be an automatic breach of the GP contract.

He went on to say ‘we understand the pressures general practice is facing. That’s why the NHS is investing £2.4bn extra in GP services, growing the number of new doctors entering general practice, and rolling out evening and weekend appointments to patients across England over this coming year.’

It seems yet another BMA policy document is not worth the paper it is written on.

Snow heroes

Snow - blizzard - dedication - RF

Now, most has melted away, but the heavy snow fall last week did bring out the Blitz spirit in general practice.

Pulse was told of a practice manager getting up in the middle of the night to walk hours through the white stuff to get to work, while GPs and practice managers even slept in their practices to ensure smooth running of services. Elsewhere, a GP reportedly went to work on skis - although the heroic effort was futile as no one else could get to the surgery.

Still we salute all of you who trudged – or slalomed – through the snow to treat patients. Even if they could not get to you.

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