The GMC, is the truth finally coming out?

From Healthcare Republic

The GMC has seen a huge rise this year in the number of doctors being reported to it with concerns over their fitness to practise.

The monthly rise in cases this year is up 30 per cent on 2008.

The rise may signal that trusts are clamping down on bad doctors in advance of revalidation.

'The referrals are coming mainly from the NHS and they are not trivial,' said GMC chairman Professor Peter Rubin.

'It is likely to be a precursor to the introduction of revalidation. Employers are beginning to take stock,' he said.

The increase is so great that doctors up before the GMC are waiting longer for investigations and hearings.

GPC negotiator Dr Beth McCarron-Nash said she did not believe the number of doctors needing to be referred to the GMC had actually risen, and urged PCTs to work towards resolving concerns locally where possible.

She added: 'Referral to the GMC is not the way for PCTs to deal with doctors whom they feel are not performing to their best.

'They should look to empower practices and GPs having difficulties to get better, and work with LMCs.'


And that is why the NHS complaints system is so piss poor, bad doctors are being protected.


Angus

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Swine flu-the “risks” to children

This was sent to me by a friend Surveillance for Paediatric Deaths Associated with 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection --- United States, April--August 2009

It is basically an American bit of research into H1N1 deaths among children, which seems to suggest that the majority of children who died having contracted swine flu died because there was some underlying cause.

Which is something I think that most of us knew already, but it is nice to see it made “official”.

Have a read; it is interesting, and current, if a bit long winded, perhaps Liam what’s his name should peruse the findings and stop running about shouting “we’re all doomed” like that undertaker in Dads’ Army.

Go on have a read.

Angus
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Here we go again

Sir Liam Donaldson the Chief Medical Officer said yesterday that the “second wave of swine flu may be on its way”.

An estimated 5,200 people in England went down with the virus last week, compared with about 3,000 the previous week after a lull in cases over the summer. Schoolchildren were mainly affected.

The number of deaths linked to the virus also rose to reach 79 fatal cases in Britain and 143 people in England are being treated in hospital, 23 of whom are critically ill. Although experts have been predicting a resurgence of swine flu, Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, admitted yesterday that officials had hoped for a “bit more breathing space before it started again”.

He said: “We don’t know whether this is the start of the next big wave that we were expecting this autumn, but it is certainly something that is giving us concern.”

He said that it would be a week or two before it became clear whether a fresh surge was under way, but that cases were not expected to peak before next month, when a national vaccination campaign is due to start. He added that two more isolated cases had appeared in Britain of viruses that were resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir), but he said that resistant strains were not spreading in the community and there had been no other mutations of the virus.

Yes you red headed scare monger we know, we are all expecting flu, whether it is swine, “normal” or any other kind, we know that the untested, potentially dangerous Vaccine is due to be unleashed on the public, we know that there are more cases of flu in the winter, we know that Tamiflu is about as useful as “I want great care.org” WE KNOW!

Instead of trying to wind us all up with your doom laden physic foresight why don’t you ensure that there are enough ICU beds available, why don’t you make sure that the “help line” is staffed by people who actually know what they are talking about, why don’t you step back and let us deal with it, the GPs are quite capable of treating or giving advice to sufferers, the number of patients who will be admitted to hospital will be miniscule compared to the total infected.

So, why don’t you just do your job and ensure that there are ample hospital beds available and let the public, who by the way are quite capable of self treatment get on with it.

Angus

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To shower or not to shower, that is the infection

According to US scientists having a shower may be bad for your health, because dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.

Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbour significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease.

Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies.

M. avium forms a biofilm that clings to the inside of the shower head, reports the National Academy of Science.

In the Proceedings journal, the study authors say their findings might explain why there have been more cases of these lung infections in recent years, linked with people tending to take more showers and fewer baths.

Water spurting from shower heads can distribute bacteria-filled droplets that suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs, say the scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

While it is rarely a problem for most healthy people, those with weakened immune systems, like the elderly, pregnant women or those who are fighting off other diseases, can be susceptible to infection.

They may develop lung infection with M. avium and experience symptoms including tiredness, a persistent, dry cough, shortness of breath and weakness, and generally feel unwell.

When the researchers swabbed and tested 50 shower heads from nine cities in seven different states in the US, including New York City and Denver, they found 30% of the devices posed a potential risk.

Since plastic shower heads appear to "load up" with more bacteria-rich biofilms, metal shower heads may be a good alternative, said Professor Pace.

But don’t stop having a shower: - Hot tubs and spa pools carry a similar infection risk, according to the Health Protection Agency.

A HPA spokesperson said: "This is an interesting paper which provides further information about the occurrence of opportunist organisms - germs which do not usually cause infections in humans - in the environment.

"These bacteria, which belong to the same family as TB, can be found in the environment and occasionally in water supplies but rarely cause disease in healthy people.

"Further work will need to look at whether finding these organisms are associated with any increased risk of infection."

It may be an American thing but I never get into the shower then turn the water on, I always run the shower until it gets to a decent temperature before stepping in.

So it seems that saving water could cost you your health.

Angus

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Too poor to live

From the BEEB- No change in health gap from 1900

This is the article in full.

The link between poverty and early death is as strong today as it was a century ago, a study shows.

Despite major changes in the causes of death since the 1900s, the association between deprivation and mortality remains "firmly entrenched", it found.

It is possible that the health effects of poverty have passed through the generations, wrote Dr Ian Gregory in the British Medical Journal.

One public health expert said inequalities may have even got worse.

Dr Gregory, a senior lecturer at the University of Lancaster, looked at census and mortality data from England and Wales from the 1900s and compared that with data from 2001.

His figures highlight the dramatic improvement seen in early deaths over the past one hundred years.

In the 1900s, 33% of deaths occurred in the under fives and only 13% occurred over the age of 75 but a century later deaths in the under fives account for less than 1% and 65% of deaths now occur in those over 75.

Life expectancy has also improved, rising from 46 to 77 in men and 50 to 81 in women.

He also found that the causes of death had changed markedly with respiratory, infectious and parasitic diseases heading the table in the 1900s compared with cancer, heart disease and stroke in 2001.

Poverty

Dr Gregory then compared the mortality rates in areas of high deprivation in the two time periods.

Although people's experience of poverty changed over the years - in the 1900s it meant not having the bare necessities for existence but a century later poverty is defined as relative to society as a whole - the association between deprivation and high mortality did not change.

This is despite widescale reforms such as the introduction of the NHS and social security in addition to large rises in standards of living and huge advances in medicine, he said.

He added that patterns from the Edwardian era are still strong predictors of ill health today.

"The extent to which the association remained was surprising," he said.

But he said it did not necessarily mean that initiatives to reduce health inequalities had not had an effect.

"The unknown factor is what would have happened if we hadn't done anything - could things have got much much worse - and I suspect they could have done.

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, President of the Faculty of Public Health said to some extent the gap may have got even worse in recent years.

"In the 1900s, it would have been infectious diseases but now it's more about chronic diseases linked to lifestyle.

"The health threats may have changed, but the gap between the haves and have-nots is still there, and so too is the difference in mortality.

"This research really drives home the message that the surest way to reduce the health risks of poverty, is to reduce poverty itself."


Angus

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More than half of cancer patients 'still being charged to park at hospital' - Telegraph

Macmillan Cancer Support found that 59 per cent of cancer patients were still not getting free or discounted parking, despite a recommendation from the Government that they should.

And hospitals that do offer free parking or concessions often fail to tell cancer sufferers about their scheme, the charity found.

Just 23 per cent of cancer patients said they had been given free parking, while 18 per cent had received a discount.

However, more than one in 10, 12 per cent, said they had not taken up the discount because they only discovered its existence after their treatment had finished.

Only 15 per cent of those surveyed were given information about parking concessions in the letter calling them for their first treatment appointment.

On average the charity estimates that cancer patients make an average of 53 trips to hospital for treatment, spending around £325.

The NHS in England is thought to have made around £100 million over the last year charging hospital patients and visitors to park their cars.

At the same time charges have been abolished in all but three hospitals in Scotland and are being phased out in Wales.

Fees can range from £2 a day to £3 an hour.

Mike Hobday, from Macmillan, said: “The entire hospital parking system is an appalling, disjointed mess, which causes cancer patients unnecessary financial hardship and stress.

The above is part of the item, if you want to ruin your day read the rest.

They should change the motto from including the word “care” to "don’t give a shit."

Angus

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Another bleedin obvious edict from the GMC

The Times Online has an article regarding doctors’ training today: Medical students will be ordered out of the lecture theatre and into the wards, gaining more “hands-on” experience treating patients in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries, new guidance from the medical regulator says.

New standards for “tomorrow’s doctors” from the General Medical Council (GMC) says that all medical students should be able to administer a local anaesthetic, take blood from patients and undertake other medical procedures under supervision, before they graduate from university.

The guidance, seen by The Times before its publication this week, updates standards for undergraduate medical training first published in 1993. It follows concerns that some skills, such as prescribing multiple drugs at the correct dosage, are being overlooked by some medical schools.

A survey of 2,400 medical students and junior doctors last year found that three quarters felt that they put patients at risk because they had not been trained to prescribe drugs properly.

Sir Graeme Catto, a former chairman of the GMC, has said that while students were generally content with their higher education, they complained about the lack of “bedside manner” teaching.

“The old-fashioned teaching ward round has been lost. It is much easier to organise speaking to 300 students all at once in a lecture than to grapple with the logistical nightmare of sending them to GP surgeries or wards,” he said.

The latest Tomorrow’s Doctors guidance will standardise curriculums for more than 30 medical schools around the country, requiring them to organise “student assistantships”, where undergraduates can become involved in dealing with patients under the supervision of a registered doctor. At present, only some offer such placements.

Jim McKillop, Professor of Medicine at the University of Glasgow and chair of the GMC’s undergraduate board, said that the new placements were designed to provide all final-year students with “intense clinical experience in the workplace”.

Other tasks that students are expected to have carried out before they graduate include filling in a prescription form, ordering a blood sample, taking swabs and learning correct techniques for moving and handling patients.

Professor McKillop said that there was no hard evidence that prescribing errors, which contribute to 40,000 adverse reactions to medicine every year, could be directly linked to lapses in medical training.

But the GMC would send inspection teams made up of practising doctors, academics and the public to medical schools to make sure its guidance was being implemented, he added.

Isn’t this something that should have been normal practise since the battle of Waterloo?

The biggest snag I see is that “The GMC would send inspection teams made up of practising doctors, academics and the public to medical schools to make sure its guidance was being implemented,”

In the words of myself were are F****d!

Angus

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Don’t teach your GP to suck eggs

The latest “advice” from the powers that be is to warn GPs and parents not to mistake Meningitis for Swine flu.

Apparently according to the article in the Telegraph warns “The two illnesses can be easily mixed up because they have similar symptoms, including aches and pains and cold hands and feet.

Cases of meningitis typically rise in the autumn - the same time experts have predicted a surge in the number of cases of swine flu.”

Steve Dayman, chief executive of the charity Meningitis UK, said parents should ''trust their instincts'' and watch out for the disease, which can kill in under four hours.

He lost his own son Spencer to meningitis in 1982, when the little boy was just 14 months old.
Mr. Dayman said: ''Meningitis occurs throughout the year but very shortly we will see the number of cases going up.

''It's very difficult for GPs to identify meningitis in its early stages because it's very similar to flu - with symptoms such as cold hands and feet and aching limbs.''

He said a pin prick rash that can turn into purple bruising is a classic sign of meningococcal meningitis and requires urgent attention.

But he said parents should be on their guard even before this happens and seek medical attention if their child appears to deteriorate rapidly.

Children under five are most at risk from meningitis, followed by teenagers and students.

''The issue with children is that there is a rapid deterioration in their condition - within a matter of hours,'' Mr. Dayman said.

''I think it's important for parents of children to contact their GP if they feel concerned - meningitis should be a consideration.

''It's all very well GPs saying 'give them Calpol' but that could mean it becomes too late.

''Once meningitis has established itself and the bacteria is in the bloodstream, it multiplies rapidly and there is no time for delay.

OK, sound advice, but what happens when you think your child may have Swine Flu and you ring the “Advice Line”, speak to on of the “experts” who have no medical training and less than one day Swine Flu training, and they tell you to get some Tamiflu, when in fact your child has Meningitis?

The majority of GPs I would imagine are quite capable of diagnosing both diseases, but you are told not to go to the surgery because of infecting other people, what are you left with? A&E, which is about as useful as the “help line”.

The best way to solve this problem is to make an appointment with your GP or call them out, as long as it is within working hours, and of course use your common sense, if your child has a rash along with the other symptoms, do the “glass test” and if it is positive get the kid to hospital as soon as you can.

I am not a medic, and this is only my opinion, but I am sure that most GPs will be happy to either put your mind at rest or refer to the local trust.

It seems to be a recurrent theme nowadays to bombard us with advice about what to do regarding health matters when all that is need is a bit of common sense and a parents’ instinct.

And if you need information go here to the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Angus

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