Category: Primary Care / General Practice

The AMA welcomes the Government’s decision not to sign the Inter-Government Agreement (IGA) on national registration and accreditation, and instead to send it back to the States and Territories for further consultation with health professional representatives.

Internal medicine physicians and medical students today expressed their great disappointment in President Bush’s veto of the bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The sentiment was expressed in a letter sent to the White House by David C. Dale, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP).On behalf of the 124,000 internal medicine physicians and medical student members of ACP, Dr.

The Medical Defence Union (MDU) is offering its GP members free access to an online training tool to help them with legal and ethical dilemmas and earn CPD points in the process. The online module gives GPs the opportunity to answer tricky dilemmas, set by MDU experts, on areas such as consent, whistleblowing, removing patients from lists and death certification.

The Department of Health announced the names of fourteen organisations appointed to offer support services to the NHS through a new agreement, known as the Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners (FESC). The framework is comprised of organisations, which have undergone a robust pre-qualification process, and will offer a menu of services such as data analysis and contract management expertise to Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).

Physicians’ obligation to respect human life rather than to preserve it has been highlighted by the new President of the World Medical Association, Dr Jon Snaedal.

Health Minister Lord Darzi’s report on the future of the NHS marks a good day for primary care. That makes it a good day for NHS patients too. The announcement of additional funding to support shifting care closer to home is particularly welcome. Enabling GP practices to open for longer hours or on Saturday mornings will help patients in many areas.

The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and Australian Medical Association (AMA) are urging the Government to commit to a major rescue package of rural-specific support incentives to get more doctors working in rural Australia.

Anyone who has ever tried to set up an internet account or wants to make a purchase on a company’s website, has experienced the ‘default option,’ an event or condition that will be set in place if no alternative is actively chosen.In an opinion article in the New England Journal of Medicine, lead author Scott D. Halpern, M.D.

Following the launch of Lord Darzi’s report, Deputy Chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, Dr Richard Vautrey, has said doctors want to sit down with ministers and talk about key issues such as GP access and infection control.He commented:”We agree with Lord Darzi that the NHS needs to be patient centred and clinically led.

As the number of complaints regarding out of hours services are rising in the United Kingdom, two experts debate whether General Practitioners (GPs) should resume 24 hour responsibility for their patients. You can read the Head-to-Head article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this week’s issue.