Category: Primary Care / General Practice

The BMA has strongly criticised the General Medical Council’s (GMC) guidance ‘Personal beliefs and medical practice’ stating that it could confuse patients and give some doctors a licence to discriminate against certain groups. In its response to the consultation on the guidance, the BMA has urged the GMC to think again and work with the Association to develop guidance that protects both doctors and patients.

Family doctors in Northern Ireland’s GP practices have once again demonstrated very high standards of patient care in the national system that measures the quality of services they provide. Latest figures for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) show general practice teams in Northern Ireland achieved 97.8% of the maximum points available - the highest in the UKThe Quality and Outcomes Framework was introduced in April 2004 as part of the new national GP contract.

General Practitioners have a good track record of keeping their fees at reasonable levels, says the New Zealand Medical Association. “Given our track record, we are extremely surprised that the Government is suggesting that GP fees would rise unreasonably under a National Government,” said NZMA GP Council Chair Dr Mark Peterson. He was responding to the launch of the National Party’s Health Discussion paper yesterday, which has triggered debate about GP fees.

“Eligible But Not Enrolled: How SCHIP Reauthorization Can Help,” Urban Institute: The brief discusses nontraditional strategies to increase enrollment of low-income children in SCHIP. The paper examines innovative enrollment strategies implemented by Medicare and how those strategies could be adapted to SCHIP and Medicaid coverage for children.

Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Women’s Caucus last weekend adopted a resolution calling on the government to review the country’s doctor-patient confidentiality policy in regard to HIV status, Zimbabwe’s Herald reports. According to Zimbabwean law, physicians are prohibited from discussing a patient’s health with a third party, including spouses, without the patient’s consent.

Despite an increase in the number of specialty pediatricians over the past decade, there is a nationwide shortage of pediatric subspecialists, particularly in rural areas, the Houston Chronicle reports. According to the

The Senate Finance Committee has begun to draft a bill that would eliminate a 10% reduction in Medicare reimbursements to physicians scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2008, according to Democratic committee aide Shawn Bishop, CQ Today reports. The legislation would finance the elimination of the reduction through a decrease in reimbursements to Medicare Advantage plans.

BMA Chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, has written1 to all members of the Association outlining his serious concerns about the proposed changes to the regulation of the medical profession in the UK.Dr Meldrum describes the government’s plans to change the way doctors are regulated in the UK, including moving away from the current criminal standard of proof [beyond reasonable doubt] to a civil standard of proof [the balance of probabilities], as an ‘assault on our profession’.