The head of the NHS Commissioning Board has hit out at GPs for being ‘out playing golf’ rather than treating patients, as he called for a ‘profound cultural change’ across the NHS.

Zinc supplements shorten the duration of cold symptoms in adults, but not children, according to a meta-analysis of evidence.

Intrauterine devices are a ‘highly effective’ method of emergency contraception, concludes an analysis of recent evidence by a group of international researchers.

Patients will be given the right to withhold identifiable data from being extracted from GP records under proposed changes to a Government scheme to create a central NHS patient data service.

Moves to enshrine self-care as a central part of the NHS efficiency drive have suffered a serious blow after a US trial in COPD had to be halted early because of a spike in mortality in patients encouraged to manage their own condition.

The NICE threshold above which drugs are considered too expensive for NHS could be lowered to £13,000 for some diseases, academics have suggested.

Probiotics are an effective therapy for treating and preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, says results of a new meta-analysis.

Exclusive The NHS Commissioning Board is drawing up plans for a national performers’ list, in a move away from ‘local doctor only’ policies developed by trusts to prevent a repeat of the Dr Daniel Ubani out-of-hours case.

The Scottish Government has formally unveiled plans to set a 50p-per-unit minimum price for alcohol, in a bid curb binge drinking and relieve the strain on the NHS.

GP referral patterns have been ‘significantly changed’ by the introduction of patient choice, concludes an analysis by UK economists that shows almost half of patients do not opt to have an operation at their nearest hospital.

GPs working in deprived areas need smaller caseloads to compensate for their far higher numbers of patients with multiple health problems, primary care experts have said after publication of a major new population study.

GPs should be incentivised through QOF to ask all patients about their alcohol intake and have a ‘stepped programme’ of interventions for problem drinkers, MPs have been told.

Managers across the country have yet to finalise agreements to support home visits for commuters registering with practices taking part in the Government’s pilots of the removal of practice boundaries.

GPs will be tasked with going through their records to find anyone aged over 35 who may have COPD, under Government guidance issued to CCG leaders.

Breast-fed babies gain less weight than those fed by bottle, even if mostly expressed breast milk is used, conclude US researchers.

A switch to a ‘more accurate' equation to work out eGFR would reclassify the kidney function of a quarter of the general population, conclude researchers.

The Department of Health has successfully resolved supply problems with the shingles vaccine, paving the way for a national immunisation programme in the elderly.

Swapping a GP for a nurse is an effective way of eradicating white-coat hypertension, because it relaxes patients and lowers their blood-pressure readings, new research reveals.

Long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist injections are more effective at reducing HbA1c levels in diabetes patients than gliptins when added to metformin, say European researchers.

BMA leaders have admitted that industrial action could ‘strain’ relationships with patients, but said they are working hard to prevent any ‘horrible incident’ that could provoke a negative media backlash.

Exclusive GPs will be benchmarked on the laboratory tests they order under Government plans to cut the cost of pathology services by 20% over three years, Pulse can reveal.

The NHS could save £85m annually if it switched to using an alternative treatment for macular degeneration, according to a new study that has sparked a debate on the off-label use of medicines.

Ministers have vetoed the release of the risk register outlining the possible threats of its controversial NHS reforms, saying its publication would undermine the ‘safe space’ required to formulate policy.

A leading adviser to NICE has called for restrictions on the use of atorvastatin to be thrown aside after its price tumbled by 93% today, following the expiry of its patent.

General practice is ‘no longer sustainable’ in its current form, with a squeezed workforce, increasingly complex demands and a shifting financial landscape requiring GPs to radically alter way they work, a new report has claimed.

Exclusive Not a single practice has begun offering commuters the chance to register near their work under the Government’s much-trumpeted ‘patient choice’ pilot scheme.

GPs could be faced with ‘mopping up’ after a programme of meningitis C booster vaccination is rolled out in schools, say DH immunisation experts.

Women are much less likely to develop a mood disorder if they are taking a combined contraceptive pill, conclude researchers.

Weekly text messages are a easy and effective way of encouraging patients to take their medication, say researchers.

Exclusive The list of candidates standing to be the next RCGP president include a former GPC chair, a Department of Health QIPP adviser and one of the major architects of revalidation, Pulse can reveal.

GP practices will be able to enforce a mandatory retirement age for partners following a landmark legal ruling on age discrimination – but lawyers are warning they will need strong justification for nominating a specific retirement age.

NHS Direct staff have taken part in a ‘work-in’ to protest at plans to replace the service with the new NHS 111 helpline, as GP leaders warn of increasing workload after the change.

Sir John Oldham, head of the Department of Health’s QIPP programme, has decided not to take up a position at the NHS Commissioning Board, and warned of the need for the board to sign up leading GPs to balance its current secondary care ‘emphasis’.

Educating patients to self-manage their diabetes has little effect long-term on their lifestyle choices or their health outcomes, concludes a major UK study.

Mindfulness training produces clinically significant improvements in quality of life and stress that are equivalent to those seen with inhalers in patients with asthma, a US trial has found.

QOF indicators for anticoagulation therapy will overlook a ‘significant proportion’ of older people with atrial fibrillation unless pulse checks are routinely carried out by practices, say experts.

One in eight practices routinely books consultations longer than 10 minutes, and some are even booking patients for over 15 minutes, according to a new study.

Department of Health officials are considering a possible extension to the flu vaccination programme.

The Government is to carry out its largest review of the number of medical school places in England for six years, to assess whether it needs to increase the number of doctors being trained.

Exclusive Hospitals are owed as much as £40m in outstanding fees for treatment of foreign nationals, a Pulse investigation reveals.

The GMC has called on GPs to invest in ‘smarter’ computer systems and open their records for pharmacists to review their prescribing, after a study found mistakes or omissions in one in 20 prescriptions.

Medically-qualified volunteers at the Olympics including GPs, surgeons and dentists have been forced to sit through a ‘surreal’ training session - in how to prescribe paracetamol.

Exclusive CCG leaders have been lobbying the NHS demanding a toughened-up system for managing the performance of practices, as they were handed responsibility for monitoring GP access.

The Government’s health care reforms will distort the collection of data for monitoring public health, researchers have warned.

The Government’s expert advisers on vaccination and immunisation have written to the chief medical officer to highlight a series of potential risks to patient care posed by the NHS reforms.

GPs are unlikely to give full and frank feedback on colleagues if their comments are included in assessments for revalidation, according to a GMC-sponsored study that raises serious concerns about the use of multi-source feedback to assess the performance of doctors.

The UK medicines regulator has called for GPs to check the magnesium levels of all patients on proton-pump inhibitors, in advice GPs have warned represents a ‘massive undertaking’ for primary care.

GPs providing large-scale non-GMS services may have to be licensed by Monitor, the head of the regulator has disclosed.

GPs are being urged to ramp up diabetes treatment within just three months if they do not reach their glycaemic goals on metformin alone, under a radical update of guidelines issued by European and American diabetes societies.

Botox injections show ‘small to modest’ benefits in preventing migraine and headache, say US researchers.

Private companies will be able to bid for contracts to run every aspect of the care of patients with long-term conditions at a series of pilot sites, under a radical new Government scheme.

GPs have called for an urgent review of ‘outdated’ NICE guidelines on hyperlipidaemia after an analysis showed a 12-fold increased risk of severe muscle damage with simvastatin 80mg.

NHS managers have raised concerns that financial services to be used by every CCG in England will be outsourced to India.

An LMC has claimed a major victory in the fight against draconian inter-practice agreements being imposed on GP practices, after winning a series of key amendments to proposed local contracts.

The NHS Alliance and National Association of Primary Care have formed a single membership organisation for CCGs in conjunction with the NHS Confederation that will represent GP commissioners’ interests in the revamped NHS.

Treating subclinical hypothyroidism can dramatically reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in the under-70s, but may increase the risk of events in older patients say UK researchers.

NICE advisers have recommended a radical change to the way QOF is drawn up, with incentives paid to GP practices under the scheme determined by the magnitude of the expected ‘health gain’.

Exclusive The BMA’s plans to ballot its members on industrial action over the Government’s changes to doctors’ pensions could be jeopordised by potential strikes by its own staff, Pulse can reveal.

Plans to make the National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) self-funding could compromise mediation standards, LMCs have warned.

GPs who are away from work for more than three months should undergo a ‘robust’ assessment before they return to work to ensure patient safety, new guidance from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges suggests.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has revealed he expects all CCGs to be authorised by next April, as the NHS moves forward from the 'big burst of politics' that has now subsided following the passing of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Prominent critics of the Government’s health reforms have been elected to represent the profession on BMA Council.

Exclusive Patients look set to be allowed to add to their GP records and agree transfer of information to other parts of the NHS, under plans being considered by the Department of Health.

Exclusive RCGP proposals to extend GP training to four years approved by the Medical Programme Board last week will not cost the NHS extra money, chair Dr Clare Gerada has said.

The NHS Clinical Commissioning Coalition, set up by the NHS Alliance and NAPC, has published its mandate to supporting and championing clinical commissioning groups.

HbA1c levels rise rapidly in the year before a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, say Japanese researchers.

Exclusive ‘Aggressive’ reviews of LES funding have contributed to a further slide in GP profits, with medical accountants estimating an average fall of up to 5% in the 2011/12 financial year.

Parents can be taught a simple physical intervention to reduce pain in infants undergoing routine immunisations, say US researchers.

Exclusive The Department of Health is preparing to trial giving GPs access to primary care risk calculators as part of its initiative to diagnose cancer earlier, Pulse can reveal.

GPs should either initiate or switch patients to varenicline after 12-weeks to prevent relapse, a QIPP analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration has concluded.

GP commissioners are to be publically ranked on the access they provide to NICE-approved therapies via an ‘innovation scorecard’ due to be published by the Department of Health later this year.

An analysis in the US has suggested the remote monitoring of elderly patients is linked to substantially increased death rates, casting doubt on the Department of Health's flagship project to roll out greater access to telemedicine.

The GPC has called for the re-election of commissioning leaders before next April and the adoption of a new ‘fair commissioning’ charter, in order to counter fears grassroots GPs are being excluded.

Tricyclic antidepressants and alosetron are associated with a significant number needed to harm in the treatment of individuals with irritable bowel syndrome, a US analysis has found.

Although metformin is the ‘gold standard’ treatment for diabetes, it has little effect on reducing the risk of death or cardiovascular disease, say the authors of two new analyses.

The GMC has launched a major new drive to connect doctors to their responsible officers ahead of revalidation after it revealed that more than 50,000 doctors have yet to matched up to their designated organisation.

The Family Doctor Association has thrown its weight behind Pulse’s Say No to 30% campaign to protect GPs’ pensions, as pressure mounts on the Government to return to the negotiating table with the BMA.

Responsible officers will be able to order mandatory language testing for all foreign GPs before allowing them to practise in the NHS, under new Government proposals.

Exclusive The headline-grabbing rollout of the Government’s flagship psychological therapies programme has not been funded by new money and comes at the expense of existing mental health initiatives, Pulse can reveal.

Angotensin receptor blockers are no more effective than ACE inhibitors, and have a greater risk of diabetes say researchers.

Pulse has been shortlisted for six awards by the Professional Publishers Association (PPA), making it one of the most nominated publications for this year's awards.

GP practices have been placed at the centre of a major drive to register refugees and migrants on the NHS organised by the Mayor of London.

I share the editor’s concerns at the relative disinvestment we have seen in funding available for developing primary care premises in recent years.

Dr James Kingsland, president of the NAPC, discusses the lack of clarity GPs feel to do with commissioning