#GPnews: GP-turned-MP invites Parliament colleagues to join 6am bootcamp

13:55 Newly elected Labour MP Dr Paul Williams, a GP in used his maiden speech in Parliament to invite fellow MPs to join him in a 6am boot camp to keep healthy.

He said: ‘Some of my colleagues have been excited to see another doctor in the House.

‘Some members have been telling me about their bad backs and other things that I cannot disclose due to patient confidentiality.

‘I have left my prescription pad at home, but they can join me in keeping fit at my 6am bootcamp.’

He also later said doctors and nurses should have a pay rise, and said the Queen’s Speech had been disappointing in terms of health pledges.

With waiting times for GP appointments at a record high, Pulse is not surprised MPs are keen to have a doctor in their midst.

11:20 Gonorrhoea is becoming ‘untreatable’, the World Health Organisation has warned.

To date three people have been found to have the untreatable strain, in Japan, Spain and France, reports ITV News.

Experts blamed the spread of the disease on oral sex and a decline in condom use.

Dr Teodora Wi, from WHO, said: ‘Gonorrhoea is a very smart bug.

‘Every time you introduce a new class of antibiotics to treat gonorrhoea, the bug becomes resistant.

‘It will only be a matter of years and this antibiotic will not be useful anymore.

‘It takes years to develop new drugs so we need to have that new drug in the pipeline so that in a few years’ time, we have something to replace the current treatment.

‘Worryingly, the vast majority of infections are in poor countries where resistance is harder to detect – these cases may just be the tip of the iceberg.’

10:40 Labour’s shadow health secretary has said his party would ensure patients could get a GP appointment more easily, by giving GPs the necessary funding.

Responding to the latest GP Patient Survey results, published yesterday, Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘It is becoming harder to see a GP under this Government and the proportion of patients unable to get an appointment has risen for the fifth year in a row. Patients’ overall experience of their GP service also got worse this year.

‘Overworked and underfunded GPs are struggling to cope with rising needs from patients. Across the country GPs and practice staff are working to keep the service running in the face of astonishing neglect from Theresa May and her ministers.

‘Labour would prioritise giving GPs the resources and support they need to provide better and more accessible services for patients.’

09:40 Findings from an NHS Providers survey of NHS mental health trust chairs and chief executives has revealed that services are not coping with demand.

It found that more than 70% expect demand to increase this year, ‘overwhelming’ services, while fewer than one in three is confident they have enough staff to deliver existing services let alone extending or creating new services

In particular, trusts are struggling to recruit enough mental health nurses and psychiatrists, and just one in ten of the trust leaders say they are managing demand and able to plan for unmet need.

Worryingly, a large majority (80%) say extra money intended for mental health at a national level is still not getting through to NHS mental health trusts operating frontline services, the report says.

The director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: ‘These concerns point to a growing gap between the government’s welcome ambition for the care of people with mental health needs and the reality of services they are receiving on the front line.

‘In some cases, core mental health service provision by mental health trusts is actually getting worse.’

The news comes as a recent Pulse investigation revealed that some CCGs are actually cutting mental health spending this year, despite Government pledges for parity with physical health services.