#GPnews: Hospital funding to move to general practice (but not for some time)

15:10 Also addressing delegates at Pulse Live, NHS England GP development lead Dr Robert Varnam said he thinks GPs around England are likely to see money moving from hospital funding via the sustainability and transformation plans (STPs).

However, he added that this was probably ‘at least a year’ in the future as yet.

In the same session, Dr Varnam advised GPs that they had to help themselves to the opportunities in the GP Forward View.

You can read the full story on that here.

12:40  This morning, delegates at Pulse Live have seen GPs debate the pros and cons of GPs signing patient sick notes (read the full story here).

The conference also saw GP leaders advise delegates on how to reduce workload by holding hospitals to account on their new contractual duties not to ‘workload dump’ on GP practices.

Dr Farah Jameel, a GP in London and the GPC’s lead on workload management, said that GPs must work together to send a message to patients and secondary care about GP workload.

Dr Jameel also outlines some of the details of the new hospital contract that will reduce GP workload (read the story here).

11:15  Pulse editor Nigel Praities opened what is a positively heaving Pulse Live conference at Kensington Olympia this morning.

Coming up at #pulselive this morning, talks by @FamilyDoctorUK@robertvarnam@DrFJameel@LaddCar@DrSKalra@dconversations1 & many more

— PulseToday (@pulsetoday) March 21, 2017

10:50 The number of extractions of baby teeth has risen by one quarter in the last 10 years, reports the Guardian.

There were 9,206 extractions on children under four years old in 2015/16 compared with 7,444 in 2006/07 – a 24% rise – according to data obtained by the Royal College of Surgeons.

In response, the RCS called on parents, the Government and food companies to take action.

Professor Nigel Hunt, dean of the RCS’s faculty of dental surgery, said: ‘When you see the numbers tallied up like this it becomes abundantly clear that the sweet habits of our children are having a devastating effect on the state of their teeth.

‘That children as young as one or two need to have teeth extracted is shocking. It’s almost certain that the majority of these extractions will be down to tooth decay caused by too much sugar in diets.’

09:40  GPs will be gathering for the annual London leg of our Pulse Live conference series today, which will include a keynote speech from Health Education England’s chief executive Professor Ian Cumming in the afternoon.

The conference’s opening day will also see GPs debate whether sick notes are a waste of time, while GPC chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul will explain the intricate details of the 2017/18 GP contract deal.

Stay tuned for all of the updates.