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#GPnews: Illnesses related to lifestyle ‘cost the NHS £11bn’

17:10 ‘I came into the job to help patients but there are just so many. Neither I nor the NHS can keep this up.’ These are the words of GP receptionist, writing for the Guardian, who said that they have been working as a receptionist for a under a year and they are ‘already burnt out.’ 

The GP receptionist, who chose remain anonymous in the article, said that less than a year ago it used to be rare for the practice’s booking system to be full up but this was now the norm everyday, adding that patients’ anger stemming from their unsuccessful attempts to get an appointment, is normally projected at the receptionists. 

But the receptionist adds that they ‘wish they could see the wider picture’ and ‘direct their anger at the government that is responsible for cutting their services.’

14:45  Pulse’s investigation into the sharp rise in the prescribing of testosterone has been picked up in the national press today. 

The Daily Mail, Express, Times, and the Week all reported on Pulse’s analysis of figures that show a continued rise in testosterone prescribing – leading to some GPs warning that the so-called ‘male menopause’ was being wrongly medicalised. 

Read the full story here

12:15  A rather interesting article has been published on the Telegraph’s  website this morning – attacking the BMA’s executive team over its handling of the junior doctor contract dispute.

The article claims the BMA – who on Saturday decided to cancel the planned junior doctor strikes – was forced to ‘pull out of its game of chicken with health secretary Jeremy Hunt’.

The article’s author, James Kirkup, goes on to claim that it is junior doctors who deserve the praise (not the BMA’s top team) for their ‘leadership’ in calling off the strikes, which they ‘finally accepted that the only effect of the woefully reckless plan would be to harm patients and – less importantly – doctors’ reputations.’

It comes after the BMA announced at the weekend that it will look into other forms of opposition to the imposition of the junior doctors contract after calling off the series of five-day strikes planned over the next few months.

9:55 Good morning and welcome to the live blog. 

Public Health England has said that health problems related to poor diet, drinking and smoking are costing NHS England over £11bn each year, the BBC reports

PHE also warned that the trend needed to be tackled more effectively otherwise the health service risked becoming unaffordable, adding that conditions including diabetes and smoking-related bronchitis are a new and untreatable epidemic. 


          

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