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NHS England claims nearly 3,000 practice staff added to reduce GP workload
Offering phone consultations as standard ‘could increase GP workload’
14:30 Fancy a career change? NHS England has published a job ad to replace outgoing medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh.
Although the advert promises £176,000 a year for the full-time role, we expect it may be a bit of a poisoned chalice in the cash-strapped NHS… what with being tasked with improving clinical outcomes and patient care.
The ad says: ‘The National Medical Director is the most senior medical advisor for the NHS organisation that both shares out more than £100 billion in funds and holds organisations to account for spending this money effectively for patients and efficiently for the tax payer and with the responsibility for high quality clinical services for England’s population.
‘You will drive and oversee system-wide learning and improvement to address both short-term and longer term issues surrounding patient care and quality as well as supporting the transformation agenda.’
11:05 Chinese scientists have edited human DNA at the embryo stage to cure disease, reports the Telegraph.
They were able to manipulate genetic code to remove debilitating blood disorder beta-thalassemia.
Professor Darren Griffin, professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: ‘For many years, we have been saying that direct gene editing in embryos is some way in to the future. Now the future is here and there is much to consider.’
09:40 The UK has eliminated measles for the first time, the World Health Organization has said.
This means that there are still cases of the disease in the UK, but these have generally been brought in from overseas and vaccination levels are such that they have not spread freely for three years.
The BBC reports this comes one week after news that 95% of children in England had their first dose of the MMR vaccine before their fifth birthday.
Dr Andrew Green, who leads the BMA’s GP committee on clincial issues, welcomed the news on social media but lamented it had taken so long.
Great news, but would have been done years ago if not for the culpable and the gullible.
https://t.co/IvgNQ9zQOP— Andrew Green (@DrAndrewGreen) September 27, 2017
Unfounded concern around the MMR vaccine’s safety was stoked by discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield in the 1990s, leading to significant declines in uptake.
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