#GPnews: Which? Magazine gives ‘top tips’ for patients to get most out of GP appointments

17:00 Which? Magazine has put together a top-tips article to help time-pressured GPs and anxious patients get the most out of a ten-minute appointment.

The magazine spoke to 15 GPs and has compiled their responses into 10 ways to address common consultation contentions.

The full article can be read here, but the top issues are:

1. Love your receptionist

2. See the right person for your treatment

3. Think like a GP

4. Prioritise your symptoms

5. Get to the point

6. Give a recap

7. What happened, when?

8. It’s OK to suggest treatment ideas

9. Check your understanding

10. Raise small concerns early

And one for good luck, which Which? Describes as one of GPs’ most mentioned ‘time gobblers’, it asks all patients to ‘Wear clothes that make examination easier – for example, loose trousers to show the GP your knee’.

12:15  Women in labour are far more likely to be turned away from maternity units at weekends and during summer holidays, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found. 

The Telegraph reports that the study from the think-tank shows that wards are 30 per cent more likely to shut their doors to new arrivals towards the end of the week, with too few midwives to run services safely.

Freedom of Information requests reveal between 2011 and 2015, delivery wards were shut 2,268 times – meaning women were turned away on 567 occasions annually.

9.40 The BBC reports that the Government is set to accept recommendations for an above 1% pay rise for police and prison officers, after considering the recommendations of the independent bodies responsible for advising on their remuneration.

This would be the first group to benefit from a growing backlash over public sector workers pay restraint since the austerity measures brought in with pay freezes in 2011 and 2012.

The affirmation of the pay rise for this group is expected to be followed by Treasury guidance saying that other review bodies, like the Doctors and Dentists Remuneration Board (DDRB), should take into account recruitment difficulties when advising on pay uplift.

The BBC reports: ’The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said raising pay in line with inflation for the next three or four years would cost £6bn to £7bn more than continuing with the current policy.’

It comes as MPs are set to vote on the issue of public sector pay on Wednesday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn took to social media to ask Conservative MPs to vote down further restraint.

On Wednesday the Tories have another chance to vote to scrap the public sector pay cap for NHS staff. All public servants deserve a pay rise pic.twitter.com/zfyNFWrMtp

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 11, 2017