A string of QOF indicators are only cost-effective in less than half of practices, according to research that lays bare the NICE methodology for assessing the value for money offered by different clinical indicators in the GP contract.

10 May 2010

Professor Dame Sally Davies has been named as the new interim Chief Medical Officer for England, and will take over from Sir Liam Donaldson when he departs at the end of the month.

10 May 2010

The NHS in London could be landed with a bill of up to £2m in the next financial year for a ‘branding’ exercise to make polysystems attractive to patients, Pulse can reveal.

10 May 2010

Current arrangements for sickle cell antenatal screening are failing to screen women in time and would be more efficient if they were based in primary care, suggests a Department of Health funded evaluation.

07 May 2010

A GP has been elected as a Conservative MP with a large majority, but the direction of future health policy remains shrouded in uncertainty after no party was able to secure an overall majority in the general election.

07 May 2010

GPs say the lack of access to psychological therapies for children with mental health problems is worsening – with some waiting for a year to see a specialist.

07 May 2010

Telephone consultations are well-liked by both GPs and patients but may compromise patient safety more than traditional face-to-face consultations, Scottish researchers have shown.

07 May 2010

PCTs have been given yet more ammunition by the Government to attack PMS practices.

06 May 2010

Exclusive: A major inquiry into general practice will reject the Government’s obsession with crude numerical measures of access, and recommend GPs are judged by their 'therapeutic relationship' with patients.

06 May 2010

GPs fear they are being frozen out of the rollout of the Government’s IAPT programme and that in some cases lack of consultation is putting existing services at risk.

06 May 2010