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#GPnews: Jeremy Corbyn pledges to improve doctor living standards

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GPs under ‘enormous pressure’ amid 13h A&E waits

‘Emergency measures’ are ‘new normal’ for GP practices, warns RCGP chair

15:50 A test that could rule out a heart attack in 20 minutes could be rolled out across the NHS within five years, reports the BBC.

King’s College London researchers said their cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyC) test is able to rule out a heart attack in a higher proportion of patients more quickly than an ECG.

‘Our research shows that the new test has the potential to reassure many thousands more patients with a single test, improving their experience and freeing up valuable hospital beds in A&E departments and wards across the country,’ said lead researcher Dr Tom Kaier, British Heart Foundatoin clinical research fellow at King’s College London.

13:20 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used today’s party conference speech (which at the time of writing is still going on, and may possibly last forever) to say Labour is ready to govern, including being ‘ready to restore the health service’.

He also said Labour is the party that ‘values’ public services and is prepared to give them the pay rises they ‘deserve’.

Mr Corbyn said: ‘You can’t care for the nation’s health when doctors and nurses are being asked to accept falling living standards year after year.’

He said Labour was also clear how it was going to pay for putting promises into action – by having large corporations ‘pay their fair share’ in taxes.

According to Mr Corbyn, the Tories are ‘hanging on’ to power ‘by their fingertips’.

He also announced Labour would roll out opt-out organ donations in England, as it has done in Wales.

12:10 It’s (apparently) National Fitness Day today, and we here at Pulse will leave it up to you to decide how you celebrate.

Scotland’s NHS 24 national health telephone helpline has come up with a few ideas, including swimming and taking a pilates class.

Evie, the Cabinet Office cat, is not getting with the programme though.

09:40 RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard has warned that GP practices around the country are driven by desperation to form new collaborations, rather than innovation.

She was addressing a health fringe event at the Labour Party Conference yesterday when she made the comments.

The conference concludes today with party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s keynote speech, in which he is reportedly due to say Labour is on the cusp of power.

This comes as shadow health ministers spent the conference promising to boost NHS funding and end public sector pay austerity.

Get the full story on the RCGP chair’s musings here