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#GPnews: MPs to quiz Jeremy Hunt about track record

14:30 MPs on the health select committee – chaired by former GP Dr Sarah Wollaston – have a date in the diary to put Jeremy Hunt on the spot next week.

Mr Hunt is due for questioning on the ‘work of the secretary of state for health’ on Tuesday at 2.30pm. Pulse will be watching, so stay tuned.

10:45 Afternoon open heart surgery comes with lower risk of complications than morning surgery, a study has concluded.

The French researchers linked their findings to the body’s ‘circadian’ clock, with heart tissue better able to repair itself after being starved of blood supply during the afternoon.

They suggested developing a ‘jet lag’-inducing drug to trick the body and said it could also reduce complications in organ transplantation surgery, reports the Guardian.

09:25 Scotland has become the first country in the UK to allow women to take the abortion pill at home.

Under the changes, women in Scotland will have to go to a clinic for the first misoprostol pill, but can now take the second stage of medication home to be administered rather than return again,ITV reports.

Scotland’s public health minister Aileen Campbell said: ’Abortion can be an emotive subject, however I am proud this government is working hard to ensure women are always able to access clinically safe services.

’Scotland is now the only part of the UK to offer women the opportunity to take misoprostol at home when this is clinically appropriate, a decision that allows women to be in control of their treatment and as comfortable as possible during this procedure.’

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: ’We thoroughly welcome the Scottish government’s decision.

’This will spare women not only the difficulties associated with having to make more than one clinic visit, childcare, transport, time off work, but it will also spare women from the risk of symptoms on their way home, having taken the medication in a clinic.’