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NICE plans to get GPs to prescribe cheap asthma pills ‘could cost lives’, say experts
GP pressures must ease or trainees will go abroad, warns new junior doctor leader
17:00 Employees should be allowed an afternoon nap this week to cope with clocks going forward, scientists have suggested.
The Independent reports on a study by Silentnight and the University of Leeds which found a quarter of people in the UK only get five hours of sleep a night.
With the clocks having gone forward, they warned this could reduce to levels where people put themselves at greater risk of developing diabetes and heart attacks.
Dr Nerina Ramlakhan said: ‘If you are one of the 25% of the nation that gets less than five hours’ sleep a night, this time change could see you drop to as little as four hours, which is a dangerously low amount.
‘Bosses should consider allowing staff to take a short nap in the office. It can make a huge diufference.’
The best time for napping is between 2pm and 4pm, or it may impact your next night’s sleep, added Dr Ramlakhan.
13:55 Researchers have linked high salt intake to the need for people to have to rise during the night to go to the toilet.
The team found that they could reduce the frequency of having to wake up to pass urine – common among the over-50s – by advising a reduction in salt intake by a quarter.
They found that these individuals who had on average had to get up 2.3 times per night, now only had to make 1.4 nightly toilet trips, reports the Times.
10:55 A village surgery has launched an appeal to patients to let them know if they can’t make their appointment, after dealing with hundreds of DNAs.
The Hinckley Times reports that Sapcote’s Old School Surgery had a ‘shocking’ 320 DNAs in November and December 2016, whilst 107 out of 3,509 appointments were missed in January this year.
The GP practice said this could be equated to 19 hours and 35 minutes of time wasted.
The practice told the paper: ‘We are asking patients to please make every effort to attend their booked appointments, or cancel so that someone else can take advantage of a released appointment.
‘It is horrifying to learn that the total appointments missed at the end of the year equates to employing two extra doctors for two days a week.’
09:45 Around half of a £2bn extra investment for healthcare announced in the 2014 Autumn Budget was spent outside of the NHS, according to research by the Health Foundation.
The investigation, published this morning in the Financial Times, said £901m was spent on private and non-NHS providers.
The think-tank said the findings showed that the Government had to urgently consider how to ensure additional funds reach NHS providers, reports the BBC.
