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Practices to be asked to quit NHS in New Year
CQC considering phone calls instead of inspections for practices of concern
15:45 The Lakeside Health ‘superpractice’ is looking to more than double in size by growing its patient list from 120,000 to 300,000, its chief executive has said.
Speaking at the Westminster Health Forum event in London last week, Professor Robert Harris, who is chief executive of the Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire based group, said it was looking to recruit GP trainees from China and India.
You can read more about that story here.
11:45 A letter in the Telegraph signed by 645 GPs today calls for the nation ‘to have a mature debate about what it is prepared to pay for healthcare, and what it can expect for that funding’.
The GPs also said they have ‘no confidence’ in sustainability and transformation plans, the blueprints for the future of the NHS currently being devised in 44 areas in England.
They said: ‘As front-line GPs, we have no confidence that these plans will deliver anything that will prove to be sustainable or that will transform healthcare for the better. We believe the nation needs to have a mature debate about what it is prepared to pay for healthcare, and what it can expect for that funding.
‘To continue to believe that the existing budget can cope with ever-growing pressures is naive at best and dishonest at worst.’
9:40 The BMA in Scotland has called for the new ban on smoking in cars with children to be extended to all cars.
The ban on smoking in cars in Scotland is introduced today, having been passed in the Scottish Parliament last year.
The Daily Record reports that BMA Scotland chair Dr Peter Bennie has called for it to be extended to all cars.
He said: ’The ban on smoking in cars with children is an important first step and we welcome this move to protect our most vulnerable.
’When someone smokes in a vehicle, it creates a concentrated source of exposure to second-hand smoke.
’An outright ban on smoking in vehicles would ensure that adults and particularly vulnerable adults, who may be unable to object to others smoking while they are present, are also protected.’
