This site is intended for health professionals only


#GPnews: Revalidation is the ‘best thing to happen’ to nurses

16:50 The Nursing and Midwifery Council have come out with an extraordinary claim today – that revalidation is ‘the best thing that could have’ happened to nurses and midwives. 

Next month, the first batch of nurses and midwives will revalidate – and, according to the NMC, many of them are reporting that they have had ‘positive experiences’ of the process. 

NMC chief executive and registrar, Jackie Smith, said: ‘It’s great to see how simple our nurses and midwives are finding the revalidation process. We hope this feedback will reassure those who may be anxious that there is nothing to worry about and that the revalidation process is simple, straightforward and valuable.

‘Revalidation is much simpler than many people expected. Those who had concerns before they started say that, in reality, the process is so straightforward that they are now completely reassured. One nurse explained how anxious she was at the start, saying ”I wondered whether I would use revalidation as an excuse to retire.”

‘Her mind was put at ease when she read the guidance and started her application, however, as “there wasn’t really anything there that I wasn’t already doing”, and the process “only took me three and a half hours to complete.”

The NMC’s comments come after the GMC announced yesterday that it would be launching its own review into revalidation, focusing on doctors’ experiences of the process – and it will make recommendations for changes during 2017.

Read the full story here

15:00 Elsewhere, new figures published today have revealed that the NHS has recorded its worst ‘ever performance record’ for hospitals, the Guardian reports. 

The figures, published by NHS England, show that in the first month of the year, the NHS struggled to cope with patient demand for A&E care, hospital beds and ambulances. 

According to the Guardian, hospitals missed nearly all their key waiting time targets – resulting in hundreds of thousands of patients waiting longer for time sensitive care. 

12:40 A new study has revealed that children are being ‘over-diagnosed with ADHD’ when they are actually just immature, the Telegraph reports

According the Telegraph, 7% of British children (around 400,000) are believed to have the condition, with many being prescribed drugs to try and improve their concentration at school.

But the study – which included a sample of nearly 400,000 children between four and 17 years old in Taiwan – suggests that there is an ’importance of considering a child’s age when diagnosing ADHD’, as it could just be a case of immaturity. 

The authors of the study said: ‘Relative age, as an indicator of neurocognitive maturity, may play a crucial role in the risk of being diagnosed with ADHD and receiving ADHD medication among children and adolescents.

‘Our findings emphasize the importance of considering the age of a child within a grade when diagnosing ADHD and prescribing medication to treat ADHD.’ 

10:45 There have been plenty of tweets about junior doctors teaching CPR while on strike over the past couple of days.









10:00 A great tweet here from Dr Tom Caldwell, a GP in Worcester on the junior doctor contract dispute:

9:50 Our top story today is an exclusive on the RCGP’s opposition to charging migrants for GP services. They warn such a move could end up to more deaths across the whole population, as people will be put off seeing a GP even if they have an infectious disease.

Read the full story here.

9:20 It’s the second day of the junior doctor strike, and NHS managers are warning that hospitals may end up ‘overcrowded’ because there are not enough doctors to discharge patients. 

 

’If people need medical help and it’s not an emergency they should consider NHS Choices, visit their local pharmacy, or call their GP or NHS 111 for more serious matters.’

At the same time, BMA junior doctors committee chair Dr Johann Malawana sent a message to junior doctors:

We’ll have more throughout the day.