16.30 As Dr Gerada fininshes her Q&A we head off to catch our plane home, with a laptop full of video interviews and a notebook full of news stories…
15:50 Applause for an orthopaedic surgeon who defected to GP!
15:45 The RCGP’s bid for extended training still includes 5 year training - but 4 years is looking much more possible
15:35 Dr Gerada: ‘Can we not talk about commissioning too much, because the Scots get upset.’
Scottish audience member: ‘No, it just makes us ever so grateful!’
15:30 Gerada very strongly states that it is not the job of doctors to ration healthcare - ‘we must do what we believe is right. If you have a bad winter then you need to get off the commissioning board and back into the consulting room, because that is your job.’
Dr Gerada calls rural doctors the last of the truly generalist GPs - “when’s the last time anyone else here stuck a chest drain in?” #RCGPac
— PulseToday (@pulsetoday) October 5, 2012
15:18 Question about perceived hostility towards independent doctors - although Dr Gerada assures him that they are welcome to become RCGP fellows
15:15 Waiting for the Q&A to start. Dr Clare Gerada is her usual exuberant self, trying to get Twitter up on the big screen (of course) and offering members of the audience her crisps and chocolates.
14:50 Make sure you check out our videos from the conference. So far we’ve chatted to Dr Clare Gerada, Dr Stuart Sutton and Dr Iona Heath. Professor Nigel Sparrow told us that revalidation should be ‘enjoyable’ and Dr Michael Moore gave us hints on reducing the prescription of antibiotics. Have a watch!
There’s an open Q&A with RCGP chair Dr Clare Gerada coming up next…
12:48 Dr Roland conducts a ‘hands up’ survey to see if the audience think QOF has had a net positive effect on clinical care and the consensus is… yes!
12:45 Audience member in the QOF session: ‘So much stupidity has been imposed on us from outside that the only rational response is to ignore it’
12:35 Back in the QOF session, Dr Roland receives applause for a video of Tony Blair unaware that a ‘48 hour’ QOF indicator meant patients couldn’t book ahead
12:30 There’s also a session on social media for GPs:
@mgtmccartneyTwitter is a way for docs to support each other, share what we’re doing, encourage etc. Hear hear! #RCGPAC #RCGPSoMe
— Sarah Maidment (@mediconabike) October 5, 2012
Dr Martin Roland on the QOF: don’t try and pay drs to be nice people #RCGPAC
— madlen davies (@madlendavies) October 5, 2012
12:20 Madlen is now in a talk on the QOF - will it meet the challenge?
12:00 Interviewed Iona Heath about her RCGP presidency, a life in general practice and out of hours care controversy. Watch out for the video, comeing soon on Pulse.
#RCGPAC think I should have left the mascara off this morning. Moving talks on delivering care in disaster and conflict.
— Kerry Hood (@kerryhood) October 5, 2012
Friday 5 October 10:30 Good morning from the RCGP annual conference! ‘Global’ sessions celebrating ‘GP heroes’ are currently underway.
If you’re at the conference, we’d love to hear your views. Get in touch with our reporters by tweeting @pulsetoday, @mhd_bass or @madlendavies
Thursday 4 October
16:45 Just had a chat with Stuart Sutton, AiT chair, and quizzed Professor Nigel Sparrow, chair of the RCGP professional development board, on revalidation. Videos coming soon…
Panel including David Nicholson discuss whether competition in healthcare is healthy #RCGPAC
— madlen davies (@madlendavies) October 4, 2012
14:50 John Aston: ‘Choice is a middle class concept. Patients want the doctor to tell them what to do.’ - met with a round of enthusiastic applause
Innovation, change, stability are important, not necessarily competition- Prof John Aston #RCGPAC
— madlen davies (@madlendavies) October 4, 2012
14:30 now in a panel on competition in healthcare with speakers including David Nicholson. Prof Roberts: “Is competition healthy? That’s like asking, is sex healthy? The answer is in certain circumstances, between two consenting adults with sufficient protection”
14:00 RCGP research paper of year is on using text support to aid smoking cessation - text support intervention doubled patients’ ability to quit smoking compared to a control group, with no evidence of harms
13:40 Several hundred GPs now queuing for lunch… Witnessing lots of big hugs and happy reunions!
12:40 ‘Measurement drives improvement, but it mustn’t be a burden’- Dr Gillian Leng, NICE’s deputy chief executive
12:30 From Madlen: NICE’s Nick Bailie says there is debate as to whether COF indicators which measure outcomes can actually be influenced by the actions of CCGs
12:00 Madlen is now in a session on the Commissioning Outcomes Framework - COF: will it do what it says on the tin?
11:15 Nicholson is championing electronic access to GP surgeries
David Nicholson begins to explain how GPs and the NHSCBA can work together to improve healthcare. #RCGPAC
— madlen davies (@madlendavies) October 4, 2012
Ooh I’m loving @rcgp#RCGPAC - feeling energised to go back to practice and revisit our shared purpose - really is key to good #leadership
— Stuart Sutton (@StuSutton) October 4, 2012
You know your Royal College has arrived when its conference hashtag attracts pornbots. In your *face* Royal College of Surgeons. #RCGPAC.
— Pete Deveson (@PeteDeveson) October 4, 2012
10:45 Clare Gerada’s speech praised three “giants” of general practice : John Horder, David Morrell and Iona Heath
Thursday 4 October 10:37 Madlen Davies and Hannah Bass have arrived at the RCGP conference in Glasgow and heard Clare Gerada’s opening speech, praising the “forefathers” of general practice but warning today’s GPs not to look back through rose-tinted glasses.
Hundreds of GPs in attendance and the whole city (including our taxi driver and restaurant waiter last night!) seems to know about the conference.
Follow Madlen and Hannah on Twitter at @pulsetoday and @mhd_bass - we’ll be using the hashtag #RCGPac. If you’re at the conference, do say hello - we want to hear your views.
