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#GPnews: End seven-day access ‘obsession’, argues pilot GP

14:50 Some potentially ‘good’ news for GPs (?) spotted over on the Telegraph… Experts have said that working in a stressful job makes you a third less likely to die.

This only works if the person in question has some control of their own workload though, the researchers found.

Researchers from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University found that the most common cause of death among the people they tracked was cancer.

Erik Gonzalez-Mulé, the paper’s lead author, said: ’These findings suggest that stressful jobs have clear negative consequences for employee health when paired with low freedom in decision-making, while stressful jobs can actually be beneficial to employee health if also paired with freedom in decision-making.’

13:15 It seems Prime Minister Theresa May did not listen in when her health secretary was being grilled by the House of Commons Health Committee yesterday.

Her claim comes as only yesterday – as we report here – Jeremy Hunt said the Government ’never pretended’ it was giving the health service £10bn.

Is there a slight miscommunication with the boss?

11:30 Seven-day working for GPs is costly and doesn’t get results, a GP from the Prime Mininster’s extended access pilots has argued in Guardian comment piece.

Dr Zara Aziz, a GP partner in Bristol, wants the Government to give up the ’obsession of seven-day working’ and instead fund GPs properly to provide a better service in core hours.

She writes: ’Evidence suggests that improved access within existing, standard hours leads to a more effective way of reducing patients’ use of out-of-hours services than extending opening times.

’But this requires more GPs and more rooms to put them in. and better signposting so patients can see nurses, pharmacies and health care assistants rather than only a GP.

’It makes no sense to run services on a shoestring during the week, offering limited appointments to patients – because you are spreading staff thinly across the week. We should be offering more daytime appointments.

‘This requires a commitment from the government to help primary care tackle its workload and funding crises, rather than persisting with its obsession of seven-day working.’

09:40 Brushing your teeth well may help protect against heart attacks and strokes, a study has suggested.

US researchers tested levels of inflammation in a group of people after two months of an instense regime of removing plaque on the teeth, reports the Telegraph.

They found their levels of inflammation reduced by 29%, compared to 37% in people who take statins. They are now hoping to test their method on a larger group of 6,000 patients with heart disease.

NHS consultant cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, said: “I think there could be something in this because we do know that inflammation is an important factor in cardiovascular disease.’