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GP workload concern after ICB fails to reprocure community gynaecology service GPs have raised concerns after their ICB decided not to reprocure a local community gynaecology service, leaving patients ‘in limbo’ and increasing workload for practices. Provider Primary Integrated Community Services (PICS), owned and run by GP and practice partners in Nottinghamshire, stopped delivering its service at the beginning of this month, havin ... Date: 14-08-2025 Categories: • Sexual health • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics • Workload
'Considerable improvement' in GP access and satisfaction over past year, data shows The Government has praised ‘hard-working’ GPs after new data showed more patients are describing their GP experience as ‘good’ compared to a year ago. It pointed to the latest Office for National Statisti ... Date: 14-08-2025 Categories: • Workload
BMA urges GPs to contact their MP over unemployment crisis An extra 1.26 million appointments could be delivered every month if all newly trained GPs were employed, the BMA has said, as it encouraged GPs to contact their MP for support on GP unemployment. A ... Date: 13-08-2025 Categories: • Workforce
'GPs aren't getting the medical examiner system wrong - coroners are' A source inside the coronial service responds to criticism of GPs using the medical examiner process, and argues that coroners must take more responsibility for safeguarding cause of death accuracy. Like ... Date: 12-08-2025 Categories: • Guest opinion
Streeting reconfirms commitment to new GP contract and partnership model The health secretary has written to all GP practices in England thanking them for their ‘tireless efforts’ and reaffirming the Government’s commitment to the partnership model and a new GP contract. In a ... Date: 11-08-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Politics
BMA demands urgent meeting with primary care minister over GP unemployment ... are facing struggles finding appropriate roles – which is paradoxical at a time when patients crying out for more appointments, and general practice is under intense workload and workforce pressures. 'According to members, many practices are struggling to take on new roles due to lack of funding, resources and infrastructure. “While we support the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan an ... Date: 08-08-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Career news • Workforce
GP practice could not locate panic alarm due to IT system failure ... operated in contingency mode with access to patient records and core functions. ‘We recognise that the disruption created additional workload for many teams, although the extent of the impact varied. ‘We are now moving into the recovery and review phase, which will include reviewing intelligence shared by practices and working closely with them to understand the overall impact and ... Date: 08-08-2025 Categories: • Technology
Fat chance that Mounjaro will save the NHS ... g on, though. If weight management was as easy as lifestyle advice, surely that would have worked in the first place? The more pressing concern, though, is managing the immediate workload. Every day, I seem to be scaling the exhausting heights of Mounjaro. Or, if you prefer generic, I’m drowning in a tirzepatidal wave. First, there’s the consultations with patients desperately wanting to tick the Ti ... Date: 07-08-2025 Categories: • Copperfield
GPs struggle with workload more than other doctors, finds GMC GPs continue to struggle with their workload more than other doctor groups, according to new GMC data. The doctor regulator's annual survey on the state of medical education and practice in the UK found 44% of GPs are struggling with workloa ... Date: 07-08-2025 Categories: • Workforce
Pressure on GPs to complete death certificate without knowing cause has increased ... write a cause of death. ‘By the end of the process it had been several weeks after the patient died.’ As a result, GPs are faced with additional unfunded workload and families are left in limbo, unable to register their loved one’s death or make funeral arrangements. ‘This is the worst thing ever for relatives, especially those from faith groups, like Muslims, as it is made a long-winded process, ... Date: 04-08-2025 Categories: • Workload
Trust-run neighbourhood services and collective action: July's big talking points ... s in the coming months; not just with funding promises, but with genuine negotiation on autonomy, workload, and long-term shifts. The profession is watching closely. If talks stall or the 10-year plan fails to deliver meaningful change, the pause may well turn out to have been just that - a pause. Date: 01-08-2025 Categories: • Big questions
GPs resort to pen and paper as six-day IT outage 'severely' disrupts services GP practices in one part of England are facing an ongoing IT systems outage which has forced them to hand-write forms, and caused huge backlogs and 'severe' disruption to services over the past week. ... Date: 01-08-2025 Categories: • Technology • Workload
How should this patient’s ‘Fitbit’-recorded tachycardia be managed? ... various challenges in this rapidly evolving field of medicine. Such challenges include cost effectiveness of widespread device use, lack of recommendations on how to manage results, workload challenges, and risk of overtreatment. The group is clear however, that unusual readings on a consumer heart rate device are insufficient for a diagnosis [of arrhythmia] and ECG confirmation is mandatory. Of no ... Date: 31-07-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular
GPs left to deal with thousands of duplicate test results following hospital IT failure ... sp; And Pulse previously reported on a fault with University Hospital Trust Southampton’s new pathology IT system which caused GPs ‘significant’ workload issues and ‘anxiety’ for patient safety. Date: 30-07-2025 Categories: • Technology • Workload
How will the NHS 10-year plan affect GP funding? ... o mention of any new funding for general practice and, for GPs, this seems ominous. 'I have yet to have a conversation with anyone that sees it as anything other than a threat – massive shift of workload, risk, responsibility and no actual detail on how funding will move, the biggest hurdle to actual change I have seen in the last 25 years,' says YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor. But despite ... Date: 25-07-2025 Categories: • 10 Year Health Plan
Nasal spray alternative to anaphylaxis auto-injector approved for use in UK UK medicines regulators have approved an adrenaline nasal spray to treat anaphylaxis. The needle-free option can be used in adults and children weighing over 30kg, the Medicines and Healthcare products Re ... Date: 24-07-2025 Categories: • Infectious diseases, immunology and allergy
Commercial self-test kits 'unfit for purpose' and increase GP workload, finds study A study of 30 self-test health kits available on the high street has raised concerns over regulation after many were found to be ‘unfit for purpose’. The analysis showed a range of issues with test kits b ... Date: 24-07-2025 Categories: • Cancer • Cardiovascular • Renal medicine, urology and men's health • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics
GPs in deprived areas need more funding to address 'inverse care law', say researchers ... p between Scotland’s policy ambitions and sustainable delivery on the ground’. Common reasons for this included the large burden of need and escalating workload, staff shortages, and reliance on third-sector organisations vulnerable to closure. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Glasgow argued that GP practices in deprived areas should be ‘prioritised for resource’ to redu ... Date: 15-07-2025 Categories: • Healthcare inequalities • Mental health, pain and addiction • Practice and personal finance • Scotland
What is the future of the GP partnership in light of the NHS 10-year plan? ... ed. Last year, 55% of RCGP members said that reduced financial risk would make becoming a GP partner more attractive. Grassroots GPs taking part in our survey indeed say that they were discouraged from taking on partnerships due to the legal and financial risks. ‘When I started out in general practice I applied only for salaried positions, applying for partnerships seemed too precarious a proposition a ... Date: 11-07-2025 Categories: • 10 Year Health Plan
GP to prescribe in line with single national formulary within two years ... ain the evidence, discuss alternatives and, where necessary, manage dose adjustments or monitoring. ‘All of this will generate extra workload – such as updating clinical systems, recalling patients and documenting shared decisions - so the policy must be matched with practical resources such as embedded decision-support prompts, template letters and clinical-pharmacist time.’ The move to an SNF coul ... Date: 11-07-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workload
Persistent medicines shortages affecting health outcomes, MPs warn ... es the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy found. Shortages of medicines for conditions such as ADHD, the menopause, diabetes and bacterial infections have also substantially increased workload and stress for pharmacy teams and other healthcare professionals, a report from the APPG said. A ‘complex interplay’ of factors that include manufacturing issues, supply chain vulnerabilities, increased ... Date: 11-07-2025 Categories: • Bacterial infection • Diabetes and endocrinology • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Mental health, pain and addiction • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics
Hospital failures to send patient documents to GPs harmed patients, finds safety review ... more than 700,000 patient documents to GPs, which uncovered that clinical information was not passed and acted on as a result, causing a threat to patient safety and increased GP workload. The HSSIB identified ‘several incidents’ where summaries, among other correspondence, had been created but not sent. It also found incidents where a ‘lack of complete information led to patient harm’, including w ... Date: 10-07-2025 Categories: • Diabetes and endocrinology • Gastroenterology and obesity • Technology • Workload
Slightly more patients have 'good' GP experience, finds NHS Patient Survey Patient satisfaction in their GP practice has continued to improve slightly over the past year. Three quarters (75.4%) of patients had a ‘good’ overall experience with their GP practice, the latest NHS GP ... Date: 10-07-2025 Categories: • Consultations
LMC demands 'detailed' investigation after delayed blood tests disrupt GP workload ... OPEL pressure escalation level. The LMC's chief executive Michael Wright told Pulse that some GPs had to start working 'much earlier' than their clinic start time to try to keep up with the extra workload, with one having to start at 4.30am. He added that the LMC 'will be pressing for a detailed investigation into how this has been handled'. He said: 'It is frustrating that practices were reass ... Date: 08-07-2025 Categories: • Technology • Workload
Bureaucratic burden on GPs to be reduced, pledges 10-year plan The Government has renewed its pledge to cut NHS bureaucracy as part of its long-awaited 10-year plan, including for GPs. The document, published last week, said that the Government has already begun to c ... Date: 07-07-2025 Categories: • 10 Year Health Plan • NHS structures
Northern Ireland GPs vote in favour of 'unprecedented' collective action GPs in Northern Ireland have voted in favour of taking collective action, following this year's first-ever contract imposition. The BMA said that 98.7% of those who took part in a referendum voted ‘yes’ t ... Date: 04-07-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Contract • Northern Ireland • Practice and personal finance
Pregnant patients received 'inappropriate' medication due to pharmacy coding errors ... s access lead at his practice in Hampshire, told Pulse that the coding errors could have ‘serious consequences’ for patients, as well as increasing workload for practices, and raised wider concern about Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service. He said: ‘None of this fills anybody with confidence that this project is working - if the result of it is errors in GP medical records, it just be ... Date: 02-07-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Paediatrics • Technology • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics
Is it really all good in the hood for GPs? Ahead of the Government's 10-year plan, Dr Margaret Ikpoh questions the role and implementation of neighbourhood services, and what this could mean for GPs As we all await with bated breath for the Govern ... Date: 01-07-2025 Categories: • Margaret Ikpoh
Wide variation in repeat prescription lengths across England ... mmunity pharmacies and dispensing doctors) are paid on a per-item basis, and if there was a substantial shift to longer prescriptions it would likely lead to reduced income with minimal workload reductions.’ Dr Helen Curtis, senior researcher at the Bennett Institute and senior author on the paper, said ‘This research shows that there is no consistent approach to how long repeat prescriptions last in E ... Date: 27-06-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Long-term conditions and prescribing
Paying GPs for performance does not bring lasting clinical improvements, finds study ... s systemic issues like workforce shortages.’ The research comes as QOF has been steadily pared back in recent years, with large chunks income-protected to reduce workload. Around a third of indicators were effectively frozen in 2023/24 and 2024/25, and then scrapped entirely from this year. The funding was redistributed via the global sum and other payment streams, in a shift away from traditional QOF ... Date: 27-06-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Practice and personal finance
Scotland GPs enter 'formal dispute' with Government over underfunding ... ries out around 90% of patient contacts on any given day. When properly resourced, general practice alleviates pressures across the NHS, but the worsening workload and workforce crises are hampering the ability of GPs to deliver high quality care for patients. 'It is not for RCGP Scotland to get involved in contractual negotiations between the BMA and the Scottish Government, nor to influence any decis ... Date: 26-06-2025 Categories: • Politics • Practice and personal finance • Scotland
GPs told they will not be paid for shifts after private company went into administration Exclusive Sessional GPs who worked for a private company providing out-of-hours and NHS 111 services have been told they will not be paid for shifts completed last month, after the company went into administ ... Date: 26-06-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance • Urgent care
NHS England approves new clinical IT system for general practice ... f the GP IT market in a quarter of a century’. However, the RCGP warned that further assurances are needed around data security, and that a concern for practices will be the 'considerable workload and disruption' associated with changing systems. This is the first new supplier to be ‘fully assured’ through NHS England’s Tech Innovation Framework, which ensures new products are 'fully compliant' on inf ... Date: 26-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Technology
GPs caught in the middle of a muddled tirzepatide rollout ... ons like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease already place a huge burden on the NHS, particularly in primary care. Tirzepatide has the potential to reduce long-term costs - and workload - significantly, if it's used well. Dr Heather Ryan’s recent piece for Pulse is a reminder that these treatments are not just clinically powerful, but capable of shifting the entire dynamic of patient consultatio ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Diabetes and endocrinology • Editor's blog • Gastroenterology and obesity
GPs told they cannot prescribe Mounjaro as several ICBs fail to finalise service in time GP in many parts of England are having to explain to eligible patients that tirzepatide (Mounjaro) cannot be prescribed in primary care yet, despite the NICE deadline having now passed. Commissioning guid ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Long-term conditions and prescribing
Carr-Hill GP funding formula review announced as part of 10-year NHS plan ... our community.’ The current formula is supposed to ensure resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload, taking into account ‘drivers of workload’ and ‘unavoidable costs’. But both the RCGP and the BMA have argued for years that it needs to be replaced to accurately reflect the communities that practices care for. In 2015, Pulse revea ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Healthcare inequalities • Politics • Practice and personal finance
Investing in general practice - if not now, when? ... tters? Patients need timely access to a GP, rather than a plethora of insufficiently-qualified-or-experienced clinicians. GPs need to be protected from inappropriate workload demands. Working conditions need urgently to be improved. Practices need sufficient funding to employ enough staff to safely provide services. And why the push to merge and scale up? Where is the evidence that this improves patient o ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Katie Musgrave
Pharmacy First uptake falling short of expectations, says Kinnock ... nd Social Care (DHSC) is looking at options to increase awareness of the scheme and to 'free up pharmacists to be able to operate at the top of their licence'. The scheme has aimed to shift of workload to pharmacies from GP practices, by allowing direct prescribing for seven common conditions: sinusitis; sore throat; earache; infected insect bite; impetigo; shingles; and uncomplicated urinary tract inf ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Dermatology and wound care • Infectious diseases, immunology and allergy • Respiratory • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics
Over 60% of GPs 'unsatisfied' with Government's handling of general practice ... al practice at the moment – they are working incredibly hard in incredibly challenging circumstances day in day out. ‘Workload has escalated both in terms of volume and complexity since 2019, but numbers of GPs have only just started to show an upturn – and we continue to hear reports from members about the nonsensical situation of GPs being unable to find employment upon completion of their train ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Politics • Practice and personal finance
BMA leaders back GPs declining to prescribe specialist medication ... the medications initiated, titrated and the patient stabilised. Proposing the motion, YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor said: ‘From a general practice perspective, it is a workload transfer – a decision is made in a secondary care service, and then a responsibility is passed to a general practitioner to actually initiate and generate the prescription. And it carries an increased risk. ‘GP ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workload
Dr Heather Ryan: How my own GLP-1 journey has reshaped patient consultations ... ries, takeaways and alcohol).There are also good and bad slimming clinics - GP Facebook groups are awash with stories about clinics inappropriately dumping workload back onto NHS GPs. Some clinics are more rigorous than others when it comes to ensuring patients are good candidates for the drug and are reporting their weight accurately. Before and after: one week of trea ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Guest opinion
Most people think GPs 'do not work hard enough', 'disheartening' survey finds ... conditions. ‘Time and time again, the Government delivers funding that’s tied up in complex structures and attached to complicated conditions and targets, ramping up GPs’ workloads. Despite this year's funding boost, the reality is that GPs will still be overworked and under-resourced – not the opposite. ‘While over half of the public rightly see GPs as an essential part of the NHS, even then, the r ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workload
Only half of overseas doctors who moved to the UK say their expectations have been met ... lf of doctors who qualified overseas and moved to the UK said that their expectations had been met, according to new research published by the GMC. Those unsatisfied with the move blamed heavy workload, stress and a poor work-life balance. The research, commissioned by the GMC, surveyed over 3,000 doctors between June and August 2024 who had either moved, or considered moving, to the UK for ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workforce
BMA 'increasingly' seeing non-GPs appointed as training programme supervisors ... ingly becoming involved in overseeing some aspects of GP training, including allied health professionals ‘who have never worked as a GP’. The committee's co-chairs warned that ‘intense workload pressures’ in general practice are ‘making it harder for GPs to take on trainer roles’. And they said that if this trend continues, there is a risk of ‘depriving future GPs of the invaluable insight and ment ... Date: 19-06-2025 Categories: • Career news • Education and training • Workforce
Nearly 160 sessional GPs currently 'seeking work' in Scotland alone ... that nearly half of GPs (44.58%) in Scotland say the future of their practice is ‘precarious’ or ‘not sustainable’, up 10% since 2023, and that many GPs are struggling to cope with their workload, with some describing it as ‘unmanageable’. At the same time, almost 160 FTE GPs are currently looking for work and could potentially be available, which would provide ‘approximately 700,000 additional appoin ... Date: 17-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workforce
Blue-sky thinking is great, but not if it fails to reach the grassroots ... I thought. But then I remembered my day job – because things aren’t so great there. The QOF changes haven’t really affected workload. GPs argue the toss about phlebotomy and earwax because, unfortunately, they still rely on these small pots of funding, which is akin to using tester paint tins to finish your house. I meet some genuinely admirable GPs who are able to restructure their services, to bring ... Date: 13-06-2025 Categories: • Editor's blog
GPs criticised by coroner for 'not understanding' medical examiner process ... try, there are still inconsistencies that need to be addressed, with some colleagues reporting an increase in workload and bureaucracy. 'It is vitally important therefore that practices across the country are adequately resourced to ensure that the system can be effectively implemented and delivers reassurance to patients and loved ones.' Pulse has reached out to Drs Singh and Pavli for comme ... Date: 12-06-2025 Categories: • Elderly care • Gastroenterology and obesity • Workload
GP concern at private out-of-hours provider enforcing 'morally wrong' targets Exclusive GPs working for a private out-of-hours (OOH) provider in the South West have raised serious concerns about new performance targets which they say are ‘morally completely wrong’. HealthHero, a l ... Date: 11-06-2025 Categories: • Urgent care • Workload
GPs providing continuity of care must be NHS priority, says CMO ... n, are more likely to adhere to medical advice, and have lower rates of hospital admissions. ‘GPs also benefit, with evidence showing reduced workloads as patients consult less frequently. Strong relationships and trust between practitioner and patient allow for the earlier disclosure of symptoms, faster diagnoses, and more effective treatment.’ But he pointed out that the number of whole time equiv ... Date: 10-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workload
Mounjaro primary care plans not yet finalised despite looming deadline ... eady to share any plans’ at this stage. All ICBs have received a funding allocation from NHS England which is based on both the drug costs and the expected workload of setting up the new service within primary. Medical secretary for Mid Mersey LMC Dr Ivan Camphor said that in his area ‘nobody’s really sure how it will work’ in primary care. Cheshire and Merseyside ICB did not respond to Pulse’ ... Date: 09-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Practice and personal finance • Workload

GP workload concern after ICB fails to reprocure community gynaecology service GPs have raised concerns after their ICB decided not to reprocure a local community gynaecology service, leaving patients ‘in limbo’ and increasing workload for practices. Provider Primary Integrated Community Services (PICS), owned and run by GP and practice partners in Nottinghamshire, stopped delivering its service at the beginning of this month, havin ... Date: 14-08-2025 Categories: • Sexual health • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics • Workload

'Considerable improvement' in GP access and satisfaction over past year, data shows The Government has praised ‘hard-working’ GPs after new data showed more patients are describing their GP experience as ‘good’ compared to a year ago. It pointed to the latest Office for National Statisti ... Date: 14-08-2025 Categories: • Workload

BMA urges GPs to contact their MP over unemployment crisis An extra 1.26 million appointments could be delivered every month if all newly trained GPs were employed, the BMA has said, as it encouraged GPs to contact their MP for support on GP unemployment. A ... Date: 13-08-2025 Categories: • Workforce

'GPs aren't getting the medical examiner system wrong - coroners are' A source inside the coronial service responds to criticism of GPs using the medical examiner process, and argues that coroners must take more responsibility for safeguarding cause of death accuracy. Like ... Date: 12-08-2025 Categories: • Guest opinion

Streeting reconfirms commitment to new GP contract and partnership model The health secretary has written to all GP practices in England thanking them for their ‘tireless efforts’ and reaffirming the Government’s commitment to the partnership model and a new GP contract. In a ... Date: 11-08-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Politics

BMA demands urgent meeting with primary care minister over GP unemployment ... are facing struggles finding appropriate roles – which is paradoxical at a time when patients crying out for more appointments, and general practice is under intense workload and workforce pressures. 'According to members, many practices are struggling to take on new roles due to lack of funding, resources and infrastructure. “While we support the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan an ... Date: 08-08-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Career news • Workforce

GP practice could not locate panic alarm due to IT system failure ... operated in contingency mode with access to patient records and core functions. ‘We recognise that the disruption created additional workload for many teams, although the extent of the impact varied. ‘We are now moving into the recovery and review phase, which will include reviewing intelligence shared by practices and working closely with them to understand the overall impact and ... Date: 08-08-2025 Categories: • Technology

Fat chance that Mounjaro will save the NHS ... g on, though. If weight management was as easy as lifestyle advice, surely that would have worked in the first place? The more pressing concern, though, is managing the immediate workload. Every day, I seem to be scaling the exhausting heights of Mounjaro. Or, if you prefer generic, I’m drowning in a tirzepatidal wave. First, there’s the consultations with patients desperately wanting to tick the Ti ... Date: 07-08-2025 Categories: • Copperfield

GPs struggle with workload more than other doctors, finds GMC GPs continue to struggle with their workload more than other doctor groups, according to new GMC data. The doctor regulator's annual survey on the state of medical education and practice in the UK found 44% of GPs are struggling with workloa ... Date: 07-08-2025 Categories: • Workforce

Pressure on GPs to complete death certificate without knowing cause has increased ... write a cause of death. ‘By the end of the process it had been several weeks after the patient died.’ As a result, GPs are faced with additional unfunded workload and families are left in limbo, unable to register their loved one’s death or make funeral arrangements. ‘This is the worst thing ever for relatives, especially those from faith groups, like Muslims, as it is made a long-winded process, ... Date: 04-08-2025 Categories: • Workload

Trust-run neighbourhood services and collective action: July's big talking points ... s in the coming months; not just with funding promises, but with genuine negotiation on autonomy, workload, and long-term shifts. The profession is watching closely. If talks stall or the 10-year plan fails to deliver meaningful change, the pause may well turn out to have been just that - a pause. Date: 01-08-2025 Categories: • Big questions

GPs resort to pen and paper as six-day IT outage 'severely' disrupts services GP practices in one part of England are facing an ongoing IT systems outage which has forced them to hand-write forms, and caused huge backlogs and 'severe' disruption to services over the past week. ... Date: 01-08-2025 Categories: • Technology • Workload

How should this patient’s ‘Fitbit’-recorded tachycardia be managed? ... various challenges in this rapidly evolving field of medicine. Such challenges include cost effectiveness of widespread device use, lack of recommendations on how to manage results, workload challenges, and risk of overtreatment. The group is clear however, that unusual readings on a consumer heart rate device are insufficient for a diagnosis [of arrhythmia] and ECG confirmation is mandatory. Of no ... Date: 31-07-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular

GPs left to deal with thousands of duplicate test results following hospital IT failure ... sp; And Pulse previously reported on a fault with University Hospital Trust Southampton’s new pathology IT system which caused GPs ‘significant’ workload issues and ‘anxiety’ for patient safety. Date: 30-07-2025 Categories: • Technology • Workload

How will the NHS 10-year plan affect GP funding? ... o mention of any new funding for general practice and, for GPs, this seems ominous. 'I have yet to have a conversation with anyone that sees it as anything other than a threat – massive shift of workload, risk, responsibility and no actual detail on how funding will move, the biggest hurdle to actual change I have seen in the last 25 years,' says YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor. But despite ... Date: 25-07-2025 Categories: • 10 Year Health Plan

Nasal spray alternative to anaphylaxis auto-injector approved for use in UK UK medicines regulators have approved an adrenaline nasal spray to treat anaphylaxis. The needle-free option can be used in adults and children weighing over 30kg, the Medicines and Healthcare products Re ... Date: 24-07-2025 Categories: • Infectious diseases, immunology and allergy

Commercial self-test kits 'unfit for purpose' and increase GP workload, finds study A study of 30 self-test health kits available on the high street has raised concerns over regulation after many were found to be ‘unfit for purpose’. The analysis showed a range of issues with test kits b ... Date: 24-07-2025 Categories: • Cancer • Cardiovascular • Renal medicine, urology and men's health • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics

GPs in deprived areas need more funding to address 'inverse care law', say researchers ... p between Scotland’s policy ambitions and sustainable delivery on the ground’. Common reasons for this included the large burden of need and escalating workload, staff shortages, and reliance on third-sector organisations vulnerable to closure. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Glasgow argued that GP practices in deprived areas should be ‘prioritised for resource’ to redu ... Date: 15-07-2025 Categories: • Healthcare inequalities • Mental health, pain and addiction • Practice and personal finance • Scotland

What is the future of the GP partnership in light of the NHS 10-year plan? ... ed. Last year, 55% of RCGP members said that reduced financial risk would make becoming a GP partner more attractive. Grassroots GPs taking part in our survey indeed say that they were discouraged from taking on partnerships due to the legal and financial risks. ‘When I started out in general practice I applied only for salaried positions, applying for partnerships seemed too precarious a proposition a ... Date: 11-07-2025 Categories: • 10 Year Health Plan

GP to prescribe in line with single national formulary within two years ... ain the evidence, discuss alternatives and, where necessary, manage dose adjustments or monitoring. ‘All of this will generate extra workload – such as updating clinical systems, recalling patients and documenting shared decisions - so the policy must be matched with practical resources such as embedded decision-support prompts, template letters and clinical-pharmacist time.’ The move to an SNF coul ... Date: 11-07-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workload

Persistent medicines shortages affecting health outcomes, MPs warn ... es the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy found. Shortages of medicines for conditions such as ADHD, the menopause, diabetes and bacterial infections have also substantially increased workload and stress for pharmacy teams and other healthcare professionals, a report from the APPG said. A ‘complex interplay’ of factors that include manufacturing issues, supply chain vulnerabilities, increased ... Date: 11-07-2025 Categories: • Bacterial infection • Diabetes and endocrinology • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Mental health, pain and addiction • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics

Hospital failures to send patient documents to GPs harmed patients, finds safety review ... more than 700,000 patient documents to GPs, which uncovered that clinical information was not passed and acted on as a result, causing a threat to patient safety and increased GP workload. The HSSIB identified ‘several incidents’ where summaries, among other correspondence, had been created but not sent. It also found incidents where a ‘lack of complete information led to patient harm’, including w ... Date: 10-07-2025 Categories: • Diabetes and endocrinology • Gastroenterology and obesity • Technology • Workload

Slightly more patients have 'good' GP experience, finds NHS Patient Survey Patient satisfaction in their GP practice has continued to improve slightly over the past year. Three quarters (75.4%) of patients had a ‘good’ overall experience with their GP practice, the latest NHS GP ... Date: 10-07-2025 Categories: • Consultations

LMC demands 'detailed' investigation after delayed blood tests disrupt GP workload ... OPEL pressure escalation level. The LMC's chief executive Michael Wright told Pulse that some GPs had to start working 'much earlier' than their clinic start time to try to keep up with the extra workload, with one having to start at 4.30am. He added that the LMC 'will be pressing for a detailed investigation into how this has been handled'. He said: 'It is frustrating that practices were reass ... Date: 08-07-2025 Categories: • Technology • Workload

Bureaucratic burden on GPs to be reduced, pledges 10-year plan The Government has renewed its pledge to cut NHS bureaucracy as part of its long-awaited 10-year plan, including for GPs. The document, published last week, said that the Government has already begun to c ... Date: 07-07-2025 Categories: • 10 Year Health Plan • NHS structures

Northern Ireland GPs vote in favour of 'unprecedented' collective action GPs in Northern Ireland have voted in favour of taking collective action, following this year's first-ever contract imposition. The BMA said that 98.7% of those who took part in a referendum voted ‘yes’ t ... Date: 04-07-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Contract • Northern Ireland • Practice and personal finance

Pregnant patients received 'inappropriate' medication due to pharmacy coding errors ... s access lead at his practice in Hampshire, told Pulse that the coding errors could have ‘serious consequences’ for patients, as well as increasing workload for practices, and raised wider concern about Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service. He said: ‘None of this fills anybody with confidence that this project is working - if the result of it is errors in GP medical records, it just be ... Date: 02-07-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Paediatrics • Technology • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics

Is it really all good in the hood for GPs? Ahead of the Government's 10-year plan, Dr Margaret Ikpoh questions the role and implementation of neighbourhood services, and what this could mean for GPs As we all await with bated breath for the Govern ... Date: 01-07-2025 Categories: • Margaret Ikpoh

Wide variation in repeat prescription lengths across England ... mmunity pharmacies and dispensing doctors) are paid on a per-item basis, and if there was a substantial shift to longer prescriptions it would likely lead to reduced income with minimal workload reductions.’ Dr Helen Curtis, senior researcher at the Bennett Institute and senior author on the paper, said ‘This research shows that there is no consistent approach to how long repeat prescriptions last in E ... Date: 27-06-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Long-term conditions and prescribing

Paying GPs for performance does not bring lasting clinical improvements, finds study ... s systemic issues like workforce shortages.’ The research comes as QOF has been steadily pared back in recent years, with large chunks income-protected to reduce workload. Around a third of indicators were effectively frozen in 2023/24 and 2024/25, and then scrapped entirely from this year. The funding was redistributed via the global sum and other payment streams, in a shift away from traditional QOF ... Date: 27-06-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Practice and personal finance

Scotland GPs enter 'formal dispute' with Government over underfunding ... ries out around 90% of patient contacts on any given day. When properly resourced, general practice alleviates pressures across the NHS, but the worsening workload and workforce crises are hampering the ability of GPs to deliver high quality care for patients. 'It is not for RCGP Scotland to get involved in contractual negotiations between the BMA and the Scottish Government, nor to influence any decis ... Date: 26-06-2025 Categories: • Politics • Practice and personal finance • Scotland

GPs told they will not be paid for shifts after private company went into administration Exclusive Sessional GPs who worked for a private company providing out-of-hours and NHS 111 services have been told they will not be paid for shifts completed last month, after the company went into administ ... Date: 26-06-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance • Urgent care

NHS England approves new clinical IT system for general practice ... f the GP IT market in a quarter of a century’. However, the RCGP warned that further assurances are needed around data security, and that a concern for practices will be the 'considerable workload and disruption' associated with changing systems. This is the first new supplier to be ‘fully assured’ through NHS England’s Tech Innovation Framework, which ensures new products are 'fully compliant' on inf ... Date: 26-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Technology

GPs caught in the middle of a muddled tirzepatide rollout ... ons like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease already place a huge burden on the NHS, particularly in primary care. Tirzepatide has the potential to reduce long-term costs - and workload - significantly, if it's used well. Dr Heather Ryan’s recent piece for Pulse is a reminder that these treatments are not just clinically powerful, but capable of shifting the entire dynamic of patient consultatio ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Diabetes and endocrinology • Editor's blog • Gastroenterology and obesity

GPs told they cannot prescribe Mounjaro as several ICBs fail to finalise service in time GP in many parts of England are having to explain to eligible patients that tirzepatide (Mounjaro) cannot be prescribed in primary care yet, despite the NICE deadline having now passed. Commissioning guid ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Long-term conditions and prescribing

Carr-Hill GP funding formula review announced as part of 10-year NHS plan ... our community.’ The current formula is supposed to ensure resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload, taking into account ‘drivers of workload’ and ‘unavoidable costs’. But both the RCGP and the BMA have argued for years that it needs to be replaced to accurately reflect the communities that practices care for. In 2015, Pulse revea ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Healthcare inequalities • Politics • Practice and personal finance

Investing in general practice - if not now, when? ... tters? Patients need timely access to a GP, rather than a plethora of insufficiently-qualified-or-experienced clinicians. GPs need to be protected from inappropriate workload demands. Working conditions need urgently to be improved. Practices need sufficient funding to employ enough staff to safely provide services. And why the push to merge and scale up? Where is the evidence that this improves patient o ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Katie Musgrave

Pharmacy First uptake falling short of expectations, says Kinnock ... nd Social Care (DHSC) is looking at options to increase awareness of the scheme and to 'free up pharmacists to be able to operate at the top of their licence'. The scheme has aimed to shift of workload to pharmacies from GP practices, by allowing direct prescribing for seven common conditions: sinusitis; sore throat; earache; infected insect bite; impetigo; shingles; and uncomplicated urinary tract inf ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Dermatology and wound care • Infectious diseases, immunology and allergy • Respiratory • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics

Over 60% of GPs 'unsatisfied' with Government's handling of general practice ... al practice at the moment – they are working incredibly hard in incredibly challenging circumstances day in day out. ‘Workload has escalated both in terms of volume and complexity since 2019, but numbers of GPs have only just started to show an upturn – and we continue to hear reports from members about the nonsensical situation of GPs being unable to find employment upon completion of their train ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Politics • Practice and personal finance

BMA leaders back GPs declining to prescribe specialist medication ... the medications initiated, titrated and the patient stabilised. Proposing the motion, YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor said: ‘From a general practice perspective, it is a workload transfer – a decision is made in a secondary care service, and then a responsibility is passed to a general practitioner to actually initiate and generate the prescription. And it carries an increased risk. ‘GP ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workload

Dr Heather Ryan: How my own GLP-1 journey has reshaped patient consultations ... ries, takeaways and alcohol).There are also good and bad slimming clinics - GP Facebook groups are awash with stories about clinics inappropriately dumping workload back onto NHS GPs. Some clinics are more rigorous than others when it comes to ensuring patients are good candidates for the drug and are reporting their weight accurately. Before and after: one week of trea ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Guest opinion

Most people think GPs 'do not work hard enough', 'disheartening' survey finds ... conditions. ‘Time and time again, the Government delivers funding that’s tied up in complex structures and attached to complicated conditions and targets, ramping up GPs’ workloads. Despite this year's funding boost, the reality is that GPs will still be overworked and under-resourced – not the opposite. ‘While over half of the public rightly see GPs as an essential part of the NHS, even then, the r ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workload

Only half of overseas doctors who moved to the UK say their expectations have been met ... lf of doctors who qualified overseas and moved to the UK said that their expectations had been met, according to new research published by the GMC. Those unsatisfied with the move blamed heavy workload, stress and a poor work-life balance. The research, commissioned by the GMC, surveyed over 3,000 doctors between June and August 2024 who had either moved, or considered moving, to the UK for ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workforce

BMA 'increasingly' seeing non-GPs appointed as training programme supervisors ... ingly becoming involved in overseeing some aspects of GP training, including allied health professionals ‘who have never worked as a GP’. The committee's co-chairs warned that ‘intense workload pressures’ in general practice are ‘making it harder for GPs to take on trainer roles’. And they said that if this trend continues, there is a risk of ‘depriving future GPs of the invaluable insight and ment ... Date: 19-06-2025 Categories: • Career news • Education and training • Workforce

Nearly 160 sessional GPs currently 'seeking work' in Scotland alone ... that nearly half of GPs (44.58%) in Scotland say the future of their practice is ‘precarious’ or ‘not sustainable’, up 10% since 2023, and that many GPs are struggling to cope with their workload, with some describing it as ‘unmanageable’. At the same time, almost 160 FTE GPs are currently looking for work and could potentially be available, which would provide ‘approximately 700,000 additional appoin ... Date: 17-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workforce

Blue-sky thinking is great, but not if it fails to reach the grassroots ... I thought. But then I remembered my day job – because things aren’t so great there. The QOF changes haven’t really affected workload. GPs argue the toss about phlebotomy and earwax because, unfortunately, they still rely on these small pots of funding, which is akin to using tester paint tins to finish your house. I meet some genuinely admirable GPs who are able to restructure their services, to bring ... Date: 13-06-2025 Categories: • Editor's blog

GPs criticised by coroner for 'not understanding' medical examiner process ... try, there are still inconsistencies that need to be addressed, with some colleagues reporting an increase in workload and bureaucracy. 'It is vitally important therefore that practices across the country are adequately resourced to ensure that the system can be effectively implemented and delivers reassurance to patients and loved ones.' Pulse has reached out to Drs Singh and Pavli for comme ... Date: 12-06-2025 Categories: • Elderly care • Gastroenterology and obesity • Workload

GP concern at private out-of-hours provider enforcing 'morally wrong' targets Exclusive GPs working for a private out-of-hours (OOH) provider in the South West have raised serious concerns about new performance targets which they say are ‘morally completely wrong’. HealthHero, a l ... Date: 11-06-2025 Categories: • Urgent care • Workload

GPs providing continuity of care must be NHS priority, says CMO ... n, are more likely to adhere to medical advice, and have lower rates of hospital admissions. ‘GPs also benefit, with evidence showing reduced workloads as patients consult less frequently. Strong relationships and trust between practitioner and patient allow for the earlier disclosure of symptoms, faster diagnoses, and more effective treatment.’ But he pointed out that the number of whole time equiv ... Date: 10-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workload

Mounjaro primary care plans not yet finalised despite looming deadline ... eady to share any plans’ at this stage. All ICBs have received a funding allocation from NHS England which is based on both the drug costs and the expected workload of setting up the new service within primary. Medical secretary for Mid Mersey LMC Dr Ivan Camphor said that in his area ‘nobody’s really sure how it will work’ in primary care. Cheshire and Merseyside ICB did not respond to Pulse’ ... Date: 09-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Practice and personal finance • Workload

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