The NHS is to press on with a plan to remove patients from GP lists if they have not been in touch for five years, it was reported today. Patients will get two letters giving them a chance to confirm they want to stay on the list – otherwise they will be removed. NHS England…

New large-scale practice groups are helping GPs and their staff cope with growing pressures – but show little sign so far of delivering improvements in quality or patient satisfaction, a think-tank report says today. The study of four organisations with a total of 150 practices between them found them failing to stem overall declines in…

Nicola Hayward And so, another week nearly over and Politics hits the headlines again… but I have to say, so far I’m pretty impressed with Mrs May, our new PM.  It was an interesting decision to put Boris back ‘in power’ as Foreign Secretary, but he’s made his bed and he’s now been forced to…

Patient participation groups (PPGs) are now an integral part of GP practices up and down the country. Indeed, in April 2016 it became a contractual requirement for all English practices to form a patient participation group (PPG) within 12 months and to make reasonable efforts for this to be representative of the practice population. That…

Robert Campbell When I first started work in the NHS I was 16 years old and my take home pay for my first month at work was £23. I gave my mother £10 and bought a corduroy jacket. I started on the Clerical grade and over the next 25 years of my career, I progressed…

About 50% of practices in London have a vacancy for a member of staff – and dozens are considering closing, according to the findings of a survey published today. Londonwide LMCs, which represents GPs throughout the capital and conducted the survey, said the findings showed a “state of emergency.” Some 628 practices took part in…

Patients still struggle to get through to GP surgeries on the phone – but overall satisfaction with services is increasing, according to a new survey. The findings from the latest annual national GP survey paint a mixed picture. Some 70.1% of patients said it was easy to get through to the practice by phone –…