The NHS is still short of its target for putting GP records on-line, a process which is expected to reduce pressure on practices, it has been announced. More than 80% of practices have now uploaded patient records and made them available on the NHS app – but the target is to achieve this for 90%…

Remote GP consultations carry risks for some urgent conditions – and practices and patients need to take steps to avoid this, according to a major new analysis. The risks include new chest and abdominal pain, palliative care, injuries and diabetes, according to the latest findings of a project involving the University of Oxford and the…

Investment in primary care will be crucial to ambitions to cut cancer deaths in the UK, senior doctors say. Cancer Research UK yesterday set out its proposals aimed at preventing 20,000 deaths from the disease by 2040. Among its proposals is a call for a dramatic reduction in waiting times for tests and diagnoses. The…

General practice in Northern Ireland is now in its “most difficult position ever,” a major summit has heard. Practices are having back contracts in the face of financial and staffing pressures and rising patient needs, the region’s conference of local medical committees heard. Dr Alan Stout, who has been chair of the British Medical Association’s…

Doctors need to maintain “generalist” skills in order to provide care for growing numbers of elderly people with multi-morbidity, the chief medical officer for England has said. CMO Professor Chris Whitty said that governments had not planned adequately for this growing population – warning that the elderly are increasingly concentrated in coastal and rural areas.…

Nearly three million people a month are trying and failing to get through to GP practices, according to a new analysis. A new survey of GP access has been undertaken since May this year and found little change up to the end of October, the Health Service Journal revealed. The survey is a new study…

Practices in Scotland are being encouraged to sign up to a new scheme to provide support for the health care needs of military veterans. The Scottish government said a pilot project had been successful. The project, similar to one in England, will provide training materials for practices along with clinical case studies. Scotland called on…