Improved staffing levels at GP practices in England do not lead to faster appointments for patients, researchers report today. Research carried out by the University of Manchester analysed practice-level data on 6,284 general practices in England and appointments made between August 2022 and October 2022. The data contain monthly counts of attended appointments at each…

All practices in England should be using digital phone technology by the end of March, the Government has stated – as medical leaders warned the project would not solve the problems of general practice. The Department of Health said more than a thousand practices have so far signed up for the digital upgrades, aimed at…

Are you feeling a bit anxious about the new whole patient population audit? Let me tell you what practices can do to mitigate and manage the CQC’s new detailed inspection approach. Since 2022, the CQC have been auditing whole patient populations using Ardens search tools which can find any and all patients who are potentially ‘at risk of…

NHS England has explained its winter vaccination plans after facing criticism for delaying the main programme until October. It said it wants practices and pharmacies to focus on seeking to deliver joint flu and COVID vaccination to ensure eligible patients get both vaccines. It wants services to focus on vaccinating children against flu in September,…

Just one in 20 GPs in Scotland believe their practice is sustainable in the long term, according to a stark new survey. About a third of doctors said their practice is already in a “precarious” situation in the survey conducted by the British Medical Association and published yesterday. The survey involved more than 850 doctors…

I’m used to reading NHSE documents, and I know that sometimes you have to read between the lines. That doesn’t appear to be the case this time around. I feel terrible that I’m so suspicious, but the release of documents late on a Friday, with big changes compared to almost every other year’s documents, made…

GPs in England have elected a leading doctor to lead them following the controversial ousting of their previous leader. The new chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee for England is Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the UK conference of local medical committees since 2019 and chief executive of the Cambridgeshire local medical committee.…