Practices are being encouraged to adopt a new “sexual safety” charter launched by NHS England. The charter pledges a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual harassment. NHS trusts and practices will be expected to sign up to the new sexual safety charter by July next year – while local integrated care board will be expected to…

Remote GP and other primary care consultations can be as effective as face-to-face appointments for some conditions, new research has found. A study by a team at Imperial College London said health outcomes for patients who had remote appointments for mental illness, alcohol misuse, weight management and for advice on stopping smoking at least matched…

Practices have had little respite over the summer, GP leaders warned, as new data showed a significant increase in appointments in July. Practices in England delivered 27.8 million appointments in the month compared with 26 million a year earlier, according to the NHS England data. June had seen an even bigger increase in appointments, from…

Practices are to receive bonus payments for bringing forward the COVID and flu vaccination programme because of the risks of the new variant virus, it has been announced. NHS England said the programme should begin on 11 September – three weeks earlier than the planned October start. The alarm has been caused by the identification…

Armed forces veterans have been urged to identify themselves to general practices so they can be referred for support with a major national project. Government ministers say the Op Restore programme has capacity to provide care for many more than the 740 veterans who have received referrals so far. It says that referrals will usually…

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…