NAPC News 10 March 2010

Finite Resources Must Be Used Wisely

Responding to the Guardian about cuts to NHS services, the NHS Confederation director of policy, Nigel Edwards, said that a handful of primary care trusts showing relatively small deficits this year did not suggest the NHS was in crisis.

He acknowledged the importance of communicating local changes to services with staff, patients and local communities, who all held a significant stake in the country's health services.

Mr. Edwards said PCTs had to manage demand on health services, but equally hospitals and primary care services had a responsibility to ensure they used finite resources wisely.

No Pay Rise For Top Public Sector Staff

Gordon Brown will today announce a pay freeze on senior public sector workers including judges, senior NHS managers, GPs and quango chief executives. Hospital doctors, dentists and prison officers will get no more than one per cent rise. But he will stop short of tackling what he sees as frontline public services.

Police officers, teachers and nursed are expected to be unaffected, having already negotiated separate three year deals.

PCTs Need To Become More Like Commercial Operators

Writing in the Daily Telegraph about the role of PCTs played in managing NHS finances, James Gubb, director of Civitas, said the decisions they could make were constrained. He continued that PCT had helped to register success and drive innovation but this, unfortunately, wads not the rule, with the rise in the number of emergency hospital admissions, and other costs. In order to address and overcome these issues, he advocated government encouraging PCTs to become ‘vigorous purchasers, and PCTs developing commissioning skills familiar to commercial operators.

Maternity Mergers Creating Impersonal Baby Factories

Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, has warned that London's maternity units risk becoming birth factories, which fail to meet the needs of women. She said the NHS closures and cutbacks will result in ‘large and impersonal' birthing centres, with some hospitals delivering up to 10,000 babies a year. Whilst consultation was extensive, she commented, and there was clearly clinical involvement, financial considerations appeared paramount. The RCM was opposed to factory like units of this size.

Bipolar Is Trendy

More and more Britons are telling their doctors they have bipolar disorder, even when they have not. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has noticed a surge in the number of GPs asking them if a patient is really bipolar.

Psychiatrist, Dr Diana Chan, said there were patients who wanted to be bipolar. This increasing ‘popularity' may be attributed to celebrities talking about mental illness.

Astra's Star Fades AS Cancer Drug Fails Late Stage Trial

AstraZeneca this week reported that trials of Recentin against Avastin for colorectal patients had seen the former drug fail to record significant results. AZ's share declined by 42.5p, following the news.

Analysts at Jefferies International said if the ruling went against AstraZeneca, it would reduce mid-term earnings per share by around 25%. The stock was rated as under performing, with a £24.50 target price.

Roche Suspends Arthritis Trial

Roche has suspended a late-stage trial for a new rheumatoid arthritis and lupus drug after several patients died from infections. Roche said the drug had been developed with Biogen Idec.

Scientists Discover A Trendy New Superfood

Nutrition scientists say the egg should be considered a superfood because of its ability to boost health and tackle obesity. In a study to be published I Nutrition and Food Science, researchers said that despite being low in calories, eggs were a rich source of protein and were packed with amino acids for growth, vitamin D, vitamine B12, selenium, choline and antioxidants. The study analysed 71 research papers and reference documents that examined the nutritional composition of eggs and their role in diet.

Nutrition scientists have recommended eating at least one egg a day.

Genetics Pain Clue

People who suffer more pain than others could have a gene mutation, according to researchers. Protein released by the gene, SCN9A, activates nerves for longer. The discovery could lead to the production of better painkillers and help to explain different responses in patients, according to the US based, National Academy of Sciences.

Children Sick After Taking Meow Meow Party Drug

Around 180 pupils at a secondary school in the north west of the country have been off sick in the past four months after taking the ‘meow, party drug, Mephedrone, which produces a high similar to ecstasy. The drug, also known as bubble, drone or bounce, comes in powder, crystal or liquid form and is potentially lethally.

Eating For Two May Harm Baby

Mothers to be, who are eating for two, may be influencing the health of their baby, say researchers at the University of Missouri. A study of pregnant mice found that a diet high in fat or carbohydrate affected almost 2,000 genes in the developing offspring, including those involved in kidney function.

Rivals Circle German Generic Drug Jewel

Ratiopharm, a German generic pharmaceuticals firm, is being targeted by Pfizer, Teva and Actavis for takeover, according to reports. Pfizer is said to have bid as much as $4.1bn for Ratiopharm.

Executives from Pfizer and Teva have travelled to Germany to present their proposals to Ratiopharm, according to analysts, who said Actavis was scheduled to do so this week.

GPs Vote No Confidence In Managers

Three quarters of UK GPS have no confidence in their local primary care managers, a survey in the GP press has found.

The Rate our PCT Survey, the first to let GPs hold a mirror up to NHS managers, found that just 15 per cent had confidence in their PCT or primary care organisation. The findings follow criticism of target driven, inappropriate management at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

The survey, conducted between October 2009 and January 2010, attracted more than 1,650 responses from GPs, practice managers and other practice staff. A total of 73 per cent of GPs who responded, and 77 per cent of partners, who completed the survey, had no confidence in their trusts.

In total, 85 per cent of GPs rated their trust's overall performance as fair or poor and ratings across a range of key areas, including financial management, leadership and commissioning, were damning.

The survey revealed an alarming picture of disaffection and mistrust. Dedicated individual trust staff were shown as powerless against an inflexible system, with rapid employee turnover, top down commands and a focus on imported models.

Revalidation Will Include EU GPs

Revalidation will go some way to solving problems caused by laws that prevent the General Medical Council (GMC) checking doctors' fitness to practise before they work in the UK, the GMC said.

At the launch of the GMC's consultation on revalidation, GMC chief executive, Niall Dickson, said revalidation would provide the opportunity to learn more about the 20,000 EU doctors working in the UK. EU doctors, who register with the GMC, will be required to take part in revalidation, a spokesperson for the regulator confirmed. This means that EU doctors working in the UK, including locums, will be required to have a responsible officer and to take part in annual appraisals.

Practices Could Be Taken Over By Hospital Trusts

Plans to integrate NHS services in London could lead to general practice e being taken over by the acute sector according to GP leaders.

Dr Drage, joint chief executive of London wide Local Medical Committees (LMCs), said he thought it possible that all practices in the capital would be forced into ‘poly-systems', with acute trusts shaping the services they offered.

After a two month investigation by London wide LMCs, Dr Drage said that PCTs in the capital faced SHA pressure to shift hospital work to GPs working in poly- systems - networks of NHS providers delivering a broad range of primary and acute services in the community.

London PCTs also faced pressure to vertically integrate community services with acute trusts, Dr Drage said. GP practices might become little more than chronic disease and outpatient management centres.

Dr Andy Mitchell, NHS London medical director, said that the SHA encouraged all forward thinking parts of the NHS to be prepared to initiate and run GP and community health services.