Patients will be able to book doctors’ appointments on their laptops and receive sick notes by email as part of a drive to modernise GPs’ services.
The plans – dubbed ‘the start of the doc.com era’ by one Whitehall policy adviser – would also allow test results, repeat prescriptions and medical records to be accessed online.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will announce the reforms tomorrow, saying he wants to ‘take the hassle out of the health service’ and ‘end the 8am rush to book GP appointments on the phone’.
Some of the reforms have been trialled in surgeries and will be rolled out nationwide by 2015.
New research has mapped the way that MRSA “superbug” bacteria spread, BBC News has reported. The results suggest that antibiotic-resistant bacteria may often spread from large, inner-city hospitals to smaller regional ones when patients are transferred.
The way that superbugs spread has been researched as part of an intricate study conducted by Scottish researchers, who looked at samples taken across the UK over 53 years. The researchers used genetic techniques to scan patterns and mutations within the various samples and to build up a “family tree” showing how a particular strain (called EMRSA-16) has spread between different hospitals across the country. They found that EMRSA-16 has generally spread by transmission from hospitals in large population centres in London and Glasgow to regional healthcare settings. The researchers suggested that patients’ referrals are an important cause of the spread of this bug across the country.
This type of study can provide useful estimates of transmission routes of MRSA, although there is still a need for further research incorporating a larger number of sampled hospitals to determine the wider UK pattern.
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of CS MEN Regional Champion Jerry Morse, please find attached an invitation to attend a Regional Workshop, taking place at the Centre for Health Science, Inverness on Monday 18th June starting at 10am.
Interesting article on research carried out on the effectiveness of hand hygiene:
The third in the series of acute care toolkits from the Royal College of Physicians aims to improve the care of the frail older patient.
ECG Guru - Instructor Resources Featured
Happened upon this great site for everything ECG-- may be worth a visit
Simplification vs. Over Simplification Since ECG instructors teach students at many different levels, it is sometimes necessary to simplify or even over-simplify some materials.
Read all about the NHS Leadership Academy’s Self Assessment Tool – a resource to help healthcare professionals develop leadership skills - in the latest edition of the National Health Executive. Head of Board Development Sue Mortlock is interviewed about why the tool is so valuable to leadership development.
A world class national centre designed to produce and inspire current and future generations of NHS leaders to drive improvements in patient care, has been launched.
The NHS Leadership Academy will help develop outstanding leadership in order to improve patients’ experiences, their health outcomes and their wellbeing.
To do this it will work with doctors, nurses, health professionals and managers from across the NHS. It will also work with public health and social care, and with local government, where Health and Wellbeing Boards are key to improving health and care outcomes.