Online doctor faces GMC over internet prescribing
A GP who prescribed betablockers for a 16-year-old boy over the internet thwarted attempts by other doctors to keep the youngster off medication, the General Medical Council heard. Julian Eden, a GP who ran online service e-med, prescribed the drugs to the boy, who had a history of mental illness, without discussing it with his […]
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Survey shows waning medical support for NPfIT
A picture of declining support among doctors for the National Programme for IT emerges from the latest Medix survey of medical opinion on IT modernisation, sponsored by E-Health Insider. One of the key findings of the survey is that half of all GPs surveyed said they do not plan to upload patient details onto the […]
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Peer podcasts for doctors’ forum
Health minister Lord Warner has recorded his first ever podcast with doctors’ network Doctors.net.uk, answering questions placed to him by forum users. He answered questions on the Modernising Medical Careers recruitment reforms, NHS finances and headline jobs cuts, the growth in independent treatment centres and the future of IT in the NHS. "All healthcare systems across […]
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Sealed envelope safety risk raised by BMA
Doctors have raised concerns that Connecting for Health proposals to allow patients to hide some information in sealed envelopes puts patient safety at risk. Representatives at the British Medical Association’s annual meeting backed a motion which claimed that allowing patients to keep some medical information confidential from other doctors “may lead to significant patient safety […]
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Offer alternatives to self check-in, GPs advised
GP practices who use patient self check-in systems need to make sure patients are informed about their use and offered alternative systems, a medical defence body has warned. The Medical Defence Union (MDU) has issued advice about the use of automated appointments systems after receiving a number of calls from MDU members with check-in systems […]
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GMC doctor search now shows restrictions
The General Medical Council has updated its search facility so that restrictions on a doctor’s registration are immediately visible online, after it was heavily criticised in a report from last year’s Shipman Inquiry for not showing full information online. The fifth report from the Shipman Inquiry, published last December, called the GMC "unhelpful to the public" for […]
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Doctors can order drug samples online
Online portal Doctors.net.uk have started a drug sampling service with , ‘iSample’, that will allow doctors to opt in to request free pharmaceutical stock online. Registered doctors on the site can register for the scheme, which is administered by Doctors.net.uk and medical data company Cegedim UK. They must then download and print off a sample […]
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Do no harm
Peter Singleton of Cambridge Health Informatics considers the case of a patient who tried to opt out of electronic recording. Efforts to preserve confidentiality go back to Hippocrates, he argues.
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Practice manager finds no opt-out from NCRS
A practice manager has tried and failed to prevent her health record, which contains a significant error, being stored in existing databases and the planned national NHS Care Records Service. Helen Wilkinson of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, who manages a practice in West London, has de-registered from the NHS following a long correspondence about the problem. […]
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Better information on doctors vital, says Shipman report
The GMC needs to improve the information available online about the registration history of doctors and whether any action has been taken against them in the past, the fifth report from the Shipman Inquiry has concluded. Several of the over 100 recommendations made by the fifth report of the Shipman Inquiry relate to making it […]
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