Our continuing campaign to highlight the dangers of sunbeds has revealed figures showing that over the last five years Wrexham Council has generated in excess of £83,000, by operating ten sunbeds in three of its leisure centres. We were able to obtain the figures under a Freedom of Information request. And we are now calling [...]
Archive for September, 2009
Exposing Wrexham Council’s sunbed profits
Monday, September 28th, 2009
Action after inquiry needed on stroke services in Wales
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009BMA representatives have given evidence this morning to the Assembly’s Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee inquiry into Stroke Services in Wales. Several other groups with an interest in this area have also given evidence, along similar lines to ours, so here’s hoping the committee listens and acts on the recommendations of the majority. A [...]
New fee scale for dispensing doctors
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009The BMA’s General Practitioners Committee (GPC) and NHS Employers have agreed a new fee scale for dispensing doctors, which will come into effect next week, 1st October 2009. The fee scale for dispensing doctors will be lowered by 8.7 per cent for the remaining six months of the financial year, representing a 4.9 per cent [...]
Surgeons’ overtime bill highlights more deep-rooted problems within the Welsh NHS
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009The front page of the Western Mail today highlights an issue that has been of concern to BMA Cymru Wales for some time – the need to adequately staff the Welsh NHS. The over-reliance on overtime and private hospitals to try and ensure waiting time targets are met, is merely using a sticking plaster to [...]
Scrapping GP catchment areas – superficially attractive but not essentially practical
Thursday, September 17th, 2009Good to hear that this isn’t a priority for the Welsh Assembly Government as the BMA can see many drawbacks to the idea of scrapping GP catchment areas. For a start, the rest of the health service and social services and county councils all work by boundary areas, and so to just suddenly take general [...]
Swine flu vaccine agreement reached for Wales
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Agreement for a swine flu vaccination programme to be rolled out by GPs across Wales, I am pleased to say, has been reached. General practice is an efficient and adaptable model that reaches into every community in Wales and is best placed to deliver the vaccination. GPs are used to delivering large scale vaccination programmes [...]
A ban on violent patients doesn’t seem so "understanding"
Monday, September 14th, 2009And just to add to my earlier blog post on violence and aggression, whilst we support the memorandum of understanding, we wouldn’t go as far as calling for people who are violent towards NHS workers to be banned from using frontline services, which is what Barbara Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales police seems [...]
More than just understanding is needed to tackle violence and aggression in the Welsh NHS
Monday, September 14th, 2009This development is a step in the right direction and should help with the investigation and prosecution of alleged attacks against doctors and the wider medical profession. Action to show people that violent behaviour will not be tolerated is long overdue with the problem becoming more widespread. More than 7,000 incidents were reported in the [...]
The WAG could be storing up a whole heap of problems over a lack of GPs
Friday, September 11th, 2009It seems as if nothing has changed yet then in terms of the future of the GP workforce in Wales, or if it has, it’s only a change for the worse. The latest round of “Workforce Statistics for General Practitioners in Wales, 1998 – 2008” just serve to highlight how much of a ticking time [...]
Life as a junior doctor isn’t car "crash" TV
Thursday, September 10th, 2009I was intrigued to hear about a new TV series, “Crash” which started on BBC1 last night, focussing on the lives of junior doctors, who’re just embarking on their medical careers and it is good to see this area of the medical profession being given such a prominent platform. I was curious though to find [...]
Calling time on alcohol promotion
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009The BMA has launched a new report today looking at the effects of drinks promotions, particularly amongst young people. We’re calling for a total ban on alcohol advertising, including sports events and music festival sponsorship as well as promotional deals like happy hours, two-for-one purchases and ladies’ free entry nights. “Under the Influence”, also renews [...]
New award to honour GPs and Consultants in Wales
Monday, September 7th, 2009Just to highlight to our members – a new initiative by Cardiff University – to honour Wales’ best medical supervisor or trainer. The Wales Deanery Best Educational Supervisor and Trainer (BEST) Awards 2009 have been launched by the University’s School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education. They have been set up to honour GPs and [...]