April 28, 2006
Scotsman Prescription Campaign
The Scotsman has a campaign to get free prescriptions for sufferers of life-threatening and chronic diseases. A related Scottish Executive consultation closes on Sunday.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=633042006
news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=57&id=634662006
Posted by Simon Holledge at 08:46 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 19, 2006
Foreign doctors: change of status protest
Serious illnesses are indicated by multiple symptoms. So it is with the NHS. Despite government protestations we have one public issue after another, affecting every aspect of the service. Rarely has the breakdown of a system been so comprehensive.
One issue which has not yet hit the middle pages is the position of junior foreign doctors. For years, they have helped fill gaps in the NHS, coming to Britain for both career advancement and (increasingly in recent years) for higher pay.
In order to facilitate the employment of these doctors, the Home Office invented a ‘no work permit required’ category. They were described as being in ‘training’, while typically earning net salaries of around GBP 20,000 to 30,000 per annum. (I suppose one of the purposes of bureaucracies is to create interesting anomalies.) Those wishing to get this status had to take the so-called PLAB (Professional and Linguistic assessments Board) test, organized by the GMC - a large industry in its own right.
Now there are too many doctors. Not too many from the point of view of patients who can’t get treatment, but from the point of view of overspending NHS officials. One reason for this is that the training scheme for young doctors has been changed (shortened) in such a way that those at the beginning and middle of the process have suddenly had to chase fewer and fewer jobs. Over the past six months it has been common for hospitals to get hundreds of applications for a single job. (This has also affected young British doctors as well and many have left the country to try to get jobs in places like Australia and New Zealand.)
The response from the Home Office has been to end the ‘no work permit required’ status for foreign doctors from July. Unfortunately many young doctors have been caught in the middle of the changes. The BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) is organizing a protest march on 21 April. They explain:
“We are international medical graduates, who have passed PLAB, and are trying to get fair treatment. Many of us are already here in the UK and are in training posts, but are being treated unequally. Why are we protesting? Because the rules have been changed suddenly, without proper consultation or warning and unilaterally.”
UPDATE 21 April 2006
This story has now been taken up by the BBC and press.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4928954.stm
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4929902.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:33 PM | TrackBack
March 26, 2006
Public smoking ban starts today
No smoking in public places from today. All concerned should be congratulated. This measure alone has made the Scottish Parliament worthwhile. If only other political issues were so easy to solve! Will 140 pubs close? I doubt it.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:15 PM | TrackBack
March 07, 2006
Eliminating MRSA
And now some sensible advice from the Scottish Infection Standards and Strategy (SISS) Group about getting MRSA out of Scotland’s hospitals - but will the Scottish Executive take it?
news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=303&id=342152006
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:06 PM | TrackBack
March 02, 2005
Video practitioner
A mother picks up a torch and points her Mac iSight camera down her daughter’s asthmatic throat sending a live video feed to her doctor online. The family are part of an experimental programme organized by MyMD in Georgia.
I am not sure whether this is good medical practice, but it definitely beats waiting several days for a appointment to see your GP.
www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,66728,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by Simon Holledge at 03:18 PM | TrackBack
February 02, 2005
NHS Dentists
The Scotsman headline on 31 January read “Scots NHS Dentistry about to ‘collapse’”, but anyone reading the story would conclude that this had already happened. The account of Scotland’s dental health is so bad that it reads more like a satire than a news report.
Why do people put up with this situation? Another vicious circle of diminishing services and expectations?
Judging by the followup story on 1 February, Labour politicians expect dentists to be altruistic. This doesn’t sound like much of a solution. Dentists fees will have to raised, we should train more dentists, and we should make it easier for foreign dentists to come and practice here.
SNP MSP Shona Robison has a good statement on this on the SNP website.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=115802005
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=119262005
www.snp.org/index_hires.php?pageName=news/newsdetail.php?newsID=2797
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:20 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 06, 2005
Rapid detox
Heroin addiction is not something I know much about, but this Wired article on a new way to treat it seems important.
www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/detox.html?pg=1&topic=detox&topic_set=
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:43 PM | TrackBack
December 26, 2004
Electronic tagging
Kate Foster in the Scotsman has a piece in the Scotsman about the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWCS) approving the electronic tagging of dementia patients.
I have no particular problem with this - if handled sensitively - especially if it means fewer locked doors and a little more freedom for patients. Is the ‘tag’ a worn device, perhaps on the ankle? Perhaps radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are too limited in range to be practicable?
Actually, I am surprised that this technology has not been adapted to track hostages in the Middle East.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1464782004
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:49 PM | TrackBack
November 15, 2004
Hurrah for Bhutan!
Bhutan is the first country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco. (I was about to write smoking, but apparently there is a lot of cannabis there.) Anyway it’s a splendid achievement for this small, remote, Himalayan country.
Could we do the same thing in Scotland? I mean start banning smoking on small, remote, scenic islands in order to get publicity. If people in the States or Europe read that Colonsay or Rum have outlawed tobacco it would surely give a great fillip to local tourism.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4012639.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:34 PM | TrackBack
November 11, 2004
Smoking ban announced 2.
More on the smoking ban.
Jack McConnell: “A comprehensive ban will be a clear signal that Scotland has changed. It will reduce smoking, save lives and help transform our national health. It will be easier to enforce and simpler to understand than other options that would fall short of that.”
This time he has got it absolutely right!
I hope the SNP and the other parties will back this 100 percent. No other political initiative can achieve so much so easily, and have such a positive influence on our lives, as this one: improving the social environment and health, while raising the image of Scotland in the wider world.
The ban will demonstrate that devolution does work in Scotland.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1302702004
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:30 PM | TrackBack
November 10, 2004
Smoking ban announced 1.
The proposed smoking ban in enclosed public places was announced in Holyrood today. It may not be implemented until the spring of 2006, but should be comprehensive.
Bill O’Neill, Scottish secretary of the British Medical Association, said: “Devolution has provided us with an opportunity to lead the rest of the UK in developing this vital piece of public health legislation.”
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3996587.stm
news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1300042004
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:47 PM | TrackBack
October 03, 2004
Public backs smoking ban
The results of the government’s public consultation will show an overwhelming majority in favour of banning smoking in restaurants and pubs. Nearly 40,000 people responded, 20 times more than any other consultation.
A smoking ban has now been all but endorsed by the SNP, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and Scottish Labour so this should be an issue that Scotland can act on before the rest of Britain.
It’s questionable whether we will have much to to be proud of - the dangers of passive smoking have been understood for many years now.
There is an article about the consultation in the Scotsman by Andrew Denholm.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1149502004
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:14 AM | Comments (1)