HM Primary Care

Foresters Friendly Society has launched a new GP Consultation Service which provides its members with access to medical advice around the clock. The new service is part of the Foresters Extras package (providing discretionary optical and dental grants, a legal advice helpline, and a discounted will writing service) which is available to all Foresters members when they take out a policy.

For the first time data at the level of the 211 proposed Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) has been presented. The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) report Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set: Emergency Admissions; provides more information about indicators within the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set and aims to provide comparative information for CCGs and Health and Wellbeing boards on the quality of commissioned health services in primary and secondary care and, as far as possible, the associated health outcomes.

Following the Government’s response to the Francis report, within which was a call for a duty of candour on providers, The Medical Protection Society (MPS), the not for profit professional indemnity provider for doctors, dentists and health professionals, queried the value of legislation.

Primary Health Properties, the primary healthcare facilities provider, has acquired a standing let medical centre investment and is to fund two additional medical centre properties that are being developed.

Notices were published last month in the Official Journal for the European Union (OJEU) advertising three tender opportunities to provide community pathology services for the East and West Midlands. The step marks a significant milestone in the nationwide initiative to transform pathology services and comes after several months of discussions and negotiations with the region’s Primary Care Trusts and emerging Clinical Commissioning Groups. Dr Tim Wreghitt, former vice president of the Royal College of Pathologists and Clinical Adviser to the NHS Midlands & East Strategic Projects Team who are managing the project, commented: Pathology services have developed in a very incoherent way over the past ten years. For the first time these new contracts will put in place service standards that will specify test turnaround times and other performance criteria, therefore providing clarity for GP practices. This will mean GPs have a clear understanding of when they can expect to receive test results, whether that is in four hours or two days, depending on the level of service they require for their patients. Patients will not see any changes to the service they receive from their GP surgery, because where their tests are taken and their results delivered will not change. The benefits for patients are tremendous; test results received when they need them; reinvestment of savings made in to their local health services; and, consistent test results in line with agreed quality standards.’

Primary Healthcare Properties, the healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) announced a number of acquisitions late last year which raised the value of its portfolio to £643.3m. In December it acquired Apollo Medical Partners, which specialises in the development, investment, and management of primary care premises in the UK, in a deal worth £62.3m. The deal comprised 14 primary healthcare properties – 11 of which were completed assets. The remaining three are under construction with completion dates in place.

Call handlers staffing an out-of-hours GP service run by Serco, the private contractor, have been told to make new checks before calling 999 when they receive what appear to be emergency cases in order to cut down the number of referrals they make to the ambulance service, according to story in the Guardian newspaper. The Guardian reported it has also seen a management email to staff describing how they should manipulate their computer system in order to meet targets set down in the company's contract on 999 responses.

Moonray Healthcare, the investment company specialising in healthcare and medical sciences, has made a substantial investment’ in Wiltshire Medical Services (WMS), a primary care services provider.

Individuals may be putting themselves at risk of undiagnosed cancer by not going to see their GP as soon as they notice something unusual about their body. People across Britain are delaying going to their GP despite noticing something that isn’t usual for their body, saying they would have to feel physically unwell before they made an appointment, according to Axa PPP healthcare. A poll among more than 2,000 adults finds that 61 per cent of Brits say they have delayed making an appointment with their GP when they’ve noticed something unusual for their bodies.

A husband and wife GP firm, SSP Health has been named as preferred bidder to run 20 practices operated by the Liverpool and Sefton primary care trusts.