Seven days in medicine: 29 Nov to 5 Dec 2023
BMJ 2023; 383 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2866 (Published 07 December 2023) Cite this as: BMJ 2023;383:p2866
Winter pressures
£40m is pledged to help local systems cope
The UK government has allocated £40m to areas to help free up hospital beds this winter. The money—additional to £200m announced in September—is being targeted at local authorities facing the greatest challenges in urgent and emergency care, aiming to speed up hospital discharge, increase social care provision, and prevent avoidable hospital admissions. Rory Deighton, director of the NHS Confederation’s Acute Network, welcomed any support but said, “Our members are eager to see a shift from these emergency pots of rescue money . . . and a move towards multiyear funding allocations that will help public services plan more effectively.”
General practice
Scotland’s GPs reject salaried service call
GPs in Scotland rejected a call for a “move to a fully salaried GP service” with similar terms and conditions to those of hospital consultants, saying that it would lead to a loss of flexibility and continuity of care. Proposing a motion at the conference of Scottish local medical committees on 1 December in Clydebank, Andrew Forder, a Lothian GP, said that the Scottish government had failed to fully deliver the 2018 GP contract, leaving general practice still in a “perilous state.” But others argued that the independent contractor model was not to blame for a failure of investment. (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.p2853)
Pension issues “force some GPs to quit”
General practitioners are being …
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