1st October 2024

Royal Colleges:”review needed into PAs”
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has called on Streeting to commission a review into the role of medical associate professionals (MAPs) in GP practices as well as secondary and community care, in order to establish an evidence base. Concern has arisen about safety issues – a patient has died when wrongly diagnosed by a PA, and supervision – do they really free up a doctor’s time?

What Darzi didn’t say
Yes, the Health and Care Act 2022 repealed Section 75 (compulsory tendering of clinical services) of the hated Lansley Act; but it did not remotely eliminate the role of markets. Reports by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest and the Keep Our NHS Public show how the private sector has penetrated the NHS from service provision through to commissioning. Further, Darzi ignores other important issues.

Trust selects CEO’s wife’s firm for contract
To run its Urgent Care Centre a hospital trust has selected a company whose chair is the wife of the trust’s CEO. Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust has selected a GP-led co-operative company, FedBucks, as its preferred provider to run urgent care and out-of-hours services.

Racism leads to health inequality
A review conducted by the UCL Institute of Health Equity led by Prof Sir Michael Marmot, found that people who are repeatedly exposed to structural racism during their daily lives experience worse physical and mental health as a direct consequence.