Digest News


GMC recognises personal impact of complaints


AN independent review into the personal impact on doctors subject to fitness to practise procedures has led the GMC to make changes in the way it investigates complaints. These include increased support being


made available to doctors undergoing investigation and a commitment to obtain key information more quickly after receiving a complaint, to help determine whether an investigation is needed. The GMC says that this process, known as ‘provisional enquiries’, has already prevented around 400 cases from going to a full investigation. The GMC will also now have the option to pause the process if a doctor under investigation is “very unwell” so that they can receive medical treatment. The independent review was commissioned by the GMC to look into cases where doctors had died from suicide while subject to investigation. Psychiatrist Louis Appleby was asked to advise on how to reduce the impact and stress of such investigations, and this involved working closely with policy teams, looking at each step of the investigation process from when a complaint is received to when the case closes or, in a minority of cases, gets referred to tribunal. Professor Appleby commented:


“Investigations can be punitive in effect, even if that is not the intention. Being able to see things from the point of view of the hardworking, perfectionist, sometimes distressed and probably remorseful doctor was key to reforming the process.”


Many cancers preventable with lifestyle changes


OVER 37 per cent of cancers diagnosed each year in the UK could be prevented through lifestyle changes, according to new figures from Cancer Research UK. The study published in the British Journal


of Cancer cited figures from 2015 data that found smoking remains the biggest preventable cause of cancer,


Dementia guidance for dentists


NEW guidelines to help dentists provide better care for patients with dementia are now available free of charge online. Dementia-friendly dentistry from the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP UK) advises dentists how to adapt their patient management and clinical decision making for patients with dementia. Written with input from organisations such as the Alzheimer’s Society, it covers the epidemiology and diagnosis of dementia, and its implications for dental professionals, including homes and domiciliary care. It also includes information about local support, educational programmes and resources for patients, as well as more than 50 recommendations for practitioners. First published in hard copy in October 2017, the guidance has now been added to the Faculty’s Standards Online portal. Access at tinyurl.com/ycsogr8g.


despite the continued decline in smoking rates. Tobacco smoke caused around 32,200 cases of cancer in men (17.7 per cent of all male cancer cases) and around 22,000 (12.4 per cent) in women. Excess weight is the second largest


preventable cause of cancer with around 22,800 (6.3 per cent) cases each year attributed to excess weight or obesity. The third most preventable cause is overexposure to UV radiation from the sun and sunbeds, which causes around 13,600 cases of melanoma a year (3.8 per cent of all cancer cases).


Other preventable causes of cancer include drinking alcohol and eating too little fibre (causing around 11,900 and around 11,700 cases respectively, which is 3.3 per cent each), and outdoor air pollution which is blamed for around 3,600 lung cancer cases a year (1 per cent).


Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s


chief executive, said: “Leading a healthy life doesn’t guarantee that a person won’t get cancer, but it can stack the odds in your favour. These figures show that we each can take positive steps to help reduce our individual risk of the disease. “Prevention is the


most cost-effective way 6 / MDDUS INSIGHT / Q2 2018


of beating cancer and the UK Government could do much more to help people by making a healthy choice the easy choice.”


Decline in continuity of care


A STUDY of GP practices in England found an overall decline in continuity of care between 2012 and 2017. Researchers in Leicester conducted an observational study in 6,243 primary care practices with more than one GP and calculated “patient-perceived relationship continuity” using two questions from the GP Patient Survey. It found that relationship continuity declined


by 27.5 per cent between 2012 and 2017 and at all socioeconomic deprivation levels. Writing in the British Journal of General


Practice, the researchers state: “Increased relationship continuity in primary care is associated with better health outcomes, greater patient satisfaction, and fewer hospital admissions. Greater socioeconomic deprivation is associated with lower levels of continuity, as well as poorer health outcomes.” The study set out to examine whether


deprivation scores predicted variations in the decline over time of patient-perceived


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