MPP Locums part of Medical Professional Personnel Ltd is proud to be been selected as a preferred supplier to the PPSA ( Penninsula Purchasing and Supply Alliance ) for the supply of temporary locum doctors.

MPP locums have a proven track record in working with acute NHS Trusts providing quality locum doctors at competitive prices. MPP Locums are an approved supplier on the Buying Solutions Framework Agreement and all doctors supplied are compliant under the strict NHS supply criteria.

Through competitive pricing and paying locums some of the best pay rates across the UK MPP Locums has secured new business right across the UK and the PPSA is our latest contract for locum doctors. This geographical area is considerable covering, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset and much of the South East of the UK.

Locum doctors looking for work can contact MPP Locums through or web site www.mpplocums.co.uk or by calling our locum team on 0845 122 0414.

As an incentive to new doctors registering in the area MPP Locums offer a loyalty bonus of £ 1000 to all doctors that complete 250 hours with MPP for the PPSA. MPP also offer a £ 200 referral bonus to doctors that refer a doctor that works 40 hours through MPP Locums.

Other benefits to doctors working through MPP will include first option of bookings including long term contracts where available with Trusts across the region.

MPP are very much looking forward to working with the PPSA and strengthening our existing relationships with the NHS Trusts in the region. 

With Parliament approving the latest NHS Reform Bill, business guru Sir Gerry Robinson fears that this may lead to the end of the NHS, as we know it.

Sir Robinson’s comments come after he spent six months reviewing the health of the NHS. The core reform will see and end of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) which currently decide where NHS money is spent.

Under the proposed bill which will now go to the House of Lords for debate will see PCTs being replaced by GP led Clinical Commissioning Groups who will make decisions about patient care and whether the public NHS or private care services best meet those needs.

Sir Robinson, said, “I have been doing my own listening, meeting the people who would have to make the changes work – our GPs. And I have come away with grave concerns over the very future of our beloved health service”.

A key part of the new reforms is offering patients a choice between NHS and private care. But at a GP practice in Hackney east London, Dr Deborah Colvin told me, “She is worried that this could unravel schemes like her diabetes project”.

“If a patient said ‘I want to see a diabetic nurse from that company and a dietician from this company,’ it is going to make my life a nightmare in terms of different payment systems, different forms”.

“I would never get everybody together to talk together and that would not be best for patients,” said Dr Colvin.

Sir Robinson added, “She is proud of her scheme she devised for local diabetic patients that brings a number of local agencies into the practice to deal with this complex illness”.

“What worries me, and what I do not think will work in the long run is to use outside providers because they appear cheaper in the short term – but that are not part of a properly managed, strategically planned system of care”.

“I think there is a place for outside providers, but it needs to be carefully managed.”

“When I met Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, he defended the reforms but acknowledged that patients need to know what is being proposed.”

“You have got 50 million patients for whom it (the NHS) is always going to be important, so when they hear that the service is going to be fragmented, is it going to be safe in the future, they need to know it is going to be safe”.

“Despite criticisms of Mr Lansley’s plans, I also found grassroots support for wholesale change,” said Sir Robinson.

According to Dr Kosta Manis, a GP in Bexley, “The changes are better for patients and better for NHS finances. And key to that is the central reform – giving GPs substantial control over budgets instead of the current PCTs”.

“And that means control over how much they pay for services from the NHS and how much they buy in the private sector”.

Some of the concerns raised by supporters of the reform are that under the current system money is being wasted when the service could be provided cheaper and quicker than the same service provided in an NHS hospital.

For example Dr Manis was concerned that angiograms were often routinely ordered at the local hospital because they were a source of income for the NHS hospital, not because they were absolutely necessary.

The Health Secretary agreed that the current system can encourage waste. “It happens because of the way the payment system in the NHS works at the moment – because it pays for activity. So of course if you incentivise somebody just to do more work, they will do more work,” Mr Lansley said.

“This naturally provides great potential for waste if hospitals are not vigorous in weeding out unnecessary procedures. I also have concerns that GP reforms would affect other elements of the NHS, possibly even leading to hospital closures if hospital incomes are significantly reduced as money is spent instead on private health care,” said Sir Robinson.

Mr Andrew Lansley, said, “If the people who are commissioning the services want the services to be there, if the public want the services to be there, if it is transparent that the service is in demand it does not actually make sense to just shut it down”.

In closing, Sir Robinson said, “I think the stakes here are huge. Who is going to be managing the big picture? Unless somebody really does grab this thing at the centre and has the courage to make unpopular but right decisions then I fear this could spell the end of the NHS”.

With the controversial NHS Reform Bill now entering the House of Lords, there are still serious concerns from those within the profession, the general public and leading business gurus such as Sir Robinson who feel that the Reform Bill will be the beginning of the end of the NHS, as we know it.

With increased competition from the private sector, NHS hospitals could be in the situation in the future where costs take a priority over patient care in order to win contracts and treat patients. However there are also those within the profession that believe a more open healthcare with competition between NHS hospitals and private sector healthcare providers will see patient care improve, less waste and a more efficient service for patients.

However, despite the benefits being put forward by supporters of the Reform Bill, there are many within the profession that are concerned that the NHS of the future as it goes through radical change could see more hospitals closing seeing further job losses of key workers within the profession such as doctors, front-line support staff and managers.

With demand for doctors, GPs, GP locums, as well as other healthcare professionals remaining constant despite recent cutbacks, MPP Locums continues to provide professional, quality doctors, GPs, GP Locums and nurses throughout the UK.

With years of expertise within the industry, MPP Locums understands what are clients’ needs are and we are able to provide the personnel needed as budgets and demands change.

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

As one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums provides first class medical professionals to both the NHS and private health care providers.

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.

Recent figures reveal that the NHS is spending more money on media spin-doctors than it is on experts in charge of cancer screening and patient care.

Critics of the latest news said, “The revelation was a staggering example of the enormous waste found in the Health Service at a time when efforts to cut unnecessary costs should be a priority.”

In the last four years, primary care trusts and strategic health authorities across England have spent £182 million in their communications departments, employing 491 full-time “media professionals”.

During 2010-11, a total of £44.3 million was spent on spin and public relations roles. In the last full year in which Labour held power, the bill was £50 million. 

One such example, Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority paid in 2009-10 their director of communications and public relations, Karl Milner £128,600.00 

However, at the same time, the organisation’s national cancer screening director was paid £106,000, while the director of patient care earned £127,200.

Dr Phillip Lee, Tory MP for Bracknell, said, “Taxpayers want their hard earned money to go on doctors and nurses – not spin doctors and bureaucrats.”

“We already know that under the last Labour government, spending on NHS management soared. And now we find out that vast sums of money were being splashed on publicising the work of these bureaucratic bodies.”

All strategic health authorities employ a head of communications, with nine of the ten authorities including spin-doctors on their executive board. 

The figures, revealed under the freedom of information laws, have also shown differences in attitudes between areas. 

While Richmond and Twickenham Primary Care Trust claim to have a communication budget of only £15,000 per year, Solihull Care Trust said, “It has set aside £1.2 million per year.”

The revelations are the latest example of waste in the NHS, which has been ring-fenced from Government cuts. Under Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms, SHAs and PCTs will be abolished.

He has also made a commitment to cut management costs, including those of PR and spin-doctors, by 45 per cent over the next four years. 

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayer’s Alliance pressure group, said, “It’s an unacceptable waste of taxpayers’ money to spend more on PR advisers than cancer specialists.”

The Department of Health, said, “The NHS budget must be spent in ways that secure the best outcomes for patients. That is why we are cutting back on the administration costs of the NHS by £5 billion over this Parliament”.

With some health services in the UK spending more on public relationship roles than healthcare professions, the question critics would argue is, at a time of government cut-back, surely this money could be better spent. 

The money spent on spin doctors could better spent on providing patients with better health care with more money being spent on training and recruiting health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, and locums to meet the change in demand on the healthcare service. 

As the debate continues on the best way forward for the NHS in terms of patient care, cutbacks, recruitment of health care professionals, MPP Locum works with our partners throughout the UK to provide first class healthcare professionals. 

Established over 10 years ago, MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

MPP Locums is one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK. 

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.

Recent figures released by the Department of Health reveal that waiting lists grew by 61% in the past year, with hundreds waiting more than a year to be offered treatment. 

With pressure from the Government to save £20bn over the next four years, many managers within the NHS are struggling to ensure patient care is not affected by the spending cuts. 

Figures released by the Department of Health has lead Labour to claim that the NHS is “going backwards under the Tories.”

Despite efforts by mangers ensure patient care is not affected by the spending cuts, 11,857 people in June had waited half a year to receive treatment, up from 7,360 from the same time last year.

Although the Government promised to protect frontline services, the reverse appears to be happening. One hospital trust in Kingston, London had announced earlier this year that 500 jobs would go as part of its plan to become a foundation trust, yet 2,314 patients have been waiting more than a year to begin treatment. 

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA’s consultants committee said, “Trusts are having to make huge cost savings as demand for services continue to grow. The NHS is being asked to do more with fewer resources, and it was always likely there would be an impact on waiting times.”

A spokesperson for Unison said, “It was proof positive that if you start cutting staff there’s a direct impact on patients.”

With more patients now waiting longer for treatment, could see a rise in patients taking legal action to force Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to abide by the NHS constitution which gives patients a right to be seen within 18 weeks of referral by their GP. 

The latest findings show that about one in three PCTs in England are not hitting the target of 90% of patients to be seen within 18 weeks. The latest figures shows that 31,483 patients were waiting longer than 18 weeks to get treatment at hospital, up 9,063 on the figure from May 2010 when the coalition government was formed.

John Healey, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said, “The NHS is starting to go backwards again under the Tories. Instead of concentrating efforts on improving services for patients, ministers have spent a wasted year forcing through their reckless and damaging NHS reorganisation.”

However, the Department of Health countered Labour’s argument and pointed out that the NHS is keeping to the target of 90% of NHS patients to be seen within 18 weeks. Health minister Simon Burns, said, “Average waiting times are low and remain stable. The vast majority of patients still receive treatment within 18 weeks.” 

Figures released earlier in August showed that despite the drop in overall A&E attendance, the number of patients actually waiting more than fours hours has almost doubled in the last year. And the number of people waiting more than six weeks for key NHS tests has almost quadrupled in the last year, although more tests were carried out. 

Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said, “The NHS made huge progress on waiting times in recent years and nobody wants to see those hard-won gains lost.”

“Our polling of NHS leaders has already shown 53% were worried that patient access, which includes waiting times, would suffer over the next 12 months. This data is further evidence that patient access will be stretched as the financial situation gets increasingly pressured.”

Sarah Tedford, chief operating officer for Kingston Hospital NHS Trust, said, “The hospital had carried out a major overhaul of the way it handled waiting lists after discovering a problem.”

“We would like to make it very clear that these delays are unacceptable and would like to apologise to those who have been affected by this. Whilst over three quarters of our patients are being treated within 18 weeks (in August) we are very sorry for the delays some have experienced. We would like to reassure patients that as soon as this came to out attention, we immediately took action. Over the next few months we plan to be treating extra patients to bring our waiting times down to within 18 weeks.”

As hospitals across the UK continue to struggle to meet budgetary constraints set by the government, the likelihood of further redundancies within the NHS is set to continue. 

With hospitals such as Kingston in London where 500 jobs have already gone this year, further cuts in staffing numbers will have a negative effect on patient care in England. The number of patients already waiting longer than 18-weeks to be treated will only increase. 

As managers struggle to maintain patient care and meet the government’s target to cut costs, MPP Locums, understands the pressures managers face by providing quality healthcare professionals throughout the UK, whenever and wherever the demands are needed. 

Established over 10 years ago, MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

MPP Locums is one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK. 

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team. 

Long waits for orthopaedic care has left vulnerable patients being in pain and with disability for months, campaigners have said.

Arthritis Research UK, warn that situation across the UK is worsening and is particularly affecting the elderly the most. 

Currently patients needing orthopaedic care, such as hip and knee replacements, face the longest hospital waiting times in the NHS. 

The target of no one waiting longer than 18-weeks for treatment is not being met with one in six patients having to wait longer. Official figures show that this is the highest wait of any specialty treatment. Furthermore, around 5% have had to wait even longer than six months to be treated. 

Dr Benjamin Ellis, of Arthritis Research UK, said, “More and more NHS hospitals are trying to save money by making people wait for their joint replacement operations.”

“This decline in quality of NHS services is condemning large numbers of people to months of unnecessary pain and disability.”

“Depriving people of timely treatment, many of them older people, is unfair and risks going back to the days when people waited months and years to receive their new joint.”

Orthopaedic treatment is the most common type of non-emergency care carried out by hospitals.

Orthopaedic specialists see some 55,000 of the 300,000 patients undergoing elective treatment each month. The latest figures released show that more than 16% were not seen within 18 weeks in May, up from just over 13% last year. 

Under the NHS Constitution, patients have the right to be treated within an 18-week time frame, however the latest figures show this is not the case with more patients having to wait longer. 

The situation for orthopaedic care is twice as bad compared to people waiting for eye care problems where 8% wait longer than 18 weeks. For dermatology, the figure drops to less than 3% of patients having to wait longer than 18 weeks. 

These latest findings come after a report published last week by regulator Monitor predicated a number of foundation trusts – the group of top-performing hospitals in the NHS – would face difficulties keeping waiting times down in the coming year.

Peter Kay, president of the British Orthopaedic Association and former adviser to the Department of Health, said, “Problems were most acute in orthopaedics because of the ageing population and the fact that the NHS has never properly got on top of the issue.”

“We are a victim of our own success really. Hip and knee replacements have such good outcomes and as people are living longer, their joints wear out and they need these operations.”

“But even when we are getting waiting lists down we never really tackle the issue. We have relied on temporary theatres, Saturday surgeries and the private sector. The NHS has not expanded enough to create sustainable capacity and with money tight we are seeing things squeezed.”

“I am seeing more and more patients coming to me who are on powerful pain-killers like morphine. That should not be happening on such as scale, but they are getting stuck in the system, not getting referred straight away, and waiting longer than they should.”

The Department of Health pointed out that some of the longest waits could be because people where choosing to wait beyond 18 weeks for valid personal or medical reasons.

A spokesman said, “Waiting times for orthopaedic care were still ‘low and stable’, while the average wait was 12 weeks.”

“This is against a backdrop of rising demand for NHS services, so the low waiting times are a testimony to the hard work of the NHS staff.”

With more patients having to wait beyond the 18-week time frame for orthopaedic surgery, the cutbacks being implemented across the NHS is clearly affecting patient care. Patients are now left in pain due to lack of resources for over six months in some cases. 

As cutbacks are being felt across the NHS, the current situation is clearly not acceptable, especially when the government has committed to maintain and improve patient care through their reforms. With NHS Trusts across the UK looking to streamline services and make financial savings where possible, MPP Locums understands the financial pressures managers have to deal with in providing patient care. 

MPP Locums is one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK. 

Established over 10 years ago, MPP Locums works closely with our partners to provide quality healthcare professionals where the demands are needed across the UK. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley says, “NHS managers are abusing the system by making patients wait longer for treatment.”

Mr Lansley was speaking out after a competition watchdog criticised the way non-emergency operations such as hip replacements, were being run.

The Co-operation and Competition Panel (CCP), said, “Some primary care trusts had introduced minimum waiting times to save money and level-down performance.”

It said, “Some patients were forced to go private or died before they got care.” However in response to this, NHS managers reacted angrily to the claim.  

David Stout, director of the Primary Care Trust Network, said, “Making claims without evidence that patients are dying as a result of longer waiting lists will cause unnecessary public anxiety and alarm.”

“Commissioners take very seriously their role to ensure that patient health is not put at risk waiting for the care they need.”

Despite the claims, the panel did not name any of the individual trust nor was it able to say how many places were in fact adopting such practices. 

Furthermore, the claim of patients dying before being treated is unclear because as there is no record of what patients were dying from, as the treatment they were waiting for was non life-saving care. 

However, the report cited an anonymous example where one trust was insisting patients wait at least 15 weeks for treatment. Despite patients having to wait 15 weeks for treatment, this still falls within the 18-week time frame to be seen, even though many hospitals can see patients more quickly than that. 

Mr Lansley said, “The findings justified his reform programme, which aims to put doctors in charge of decision making.”

“This is exactly why we need to put patients’ interests first.”

“Too many PCTs have been operating in a cynical environment where they can game the system – and in which political targets, particularly the maximum 18 week waiting time target, are used to actually delay treatment.”

“When GPs, specialist doctors and nurses are making the decisions, as they will under our plans, they will plan care on the basis of the clinical needs of patients and their right to access the best service, including the least possible waiting time.”

One of the effects of minimum waiting times is money can be saved by scheduling treatment to be carried out in the next financial year. 

Furthermore, since 2006 patients have had the right to choose where they go for treatment including approved private hospitals. However private health firms seeing NHS patients have argued it erodes their competitive advantage because they are often able to see patients more quickly compared to NHS hospitals and by making patients wait longer for treatment erodes their competitive advantage. 

In addition to looking into waiting times, the CCP report also looked at an array of other anti-competitive and patient unfriendly practices currently being employed by NHS trusts, as well as introducing minimum waiting times. These included giving local NHS hospitals guaranteed levels of treatment, rationing the range of treatments private hospitals could provide to the NHS and capping the number of patients that could go outside the local area.

PCTs had argued the measures were needed to protect local hospitals.

With the government continuing to come under attack over its NHS Reforms such as the recent report by the Co-operation and Competition Panel, the NHS of the future is far from being resolved. There are many within the healthcare profession including clinicians and managers who feel that an NHS that is more open to competition can only be a good thing. 

Patient care and the right choice of treatment for patients will become more open as NHS hospitals compete with private health firms to deliver the best treatment for their patients. GPs and GP Locums will be able to shop around to ensure their patients’ needs are met and that the cost of treatment is competitive and value for money. 

With more competition, advocates of a more open competitive NHS could see more doctor, GP and GP locum jobs being created as health care providers adapt and change to provide more services and flexibility that fits with their patients’ working lifestyle. 

As the NHS continues to modernise and change under the current government, MPP Locums continues to provide healthcare professionals and locum staff across the UK to NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers. 

Established over 10 years ago, MPP Locums is one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team. 

Although the government is committed to making amendments to the NHS Bill, the British Medical Association (BMA) reject the idea that changes to the health and social care bill will reduce the risk of privatisation of the health service.

In the latest attack on the government’s NHS reforms, doctors voted to launch a public campaign against the health bill. The BMA council voted to pass a series of motions critical of the government’s bill – and crucially accepted that doctors “start a public campaign to call for the withdrawal of the health and social care bill”.

The motion put forward by NHS consultants Clive Peedell and Jack Davis will continue to put pressure on the government during parliament’s summer break. 

The BMA voted to “reject the idea that the government’s proposed changes to the bill will significantly reduce the risk if further marketisation and privatisation of the NHS and agreed that the government is misleading the public by repeatedly stating that there will be no privatisation of the NHS”.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of council at the BMA, said, “Whilst the BMA recognises there have been some changes following the listening pause, there is widespread feeling that the proposed legislation is hopelessly complex, and it really would be better if the bill were withdrawn”.

Dr Peedell, a colleague on the council, said, “That the health bill was just a privatisation bill with a third of it devoted to producing an economic regulated market”.

Despite the government’s attempt to appease both professional and public anger over the NHS reform bill - with the legislative pause, this has so far had little effect. Internet campaigners 38 Degrees, which has 850,000 members in the UK, claim they have raised enough money through their online marketing campaign to employ lawyers to go over the 180 amendments produced by the government when it re-submitted the bill for its second reading earlier in July.

David Babbs, the organisations executive director, said, “38 Degrees members want to cut through the tangled web of amendments which make up Andrew Lansley’s re-written NHS plans. So we’re chipping in to hire legal experts to go through the bill with a fine tooth comb”.

“We’re concerned that real threats to our NHS may still lurk behind Lansley and David Cameron’s warm words. We are on a slippery slope to the NHS being broken up by EU competition laws. Why does Lansley seem to be watering down his legal duty to provide a national health service?”

Labour’s John Healey, said, “Despite David Cameron’s promises, his health bill changes are a bureaucratic mess, not a proper plan for improving patient care. Now people are realising that despite the ‘pause’, the wasteful and unnecessary reorganisation is going ahead and the long-term Tory plans to break up the NHS remain intact”.

The Department of Health said, “We will never privatise the NHS. The BMA’s position is disappointing because previously the doctors’ union said there was much in our response to the listening exercise that addressed their concerns, and that many of the principles outlined reflected changes they had called for”.

“The independent NHS Future Forum confirmed there is widespread support for the principles of our plans to modernise the NHS, including handling more control to doctors, nurses and frontline professionals”.

“Patients will never have to pay for NHS care. The bill has changed substantially since the BMA first voted to oppose government policy. Our plans have been greatly strengthened in order to improve care for patients and safeguard the future of the NHS”.

As the government continues with its NHS Reform Bill, those within the profession feel the government really isn’t listening to their concerns. With increasing financial pressures being put on the NHS to save money, the opening up of the NHS to privatisation, critics would argue that this would have an effect on patient care with profits coming first. 

Furthermore, as NHS Trusts across the UK implement ways to reduce their spending by cutting back on services, it is those in the frontline that have to deal with these problems such as doctors, GPs and GP Locums. 

However, the independent Future Forum has confirmed that the amendments proposed by Andrew Lansley will give more control to doctors and nurses. 

Despite the changes that are taking place within the NHS, those within the profession continue to provide first class patient care and at MPP Locums we work within the healthcare profession supplying professional health care and locum staff across the UK to NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers. 

As one of the fastest growing and largest specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums has over 10 years of experience within the industry. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team. 

MPs and peers call for the number of beds in NHS hospitals in the UK to be cut by 10% to improve dementia care.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia said, “This would free £1bn that would be better spent on improving community-based services.”

In the report, the committee says, “failure to act will result in an unqualified crisis.”

However, in contrast to the committee’s report, some experts warn that the savings will be difficult to achieve with health and social care budgets coming under extreme pressure.

Furthermore, NHS Trust across the UK are already coming under pressure to save money by reducing services, cutting back on doctor, GP and GP Locum jobs when staff leave. With financial cuts already affecting many hospitals across the UK, any additional savings would be harder to achieve.

The APPG report highlights that the annual cost of dementia in the UK has now reached £20bn, but says, “There is ample opportunity to spend money more effectively.”

The report also criticises the NHS for failing to place a priority on dementia services. It calls for “better co-ordination across the system, including carers, GPs, care homes, hospitals and social care.”

One of their key concerns is that people suffering dementia do not get the care and support they need until they have reached a crisis point. It says, “The care they then require is hugely expensive – much of it unnecessary and completely avoidable.”

To improve dementia care, the report recommends changes to reduce inappropriate hospital admissions of people with dementia and to shorten their stay.

Taking data and findings from the Alzheimer’s Society and the Department of Health, the APPG says, “Up to a quarter of hospital beds in England are estimated to be occupied by people with dementia aged over 65 years at any one time.”

“This means more than 26,000 people with dementia are in hospital at any one time, at an annual cost of more than £2bn.”

Furthermore, the APPG argues moving treatment could reduce this and care out of hospitals into community based services, and suggests that reducing acute and geriatric beds by at least 10% would release £1bn.

The group says, “The money would be better spent on specialist support for GP practices to help diagnose dementia.” It also recommends strengthening community support to avoid emergency admissions and providing day and night respite care.

The chair of the APPG on Dementia, Baroness Sally Greengross, said, “The plan could deliver immediate savings.”

“Money is consistently being thrown away on poor quality services and inappropriate care for people with dementia.”

“The Dilnot Commission last week put caring for older people firmly in the spotlight, but its recommendations are not yet a reality.”

“Our report shows there are many ways to save money and improve care now.”

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said, “We can’t keep using the chicken and egg excuse that it’s not possible to cut beds, and release funds, until community services are in place.”

“The reality is, money is not being spent in the best way and NHS bosses must find a way to change this.”

But Professor John Appleby, chief economist at health research group the King’s Fund, warned, “That this was easier said than done.”

“It can be difficult to free up resources in one part of the system to be spent in another. In theory, treating people in the community setting should reduce bed use in hospitals, with the savings being used on community services. In practice it can be very difficult to realise such savings.”

The chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Mike Farrar, said, “The report raised a difficult issue for politicians.”

“Shaping dementia services to suit the needs of local people will require some frank and honest discussions about the need to close some services and move others out of hospital if we are to provide the best care in the future.”

Care services minister for England, Paul Burstow, said, “Dementia was a priority for the government. Earlier diagnosis is key as it allows people to plan for their future, preventing the need for crisis intervention and premature admissions to acute hospital care.”

“This delivers better outcomes for people with dementia as well as significant cost-savings.”

With an ageing population, the number of people likely to suffer from dementia is set to increase. With more people suffering from dementia the government needs to look at how dementia care can be improved.

More money needs to be spent on providing the right care for patients. One way this could be achieved is by introducing more community based care by reducing the number of hospital beds by 10%, which would free up around £1bn.

Furthermore, with more care in the community, the role of GPs and GP Locums is likely to increase as they treat and care for more patients suffering from dementia. With rising demands for GPs and GP Locums to care for dementia patients in the UK, MPP Locums is able to provide first class medical personnel across the UK.

As one of the fastest growing and largest specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums has over 10 years of experience working within the healthcare profession supplying professional health care and locum staff across the UK to NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers.

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.

In a recent announcement by the medical director of the NHS, the use of new technology could see patients consulting with their doctor over the internet within a year rather than a decade.  

Sir Bruce Keogh, said, “That using emerging video internet technology he could envisage an NHS that was available 24-7.”

“High-speed broadband – essential to internet video calling – could allow people to consult international experts or take advantage of out-of-hours care provided by overseas doctors in another time zone.”


“Such technology would lessen the need for a ‘geographical connection’ between GPs and their patients, while it would also enable doctors to conduct what he called “virtual ward rounds.”

Speaking at the Government’s launch of its plans to make all state data available online, Sir Bruce Keogh called for his colleagues to make their success rates public. 

He said, “The NHS had to adapt because young people won’t put up with having to travel to a doctor and wait 20 minutes when they can just use the web to talk directly to a doctor.”

“The younger generation just don’t accept the offer as it is now.”

The use of video technology – “telehealth,” could see patients accessing this service for a wide range of medical problems such as chronic diabetes and those with visible conditions like skin complaints.

Some GPs are already piloting “telehealth” however limitations to good broadband infrastructure such as in rural areas is holding back the progress where it could really benefit patients, especially those who aren’t able to make it into GP surgeries easily. 

Sir Bruce acknowledged that the NHS had yet to lay out a “national vision” for digital access, but he said, “That it would happen in the future.”

“As well as being better for patients, he argued that in the long term it would be cheaper and more efficient for the NHS.”

He said, “In Northern Ireland a group of neurologists had found using new technology was cheaper and the patients like it more.”

However, he also acknowledged that his plans would “open up a whole heap of financial issues.”

The use of video technology through high speed broadband is already being used to monitor old people in their homes with remote supervision.

With new technologies becoming available, will open up how GP surgeries can operate offering more out of hours care and diagnosis. With more GP surgeries offering out of hour care, 24/7 access, the need for more GP and GP Locums to meet demands is likely to rise with more GP and GP Locum jobs becoming available. 

With “telehealth” technologies becoming more possible, is just one of the reasons why the Government is investing £530 million on improving broadband in the UK by 2015.

Frances Maude, Cabinet Office Minister, said, “That plans to release data about all NHS performance, including GPs as well as surgery, would allow patients to be more selective about their treatment.”

As the role of GP surgeries adapt and change to meet patients needs – the use of new technologies will open up patients access to seeing their GP, especially for those living in rural areas, younger more internet savvy patients and those who working lives do not fit in with current GP surgery hours. 

With more GP surgeries being able to offer a 24/7 service in the near future will create the demand for more GP and GP Locum jobs as well as offering more flexibility to GP and GP Locums on how and when they want to work. 

As the NHS embraces new technologies through video consultations, MPP Locums understands the need to provide first class medical personnel to meet a changing modernising NHS. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three years. MPP Locums is regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

As one of the fastest growing and largest specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums has over 10 years of experience working within the healthcare profession supplying professional health care and locum staff across the UK to NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers. 

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.

Under current EU laws, British patients are being put at risk as freedom of movement is put above the safety of patients, warn leading clinicians.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, said, “That European employment law and other countries’ refusal to share information from their medical registers meant British medical regulators were sometimes powerless to guarantee foreign doctors’ capability.”

Because of this we could see situations occurring where a doctor who is banned from practising in one country could be registered in Britain without the General Medical Council (GMC) being aware of their ban due to incompetence or malpractice.

Under current EU laws the GMC can not test European-qualified doctors’ clinical capability or language skills, where as they can for doctors from outside the EU.

With the current EU laws concerning the free movement of labour between member countries, as well as the current situation of skills tests not being applicable for EU qualified doctors could see more EU qualified doctors applying for doctor jobs, GP locum doctor jobs in Britain if they are banned from practicing in their home country.

At a BMA meeting in Cardiff, Dr Meldrum said, “If a doctor was struck off and the GMC knew about it then the likelihood of them being able to practice is probably quite low, but the problem is whether the GMC always knows about it and also the reasons as to why it happened.”

“We are aware of several cases where doctors have been removed from the medical register in this country because of fitness to practice problems, but are still practicing elsewhere in the EU. I am afraid EU law seems to put freedom of movement rather higher than protection of patients.”

The concerns of Dr Meldrum are only too clear with the case of Daniel Ubani, a German-qualified cosmetic surgeon working in Cambridgeshire who accidentally killed David Gray, a 70-year-old patient with an overdose of painkillers.

Because of EU laws, the GMC where unable to verify whether or not Daniel Ubani had ever worked in Germany as a GP, because his license gave him automatic entitlement to work in the UK.

Dr Meldrum added: “We saw with the Ubani case how he was found guilty in the UK and yet he is still practicing in Germany and that doesn’t seem to be satisfactory.”


Dr John Fitton, a GP from Kettering, Northamptonshire, said, “It should be unacceptable that a doctor who is found to be incompetent or untrustworthy in one jurisdiction of the country might be equally be able to find employers in another.”

So far, the European Commission has launched a green paper consulting member nations on the prospect of an international alert system when a doctor is found unfit to practice.

Niall Dickson, GMC Chief Executive, said, “This is about patient safety. When we take action against a doctor we actively tell other regulators.”

“We want other regulators across Europe to do the same and have urged the European Commission to put a duty on them to do this. We believe all regulators must share this vital information in order to keep patients safe.”

Under the current system, EU qualified doctors from members states of the EU are able to work in the UK regardless of their clinical and language skills. With a government determined to improve the efficiency of the NHS, as well as improve patient care and treatment, this is one area that could lead to future problems.

Furthermore, as financial cutbacks affect NHS Hospitals across the UK, standards in patient care must remain a priority by recruiting doctors, GPs and GP Locums who have all the necessary skills and competencies to deliver a high standard of patient care the government is committed to delivering.

As hospitals across the UK have to work within current EU legislation, MPP Locums understands the need and importance of providing first class medical professionals.

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

With over 10 years of experience working within the healthcare profession, MPP Locums supplies professional health care and locum staff across the UK to NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers.

MPP Locums is one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK.

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.