Appendix 6

MEDIA COVERAGE REPORT GPC DECEMBER 2007

GPC members have been busy defending general practice during the past month. The figures below do not reflect a flurry of coverage in the national newspapers on Monday 17 th December about Heart of Birmingham PCT’s proposals to franchise local practices. Laurence Buckman was quoted as saying “The government seems determined to do permanent damage to all existing practices. It is not interested in the quality of care, continuity of care or competence. Evenings and weekends – that’s the only thing that matters to Gordon Brown.” Laurence sent letters to both the Telegraph and The Times challenging the English Health Minster Ben Bradshaw’s comments about improving quality and stressing the high quality that already exists in general practice with practices scoring 95% on average on QOF.

Press Releases

22/11/07 BMA response to the Audit Commission report on Practice Based Commissioning 23/11/07 General Practice delivers holistic care, says GP leader: Response to article in BMJ 4/12/07 BMA response to the Healthcare Commission report on the state of healthcare 12/12/07 Government plans could deliver a second class service for patients, warn GP leaders 12/12/07 GP and dentists’ leaders express concern over tax changes

Letters to Press from GPs include the following: November 2007

Date Signatory Publication Subject of letter 21/11/07 Dr Laurence Buckman The Times Times inaccurately quoted the BMA’s guidance to LMCs re GPs receiving fees for use of premises. BMA has never advised that GPs are in breach of contract if they receive rental income (for eg) for mere use of their premises

23/11/07 Dr Andrew Cowie Courier & Advertiser GP services Tayside 3/12/07 Dr Laurence Buckman Pulse Practice nurses pay 5/12/07 Dr Laurence Buckman Guardian Abortions in GPs’ surgeries 7/12/07 Dr Trevor Roscoe BMJ Rapid Response QOF 10/12/07 Dr Laurence Buckman Daily Express Doctors’ low morale GP media coverage report November 2007

National Regional Total Print: 24 22 46 Broadcasts: 6 15 21

National National SUBJECT broadcas print t 0845 surgery numbers 1 1 Incapacity benefit 2 - Franchising GP surgeries 1 1 Triaging patients 1 - Immigration / ethnic minorities 1 1 GP care budgets - 1 Patient records / IT - 1 GP pay - 12 Private scans offered at GP surgeries - 1 Sicknotes - 1 GP out-of-hours - 1 C.difficile / MRSA - 1 Abortion - 1 Social services - 1 GP being given budget for NHS - 1 TOTAL 6 24

BMA spokespeople Broadcast Print Laurence Buckman 2 12 Richard Vautrey 1 2 John Canning 2 - Paul Hobday - 1 Bob Morley 1 1 BMA mention - 8 TOTAL 6 24

BROADCASTS

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

0845 GP surgery numbers  Dr Laurence Buckman - BBC Radio 4 Today programme

Monday, 19 November 2007

Incapacity benefit changes  Dr John Canning - BBC Radio 5 Live / IRN

Saturday, 17 November 2007

Franchising GP surgeries in Birmingham  Dr Laurence Buckman - BBC Radio 4

2 Saturday, 3 November 2007

Triaging patients  Dr Bob Morley - BBC Radio 5 Live

Thursday, 1 November 2007

Immigration and providing services  Dr Richard Vautrey - BBC Radio 5 Live

NATIONAL PRESS CUTTINGS

27/11  The Times P.4 – Doctors uneasy with minorities (quote by Laurence Buckman)

22/11  Financial Times P.4 – Slow progress on GP care budgets

20/11  The Times P.4 – Pay tiff may cause service cuts  The Guardian P.4 – Family doctors to shun national database of patients’ records  The Times P.21 – GPs banned from giving private life-saving scans (quote by Laurence Buckman)

19/11  The Sun P.2 – Sicknote test gets tougher

18/11  The Sunday Telegraph P.8 – ‘Fast-food franchise’ plan for GP services (quote by Robert Morley)

17/11  Daily Mail P.12 – 40p a minute…just to contact your GP (quote by Richard Vautrey)

15/11  The Times P.24 – GPs face penalty if patients need out-of-hours care at hospital (quote by Laurence Buckman)  The Times P.18 – Letters: NHS difficile from Paul Hobday, Chairman, Maidstone BMA

11/11  The Observer P.17 – Anti-abortion GP in ethical rules storm

06/11  Financial Times P.4 – Health chiefs press for further GPs pay freeze  The Guardian P.9 – Ministers plan to freeze pay of GPs and offer nurses rise below inflation (quote by Laurence Buckman)

04/11  The Observer P.16 – Why benefits should be part of the cure (quote by Richard Vautrey) 03/11  The Guardian P.8 – Tories plan to give GPs two-thirds of health service budget (quote by Laurence Buckman)

01/11  Daily Express P.4 – Outrage over the GPs who are on £200,000 a year (quote by Laurence Buckman)

3  Daily Mail P.10 – More than 300 GPs break the £250,000 barrier (quote by Laurence Buckman)  The Guardian P.2 – Average pay for GPs up by almost 10% to £110,000 a year (quote by Laurence Buckman)  The Independent P.1 – Doctor, Doctor: How can you justify a 10% pay increase, a year after you were given a 22% hike?  The Independent P.2 – Laurence Buckman: My profession is being vilified for doing what was asked  Daily Telegraph P.12 – Number of GPs earning more than £200,000 doubles (quote by Laurence Buckman)  Financial Times P.4 – Family doctors see 10% life in earnings (quote by Laurence Buckman)  Daily Star P.9 – GP pay soars by £30k  Daily Mirror P.10 – Record number of GPs to rake in £200,000 a year (quote by Laurence Buckman)

GP Regional Coverage November ‘07

Total 37 Print 22 Broadcast 15

Top Stories Legalise drugs 5 Pay 5 Workload 4 NHS admin 4 GP assistants 4 Private Funding 3 Appointments 3 Incapacity benefit 3 Overseas patients 3 Obesity 1 Extended hours 1 Violence 1

Spokespeople Spokesman R P John Canning 2 2 Kailash Chand 4 Hamish Meldrum 4 Dean Marshall 3 Michael Pym 3 Laurence Buckman 2 Robert Morley 1 1 Prit Buttar 1 Matt Capehorn 1 Jane Lothian 1 Alan McDevitt 1 Tom McKinstry 1

Broadcast 1/11  BBC Radio Scotland “GP pay” Laurence Buckman interview 2/11  BBC Radio West Midlands “Appointments” Robert Morley interview 5/11  QFM “Overseas patients”  Real Radio Scotland “Overseas patients” Dean Marshall interview

4 6/11  Real Radio Scotland “Overseas patients”  BBC Radio Bristol “GP assistants” Michael Pym interview X2  BBC Radio Bristol “GP assistants” X2  BBC Radio Somerset Sound “GP assistants” Michael Pym interview

19/11  BBC Radio York “Incapacity benefit” John Canning interview  BBC Radio Northants “Incapacity benefit” John Canning interview  BBC Radio Scotland “Incapacity benefit” Dean Marshall interview 21/11  BBC Radio Scotland “Missed appointments” Dean Marshall interview 30/11  BBC Radio Scotland “Violence” Alan McDevitt interview

Print 1/11  Western Daily Press “£200,000 salary is earned by 1,100 GPs” P17  London Metro “GP pay hits “110,000” P23  Birmingham Post “Birmingham GP services getting lowest cash in UK” P7 Laurence Buckman quote  Wantage and Grove Herald “Day in the life of a doctor” P24 Prit Buttar interview 2/11  Birmingham Mail “GPs should be happy with pay” P73  Rotherham Advertiser “GP’s bid to bring Rio to Rotherham” P4 Matt Capehorn quote 3/11  Wolverhampton Express & Star “Nurses join in protest march” P6 4/11  Birmingham Sunday Mercury “Nurses join NHS protest march” P29 Hamish Meldrum quote  Newcastle Sunday Sun “Health workers’ protest” P11 Hamish Meldrum quote 5/11  Birmingham Post “£6.5m wasted on sniffs and colds” P3 7/11  Worcester News “Docs are working too hard” P12 9/11  West End extra “We love the NHS – staff march for change” P2 Hamish Meldrum quote  Oldham Evening Chronicle “Legal drugs to cut crime” P23 Kailash Chand 10/11  Manchester Evening News (1sted.)“Heroin on prescription urged by top doctor” P11 Kailash Chand  Manchester Evening News (2nded.)“Heroin on prescription urged by top doctor” P11 Kailash Chand 15/11  Tameside Reporter “Doctor’s call: Legalise drugs”P3. Kailash Chand quote  Tameside Advertiser “Put heroin on prescription, says top GP” P11 Kailash Chand quote 16/11  Sutton Coldfield Observer “GP speaks out against frightening franchises” P9 Robert Morley quote 23/11  Newcastle Journal “Doctors at the heart of their community”P8. Jane Lothian interview 24/11  Bournemouth Daily Echo “GPs defended for saying no to extra hours” P14 Tom McKinstry quote 24/11  Durham Northern Echo “More GP surgeries for an under-doctored region” P12 John Canning quote  Darlington Northern Echo “More GP surgeries for an under-doctored region” P12 John Canning quote

5 From BMA Parliamentary Unit, London: GPC political activities:

• Dr. Laurence Buckman spoke at the All Party Primary Care Group reception at the House of Commons on Wednesday 21st November. Speakers included the Health Minister, Ben Bradshaw and Dr. Nick Goodwin (King's Fund).

• GPs in Somerset briefed their local MP ahead of a parliamentary debate on Wednesday 12th December on NHS services in Taunton Deane. The GPs briefed the MP on a wide range of issues including patient access and out of hours services. To read the debate, please go to: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm

• Dr. Buckman also gave evidence to the All Party Primary Care Group on Thursday 13th December as part of its ongoing inquiry into GP access. Dr. Buckman shared a panel with Hemant Patel (RPSGB) Andrew Ridley (Director of Primary & Community Care Commissioning – Tower Hamlets PCT) and Mike Farrar, Chief Executive – North West SHA

SCOTLAND Press Releases:

25 September General Practice: Delivering quality, improving outcomes 1 October GPs demand action to protect services in Scotland's rural communities 2 October Scotland's junior doctors outline way forward for recruitment but warn of impending problems for next year 11 October Scottish medical students face 50% more debt than the average graduate 16 October Scotland's GPs criticise local healthcare bodies for failure to engage with profession 18 October Doctors in Scotland retain final salary scheme and right to retire at 60 19 October New survey shows mounting support for presumed consent for organ donation in Scotland 20 October Are you a binge drinker? BMA Scotland highlights need for clearer information for consumers 19 November Tobacco licensing – a vital step forward in tackling under age smoking, says BMA Scotland 4 December Make Scotland's roads safer - reduce the drink driving limit 7 December Alternatives to PFI should be considered, says BMA Scotland

Broadcast: 14 October Sky News Dean Marshall Obesity

17 October Independent Radio News (IRN) Dr Dean Marshall Population Growth

18 October STV News Scotland Today George Fernie Presumed consent

Wave 102 News George Fernie Presumed consent

Forth FM News Martin Woodrow Presumed consent

BBC Radio Good Morning Scotland George Fernie Presumed consent

19 October

6 Real Radio News George Fernie Presumed Consent

Moray Firth News Martin Woodrow Presumed Consent

Real Radio News George Fernie Alcohol labelling

STV Scotland Today Stuart Scott Alcohol Labelling

BBC Scotland Reporting Scotland Stuart Scott Alcohol Labelling

22 October BBC Radio Scotland Newsdrive Dean Marshall Community health pharmacies and access to patient records

19 November

BBC Radio Newsdrive Dr Dean Marshall Reform of sick note system

21 November BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland Dr Barbara West Missed Appointments

4 December BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

BBC Scotland Lunchtime News Dr George Fernie Drink Driving

BBC Scotland Reporting Scotland Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

Central FM News Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

Kingdom FM News Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

Radio Forth News Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

Moray Firth News Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

Wave 102 News Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

XFM Dr Sally Winning Drink Driving

BBC Radio Scotland Scotland Live Drugs and the internet Dr Ian Banks

7 5 December BBC Radio Scotland Dr Sally Winning Teenage Kicks - Part 1 (on adolescent teenagers)

10 December BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland Dr Stuart Scott Emergency Workers Act/Violence (also featured Dr Alan McDevitt in pre-recorded feature)

Articles/Features: 28 September: The Scotsman There's room for improvement in the waiting game. Dr John Garner's monthly article.

4 October: The Berwickshire News Teamwork is the key for hard working staff A Day in the Life of a GP article - Simon Duke spent a day with the team at Eyemouth Health Centre and gives this first hand report on what is a very busy medical practice.

27 November Scotsman (Medical Matters) Remember our army of unsung caring 'angels' this Christmas . Monthly column by Dr John Garner, BMA Scottish Council.

Letters: 24 October 2007 - The Herald A new chemistry among pharmacists. Letters from Dr Brian Keighley and Dr Gregor Purdie on pharmacies and access to patient records

Comment/quotes/statements given on the following subject areas:

 GP numbers  GP morale  Role of nurses  Violence  Private Finance Initiative/PPP  Cost of prescriptions  Cancer referrals  Extended hours  Pharmacy access to patient records  Health Tourism  DDRB  Home health screening  NHS24  Obesity  Assisted dying  Alcohol misuse  Organ Donation  Abortion  Tobacco vending machines

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