In the news

You may have noticed in the Alton Herald on 20 July 2001 (page 7) an article about the very kind donation from Mrs June Fisher in memory of her husband John. John was a lung disease sufferer and the money is to be earmarked towards nebulisers for when we go it alone as a new surgery and need a supply of our own for short or long term loan to patients. Good quality machines represent quite an expense and this donation puts us on an excellent footing for supplying this need. 



MMR - Measles, Mumps and Rubella

One of the docs' more fun bits of reading is Bandolier, a little journal which promotes evidence-based medicine. This is a punchy few pages, taking a long view on the statistics in the journals which make it onto the news - The Lancet, British Medical Journal and the like. Bandolier wouldn't be the first to claim that there is a pressure on such high profile journals to publish results with positive findings - they're newsworthy - even if the statistics are later seen to be creaky at best. This is known as Publication Bias, and it's a Bad Thing (we have studies to prove it).

Bandolier's latest issue revisits MMR: "Parents, and their physicians, can be reassured that high quality studies conducted around the world continue to demonstrate that their is no link between MMR and autism or inflammatory bowel disease. The weight of evidence on the safety of MMR is now rather large. The evidence in support of a link is incredibly weak." They suggest that somebody does a study on the studies: "...examining the chronology of the scare in relation to the evidence available. There are lessons to be learnt, certainly by news reporters, certainly by editors of learned journals and ...by providers of healthcare."


Thamesdoc - our out-of-hours service 

We hope that those who have needed to use Thamesdoc, our out-of-hours co-operative of neighbouring practices, have found the service accessible and friendly. Certainly the feedback we have obtained from the completed Patient Feedback Survey has been overwhelmingly positive, and the doctors are appreciating not being on call for big stretches, like in the old days - hopefully that means you're less likely to encounter a grumpy doctor, and that procedures are safer too! Remember, for medical advice as a first point of access, you can access NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk The number's also available from our out-of-hours telephone system, and from our website, as are directions to the Thamesdoc base at Bordon, if you are asked to come down. We will always visit if required, but please remember that it saves oodles of time and resources to bring the mountain to Mohammed, if you can possibly get to us.

Staff news

Sister Jean Thomas is joining the practice from the beginning of August. Many of you will know her from the treatment room. She has just graduated with an Honours BSc in Specialist Practitioner Nursing, so congratulations are in order, as well as some deep thought about how best to use her new skills. Being awarded Specialist Practitioner status means that Jean will be able to look after patients much more independently of the docs, and to prescribe from an ever expanding list of drugs, appliances and dressings. To start with, she'll be doing a surgery in parallel with the GPs on a Monday morning, the most pressurised time. We envisage her initially doing quite a bit of work over the phone, bringing folk down to the surgery to see her, as required. She will also be running her asthma/chest clinic for us at the other end of the week - on a Friday afternoon.


PRHOs - the living truth!

In July's newsletter, we introduced you to the idea of PRHOs (Pre-Registration House Officers - fully qualified new doctors gaining experience).

Miss Lindsay Hiscox will turn into Dr Lindsay Kahn by getting married and qualifying from Southampton Medical School (not all at the same time) and will be joining us as our first PRHO for four months from August. Congratulations on both rites and welcome to her. Lindsay describes herself as a keen reader of modern Asian authors (?influence) and enjoying cooking for friends; we will certainly be being friendly to her.

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