Other UK News In Brief

Medical Students Need Better Leadership Training, Says New Report

A new report is calling for more to be done to help medical students acquire the skills they will need to become future leaders of the health service.
 The findings are summarised in an editorial published by the Student British Medical Journal. 

The report, from the Royal College of Physicians, the General Medical Council, the King’s Fund, the University of Liverpool and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, highlights uncertainty amongst medical students about their future roles in management and leadership and the skills they will be expected to possess.

 21st Century Doctor: Understanding the doctors of tomorrow reports on eleven nationwide consultation events involving over 492 medical students who were asked to reflect on their understanding of medical professionalism and its application in modern healthcare.

 Some of the key findings include agreement that:

 Professionalism needs to be an integral part of medical education and training; Medical students should have well-articulated and clearly defined definitions of medical professionalism; Medical students need clarification of the role and function of the General Medical Council – the medical regulator. The report raises important questions about how medical students can best prepare for the increased responsibility they will face in managing and leading the health services of the future.

GPs Can Take Control In New Pathfinder Consortia

A new initiative to empower pioneering GPs who want to press ahead with commissioning care for patients has been announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. The new pathfinder programme will identify and support groups of practices who are keen to make faster progress in taking on the new roles set out in the NHS White Paper 'Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS' earlier this year. It will enable GPs to test different design concepts of GP Consortia and identify any issues and areas of learning early on so that these can be shared across the GP community. This invaluable experience will help shape the way GP Consortia will work in the future. By making early progress we will also give the wider commissioning community the confidence to join in and enable Pathfinder Consortia to start taking on aspects of the new roles in commissioning local services. To kick-start the programme the Department has made £1 million available from central funding to support regional learning programmes across England. GP practices keen to participate in the pathfinder programme will need to put themselves forward to their Primary Care Trust and Strategic Health Authority from the end of October. Part of the support that will be offered to GP Consortia will be a new series of commissioning packs. These will provide a set of tools and templates to use when designing and buying services for their patients. The first of these support packs published today is for cardiac rehabilitation services and aims to support GP commissioners to design services that are suited to local needs and cost effective.

llegal Gas Fitter Sentenced To Community Service

A self-employed plumber has been prosecuted for continuing to carry out illegal work on gas boilers in Luton despite orders to stop.
 James Tennyson, 55, from Luton, admitted breaching health and safety laws when he appeared at Luton and South Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Court this week.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had warned Mr Tennyson in 2003 about carrying out work on gas fittings when he was not registered to do so, a legal requirement for anyone carrying out such work. However, HSE earlier this year learned that Mr Tennyson had again worked illegally on gas appliances. Legitimate gas engineers told HSE the plumber had left gas boilers in dangerous conditions at two homes in the area – one in Polegate, Luton, and the other in Houghton Regis.

Magistrates ordered Mr Tennyson to 180 hours of community service and ordered him to pay £250 costs. He had already received a formal notice prohibiting him from continuing with gas work until competent enough to do so.

(BMcN/GK)