Out of practice
Rise in obesity hospital cases Drastic cuts to IVF treatment First sustained fall in GPs since the late ’60s deepens NHS crisis
Obesity increases risks HOSPITAL admissions due to obesity surged by 15% in a year, data from NHS Digital reveals.
There were 711,000 admissions in 2017/18 where obesity was the main or secondary reason, up on 617,000 the year before.
The figures also show that just 18% of children and young people were getting the required amount of physical activity in 2018.
NHS England chief Simon Stevens said: “Obesity is causing deadly diseases including 13 types of cancer, heart attacks, strokes and Type 2 diabetes, while putting increasing strain on the NHS.”
■ Two GP surgeries in Cardiff will give patients prescriptions for rental bikes in a bid to fight heart disease, in the UK’s first trial . ONLY one in eight NHS regions in England offer the recommended three cycles of IVF as hard-up trusts cut treatment, it is claimed.
The number in 2017 was down from one in four in 2013, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said.
Clinical guidelines state women under 40 should be offered three cycles of IVF, but 10% of clinical commissioning groups have cut NHS-funded IVF cycles altogether or are consulting on doing so.
Fertility expert Prof Allan Pacey, of Sheffield University, said: “This is shameful and unfair. We need to make provision of IVF equitable.”
An analysis suggests we need 3,500 more doctors to fix system Number of GPs the UK currently has per 100,000 people Number of extra patients average GP has to care for since 2014 DR RICHARD VAUTREY ON GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO ACT it takes at least three years to train a junior doctor to become a GP.
One in three junior doctors who accept places on GP training courses drop out, according to the Nuffield Trust. And two-thirds of GPs now retire early – double the rate of just five years ago.
Dr Richard Vautrey, of the British Medical Association, said: “In recent years, GP numbers have been in freefall as repeated Government pledges to boost numbers have fallen flat.
“As more doctors leave the profession, the workload gets heavier still for those left behind and the situation gets far more serious for both patients and staff.”
The Nuffield Trust believes another 3,500 GPs are needed to get the NHS back to where it was in 2014.
There are just over 42,000 GPs at work right now, down nearly Dr Stokes-Lampard 1,500 in four years. says GPs are ‘cornerstone’ Dr Nikita Kanani,
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s medical director for primary care, said: “We know GPs across the country face significant pressure.
“This is why we are investing in general practice over the next five years. We are also committed to recruiting and retaining more GPs and nurses, and have more GPs in training than ever before.” PRESSURE on overworked GPs is growing as they are hit by the first sustained fall in their numbers in 50 years.
There are now 60 per 100,000 people, down from 64.9 in 2014, meaning the average doctor has 125 more patients to care for.
The last time this kind of slump was recorded was in the late 1960s.
And it comes amid reports of waits of several weeks for routine appointments and early morning queues of desperate patients outside practices.
Dr Helen StokesLampard, president of the Royal College of
GPs, said: “General practice cannot be allowed to fail. It is an absolute cornerstone of the NHS.”
After the decline in the late 1960s, GP numbers had four decades of almost continuous growth.
But a peak of 66.5 was reached in 2009 and there have now been four consecutive years of decline – with the biggest drops in England.
The analysis by think-tank the Nuffield Trust for the BBC reveals that Wales and Scotland are down slightly but Northern Ireland has had a rise.
Last year, nearly 3,500 GP trainee posts were taken up in England, up by 800 since 2014. But this boost has yet to be fully felt as
GP numbers have been in freefall as pledges to boost them have fallen flat