The legal case that rocked medicine
GPs are being paid to refrain from referring patients, with practices given a share of the profits made from cutting secondary care activity, Pulse’s March issue has revealed.
The wide-ranging ‘Cash for cuts’ investigation has already been raised in Parliament, triggered a petition that has attracted 100,000 signatures and featured on the front page of the Telegraph, the Independent and the Mirror since it was released online in advance of the print issue, as well as the inside pages of all the national newspapers.
The March issue also features the most ambitious cover Pulse has attempted, featuring a mosaic of more than 140 GPs to create the image of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, the junior doctor who was struck off the GMC register and charged with manslaughter after the death of a 6-year-old boy. The whole medical profession has united behind Dr Bawa-Garba, who they feel has been scapegoated for systematic failures within the NHS.
The cover story tells the whole story behind the tragic case, and includes GPs telling their stories about when it could have been them.
Elsewhere, we hear about the success of a ‘John Lewis’-style GP practice, and answer GPs’ key questions on glue ear, difficult otitis externa and diagnosing viral labyrinthitis.