Newsletter 25

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Newsletter 25

Why GLMC no longer prescribes Benzodiazepines for sedation for scans

GLMC has reviewed benzodiazepine prescribing at a practice meeting 06.06.2024 and devised a new policy not to prescribe sedative medications such as diazepam in patient who for use for scans or dental procedures. The reasons for this decision are below:

1. Small doses of benzodiazepines are unlikely to cause effective sedation in most adult patients but may cause an increase in agitation/aggression.
2. If procedure is delayed and has been issued to take an hour before procedure, then again medication is unlikely to be helpful.
3. Often these scans are being arranged by hospital doctors who can prescribe medication if felt to be appropriate.
4. The Royal College of Radiologists ‘own guidelines on sedation for imaging makes no mention of GP involvement or provision of low dose anxiolytics and stresses the importance of experienced well-trained staff involved and the monitoring of sedated patients:

https://www.rcr.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publication/Safe_Sedation.pdf

You may wish to discuss this with your radiologist or consultant regarding the next steps. 

Why GLMC no longer prescribes Benzodiazepines for fear of flying

GLMC has reviewed benzodiazepine prescribing at a practice meeting 06.06.2024 and devised a new policy not to prescribe sedative medications such as diazepam in patients who have a fear of flying. This is in line with similar policies at many GP practices. The reasons for this decision are below:

1. Diazepam medication is a sedative which means can make patients taking it more sleepy or relaxed and cause longer reaction times and slower thinking, which mean it can potentially impair ability to concentrate, follow instructions or react if there were an emergency mid-flight which may impair life of themselves or others.
2. Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep; however, this is an unnatural non -REM sleep. This means you won’t move around as much as you usually would when sleep. This can lead to increased risk of blood clots in the leg or lung, which can be very dangerous and be life-threatening or fatal. This risk increases with long haul flights.
3. A small number of patients prescribed diazepam can have an increase in agitation or aggression or affect you to behave in a way you wouldn’t usually which again could impair your safety.
4. According to prescribing guidance which doctors follow benzodiazepine should not be used in patients who have phobias and should only be issued short term for a crisis in generalised anxiety. Your GP is taking a significant legal risk by prescribing against guidance. The medication licence is for short term use in generalised anxiety. If this applies you should be seeking advice for your mental health and not being getting on a flight.

We realise that for some patient a fear of flying can negatively affect patients and feel that although prescription for diazepam is not the answer there are specific courses which you can attend to help manage your fear, please see below details.

Easyjet www.fearlessflyer.easyjet

British Airways www.flyingwithconfidence.com

Virgin www.flyingwithoutfear.co.uk

Your Data and How Its used

Please see the links below to see how your data may be used:

If you require any assistance please contact the surgery

PPG Newsletter

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Please click the following link to download our latest Patient Participation Group Newsletter:

Newsletter 24

Patient Participation Group Newsletter

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Please read our latest PPG Newsletter here

GP Earnings 2023/24

April 2023 to March 2024

The average pay for GPs working in Green Lane Medical Practice in the last financial year was £55,637 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 3 full time GPs and 8 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

Measles Outbreak (February 2024)

As you will be aware, there are currently a number of Measles outbreaks nationally and we have been made aware of a number of recent Measles cases in the North West.

Please see the information below regarding sources of information and support for education, children’s and early years settings.

The latest health protection guidance from the UK Health Security Agency can be found here:

Health protection in children and young people settings, including education - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Measles

Specific guidance on measles can be found in the education setting infection prevention and control guidance A-Z of diseases: Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What is Measles and how does it spread?

Measles is a highly infectious viral infection. Symptoms include a runny nose; cough; conjunctivitis (sore, itchy, watery, red and sticky eyes); high fever and small white spots (Koplik spots) inside the cheeks. Around day 3 of the illness, a rash of flat red or brown blotches appear, beginning on the face, behind the ears and spreading over the body. The incubation period is between 10 to 12 days but can vary from 7 to 21 days.

Measles is highly infectious and transmitted via airborne or droplet spread, or direct contact with nasal or throat secretions of infected persons. Cases are infectious from 4 days before onset of rash to 4 days after, where the date of the rash onset is day 0.

Anyone with measles must stay away from school, college or nursery whilst they are infectious.

The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine is the safest and most effective way to protect against measles. People need 2 doses of MMR to be protected against measles, mumps and rubella.

Sources of support and advice

Measles is a notifiable disease and if you have a case in your setting, you should contact the UK Health Security Agency on Tel: 0344 225 0562 for further advice.

If you have any concerns or questions around infection prevention and control, please contact the community infection prevention and control team Tel: 0151 295 3036 or via email Infection.controlteam@merseycare.nhs.uk

Sources of information and support for students, parents, and carers

The Department for Education has the following online resources which may be useful to share with students, parents and carers:

How to protect against measles – vaccines for school pupils - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)

What to do if you think your child has measles and when to keep them off school - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)

Many thanks for your ongoing support.

Patient Participation Group Newsletter

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Please see below our latest Patient Participation Group Newsletter

Newsletter 22

GP Earnings 2021/22

Publication of GP net earnings 2021/2022

Based on the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

However, it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

The average pay for GPs working in Green Lane Medical Centre in the last financial year was £66,003 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 11 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.”

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Introduction to the Breathe Programme

Children's Mental Health Information

What is Cardiac Rehabilitation (Rehab)

What is Heart Failure

About the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) Programme

Health and Wellbeing Apps from ORCHA

Adult Mental Health Information

What is Diabetes

COVID-19 / Long COVID Support Services