GPs missing out on adequate occupational health care

One
in five Primary Care Trusts in England are not providing a sufficient
occupational health (OH) service for GPs and their staff.

Despite
assurances made to medical staff in the NHS Plan that these services would be
introduced from April 2001, a survey by the British Medical Association (BMA)
has found that a large number of GPs and their staff still do not have access
to even basic OH  services.

The
results of the survey of 304 Primary Care Trusts in England showed that at
least 37 do not offer a free OH service to GPs and their staff, and a further
29 provide only a patchy service.

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Dr
John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, said this
lack of provision would inevitably reduce the quality of service that they can
offer to patients.

By Michael Millar