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For years patients and General Practitioners (GPs) have lamented the pressures of too many patients fighting over finite appointments with rising waiting times and possible missed opportunities for an individuals’ health needs to be met. Into this mess enter Babylon Health with their ‘GP at Hand’ mobile service application. Allowing patients to have appointments without leaving the comfort of their own home. Decreasing pressure on GP services and giving patients what they want, when they want it. So why are GPs so against what seems like a win-win situation? Who are Babylon Health? A health innovation company using mobile apps to allow patients to have access to a GP 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These consultations occur over a video platform so patients do not have to attend in person. The app also has a ‘symptoms checker’ which can be used to help direct patients based upon the information they input into the app. It is important to state GPs are a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service and has been for many years but this point seems to be lost on the general public and one of the selling points of Babylon. How […]

Doctors from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are not given enough support by managers, which explains why they suffer from a disproportionately high referral rate to the General Medical Council (GMC). A study was recently conducted by Cranfield University and Middlesex University, commissioned by the GMC, which looked into the referral process to fitness to practise procedures. The Fair to Refer? report found BAME physicians are more than twice as likely to be referred as white doctors, resulting in them having a higher chance of being investigated, and subsequently, given a warning or sanction. The research, conducted by Dr Doyin Atewologun, reader in gender, inclusion and leadership at Cranfield University, together with Roger Kline, research fellow at Middlesex University Business School, discovered why more BAME doctors were called for referral than white colleagues. The most common reasons were the lack of induction or support in transitioning to new social, cultural and professional environments for BAME doctors. They were also not often given “effective, honest or timely feedback” on their practises, stemmed out of the fact that many managers from different ethnic groups try to avoid awkward conversations. It also found some doctors in isolated roles have a lack […]