Joyce and Questa banned from Wakefield Resturant

Shock. Horror. Joyce and Questa have been banned from eating in the Bollywood Lounge. This would be awful if it was because of Joyce and Questas' drunkenness andwoofing but it was not. It was for something much, much worse.

The management banned them on 'hygiene grounds'.

This of course is completely illegal and is breaking the law. I am sure that all of you, as I am are shocked and perturbed by this. Joyce and Questa (very nice picture I must say) have been in the Wakefield Express with this (on page 19 but it was the first page of Wakefield Centre News) and have made quite a fuss over it.

So, I think we should boycott Bollywood and go to the Mumbai on Westgate where Joyce, Questa and twenty others were welcomed with open arms!

Good News - CSA pass rate up

The RCGP has published a summary of the November to December CSA results. Four hundred and ninety four candidates undertook the exam and the overall the pass rate was 63%. For trainees taking it for the first time the pass rate was 77%. Of the 181 candidates taking for the second or more time the pass rate was 38%. Of course the RCGP give the usual cautions that cohorts of candidates vary considerably but it is good news that 77% of candidates taking if for the first time passed.

Hospital posts move to Pinderfields - but not yet ...

It will be no surprise to anyone working at Pinderfields and Pontefract to know that the moving date has been postponed. It was supposed to be this month but this has now been postponed. I had a tour of the New Pinderfields last week with a group of GPs. It was very impressive and easy to see how the hospital will become more efficient. Everything is close together and there is much more clinical space in A&E - I especially liked the way that adult and paediatric assessment areas were seamlessly linked to A&E.

However, the big but is that there are less beds and it seems to me a huge leap of faith that the new hospitals will be able to deliver a service with just over 150 less beds. Its OK getting patients in but there does not seem to be any urgency from social services to get people home!

The other big question is when will the move happen. We were shown around by the Gordon Walker, the Trusts Equipment and Comissioning Manager - and he was confident that the move would take place before Easter - watch this space ...!

Learning consultation skills - what works?

The Training Programme Directors are going to a Deanery Training Seminar next week and we (or rather Shelagh - 'cos she has volunteered) have to produce a poster on how the scheme helps trainees to learn and develop consultation skills. I am interested to know what you thinks works well, what does not work well and if you have any ideas about how we should move forwards in the future.

If you are happy to the whole world to know your thoughts then just click 'reply to', if you would like to keep your email private then click here to email me directly.

Thank you in anticipation.