Respiratory 🫁 doctor. Specialist interest in asthma
London, England
Joined January 2013
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Also potentially unpopular opinion - the various rules on rota design which are intended to improve working conditions result in a loss of continuity and fragmentation of care (eg the weekend SHO is rarely the weekday one). I suspect this also contributes to reduced efficiency.
Is this FTE or absolute?
Does it recognise the increasing number of LTFT (eg for tax reasons, as per my last post) who will have the same absolute mandatory training/appraisal time and therefore proportionally less direct clinical activity?
Also agree re goodwill/estates points
Nonsensical for defined benefit schemes - the rule is presumably designed to stop large pension contributions (which in defined contribution schemes will come back to the account holder) as a way of evading tax. But contributing more to defined benefit wouldn’t affect pension. 4/
Similar problem with annual allowance for pension contributions - nationally agreed pay so only way to reduce contributions is to cut hours (or opt out of scheme). Big tax bill if not! 3/
suspect most who cut down hours do not increase them again later. A less than full time (LTFT) consultant still has the same burden of mandatory training, appraisal etc so the proportion of clinical activity is lower ie they are less efficient. 2/
Could one part be the crazy tax traps?
Eg the cliff edge at £100k earnings where loss of childcare benefit (to those with eligible children) and tapering of personal allowance provide an incentive to work less and earn under this? 1/
@BikeClub_UK @dhlexpressuk
V disappointed to find a bike I ordered >1wk ago for delivery today has been delayed. My wife & I (both NHS doctors so not readily able to work from home) arranged our schedules around this & our 3 year old son is excited. No way to call to discuss. ☹️
@TfL Santander Cycles bike seen in garden of residential property by Thames path in Hammersmith
@TravelodgeUK V disappointed you won’t refund duplicate bookings made in error by my dad, who has early dementia. He didn’t realise his booking had gone through, tried again, then asked my mum to book = 3 identical bookings.
Surely some discretion can be shown?
@alzheimerssoc
Hugo Farne 🫁 retweeted
Great work from @alferes_de and @lifearc1 - a molecular test for Pseudomonas which is more sensitive than culture, quantitative and changes over time with treatment/clinical status.
We are working now on using this as an endpoint in clinical trials. More to come!
A novel bacterial quantification assay (BQA) targeting ribosomal RNA for the detection of viable P. aeruginosa from clinical samples in bronchiectasis has been developed. The BQA shows promise as an early detection diagnostic and treatment monitoring tool. bit.ly/4rf7rnr
Hugo Farne 🫁 retweeted
Further evidence of the challenges in targeting the mighty neutrophil.
Our trial of Myeloperoxidase (MPO) inhibition in COPD found no efficacy, and increased pneumonia
Just published in @ERSpublications
publications.ersnet.org/cont…
Hugo Farne 🫁 retweeted
New research confirms what we've suspected for a long time - the "test dose" of hypertonic saline in clinic does nothing except test the variability of spirometry as a measure
Most people who failed the test passed a repeat. Most people who couldn't tolerate HTS long term passed the test first time
thorax.bmj.com/content/early…
If I could change one thing in the NHS it would be HR
?Halve the staff & double the pay to get better quality
Better recruitment
Better retention
Better professional development
Better support for struggling staff
Better processes for letting staff go
All done badly now
How can they enforce this? (I know the data is there but the resource to look it up?)
Will they?
Madness
Hugo Farne 🫁 retweeted
I’m not a BMA member, but this statement is one I support: Reducing funding for clinical academics when numbers are already in decline fails to recognise their contribution to the health & wealth of the UK.
The financial saving is minimal but I fear the costs will be substantial
Responding to @officestudents guidance from the Secretary of State for Education setting out funding for 2026-27 for universities that imposes cuts to funding for medical academics: bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/…
Hugo Farne 🫁 retweeted
Responding to @officestudents guidance from the Secretary of State for Education setting out funding for 2026-27 for universities that imposes cuts to funding for medical academics: bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/…
@HMRCcustomers if one receives a giro credit for a tax refund & it expires before it is deposited (not many banks have counters to accept these), how do you get one reissued (or a bank transfer instead)?
Online assistant suggests calling. After 1h, phone assistant says online 🤯