Seven days in medicine: 22-28 November 2017
BMJ 2017; 359 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5522 (Published 30 November 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;359:j5522
General practice
High service charges could lead to bankruptcy
A GP surgery serving 10 000 patients in Nottingham, UK, said that it may be forced to close because of high service charges that threaten to bankrupt its partners. The Wellspring Surgery, which opened in 2012, is based at the £15m (€16.7m; $19.9m) Valley Centre owned by Nottingham City Council. But the practice, which is leased by the government agency NHS Property Services, said that charges had increased 10-fold since 2012. This had made it unable to replace a partner or to accept new patients and on the verge of closure, it said. (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.j5491)
Psychiatry
“Avatar” therapy can reduce schizophrenia symptoms
An experimental form of therapy involving a conversation between a patient with schizophrenia and a computer generated avatar representing the patient’s auditory hallucinations reduces symptoms more effectively than standard counselling, a trial published in Lancet Psychiatry showed. Patients create a computerised representation of the entity they believe is the source of the main voice. Therapists can speak through the avatar or in their own voice. Patients receiving avatar therapy also reported significant reductions in frequency of voices heard and reduced distress at 12 weeks. These improvements were maintained at 24 weeks. (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.j5458)
Children should have better access to talking therapies
A single point of access to talking therapies should be …
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