Independent Practitioner Today

A review for Independent Practitioner Today by Vanessa Sanders, partner, Stanbridge Associates specialist medical accountants. This Budget has been dubbed a ‘Spending Sprinkles’, rather than the promise to end austerity, as announced earlier by the Chancellor Philip Hammond. To continue to cut the deficit of public borrowing but to increase public spending and investment in […]

Independent Practitioner Today has been behind the doors of a new private hospital. The Schoen Clinic London is about to have its official opening after beginning to admit patients in the summer. The Wigmore Street spinal and orthopaedic hospital, in the Harley Street medical area, is run by a family-run hospital group in Germany and […]

The questions independent practitioners are asking their accountants – answered! If there is something about your business accounting you are unsure of, never be afraid to ask your accountant. Susan Hutter answers some of the most frequent questions she has recently been receiving from private doctors. Q I trade through a company and I have […]

NHS at 70 Private doctors were unhappy 70 years ago as the NHS took shape. Independent Practitioner Today traces the history of the health service in the first of a new series adapted from a new book by Dr Ellen Welch. Hospitals 70 years ago were in a poor condition following war-time bombing. Most had […]

Independent practitioners have plenty to gain from The Private Practice Register, explains Fiona Booth. Private providers make a vital contribution to healthcare provision in the UK, delivering high-quality care for thousands of patients and helping to alleviate pressure on the overstretched NHS. But if everyone in the independent sector is to grow and thrive, we […]

Possible legal and regulatory developments following the ‘Bawa-Garba’ case are examined by Gregory Smith. Most Independent Practitioner Today readers will be familiar with the case of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, the junior doctor who recently successfully appealed a decision by the GMC to strike her off the Medical Register following an earlier conviction for gross negligence […]

Independent Practitioner Today’s series reviewing the NHS private patient unit (PPU) sector shifts its gaze to the West Midlands. Philip Housden analyses private patient revenue growth for 15 NHS acute trusts across Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and the cities of the West Midlands conurbation. For this group of trusts, the accounts show that total […]

‘Business Dilemmas’ A patient refuses to have a chaperone present for a breast examination – so what do you do? Dr Sally Old investigates         Dilemma 1 If she turns down a chaperone? Q I am a male consultant who recently met a new patient for the first time. During the consultation, […]

The apparently simple act of a patient giving a gift to a doctor to thank them for their care can have unexpected repercussions for the doctor-patient relationship. Dr Gabrielle Pendlebury explores the ethical arguments and looks at how a busy practitioner can negotiate this act without causing embarrassment or prompting a loss of trust. Gifts […]

‘Doctor on the Road': Nissan Micra The Micra is a small car with a big car feel and with a new lease of life it is one of the most improved cars around, finds our motoring corres­pondent Dr Tony Rimmer. When things are going well at your private medical practice, time can pass with an […]