Briefly

Wayne Kondro

doi:10.1503/cmaj.090583

Just like books

Arguing that customers who use Amazon.com or iTunes have better access to comparative measures than patients, United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the UK’s National Health Service will roll out online rating of general practitioners on the NHS Choices website this summer. The “principle of valuing the opinions and views of others applies in the decisions we make around our health and care as well,” Brown stated in “Working Together – Public Services On Your Side,” the government’s “vision” for government services to help create a “richer, fairer and safer society,” (www.hmg.gov.uk/workingtogether.aspx). As part of the initiative, Brown also established a Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery. It will look at “freeing up nurses and midwives to lead improvements on the front line.”

Earnings

Fee-for-service payments to Canadian physicians rose 4.7% in 2006/07, with the average family physician grossing $216 575, the average medical specialist $262 429 and the average surgical specialist $362 878, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Psychiatrists trailed the pack at $184 088, while ophthalmology surgeons led it, grossing an average $514 562 (www.cihi.ca).

Trans fat

British Columbia will become the first province to restrict trans fat in health care institutions, hospital cafeterias, restaurants and other food service establishments. Minister of Healthy Living and Sport Mary Polak announced in March that effective Sept. 30, the trans fat content of oils and spreadable margarines will be limited to 2% of total fat, while that of all other foods will be restricted to 5% of any food served in such venues.

Health snoops

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson says the government should recruit snoops within communities to badger smokers, drinkers and heavy eaters into making healthier lifestyle choices. Messages from peers are often more effective, Johnson stated in a speech to the Royal Society of Arts in March (www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Speeches/DH_096547). “That is why we must also look at mentoring schemes, such as health trainer schemes, where primary care trusts recruit people from disadvantaged communities to give health advice to people in those communities setting goals on reducing smoking and increasing physical activity.”