A General Medical Council study has revealed that 95% of prescriptions written by those in GP jobs are appropriate and effectively monitored.

And the vast majority of the 5% of prescriptions that are not so tend to contain only mild or moderate errors. Despite the high rate of prescription accuracy, the study authors have concluded that more can be done to improve the rate further.

They recommend that pharmacists are given a greater role in supporting GPs, while better use of computer systems and extra emphasis on prescribing in GP training could help to keep errors down to a minimum.

Professor Tony Avery of the University of Nottingham`s medical school, who led the research, said: "Few prescriptions were associated with significant risks to patients but it`s important that we do everything we can to avoid all errors.

"GPs must ensure they have ongoing training in prescribing, and practices should ensure they have safe and effective systems in place for repeat prescribing and monitoring."

Only one in 550 prescriptions contain a serious error, the study went on to reveal. The most common errors were missing information on dosage, prescribing an incorrect dosage, and failing to ensure that patients got necessary monitoring through blood tests.

Copyright Press Association 2012

A community healthcare provider has offered training to a group of students studying to work in physiotherapy jobs .

The University of Essex students can take advantage of the training, offered by the paediatric physiotherapy team at Anglian Community Enterprise (ACE).

A spokesperson from ACE said the training was being offered to help bolster that provided during the students` degree and masters courses.

Emma Blowers, senior children`s physiotherapist at ACE, said: "Members of our team recognised that we all received very minimal paediatric experience and teaching during our degree training. We were keen to promote paediatric physiotherapy to students at the University of Essex. "

She went on to say that a taster session for students highlighted demand for further paediatric training.

Blowers explained: "We offered MSc students an introduction session to giving an overview of our clinical roles as paediatric physiotherapists within ACE. This proved so popular, further training was requested focusing on some of the key paediatric conditions we treat."

The university has donated to £250 to East Anglia`s Children`s Hospice in recognition of the training.

Copyright Press Association 2012

Nurses and midwives will be given the chance to better their careers by undertaking research.

The announcement comes from health secretary Andrew Lansley, who said the Government aims to "put research at the heart of frontline services".

Speaking at the Florence Nightingale Foundation annual conference, Mr Lansley laid out a new clinical academic careers training pathway strategy.

In a bid to "inform the care they deliver for patients", nurses and midwives will be able to embark on further education in the field of research. Alternatively, they will be allowed to undertake internships to gain experience of it.

The new strategy is "an important step forward" in supporting more nurses and midwives to move into successful clinical academic careers, said Jessica Corner, vice-chair of the Council of Deans of Health.

At the conference in London, Mr Lansley spoke of how the strategy would enable continuing professional development. "The strategy will build excellence and provide  nurses, midwives and allied health professionals opportunities to advance their careers without having to leave clinical practice," he said.

"This will lead to more consultant roles, meaning they can take not only a clinical and managerial lead in their organisations, but also an education and research lead, advancing practice for everyone and improving patient outcomes."

Copyright Press Association 2012

Laser technology making cataract treatment "safer than ever before" has been used for the first time in the UK.

The FemtoSecond treatment, which removes cataracts by dissolving them, has been introduced at the London Eye Hospital on Harley Street.

Other medical agencies could soon be set to adopt the non-invasive technology, which creates a three-dimensional model of the eye then dissolves the cataract.

Cataracts, which affect 60% of those over sixty and some younger people, are currently treated by a more invasive process known as phacoemulsification.

During this treatment surgeons make an incision into the lens to allow high frequency ultrasound to break up the cataract.

Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the hospital Bobby Qureshi said: "The FemtoSecond laser has been specially designed to bring an extraordinary level of accuracy and reproducibility to refractive cataract surgery.

"No matter how accurate manual procedures may have seemed in the past, they simply cannot compete with the accuracy and precision that is now possible with laser cataract removal, which means that this surgery is now safer than ever before."

Copyright Press Association 2012