Re RCGP running NICE

In my neck of the woods (with the highest rate of heart disease and
hypetension in the UK) the RCGP has become totallyirrelevant.  This is
despite the NI faculty making big efforts to reinvent itself, get reps from
the four health board areas etc.   When I went forward as rep for our area
(I was asked to)  it proved very difficult to find two paid-up members to
sign the papers.  There are plenty of GPs in my area,  struggling hard to
give good service but very few of them find the RCGP in any way relevant to
their work.
I fully agree with Paul that the RCGP dirtied its bib way beyond Ariel
power back in 1990 with the gang of four supporting the new contract.  But
academics make lousy politicians so I didn't hold that against them for too
long,  only about three years or so.   What I  could not forgive them for
was their total silence on the imposition on us of totally unproven health
"prevention" stuff.   It was about a year and a half before John Noakes
eventually wrote the review which questioned most of what the government
had imposed on us in the prevention/screening line with the new "contract."
 
We expect academics to ----if they never do anything else---at least be up
to date with the literature.  ANd when all the literature says that the DoH
(and BUPA come to that) is an ass on prevention/screening then we expect
them to say so.   Dammit, I knew way before that----from a classic review
in the New England----that routine screening of healthy adults is not
effective.   And back then I did not have much time to read the major
journals. 
And your point is, Dr Fox?
My point is that the RCGP needs a new role-----it is useless at politics,
it has not been successful at distilling the fruits of academic research
down into usable relevant form,  it has made itself a laughing stock with
its stance on trainee video assessment and its pathetic attempts to recruit
journalists (cringe! cringe!).   Next will come further pie in the sky
proclamations on how wonderful self-regulation is.
NICE needs GPs OK but it most emphatically does NOT need twits like the
rather senior college person I met once who started off berating me for
saying that I found acute MIs quite stimulating/life enhancing/fun etc
while the management was mostly quite simple technically----next sentence
was that he had not seen one for many years and would not know how to deal
with one.    There is something about the ivory towers which makes people
think they can pontificate on things they know bugger all about and if the
Princes Gate worthies get on NICE we can kiss it goodbye. 
Your thoughts please on WHO should get on from GP?  I'm voting for Hotch
and Ahmad for starters....
Declan


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