One in five GPs use AI such as ChatGPT for daily tasks, survey finds

A fifth of GPs are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT to help with tasks such as writing letters for their patients after appointments, according to a survey.The survey, published in the journal BMJ Health and Care Informatics, spoke to 1,006 GPs. They were asked whether they had ever used any form of AI chatbot in their clinical practice, such as ChatGPT, Bing AI or Google’s Gemini, and were then asked what they used these tools for.One in five of the respondents said that they had used generative AI tools in their clinical practice and, of these, almost a third (29%) said that they had used them to generate documentation after patient appointments, while 28% said that they had used the tools to suggest a different diagnosis.A quarter of respondents said they had used the AI tools to suggest treatment options for their patients

UK facing ‘tsunami of missed cancers’ in wake of pandemic, experts say

The UK can expect a “tsunami of missed cancers”, leading experts have said, after an international study found that diagnoses fell sharply during the pandemic.Preliminary figures from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership, presented to delegates at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva, compared data on the instance and stage of cancer diagnosis in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the UK, before and during the pandemic.The results showed that UK nations had the biggest and most sustained falls in the diagnosis of lung, breast, colorectal and skin cancers during 2020. Particular data for Northern Ireland and Wales showed how badly they did compared with other countries studied. (Data for England and Scotland was still being collated but was expected to be as bad as the other UK nations

The kids are all right when they don’t drink | Letters

While teenagers will always want to get drunk, we as responsible adults should be doing everything in our power to prevent this (Teenagers will always get drunk – so why don’t we just serve them in pubs?, 10 September). We know that drinking as a teen alters brain structure, is damaging to the developing brain and is a predictor of lifelong issues with alcohol. Delaying alcohol consumption reduces these risks. Young adults are not as good at making safe decisions and alcohol further reduces this capacity, so they are more likely to be involved in life-changing injuries to themselves or others or death.Therefore drinking as a young adult can have significant long-term costs to individuals and the wider community – for example, the strain on the NHS from binge drinking and the societal and economic cost of alcohol-use disorder

Enforce zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment of doctors | Letter

Your report on the sexual harassment faced by doctors around the world is disturbing, yet sadly it is a reality for many working in the NHS (Almost half of doctors sexually harassed by patients, research finds, 9 September). Perhaps even more disturbing is the notion that this kind of abuse is something that doctors feel they should just put up with.Becoming desensitised to sexual harassment may mean incidents are not reported and that the doctor is not seeking appropriate support. Experiencing or witnessing sexual harassment by a patient can have a lasting and profound impact on mental health, and this can be damaging for the individual as well as for patient care. It can also result in doctors needing to take time off or leaving the healthcare profession altogether

Call for abolition of UK benefit cap as latest figures released

Charities have called on the government to abolish the benefit cap after the latest official figures showed 123,000 households containing an estimated 302,000 children were subject to it, trapping them in poor housing and extreme poverty.Campaigners said increasing numbers of households were being made homeless and were suffering hardship as a result of the benefit cap, with single parents, female survivors of domestic abuse and children disproportionately affected.There was a 61% increase in the number of capped households in the three months to May, the statistics show – a dramatic rise attributed to the previous government’s decision not to uprate the benefit cap in line with inflation.“If the government is serious about tackling child poverty, it must take immediate action. The benefit cap must be scrapped so families can move on from damaging temporary accommodation into a settled home,” said Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter

Junior doctors bring dispute to end by voting to accept Streeting’s pay offer

Junior doctors in England have voted to accept the government’s pay offer, bringing to an end one of the longest and bitterest disputes in recent NHS history.Just under two-thirds (66%) of the 45,830 junior doctors who voted backed the deal, which will see them receiving an average salary increase of 22.3% over two years.It ends 18 months of strikes during which junior doctors stopped work on 44 days – sometimes for five days at a time – causing huge disruption to the NHS.The 22