Jan 21 - GSD Welcomes Regulating Health Practitioners But Expresses Doubts Over Oxygen Treatment
The GSD says it congratulates the GHA on the adoption of new medical registration regulations that govern the registration of both private and public sector doctors practicing medicine in Gibraltar. As per the UK, they will now need to be licensed with the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK via the Medical Registration Board in Gibraltar. This “inspires confidence”, says the Opposition, and provides reassurance for the general public knowing there is always a higher tier of appeal that governs best practice in medicine and the adherence to evidence-based medicine determined by the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
Equally reassuring, says the party, is the recent statutory regulation of ‘Allied Health Professionals’, who are 23 groups of health care professionals, linked to and supportive of conventional medicine such as Physiotherapists, Orthoptists etc. The new law regulates the practitioners by laying down entry qualifications, establishing their rules and protecting their titles. Again, all ‘Allied Health Professionals’ will need to be registered with their respective UK Regulatory Bodies, with which the GHA has signed Memorandums of Understanding and this will be overseen by the Medical Registration Board in Gibraltar.
In sharp contrast, the Opposition says it is “deeply concerned” that the Government promotes and provides an annual grant of over £400,000 for the provision of the ‘complementary’ Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment, which, argues the GSD, is not approved by NICE, is not offered via the NHS and is not supported by the medical profession. Earlier this week, the visiting Professor Philip James gave a talk at the GHA to its health professionals, expounding the virtues of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. The Opposition says many angry doctors have contacted the GSD saying they felt insulted by this Professor’s insinuation that they knew nothing about the use of oxygen for patient care and that this form of treatment can be successfully applied universally. This gives consumers a wrong impression that could ultimately affect their health, says the party.
Isobel Ellul-Hammond, Opposition Spokesman for Health said:
“We welcome the regulation of all health professional practice; that makes us feel safe, is best practice and reassuring.
“On the other hand we understand that hyperbaric oxygen treatment is used successfully for decompression sickness (the ‘bends’) from scuba diving accidents, gas embolism (air bubbles in the blood) and carbon monoxide poisoning, this is evidence-based. But according to NICE and even the Food & Drug Administration in the USA, there is insufficient evidence, from comparisons tested within randomised controlled trials, to establish enough positive effects of hyperbaric oxygen treatment, on all the diseases claimed by Professor James and others, to make this a standardised medical conventional treatment.
“We listen to what the concerned GHA doctors are telling us and we are very worried that hyperbaric oxygen treatment is being promoted and funded by this Government. Patients may delay or forego proven medical therapies over hyperbaric oxygen and in doing so may experience a lack of improvement and/or worsening of their existing condition. We urge the Government to reconsider its policy and to use the annual £400,000 to fund evidence-based, NICE approved, conventional therapies within the GHA.”
