Do we need ultrasound training? or Technicians?
One of the most revolutionary changes in general practice of recently has been the embedding of pharmacist colleagues in practice. NHS England pump primped and encouraged practices to directly employ pharmacists to help. Locally over half the practices now have a pharmacist and most say they would never go back. What could be the next revolution?“ “ “Personally I think moving diagnostics much closer to the patient is a huge potential win. If I could get an instant Ultrasound it would reduce referrals, help waiting times and improve cancer detection rates. Machines are cheap and portable, so that shouldn’t be a barrier, the main hurdle is ability to use one and get a reliable diagnosis. Well IMHO GPs don’t have time to learn the skill, perhaps it should be taught in medical school, however a lot of ultrasound is done by technicians with consultant review/oversight. Perhaps we need to massively increase the number of ultrasound trained techs and put one in each practice?