5 February 1960
Pulse launches with a pledge to champion the cause of general practice, introducing itself as a publication ‘entirely for the medical profession’
5 February 1961
At the Medical World Conference, there are calls for general practice to become an entirely salaried profession, working out of large centres. It is a call we will hear time and time again
5 February 1962
Leading reformer Dr John Fry asks why only just over 10% of GPs attend their training courses each year – ‘an amazingly low proportion’
5 February 1963
Notorius health minister Enoch Powell threatens resignation and puts the Harold Macmillan government in crisis. They will later face general election defeat
5 February 1964
Dr William Pickles, the pioneering GP epidemiologist, retires after 57 years, after making his name with research on infectious disease, including a detailed anaylsis of the 1937 flu epidemic
5 February 1965
The GP charter, later to become the Red Book, is published after GPs threaten to terminate their contracts over pay and conditions, heralding what many view as a golden age for the profession
5 February 1966
GP pay is increased by up to 30% after the Government accepts recommendations from the pay review body
5 February 1967
The Abortion Act, proposed by Liberal MP David Steel, is passed, legalising abortion for the first time, but GPs question whether there is enough gynaecology provision
5 February 1968
The measles vaccine is finally introduced in the UK, five years after being licensed in the US. Up to 800,000 cases of the disease and 80 deaths are being reported each year
5 February 1969
A BMA committee calls for a clampdown on use of foreign doctors in the NHS, including the introduction of English language tests and medical qualifications checks
5 February 1970
A BMA report on ‘primary medical care’ lays the foundation for general practice as a specialty, recommending an advanced exam and five-year training
5 February 1971
Pulse reveals that the management consultancy firm McKinsey has been advising on a health white paper that proposes a radical restructure of the NHS and increased use of the private sector
5 February 1972
A controversal report on the BMA by Sir Paul Chambers recommends splitting GP representation into two separate committees
5 February 1973
The longest ever BMA annual representatives meeting drops its opposition to proposals by social services secretary Keith Joseph on restructuring the NHS
5 February 1974
The RCGP recommends a formal three-year training programme for all new GPs, with five-year training the ultimate aim
5 February 1975
The Harold Wilson government sets up the Royal Commission on the National Health Service to consider the ‘best use and management of the financial and manpower resources of the NHS’
5 February 1976
David Owen unveils plans to move to a range of clinical services, including antenatal and baby clinics, into the community, within a new network of GP health centres
5 February 1977
Dr Krishna Korlipara founds the country’s first GP out-of-hours co-operative, with 300 further co-ops to follow, eventually serving a population of around 30 million people
5 February 1978
The NHS celebrated its 30th anniversary amid fierce debate over its financial future
5 February 1979
The Royal Commission set up by Harold Wilson sees responsibility for health services delivery shifted from the DHSS to regional health authorities
5 February 1980
The RCGP headquarters in London are used by the SAS as a base to end the siege in the neighbouring Iranian Embassy
5 February 1981
In a BMA motion on part-time working, one rep is rumoured to have said: ‘We should get this through to get the women off our backs.’ The BMA faces accusations of being the last bastion of male chauvinism
5 February 1982
Health minister Kenneth Clarke orders a review of GP spending and moots the possibility of limiting practices that overspend
5 February 1983
In January, the BMA and the Government predict that by 2000 there could be 8,000 unemployed UK doctors. By March the BMA is calling for removal of doctors’ immigration control exemptions
5 February 1984
Two years after mooting the idea, Kenneth Clarke curbs GP spending by blacklisting some of the drugs being prescribed by GPs for the first time. Benylin, Actifed and Senokot now have to be bought over the counter
5 February 1985
The Law Lords allow GPs to give under-16s the Pill without parental consent in exceptional circumstances, despite a campaign by Victoria Gillick
5 February 1986
A government consultation document recommends ‘one stop health shops’ – commercially run organisations with GPs, dentists, pharmacists and opticians under one roof
5 February 1987
July’s BMA conference carries a motion that any doctor should be able to ‘carry out AIDS tests’ without the permission of the patient by 183 votes to 140
5 February 1988
The MMR triple vaccine is added to the UK immunisation schedule, but a shortage hampers the early days of the programme
5 February 1989
The first suggestions of what would become GP fundholding emerge in February with the proposal that GPs should become budget holders
5 February 1990
The year sees an imposed contract and a war of words between Kenneth Clark and the profession. The first payments are also chaotic, with practices underpaid by thousands
5 February 1991
Practices face a £5,951 clawback of ‘excess’ payments from the first year of the new contract. GPs are later promised a £2,000 reprieve
5 February 1992
An academic study on the new contract finds GPs are now working an extra 100 hours a year
5 February 1993
In March the BMA urges GPs to accept the idea of reaccreditation. GMSC chair Dr Ian Bogle says: ‘We must no longer be seen as supporting the insupportable, accepting the unacceptable or defending the indefensible’
5 February 1994
In November many GPs express bitter disappointment at the failure of GMSC negotiators to end out-of-hours responsibility
5 February 1995
GPs start trialling a novel influenza treatment and four years later it is launched as Relenza, alongside Tamiflu. But it will be another 15 years before it is used widely, when swine flu hits
5 February 1996
The white paper on the deregulation of general practice paves the way for competition between private companies and the NHS to provide general medical services
5 February 1997
Around 57% of GPs have signed up to fundholding but Tony Blair’s New Labour Goverment announces the end of the scheme and the formation of primary care groups (PCGs)
5 February 1998
In February, Dr Andrew Wakefield publicises his Lancet study of 12 children who developed bowel symptoms along with autism after their MMR vaccine. He recommends parents give their children single vaccines
5 February 1999
In April Tony Blair unveils his vision of an easy-access NHS with walk-in centres and NHS Direct. PCGs launch against a backdrop of GP indifference as fundholding quietly dies
5 February 2000
Harold Shipman is found guilty of the murder of 15 patients. The Government launches an inquiry into 618 deaths, with a remit to recommend changes to the system
5 February 2001
In October, figures show a dramatic turn for the worse in the GP recruitment crisis, with 2,464 vacancies a year compared with 1,214 the previous year
5 February 2002
Dame Janet Smith’s report into Shipman finds he killed at least 215 patients. It recommends changes to death certification, controlled drugs and GP regulation
5 February 2003
June sees the result of the vote on the new GMS contract. To the visible delight of battle-weary GPC negotiators, almost 80% voted in favour. This removes out-of-hours responsibilities from GPs
5 February 2004
The new contract is introduced, which remains the basis for GP services for the next 20 years and counting
5 February 2005
Choose and Book finally creaks into life a year behind schedule, despite most GPs saying it will increase consultation times for little benefit
5 February 2006
US healthcare company UnitedHealth Europe is awarded a contract to take over two Derbyshire practices ahead of local GPs, but a judicial review rules the PCT must re-run the tender
5 February 2007
In April, the Commons Public Accounts Committee says the NHS IT programme ‘is the biggest IT project in the world and it is turning into the biggest disaster’
5 February 2008
In November, health secretary Alan Johnson opens the first GP-led health centre in Bradford
5 February 2009
In April the first two UK cases of swine flu spark a summer of panic. But by December it is clearly, as Pulse’s editorial put it, the ‘pandemic that never was’ – despite millions being spent on antivirals and vaccines
5 February 2010
After threatening to do it for years, the Govemment finally unveils controversial plans to scrap practice boundaries
5 February 2011
Health secretary Andrew Lansley publishes his controversial Health and Social Care Bill, which put CCGs – led by GPs – in charge of running the English health service
5 February 2012
An extra fun year for GPs, with the introduction of the Lansley reforms, the CQC, GMC revalidation and the lukewarm industrial action over pensions reforms
5 February 2013
The RCGP is in the firing line, as a review of its exams finds ‘subjective bias due to racial discrimination’ may be a cause for differences in pass rate
5 February 2014
Pulse’s Stop Practice Closures campaign reveals the extent of GP surgeries shutting their doors for good, estimating 100 to be at risk. Later years prove this was a vast underestimation
5 February 2015
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt makes his now infamous pledge to increase the FTE GP workforce by 5,000 in the next five years. In that timeframe, the workforce decreased by around 1,400
5 February 2016
The GP Forward View promises an uplift to GP funding, including covering GPs’ indemnity costs, which had been spiralling out of control
5 February 2017
A new contract offer in Scotland sees a guaranteed minimum salary, direct reimbursement of expenses and a gradual nationalisation of GP premises. It is approved in a ballot the following year
5 February 2018
Junior doctor Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba is struck off the GMC register following the tragic death of six-year-old Jack Adcock in 2011, causing uproar in the profession for the scapegoating of an individual for systemic problems
5 February 2019
Dr Arvind Madan resigns as NHSE primary care medical director after posting on PulseToday using a pseudonym
5 February 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic hits, going on to cause seven million deaths across the world, with 230,000 of those deaths in the UK. General practice is transformed overnight
5 February 2021
GPs roll out the UK’s biggest-ever vaccination programme (exclusively revealed by Pulse), setting up Covid vaccination centres, with every person eligible for two doses plus boosters. Their efforts lead to normality finally returning
5 February 2022
The year saw a revolving door of health secretaries. Therese Coffey caused havoc with ideas for league tables on GP appointments
5 February 2023
NHS England imposed a contract that offered a 2% funding uplift at a time of rampant inflation. As a sop to the profession, they announced a GP recovery plan that offered, er, nothing
5 February 2024
Pulse goes fully digital!