Volume 9, Number 3

Julie Bowman, Editor

It is high summer and Princess Wu indulges in her favourite pastime – basking in the sun. A canine sun worshipper flouncing around the garden to catch the rays, she resembles a disgruntled bronzed blonde exiled from a Mediterranean beach (without the bikini). Today, she and I sit alone, for I am Julie no-mates, the rest of the family enjoying themselves elsewhere.

Rev. Prof. Stephen G Wright FRCN MBE Faculty of Health, St Martin’s College, Lancaster. Chairman, The Sacred Space Foundation

Regular columnist Steve Wright discusses the vocational nature of the nursing profession and why paying nurses less is a bad idea in the long run

Julia Schofield FRCP MRCGP Consultant Dermatologist, West Hertfordshire NHS Hospitals Trust

The development of the role for GPs with a special interest (GPwSIs) was outlined as a priority in The NHS Plan.1 The document proposed that, ‘by 2004 … there will be up to 1,000 specialist GPs taking referrals from fellow GPs’. The NHS Improvement Plan,2 published in June 2004, confirmed, ‘We now have around 1,300 GPs with a special interest providing 700,000 procedures in the community, previously done only in hospital’.

Alison Hopkins MSc DN Cert RGN; Fran Worboys BSc(Hons) DN DHS RGN Clinical Nurse Specialists (Tissue Viability); Richard Bull MA FRCP Consultant Dermatologist, East London Wound Healing Centre, Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust, London

Leg ulceration is common, especially in the elderly. Two common causes are chronic venous insufficiency (venous ulcers) and peripheral obstructive arterial disease (arterial ulcers). Other aetiologies may be more difficult to identify.

Shirley Martin BSc(Hons) RN Surgical Care Practitioner, Robotics Specialist Nurse, St Mary’s NHS Trust, London

Since the implementation of the ten key roles for nurses and midwives in The NHS Plan,1 new ways of working have revolutionised NHS services. The catalyst for change has incorporated the reduction of junior doctors’ hours2 and the emergence of new nursing roles, both in the NHS and in the community.

Neill C Hepburn MD FRCP Consultant Dermatologist, County Hospital, Lincoln

There are two types of dermatology – ‘spot spotting’ and ‘using the skin as a window to the body’. All those who work in dermatology are familiar with the most common skin diseases, such as eczema, psoriasis and acne; this is spot spotting, because these ailments are easily diagnosed. However, the skin is a rich source of much deeper information to all those who care to look. Sadly, many people look without seeing.

Anthony Bewley MB ChB FRCP Consultant Dermatologist; Jane Watts RGN; Josephine A Murphy RGN Nurse Practitioners, Whipps Cross University Hospital

Urticaria is a very common, distressing disease of the skin, affecting between three and 10% of the population.1 It is characterised by extremely itchy, erythematous weals and flares that affect any part of the skin and last up to 24 hours. (Lesions that last longer are, by definition, vasculitic and would be labelled as urticarial vasculitis.)