Supplies of The Orange Book – Common Medical Emergencies now available

The Orange Book

We’ve now completed our research into the elusive supply of “The Orange Book – Common Medical Emergencies 2005″ and have located a free supply! We’ve appealed to them to let us have a huge to supply to distribute to members but somehow they’d prefer us to all phone up individually (i’ve pointed out how much it would save the NHS if they supplied it in bulk to us, but they refused). Anyhow, we’ve updated the NASGP FAQ section (includes over 60 FAQs!) which gives you 3 ways to order it.

That it was last updated in 2005 is another matter, and obviously one would take this into account when using it.

If you come across another really useful publication that’ll be of interest to Sessional GPs then let us know.

Orange Books now out of print – but available on the web…

We’ve always managed to give new NASGP memebrs an up-to-date ‘Orange Book’  - the excellent ‘Handbook of Medical Emergencies in Primary Care’ published by Kingston PCT (it really helped having the ever helpful Oriana Dwight at the other end of the line believing in the cause that disseminating high-quality clinical information to locum GPs was a Very Good Thing).

What it used to look like

But alas, people move on and cost savings by some muppet at the Department of Health means that this essential hardcopy (how many lives has it saved?) is only available for download – useless in a medical emergency. I’ve spent the last hour toing and froing between the Dept of Health Response line on 0300 123 1002 anf The Stationary Office, speaking to all sorts of line managers, being cut off, no end of ‘computer says no’ operatives and the such like. It would have entirely more productive – and more fun – to have been banging my head against my printer for that time.

My latest lead is the National Treatment Agency (for substance misuse – no, me neither) and an answerphone 0207 600 5522. Why do I just know they’ll never call me back?