THOUGHT FOR THE DAY What is Brexit?

What is Brexit? Your questions answered. On Thursday 23rd June 2016, the United Kingdom took part in a Referendum in which 52% of the public voted to leave the EU. Over the last two and a half years the government have been negotiating the terms of the deal which will see us leave the EU. The UK are officially due to leave on 29th March 2019. The European Union is a group of 28 countries, who all work together to make buying and selling to each other easier. Britain opted to join the EU in 1973 and officially joined following a referendum in 1975. If the UK decide they want to rejoin the EU they will have to apply like any other country. The public believed that leaving the EU would help the country gain more control over its economy, law making and the borders, giving us greater control over who can come to live and work in the UK. Brexit will affect all of us in some way or another, some will have families and friends who will have to apply for status under the European Union settlement scheme. This video requires flash player.

Brexit timeline. June 23 2016: Britain vote to leave the European union. May 2017 - October 2018, Brexit negotiations begin between the UK and EU. December 2017, Brussels negotiations began. 18th-19th October 2018, EU summit concluded. Negotiations of the new EU and UK trade relationship. March 2019, the UK is expected to leave the European Union. 13th March 2017, parliament vote to trigger Article 50. April 29 2017, EU meet to discuss Brexit. July 2018, Customs Union vote. January- February 2019, House of Commons approval of the Brexit deal. Click here for a helpful video and more information: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38637145

Do you think this is a good idea? Each week TFTD will look at a recent news article which effects you as students and members of society. If you have any suggestions or read any relevant or interesting articles, please speak to Mrs Richards to get them included. The GP substitute will see you now An army of more than 20,000 physios, pharmacists and paramedics are to be recruited in England to work alongside under-pressure GPs, NHS bosses say. The new staff will work with GPs, taking responsibility for some of the 300 million bookings made with practices each year. They will also provide continuing care to patients in the community. NHS England said this should allow GPs to spend more time with the sickest patients. The average appointment lasts about eight minutes, which GPs say is not enough time to deal with the complex issues an ageing population presents with. NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: "It represents the biggest boost to general practice in more than 15 years, giving patients more convenient services at their local GP surgery while breaking down the divide between family doctors and community health services.“ GP leaders have warmly welcomed the move but warned extra doctors were also needed. There are currently just over 34,000 GPs working in England, alongside 11,000 practice nurses. Despite promises to recruit more GPs, the number of full-time equivalents working has actually fallen by 400 in the past three years. The Royal College of GPs estimates the nation is 6,000 GPs short of what it needs. The changes have been announced as part of a five-year contract brokered with the British Medical Association. It is being funded by the extra £4.5bn that will be invested in community services by 2023 under the terms of the 10-year NHS Plan published earlier this month. GP practices are being funded to recruit some of the staff directly. In the future, each practice should have its own pharmacist, to carry out medicines reviews, and a social-prescribing link worker, who will be able to link patients with everything from exercise classes to lose weight to arts and dance groups to help with mental health problems. But community services are also being reorganised as part of the 10-year plan, with the creation of primary care networks spanning several GP practices. Many of the extra staff will work in these teams, providing an extra layer of services to patients. By 2023-24, there should be 22,000 extra physios, pharmacists, paramedics and link workers in place. But Nigel Edwards, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, said the NHS may find that hard to achieve. "We need to hear more about where these staff are coming from - after all, many parts of the NHS have their own serious shortages," he said. As the changes have been introduced as part of a new contract, the profession is fully behind the plans. BMA GP leader Dr Richard Vautrey said he was "confident" the new deal would benefit both patients and doctors. "Recent years have seen hard-working family doctors deal with an overstretched workforce doing their best to meet rising demand from patients suffering more and more complex conditions," he said. Prof Helen Stokes Lampard, who chairs the Royal College of GPs, said these new staff would become "high-skilled members of the GP team". But she added: "Our prime objective must remain the recruitment and retention of thousands more GPs." How would you react if you were asked to see another professional instead of a GP? Do you think this is a good idea?