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May 12, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:22pm

Pulse_claim

By Press Gazette

Pulse, the magazine for GPs, claims to have caught out Tony Blair after a live TV debate on waiting lists.

John
Robinson, news editor of the CMPi title, saw the Prime Minister claim
on BBC1’s Question Time that he was “absolutely astonished” that the
target of 48-hour access to a GP could have the side effect of limiting
the availability of advance appointments.

Robinson said he had
proof that Blair had known about the problem for months, as Pulse had
run a story six months earlier in which the Department of Health said
Blair was “interested in restrictive booking” because it was “a big issue coming round the corner”.

Following
an email to national newsdesks, the issue appeared on ITV’s 6.30pm and
10.30pm news and on Channel 4, Radio Five’s Drive Time, in the Daily
Mail, The Times and The Daily Telegraph, featuring interviews with
Pulse editor Phil Johnson.

The magazine also became the first B2B
magazine to sponsor a candidate in a general election. Standing on the
magazine’s “Manifesto for General Practice” and an anti-privatisation
ticket, GP Dr Ivan Benett won 243 votes in Manchester Withington.

Pulse paid his deposit and designed and printed his campaign materials.

Johnson
said: “We didn’t expect him to get elected in this very safe Labour
seat but it was an excellent way to raise the campaign’s profile and
demonstrate to our readers that Pulse is on their side and isn’t just a
talking shop.”

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