Health Service Journal
23 July 2009
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Andy Burnham dismisses Mid Staffs inquiry as 'too distracting'
Health secretary Andy Burnham has defended his decision to stop short of launching a full public inquiry into failures at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust, telling HSJ he thought it would be “distracting to managers”. -
Antony Sumara 'flattered' to get Mid Staffs top job
The new chief executive of scandal hit Mid Staffordshire foundation trust says he will help the organisation recover by being “open, honest and transparent”. -
Antony Sumara is appointed Mid Staffs chief executive
Turnaround expert Antony Sumara has been appointed chief executive of scandal-hit Mid Staffordshire foundation trust. -
Asylum seekers to get free NHS treatment
Free NHS treatment is to be given to thousands of failed asylum seekers in Britain, it has been revealed. Currently immigrants who fail to gain refugee status are not entitled to free care, but ministers are set to extend the benefits to those who cannot leave the country “through no fault of their own”. -
Better communication could avoid deaths in hospital
The first annual summary of coroners’ reports into the circumstances around avoidable deaths has highlighted the need for better hospital communication processes. -
Book Review: Nudge - Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness
This book promotes choice not coercion for social marketing -
Bradford hospitals facing £50m cuts
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS foundation trust has said it is looking for ways to save £50 million over the next three years. -
Cost of NHS growth revealed
Government spending on public services such as education will need to be cut by as much as 4.5 per cent a year if politicians’ promises to give the NHS real terms growth are met. -
Data protection warning as more trusts lose patient records
Hospital trusts have been told of the importance of data security after the Information Commissioner’s Office found five more organisations in breach of the Data Protection Act. -
Department of Health asked to consider increased regulation
Experts calling for “radical” changes to the regulation of NHS workers have asked the Department of Health to consider whether managers could be covered by the proposals. -
Department of Health has improved but its vision lacks ‘coherence’
The Department of Health has improved the quality of its leadership over the past two years, a Cabinet Office review has found. -
European cancer specialists to increase online collaboration
Cancer care experts in Europe are to make more use of the internet to improve the flow of information between scientists, NHS doctors, drug companies and patients. -
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: TENDER FOR THE PROVISION OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY SERVICES
Wiltshire Council and NHS Wiltshire -
Extending patient choice is an ongoing challenge for the NHS. Most patients in the UK say that they are not as involved in decisions about their own care as they want to be.
Health Foundation -
Flight of fancy
Some NHS trusts get terribly wound up over visiting times, imposing strict restrictions on the numbers and ages of those who can see patients. -
Ghost of a chance
When Derby Hospitals foundation trust made a chaplain available for staff spooked by ghostly sightings, managers strenuously denied claims that they were planning an exorcism. -
Hospital's threatened out of hours services saved
A hospital in West Dunbartonshire is to continue its out of hours “unscheduled care” despite fears it would be cancelled. -
How to use an ASBO to prevent bad behaviour
Employees should not work in fear. NHS organisations can apply for a controlling order against threatening members of the public, advise Judith Sharratt and Gemma Brannigan -
Jenny Rogers on tendering
The person on the telephone sounds very young. I am stifling incredulity at her request. “You mean you want me to tender for this?” I ask. -
Jim Easton to continue Lord Darzi's work on NHS quality
The Department of Health’s new head of quality, innovation, productivity and prevention, Jim Easton, has vowed to “follow through” on Lord Darzi’s commitment to quality. -
Joan Saddler on patient centred services
Actively seeking out and acting on patient feedback to shape services is still far from the norm but is fundamental to putting quality at the heart of the NHS. -
Keep calm and carry on: staff, like patients, need reassuring
HSJ and Nursing Times’s survey this week of almost 1,500 staff reveals a national health service largely confident in its ability to cope with the swine flu pandemic, but concerned their jobs are being made more difficult by hype and hysteria. -
Live data tackles accident and emergency demand
Emergency departments could share live information about how busy they are so patients can be sent to the right place. -
London agrees stroke and trauma overhaul
Plans to overhaul stroke and major trauma care in London have been approved by a committee of the city’s primary care trusts. -
Managers quietly confident as NHS battles swine flu pandemic
Managers and staff are confident the NHS is coping successfully with swine flu, an HSJ and Nursing Times survey reveals. -
Media Watch: the shrill cries of the doomsayers
Depending on which paper you read this week, you could be forgiven for thinking you were living in two different countries. -
Michael White on the future of healthcare funding
For a politician in his situation, care services minister Phil Hope was in a remarkably cheerful mood when I caught up with him to find out how well - or badly - his department’s latest green paper had been received. -
Ministers to exert power over Monitor
Health secretary Andy Burnham plans to change the law so ministers can instruct foundation trust regulator Monitor to intervene where organisations are failing. -
National service to ease swine flu pressures
Attempts to ease the pressures on GPs caused by swine flu have been welcomed by British Medical Association GPs committee chairman Dr Laurence Buckman. -
New chief for Royal Free Hospital
David Sloman has been named as the new chief executive of the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London. He will take up the position in September. -
New Horizons policy direction lauded despite missing details
An “aspirational” strategy setting out the next 10 years of mental health policy has been welcomed despite a lack of detail on how it will be achieved. -
NHS budget pledges will squeeze Whitehall
Protecting the NHS budget will mean tax rises and/or spending cuts in other departments, according to the King’s Fund and Institute for Fiscal Studies. -
NHS care indicators on new website
Two hundred care quality indicators are to be made available on a single NHS website with the enthusiastic backing of outgoing health minister Lord Darzi. -
NHS hospital franchise plan gets green light
The running of an NHS hospital is to be franchised out, potentially to a private company, in the first arrangement of its kind. -
NHS North Lancashire appoints new chief
Former NHS North Yorkshire and York chief executive Janet Soo-Chung is to take up the reins at NHS North Lancashire. -
NHS Southampton City (Southampton City Primary Care Trust) invites Expressions of Interest from suitably qualified and experienced providers of healthcare...
NHS Southampton City -
NHS Tameside and Glossop appoints board chair
NHS Tameside and Glossop has unveiled Dr Kailash Chand as the new chair of its board. -
NICE issues guidance to help spot child abuse
Doctors and nurses will be given guidance to help them recognise children who are at risk of physical or sexual abuse, it has been announced. -
Number 10 confirms Lord Darzi resigns as health minister
The government confirmed last night that health minister Lord Darzi would be leaving the government and published his resignation letter to the prime minister. -
Paratroopers mark D-Day in war on childhood obesity
Drafting in paratroopers to show overweight children that exercise is fun is just one novel initiative that has had results. -
Party piece
After being accused of being teetotal on Question Time, health secretary Andy Burnham will have been keen to prove otherwise at the Department of Health’s annual drinks reception for journalists last week. -
Paul Corrigan on commissioning strategy plans
Nearly all primary care trust commissioning strategy plans describe a rationale for their intentions over the next five years. Tailored to the health and healthcare needs of their population, they describe future actions which intend to move activity out of secondary care, and cut emergency admissions and attendance at A&E. -
Social care council chief suspended
General Social Care Council chief executive Mike Wardle has been suspended over claims that social workers are being employed who pose a risk to the public. -
Stephen Eames on the need to make changes
Sunday morning and it looks as if it is going to be a hot day - a precursor to a long hot summer dominated by organising surge plans to combat pandemic flu, while digesting the impact of another central initiative on quality, innovation, improvement and productivity, otherwise known as “QIPP”. -
Survey: How do you think the NHS is coping with swine flu?
Health Service Journal and Nursing Times would like to hear about the experience of swine flu by NHS staff so we can share with you, via our magazines and websites, how nurses and managers are feeling and what support they are getting. -
Swine flu survey: views from the front line
Some of your responses to the HSJ and Nursing Times survey -
Swine flu to hit 12 per cent of NHS staff at one time
The health service has been told to prepare for up to 8 per cent of the population suffering from swine flu at any one time - and up to 12 per cent of the NHS workforce. -
The tension between religion and healthcare
When the religious beliefs of an NHS employee run contrary to trust policy, the result is often headline grabbing conflict. Louise Hunt looks at a modern day dilemma -
Trust chief moves to SHA before critical report
A chief executive at a trust that “tolerated poor and mediocre practices” and failed to properly investigate serious incidents has been given a job at NHS London. -
Trust chief seconded to swine flu task force
Marie Burnham, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals trust, has been granted 12 months leave of absence to head an NHS North West swine flu task force. -
Trust foots bill for private ward
A failed private health venture has left a London NHS trust with a multi-million pound bill and no way to pay it. -
Where's Darzi?
Lord Darzi’s official leaving date may not be until the recess, but his Richmond House office looked pretty bare as HSJ passed it on the way to a briefing at the DH. -
Will the public back the national care service?
The long awaited social care green paper proposes reforms including a new ‘national care service’, but what are the implications and where will the money come from?
