Health Service Journal
31 March 2010
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‘Aggressive’ PCTs provoke legal threat
The National Association of Primary Care is considering legal action against primary care trusts taking an aggressive stance when renegotiating personal medical services contracts to make savings. -
£4m telecare funding announced
Scotland’s public health minister Shona Robison has announced £4m of telecare funding for high-tech devices that help older people stay in their own homes. -
£60m in NHS negligence compensation
NHS negligence claim payouts in Scotland came to more than £60m over three years, with more than half the bill between 2006-07 and 2008-09 run up by obstetrics and gynaecology errors. -
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After two decades of wandering, commissioning has a destination
The report on commissioning from the Commons health select committee is both insightful and flawed. -
Andy Jones on defining NHS quality
The health consumer gets it, Lord Darzi gets it and framed an entire review around it, Sir Bruce Keogh certainly got it during his time as president of the Cardiothoracic Society, and the outgoing chief medical officer has dedicated a working lifetime to it. -
Auditors called into NHS Employers
An ambitious outsourcing service launched by NHS Employers has been scrapped in light of dismal levels of interest from trusts and the Department of Health’s decision to tender NHS Jobs. -
Better alcohol services could save hospitals £393m
Tens of thousands of hospital admissions for alcohol could be prevented each year if services to help drinkers were improved, a new report claims. -
Better procurement could save NHS Scotland millions
NHS savings of £2m a year could be made if boards in Scotland purchased hip and knee joints from the same suppliers, auditors have claimed. -
Book Review: The Checklist Manifesto
Avoid deadly mistakes with a checklist, say Edward Miles and Jonathan Bloor -
Budget cuts NHS spending estimate by £500m
The Budget today reduces the Treasury’s estimate for NHS spending as a whole this year by £500m. -
Call to investigate excessive death rates
Excessive death rates at 25 hospital trusts should be probed by the government, one of Britain’s leading experts on the subject has said. -
Cally Bann: the election
So it’s looking like 6 May, with purdah not falling a second too soon. -
Care bill funding drops 'death tax' plan
The government will rule out today what critics have branded a “death tax” to fund social care for the elderly. -
Care white paper opts for care free at the point of need
The government has staked its general election chances on the establishment of a national care service akin to the NHS. -
Career coaching: what does your voice say about you?
When expertise, ideas and creativity fail to get you noticed, voice coaching may be the answer, says Constance Lamb -
Cost of weekend A&E police cover revealed
Hospitals are paying tens of thousands of pounds for police officers to cover accident and emergency departments on Friday and Saturday nights, it has been disclosed. -
Darling admits public spending cuts will eclipse Thatcher's
Cuts to public spending are at the centre of the pre-election political battle, after chancellor Alistair Darling appeared to accept that they would be deeper and tougher in a fourth-term Labour administration than in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher. -
Darling eyes NHS staff absence for efficiency savings
Last week’s Budget announced that the NHS will have to find £4.35bn in savings by 2012-13. -
David Kerr: health policy just got personal
An architect of Labour’s NHS reforms explains why he has decided to take a role as health adviser to the Conservatives -
FTs offered cash to take control of failing trusts
Foundation trusts will be given financial incentives to take over failing NHS trusts under proposals to be set out in the government’s forthcoming election manifesto. -
Government to launch social care white paper on Tuesday
Number 10 and health secretary Andy Burnham are preparing to launch the long awaited social care white paper on Tuesday. -
Hammersmith and Fulham named council of the year
A council that shares a chief executive and integrated management team with its local primary care trust has been named Local Government Chronicle’s Council of the Year - praised by the judges for “doing something very special in challenging times”. -
High turnover in senior roles 'down to weak candidates'
One of the longest serving acute trust chief executives has said high turnover of senior staff is usually down to individuals not being good enough, rather than unfair treatment. -
Hillingdon and Enfield to integrate with mental health sector
NHS Hillingdon looks set to vertically integrate its provider arm with Central and North West London Foundation Trust. -
In case you weren't sure
The item we published stating that the names of anonymous posters had been revealed was an April Fools’ Day joke.The privacy of our readers is keenly important to us and the names of anonymous posters could never be displayed online.We are grateful to all our readers for the thought-provoking comments they post on our site. -
Labour accused of failing to match Tory commitment
Health secretary Andy Burnham has been accused of failing to match the Tories’ commitment to a real-terms increase in the NHS budget every year in the next parliament. -
Lambeth and Southwark provider arms to integrate with Guy's and St Thomas’
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust is to take over the running of community services in Lambeth and Southwark. -
Learning vacuum
Government press releases are usually unflinchingly positive. -
Media Watch: budget cut déjà vu
HSJ readers may have been forgiven for getting a sense of déjà vu when reading the national press this week. The Daily Telegraph front page on Saturday warned its readers to expect “Hospital wards to shut in secret NHS cuts”. -
Michael White: Darling's Budget
The Budget joke I liked best was not the one about the tax haven deal with Lord Ashcroft’s Belize. It was that Alistair Darling had offered money to fill potholes in our roads after the long, hard winter, but not the black holes in the public finances after the even crueller recession. -
Mid Staffs board wants to be stripped of FT status
The board of Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust has requested it be stripped of its foundation status, it has emerged. -
New body to improve NHS workforce planning
A new body is being set up to help health and social care managers plan their workforce. -
NHS boards failing to engage on clinical quality audits
Nearly two thirds of trust boards are failing to engage with an important element of care quality governance, according to the organisation in charge of clinical audit. -
NHS charities: five steps to stay independent
NHS charity boards must be prepared to demonstrate their independence or they will lose it, write Abbie Rumbold and Matthew Orme -
NHS Cumbria appoints chair
Mike Taylor has been appointed chair of NHS Cumbria. -
NHS Direct chief appointed
NHS Direct has appointed Ronnette Lucraft as permanent chief operating officer. -
NHS elderly care review launched
The Welsh government has launched a review into the level of respect and dignity given to the elderly in hospitals. -
NHS finance directors feel a distinct nip in the air
Chill winds are blowing through acute and PCT forecasts for their organisations over the next year - with recruitment freezes the most dramatic trend. Sally Gainsbury reports on HSJ’s latest survey of finance directors’ outlook -
NHS North West urged to be ‘proactive’ about performance improvement
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has told NHS North West to adopt a more “proactive approach” to improving performance across the region. -
NHS uniform rethink
The Department of Health has amended its guidance on NHS uniforms and workwear to address concerns that Muslim clinicians and students were facing discrimination because of universal policies requiring them to dress “bare below the elbows”. -
NPSA urges monthly patient safety reporting from trusts
The National Patient Safety Agency has advised trusts to report patient safety incidents more regularly to avoid coming under scrutiny from the Care Quality Commission. -
Number of NHS managers increases by 12pc
The number of managers working in the NHS has risen by 12 per cent in one year, new figures show. -
Obesity charity criticises QOF for incentivising list making
Doctors are being paid to compile lists of obese patients and then do nothing with them, the chair of the National Obesity Forum has claimed. -
ONS records drop in healthcare productivity
Productivity in healthcare fell by 3.3 per cent between 1995 and 2008, according to new figures. -
PCTs gain powers to force services out to community
Commissioners will be able to force hospitals to provide services in the community or make their staff available to other providers. -
PCTs 'too passive on commissioning'
Primary care trusts are “too passive and lack the clinical knowledge” to commission services effectively, according to a damning report from MPs. -
Preferred provider guidance leaves waters muddy
Both sides in the row over the NHS as “preferred provider” are claiming victory after the Department of Health published its procurement guide for primary care trusts. -
Prescriptions per person double
The average number of prescriptions per person dispensed in the last two decades has doubled from eight a year to 16 despite most people living longer and healthier lives, a study has shown. -
QIPP temper
If you thought KPMG impresario Mark Britnell would stay ultra chummy with NHS types to smooth the way for a future comeback, you’d be wrong. -
Royal College of GPs elects first female chair in 50 years
The Royal College of GPs has elected its first female chair in 50 years. -
Royal College of Physicians elects president
Sir Richard Thompson has been elected president of the Royal College of Physicians. -
Scotland unveils £44m IT system
A £44m NHS computer system is to be rolled out across Scotland in a bid to improve security and free up staff time. -
Senior staff must show leadership on pay restraint, says chancellor
The government will commit to a new code of practice on senior pay setting in the public sector, today’s Budget announces, with a warning senior staff should “show leadership in pay restraint”. -
Sheila Williams on the ageing process
Getting older has never concerned me much, other than avoiding the shaving mirrors found in hotel bathrooms that reveal, in high definition, the creases and crinkles I have earned over the years. However, three incidents have given me pause for thought. -
Six PCTs allowed to keep status quo on structure
Six primary care trusts have been given approval in principle by the government to continue as direct provider organisations. -
Sustainability: how to cut costs and your carbon footprint
NHS organisations with sustainability policies may be helping to save the planet but closer to home they are also driving performance, says Jennifer Taylor -
Swine flu 'hit credibility' of WHO
Public confidence in the World Health Organisation has ebbed away because the dangers of the swine flu pandemic were overstated, a draft report to the Council of Europe seen by The Guardian has found. -
Ten more trusts registered with conditions
A second wave of registration decisions by the Care Quality Commission has highlighted problems at 10 trusts. -
Three shortlisted in race to run Hinchingbrooke
Three bidders have been shortlisted to win the franchise to run Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust. -
Tories to plug £6bn NI hole by cutting waste
Conservatives will reverse the bulk of the government’s planned increase in National Insurance by cutting £6bn of “waste” from the public sector, shadow chancellor George Osborne has announced. -
Trust accused of 'ridiculing' nurse's religion
A Christian nurse claiming she was discriminated against by her employer has told a tribunal that removing her crucifix would violate her faith. -
Trust rapped for not advertising chief executive post
A hospital trust has been criticised for appointing a chief executive without allowing other potential candidates to apply for the post. -
Twittering teeth
There is a notion that it is almost impossible to get on the list of an NHS dentist. -
We need to face up to tough choices on social care – fast
The social care white paper unveiled on Tuesday is an important step on the way to getting politicians and voters to face difficult choices. -
YouTube if you dare to
Standing for Parliament is never easy - as former United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust chief executive Gary Walker is finding out.
