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Health Service Journal
November 2006

View all stories from this issue.

  • 5,000 'social enterprise pathfinders' come forward

    Care service minister Ivan Lewis used social enterprise day to announce that more than 5,000 people have shown interest in becoming 'social enterprise pathfinders' in health and social care by looking at the application pack.The £1m pathfinder scheme is intended to support social enterprises that want to develop innovative services and provide them with financial, legal and other support. Bids must be submitted by the end of the month and the winners will be announced in January.

  • A career in obstetrics and gynaecology RCOG

    EMPTY

  • A safer place for patients

    Executive summary National Audit Office

  • A safer place for patients National Audit Office

    Detailed document

  • Alcohol death rate doubles

    The number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK has more than doubled in the past 15 years, new government figures have revealed.Over 8,000 people died from alcohol-related conditions or incidents in 2005, compared with 4,144 in 1991.See the full figures here

  • Ambulance trusts 'must improve performance data'

    Ambulance trust boards need 'accurate and timely' performance information to drive improvements in information so the ambulance service can play a key role in ensuring patients receive appropriate care in the right environment, according to a new report by health information company Dr Foster Intelligence.The report will appear here

  • Andrew Castle on service improvement

  • Annual healthcheck overhauled

    The Healthcare Commission has revised the criteria that will be used to assess NHS trusts' performance against the core standards in 2006-07.It takes into account new targets, revised policy as well as attempting to reduce repetition and increase clarity.See the revised criteria here

  • Author of reconfiguration blueprint rails against 'wrong, confusing and puzzling' opposition

    The man who wrote the blueprint for Scottish health services has hit out at politicians and unions who originally backed his plans but are now opposing them as they are rolled out locally.

  • BAFTA nomination for teen health drama

    A unique educational youth drama on TV and the internet - which focuses on issues like teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, alcohol and drugs through the stories of six teenage friends - has been nominated for a BAFTA award for the second year running. L8r,pronounced 'later', is made by Hi8us, which is financed by the European Social Fund Initiative. www.hi8tus.co.uk

  • Belfast to get extra mental health services

    A dedicated self-harm team, four additional cognitive behavioural therapists and a primary care mental health team for young people are to begin work in the North and West Belfast trust area. The services are part of the area's action plan on renewing communities.

  • Blackpool - a partnership approach

    Men in Blackpool have the second worst life expectancy for males in England and Wales

  • BMA takes action in 'turf war' over community work

    The British Medical Association is drawing up guidance for consultants 'stuck in the middle' of turf wars between acute and primary care trusts trying to protect their incomes.

  • BME service discrimination 'unethical and unlawful'

    Black and minority ethnic mental health service users are being discriminated against in ways that are unethical and unlawful, a health minister has admitted.

  • BMJ study says Evercare fails to cut hospital admissions

    A new case management system for older patients has failed to reduce emergency admissions and death rates, says a study in the BMJ.The Evercare system is a key plank of government community care policy and has been rolled out across England.Researchers, who studied nine pilot sites, found the system had no significant impact on emergency admissions, emergency hospital stays, or mortality rates.Read the report

  • Bradford - Planning, encouraging, boosting confidence

    Health trainers spend up to an hour with clients, and see them for up to six sessions

  • Breath of fresh air on self-care

    Self-care often has a very poor reputation among primary care trust staff - yet it can bring substantial cash savings and improve health.

  • Cancer audit in sight

    The Information Centre is preparing to audit hospitals' care of patients with gastro-intestinal cancer

  • Care services efficiency delivery: demand forecasting and capacity planning

    The care services efficiency delivery programme was established by the Department of Health to implement the recommendations of Releasing Resources to the Front Line, Sir Peter Gershon's review of public sector efficiency.

  • Cash boost for HIV health promotion

    The Department of Health will invest an extra £1m in work to tackle the rise in HIV cases among gay men and African communities in the UK.The money will be used by the Terrence Higgins Trust and the African HIV Policy Network on projects to strengthen HIV prevention and reduce transmission rates.'The extra money is in addition to the £130m we are already investing in modernising sexual health clinics and services throughout the country,' said public health minister Car

  • Choice guidelines are 'mere principle'

    New government guidelines on choice in mental health have been criticised by campaigners.

  • Clinicians should take the lead on commissioning, says BMA

    Government plans to change how NHS services are commissioned will only succeed with the full involvement of clinicians, the British Medical Association said today.Honest and open debate with the public is also crucial, said the association as it unveiled its own set of principles for commissioning.The BMA was responding to the Department of Health's commissioning framework for England.

  • Commissioning and Managing Screening Programmes In the NHS in England

    Department of Health guidance on ensuring appropriate commissioning and performance arrangements for screening programmes in the NHS. Published in September 2005.

  • Community equipment survey

    The Information Centre is seeking a clearer idea of how community equipment is sourced and provided by local authorities

  • Computer fraudbusters go online

    The NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service has launched a website to promote the work of its forensic computing unit.The unit trawls computer systems for digital evidence of fraud, computer misuse and security breaches. It has been involved in 138 NHS fraud cases to date, with a potential value of around £64m. The unit operates on a commercial basis, but offers discounts for NHS customers.For more details: click

  • Consultation launched on promotion of NHS services

    The Department of Health has launched proposals for a self-regulatory approach to promotion of NHS services, underpinned by a code of practice. Consultation on the code is open until 28 February.To see the code go here

  • Copying outpatient clinic correspondence: letter to patient or GP?

    The NHS plan flagged up improving communication between doctors and patients by having outpatient clinic letters to GPs copied to patients. We ran a study comparing this with writing a letter to the patient copied to the GP.

  • CSIP's eBook resource for commissioners and service providers

    The Care Services Improvement Partnership's commissioning eBook (www.cat.csip.org.uk/commissioningebook) was launched at the end of March and contains a range of articles that represent current thinking and practice in commissioning.

  • Data fears don't stop survey

    The Department of Health is pushing ahead with a massive GP patient experience survey despite fears over data protection issues and dissent from the British Medical Association.

  • Dave Lee on listening to complaints

    The idea of a committee as an inherently good thing may be counter-intuitive. When Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Baroness Julia Neuberger decided in 1993 that the community trust she was chairing should have a customer services committee, there were no bets on its longevity.

  • Dave Roberts on QOF and chronic diseases

    The quality and outcomes frame

  • David Lock on pressure to prescribe

    'There are two potentially conflicting legal duties here - the duty to prescribe the drug and the legal requirement to break even'

  • Demand management ineffective and costs rise under PBR

    There is a lack of evidence around which demand management schemes make payment by results more effective.Research by the York University's Centre for Health and Public Services Management and Centre for Health Economics also found the system has increased the scope for disagreement between trusts and primary care trusts over contracts, if only because the financial implications are much greater than they used to be.To see the research click

  • Dental association: NHS should not be given more regulatory powers

    The British Dental Association has said the NHS should not be given regulatory powers but supports maintaining the current number of regulators. In its response to the Department of Health's consultation on the regulation of non-medical healthcare professionals, the BDA also supported a revalidation scheme being introduced to ensure dental professionals' continuing fitness to practice.

  • Detect cancer early

    Early diagnosis of cancer is often hampered by deprivation. But how is the DoH tackling the inequalities gap? Ingrid Torjesen finds out

  • Diagnostic waiting times down

    The Department of Health has issued diagnostic waiting times data for September, showing that the average length of time that a patient can expect to wait for a test has fallen from around seven weeks in April to around five-and-a-half weeks now.The DoH started collecting monthly waiting time information for 15 diagnostic tests this spring, as part of its drive towards delivering the government's 18-week 'total' waiting-time target by 2008.Health minister Andy Burnham welcomed t

  • Dignity in care campaign launched

    Minister for care services Ivan Lewis has launched a dignity in care campaign. The campaign aims to stimulate a national debate around dignity in care and a system of zero tolerance for abuse and disrespect of older people. A network of volunteers will raise the profile of dignity in local care, and a practice guide has also been launched. Find out more about the network

  • Doctors to provide treatment at threatened site

    Teams of GPs have used their commissioning skills to help keep open a community hospital that was threatened with closure.

  • Doctors urged to discuss electronic records with patients

    The British Medical Association is encouraging doctors to start talking to patients about the new NHS care record service being developed by the national IT programme.Connecting for Health, the agency that runs the programme, is planning its own information campaign. But BMA chair James Johnson has written to doctors to argue that they should also tell patients about it so they can make a 'positive, informed decision' about whether to participate.Guidance produced by the BMA hig

  • DoH publishes details of long-term conditions pilots

    The Department of Health has published details of major pilot schemes to demonstrate how care can be shifted from hospitals to the community. The demonstrator programme for long-term conditions will examine how a whole systems approach - including use of electronic assistive technologies - can be used to improve care and support for patients in the community. The proposals, originally set out in the Our Health, Our Care, Our Saywhite paper, will be

  • Donna Covey on equalising outcomes

    Socio-economic status can have a profound effect on outcomes, and asthma mortality is higher for people in lower social classes

  • Dossier reveals true extent of management consultant spend

    The imposition of turnaround teams on cash-strapped trusts has cost the NHS more than £22m, new figures reveal.

  • Dr Raj Persaud: mind games

    'There are parad

  • Efficiency, not cost, could be future of PbR

    Payment by results tariffs could be altered to reflect the most efficient ways of working, rather than the average cost of a particular treatment, under changes being discussed by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and the Department of Health.

  • Employ health trainers

    The government has ditched its fear-factor advertising in favour of a more personal approach to keeping people alive. Jo Stephenson reports

  • Equal but not the same

    From next April, trusts will have a legal duty to demonstrate gender equity across all areas of service provision. But as the deadline approaches, the national picture is looking decidedly patchy. Gabriel Fleming looks at how it will work

  • Failing trusts can be shut down

    A new super-regulator will have the power to shut down failing trusts and services, the Department of Health has revealed.

  • Fall in psychiatric inpatient care suicides

    Suicide in psychiatric inpatient care is becoming less common, according to research by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness. The study looked at all patients admitted to inpatient psychiatric care in England between 1997 and 2003 and found a reduction in deaths in both males and females. Read the study here

  • Flint unveils £4m sexual health campaign

    Health minister Caroline Flint unveiled a £4m sexual health advertising campaign today that aims to make 18-24 year olds as likely to carry a condom when they're 'out on the pull' as they are to have mobile phones or lipstick.The government highlighted research showing that while 90 per cent of females and 70 cent of males have 'pulling pants' for when they're out on the town, fewer than one in five carry a condom.TV ads will initially run from 20 November and radio and onl

  • Focus on CVD

    Despite the successes in fighting cardiovascular disease, the NHS is still to tackle the inequalities gap that can be responsible, says Victoria Hoban

  • GM Live 2: new dates coming

    It's always good to look up old friends. How have they changed? What's better? What's worse? Over the coming months in this HSJGood Management Live gateway we will look at the progress the hosts of the first series of events are making.

  • Government announces carer arrangements

    The government has defined 'carer' with regard to new rights from 6 April next year for carers to request flexible working arrangements from their employers.Employment relations minister Jim Fitzpatrick announced today that the rules will cover employees caring for an adult who is: their spouse, partner or civil partner; a near relative; someone living at the same address.Read the press release

  • Government passion cools on £50m safe-sex drive

    The government appears to have abandoned its pledge to spend £50m on safe-sex campaigns.

  • Government urges quicker action on infection rates

    The government has said it will urge the Healthcare Commission to move more quickly to take action against trusts with high levels of healthcare-acquired infection.

  • GP commissioning boost revealed

    The Department of Health has issued guidance designed to boost the number of GP practices involved in practice-based commissioning.The guidance says that good progress has been made in getting the 'right environment' in place for PBC, but it aims to clarify some 'challenging' issues around governance, accountability and budget setting.To read the guidance, click

  • Granger tops NHS earners list

    The average salary of the 12 highest earners in the NHS is £183,000, according to an analysis of senior executives' pay in the public sector for 2004-05.The figures from the Taxpayers' Alliance show the top two NHS earners are Connecting for Health chief executive Richard Granger, with a £285,000 salary, followed by former NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp with £215,000.Mr Granger was ranked 40th overall and was also placed third in the alliance's 'most surprisi

  • Health aspiration - Old is not ill

    With more and more people living longer, the health service and its partners must address some communities' low expectations on quality of life, says Claire Laurent

  • Healthcare Commission criticises care of young offenders

    Too many young offenders have insufficient access to healthcare, in particular mental health services, according to a joint report published today by the Healthcare Commission and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation.The report found that one in six youth offending teams (YOTs) tasked with looking after the health and welfare of young offenders did not have a healthcare worker, even though primary care trusts have a statutory duty to provide one. And a third of YOTs did not have a m

  • Healthcare managers face future outside the NHS, says IHM president

    Many more healthcare managers may end up working in the private and voluntary sector, said the president of the Institute of Healthcare Management.Speaking at the IHM's annual conference in Cardiff, Gerry McScorley said the growing range of organisations delivering healthcare meant many new career opportunities.At the same conference, IHM chief executive Sue Hodgetts said the current environment for healthcare managers was like trying to 'paddle a white water raft through ever m

  • Healthier lives but ever-widening inequalities: what price progress?

    While London's spearhead primary care trusts look likely to meet their national targets on inequalities, there is a growing differential in specific disease areas and between geographical areas which threatens to undermine long-term advances. Daloni Carlisle reports

  • Helen Bevan on the push for productivity

    'Over the past 10 years, we have learn

  • Help for councils to get to grips with money

    The October 2005 report by the Association of Directors of Social Services on spending pressures in learning disability services showed that the number of people with learning disabilities getting help from councils is going up.

  • Hewitt defends NHS reform

    Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt told the New Health Network yesterday that balancing high-quality care with tight budgets was the NHS's greatest challenge.She said the increasing cost of new medical technologies and drugs and the rising expectations of patients would have to be met. Ms Hewitt acknowledged that reform is 'never popular', but insisted that it must be carried through.

  • Hewitt hints at resignation if NHS doesn't break even

    Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has hinted that she may resign if the NHS does not break even by the end of this financial year.Asked by the Commons select committee whether her job would be at risk if balance was not restored, Ms Hewitt said she would take 'personal responsibility' if her pledge to ensure the NHS broke even was not met.

  • Hewitt: the buck stops with me on financial balance

    The health secretary will take personal responsibility for ensuring that the NHS is in financial balance by the end of March next year, she told the Commons health select committee last week.

  • HIV awareness pack launched for schools

    The National AIDS trust has launched a free resource pack to help teachers integrate HIV education into the national curriculum at key stages three and four. The trust fears the failure of the curriculum to include HIV within relevant subjects means many young people leave school without knowing the facts. Order the pack here

  • HIV diagnoses up

    An estimated 63,500 adults are now living with HIV in the UK, according to A Complex Picture, a report published today by the Health Protection Agency. This latest figure includes both those who have been diagnosed and also around a third (20,100) who remain unaware of their infection. The report reveals a big rise in diagnoses last year with 7,450 cases recorded.

  • How Middle England turned into a nation of reconfiguration rebels

    Demonstrations against changes to hospital services have brought thousands on to the streets. Tash Shifrin spoke to some of the campaigners about their aims

  • How to create real sustainable change in your community

    To mark the launch of this year's Sustainable Development Awards, Penny Harding explains how her project to create social inclusion in a deprived rural area won one of the categories

  • Improving prescribing in mental health: the patient perspective

    The Healthcare Commission's State of Healthcare 2006report, published on 1 November, highlights a number of problems with mental health prescribing which frequently deviates from best practice and national guidance with potentially devastating effects for patients.

  • In the balance - a starting point to close the poverty gap

    Tackling the gap between good health and poor health can only be achieved by utilising all powers to close the poverty gap. But where do PCTs and councils start, asks Colleen Shannon

  • Information prescription

    Prescription Pricing Authority and hospital prescribing-derived data are available from the Information Centre

  • IT project accused of bullying

    Managers have attacked the Connecting for Health IT project for 'bullying' people into talking down problems on the ground.

  • Jessica Crowe on love at a local level

    'Lay scrutiny can act as a stimulus for real change and innovation - especially where local authorities and health bodies work closely together on a long-term basis'

  • Joint guidance for treatment of patients in health and social care

    The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and the Social Care Institute for Excellence have issued joint guidance for the treatment of patients in health and social care.The guidelines cover the identification, treatment and care of people with dementia, and for the first time, healthcare professionals within the NHS will be following the same guidance as social workers and care workers in nursing homes.For more on the guidelines, click

  • Key targets for health inequalities

    Public service agreement (PSA) targets

  • Know your gap - life expectancy

    The real issue for PCTs is not the gap between regions, but between different groups within their own area. Frances Perrow investigates

  • Lambeth - Using health-needs mapping

    There was a 500 per cent increase in the volume of calls to the smoking cessation helpline that month

  • Law on small claims goes ahead

    A fast-track, low-cost scheme to resolve clinical negligence claims up to £20,000 without litigation has received royal assent.The NHS Redress Act will see the NHS Litigation Authority run a scheme to determine fault and decide after a trust has carried out a fact-finding exercise into an untoward incident. Patients accepting an offer would waive the right to take court proceedings.www.nhsla.com

  • 'Leaflets don't cut it' - the danger of campaigns widening inequalities

    National public health campaigns could contribute to a further widening of health inequalities, a public health minister has warned.

  • Lean machine

    The application of lean principles to reduce inefficiency is accepted in the NHS, but what about applying them to policy? Experience suggests mixed policy messages can be directly linked to waste.

  • Leeds - Increasing take-up of screening

    Practices that had the closest relationships with educators benefited most from the programme

  • Legal briefing: organising key commissioning relationships

    Commissioning has been part and parcel of the NHS for a number of years. What has changed recently is the view that a reinvigorated and more sophisticated commissioning process, with the implementation of practice-based commissioning, will improve services and ensure value for money.

  • Liam Hughes on joint working

    Solid local partnerships are essential for PCTs to achieve their objectives for local communities

  • LIFT-funded buildings pass 100 mark

    The opening of three new health centres this week through the local improvement finance trust has pushed the NHS above the 100 mark in its LIFT-funded building programme.The 100th building to open was the £3m Longview Drive primary care centre in St Helens and was followed by two more in East London and Doncaster. Of the 49 LIFT programmes to date, 42 have been completed, commissioning facilities with a total capital value of £951m.Read the press release

  • LINks to get scrutiny role

    Local Involvement Networks will be given a legal right to inspect NHS, social care, voluntary and independent sector organisations, health minister Rosie Winterton said this week.

  • Living donors boost transplant success

    Almost one in three kidney transplant patients got their kidney from a living donor last year, annual figures have revealed.Of 1,915 lifesaving kidney transplants, 31 per cent, the highest ever, were from living donors.UK Transplant figures show that 2,795 lives were saved by organ transplants last year, a rise from 2,724 the previous year.To read the report, click here

  • London bombings long term health issues

    The first findings from the public health follow-up study to those exposed to the July bombings last year have been announced by the Health Protection Agency.The two major long-term health consequences were psychological effects of involvement and hearing problems.'These first findings highlight the key long-term health issues facing those Londoners and visitors to the capital exposed to the explosions. These results provide reassurance that there are no other long-term health e

  • Make smoking history

    As the deadline for banning smoking in public places nears, Frances Perrow looks at some shocking statistics, and finds out what PCTs are doing to help get the country smoke-free

  • Managing patients with complex chronic conditions

    Derek Feeley is director of healthcare policy and strategy at the Scottish Executive's Health Department. He has just spent a year in the United States on a Harkness/Health Foundation fellowship, looking at chronic-disease management.

  • Managing the risk of fraud

    www.cipfanetworks.net/governance

  • Margaret Mythen on the missing millions

    Frank was one of the missing millions - the individuals who don't access smoking cessation clinics, weight-reduction programmes or exercise prescription schemes because they don't believe they are at risk

  • Medics warned off community work by cash-strapped trust

    A financially troubled hospital trust is warning consultants not to carry out NHS work in the community unless there are guarantees that payments stay with the trust.

  • Mike Atwood and Stephen Jones on harnessing powers

    Leadership of the Coventry Partnership is inclusive and devolved across agencies, with different sectors chairing different groups, whether co-ordinating or commissioning.

  • Minister demands action on social care underperformance

    For the first time since the star-ratings were introduced, no council in England has been zero-star rated for adult social services this year. However, there are still a number of councils who need to up their game, according to care services minister Ivan Lewis.'I remain concerned about the 21 councils who, since 2002, have not improved the services they deliver to adults. I will be asking the Commission for Social Care Inspection to keep me regularly updated no progress in these auth

  • More pharmacies for England and Wales

    Last year 146 new pharmacies opened in England and Wales and 23 closed, according to figures from the NHS Business Services Authority and Health of Wales Information Service.The number of prescription items dispensed by community pharmacies in England and Wales increased by 38.6 million to 713.5 million last year.To read more, click here

  • MPs ask how users can shape public services

    The House of Commons public administration select committee has launched a new inquiry into the role that 'customers' or 'users' should have in helping shape public services. Key questions include the possibility of setting minimum standards for services and how consultations manage to capture the views of the right people.Find out more here

  • National cot locator launched

    The Department of Health has launched a national cot locator to allow clinicians to see what cots are available in around 40 neonatal intensive care units across England.Health minister Ivan Lewis said a call to the locator would provide immediate, up-to-date information about the options available outside local networks and assist the smooth transfer of babies to other facilities. About 17,000 babies a year require neonatal intensive care. To read more, click

  • National learning disabilities audit updated

    The Healthcare Commission has published an update on its forthcoming audit of services for people with learning disabilities.It outlines which types of services will be reviewed, the pilot schemes now under way to test the methodology and plans for the national roll out.The update can be found here

  • National Patient Choice survey results published

    The results of the National Patient Choice survey carried out in May and June have been published.The survey found that 30 per cent of patients had been offered a choice of hospital for their outpatient appointment, and 29 per cent of patients were aware before visiting their GP that they had a choice of hospitals for their first appointment.Read the survey

  • New agenda replaces targets

    The Department of Health is to focus on quality, safety and patient experience - leaving the Healthcare Commission to ensure compliance against locally set priorities, according to director of commissioning Duncan Selbie.

  • New emergency planning guidance published

    The Department of Health is consulting on new guidance for dealing with major emergencies like terrorist attacks.The best practice guidance is meant to help health services in planning, preparing and responding to all types of emergencies including natural disasters, infectious epidemics and major power cuts.The consultation closes on 31 December.Read the guidance hereand the consu

  • New graduates boost dental numbers

    The Information Centre for Health and Social Care has published statistics showing that the number of dentists signed up to deliver NHS services has increased by 823 since June. This takes the total number of NHS practitioners in England to 20,285.The centre says the increase is partly due to new graduates joining the dental service over July and September.To read the report click here

  • New safe sex campaign aimed at young people

    A new campaign to raise awareness of the risks of sexually transmitted infections has been launched by the Department of Health.Health minister Caroline Flint said the campaign would be aimed at 18-24 year olds and would also target healthcare professionals.The advertising campaign shows young people with the names of STIs, such as chlamydia, on their clothing, highlighting that safe sex can protect against a partner's unknown infections.Read the press release

  • NHS accused of shirking its duty to young offenders

  • NHS complaints up

    The Information Centre for health and social care has released figures showing a significant jump in the number of written complaints received by NHS trusts.The figures show that 95,047 complaints were registered during 2005-06, compared with 90,413 the previous year, and only three out of four were resolved locally within the target time of 20 days.Health minister Andy Burnham said the rise could be partly attributed to the NHS welcoming complaints to improve services. But Libe

  • NHS deficits to rise to almost £1.2bn

    The NHS is forecasting gross deficits for the year of £1,179m compared with £883m at quarter one and £1,312m at the end of 2005-06. Some 175 organisations are now forecasting debts compared with 120 at quarter 1.www.dh.gov.uk

  • NHS reconfiguration 'must benefit local communities'

    NHS organisations can be a powerful force for good in regenerating local communities, health secretary Patricia Hewitt said today. She urged them to take account of tackling deprivation when reconfiguring local services.

  • NICE expands breast cancer drug options

    The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has announced that it is recommending the use of the hormonal therapies anastrozole, exemestane and letrozole for the treatment of women with early oestrogen receptor-positive invasive breast cancer following surgery to remove the tumours.The drugs will be available alongside existing breast cancer drugs which are also recommended by NICE and will improve the range of options available to specialists treating the dise

  • Nicholson to give evidence to spending enquiry

    NHS chief executive David Nicholson, acting permanent secretary Hugh Taylor and finance director Richard Douglas are to give evidence to the Commons health committee on 23 November as part of its inquiry into NHS expenditure. Health secretary Patricia Hewitt will face the committee on 29 November.

  • Nicholson urges MPs to show courage on reconfiguration

    NHS chief executive David Nicholson has urged MPs to concentrate not just on 'how many hospitals we have, but how many lives we can save and improve'. The plea was contained in an impassioned letter laying out the case for service reconfiguration.

  • Nigel Walker on commissioning for outcomes

    The publication of the white paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Sayand subsequent feedback have shown commissioning to be the highest single priority across the country. In response the Care Services Improvement Partnership is bringing together a commissioning programme that can be delivered through its eight regional development centres. The programme will be rooted in practice and aim to influence, inform and assist to bring about improvement.

  • North Fulham - In the heart of the community

    We worked hard to hold sessions in venues where we weren't used to holding sessions

  • Oldham - The programme starts with who you are

    'It's the best thing to happen to me since Warburton's marketed sliced bread'

  • Our Health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services

    2006 Government white paper setting out the ambitions for community-based care which is close to home, a shift of emphasis towards prevention, and support for people with longer term needs. The final two chapters are dedicated towards 'making sure change happens' and a 'timetable for action'.

  • Palliative care funding being eroded, campaigners claim

    The National Council for Palliative Care has claimed funding from the NHS for palliative care is being eroded. A survey of services found that around 60 per cent of voluntary hospices were experiencing a decrease in their funding.

  • Paul Jennings on success in Walsall

    Progress on teenage pregnancy has been substantial, with the fastest reduction in the West Midlands

  • Paula Grey on building on Smokefree Liverpool

    The many very good health programmes and initiatives in the city over two decades have had little impact in reducing health inequalities

  • PCTs pull plug on £550m hospital for Hertfordshire

    Plans for new hospitals in Hertfordshire were in tatters this week after a £550m scheme to build a hospital and cancer centre in Hatfield were axed.

  • PCTs told to implement radical changes to LAAs

    Primary care trusts will be expected to develop more flexible agreements with councils under proposals outlined in a white paper for local government reform.

  • Polonium-210 guidance issued

    The Health Protection Agency and NHS Direct have issued information about the radioactive material polonium-210 in the wake of the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.It offers advice to anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to the substance.Read the HPA's guidance hereand NHS Direct's advice

  • Predicting the future

    Cutting emergency hospital admissions among those with long-term conditions would save the NHS millions. But how can those at risk be identified, traced and their needs addressed? Daloni Carlisle looks at two solutions

  • Predicting the future

    Cutting emergency hospital admissions among those with long-term conditions would save the NHS millions. But how can those at risk be identified, traced and their needs addressed? Daloni Carlisle looks at two solutions

  • Push to publish clinical data

    The Department of Health is to look at ways of providing clinical outcome information for independent treatment centres. The government's response to the Commons health select committee's report on ITCs conceded that without robust information on clinical quality, patients cannot make an informed choice.

  • RCN attacks back-to-wards plan

    The Royal College of Nursing has expressed concerns that trusts across the country are asking senior nurses with specialist skills to go back to the wards as nursing auxiliaries to ease recruitment and financial problems.

  • Reducing health inequalities for South Asian population

    Knowledge that the risk of dying prematurely from coronary heart disease is 50 per cent higher in the South Asian community - immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - than in the indigenous population has been available for more than half a century.

  • Reinventing the wheel

    Network backs NHS cyclists

  • Report targets partnership working between health and schools

    The Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health have published a report on how extended schools can help health professionals achieve targets on issues such as teenage pregnancy, immunisation and childhood obesity. The Extended Schools and Health Services - working together for better outcomes for children and familiesreport also shows how basing health services in schools can improve attendance and attainment.Read the report

  • Resource to improve primary mental health services launched

    The Care Services Improvement Partnership has published a practical guide to was produced as part of the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE, now part of CSIP) primary care and commissioning programme and aims to offer best-practice guidance for improving primary care mental health services.

  • Ruth Hussey on public health

    'What are the new opportunities

  • Scotland motors into the future as England gears up for change

    Scotland is already getting stuck into the tough decisions involved in redesigning its health services, but in many parts of England managers are still perceived to lack the mandate they need to make their own plans. Jennifer Trueland examines the big divide

  • Scottish Executive unveils plans to reform nursing

    New measures to reform nursing in Scotland have been unveiled by the Scottish Executive.Health minister Andy Kerr launched the Delivering Care, Enabling Healthstrategy, which will give nurses, midwives and allied health professionals a bigger role in patient care.The strategy was published alongside a review of nursing in the community, which provides a blueprint for the future of nursing.Read the press release

  • Scottish smoking ban 'could wipe out lung cancer'

    In his first annual report Dr Harry Burns, chief medical officer for Scotland, says that the ban on smoking which was introduced in March has already reduced passive smoking levels and is encouraging more people to quit. He said that the ban, coupled with a decline in rates of smoking-related illness such as lung cancer and heart disease, means that 'imagining Scotland with no lung cancer is not a trivial speculation'.Read the press release

  • Select committee to investigate patient involvement

    The Commons health select committee is to carry out an inquiry into public and patient involvement early next year. Although the terms of reference will not be announced until after the Queen's Speech on 15 November, the committee said it intends to consider issues such as the powers and make-up of proposed local involvement networks and Section 11 public consultation over changes in primary and acute sectors.

  • Seven questions to assess your non-executives

    Measuring the performance of non-executive directors is not easy but these seven fundamental questions might help, writes Sir Andrew Likierman, of London Business School

  • 'Shocking' experience of black service users uncovered

    Black mental health patients report a far worse experience of hospital care than other ethnic groups, a survey has shown.

  • Staff grade doctors seek assurance on career progression

    The chair of the British Medical Association's staff grade and associate specialist committee Mohib Khan has written to health minister Lord Warner to seek assurances that funding will be provided to allow staff grade and associate specialist doctors training to become consultants.To read the letter click here

  • Stephen Thornton on getting engaged, committing to a partner, raising offspring

    'One o

  • Tackling nuisance behaviour on NHS premises

    Disturbances in hospitals are sadly an all too common part of life in the NHS. Over 60,000 assaults against staff were reported to the NHS Security Management Service during 2004 and 2005, and the Healthcare Commission estimates that only around two-thirds of assaults are actually reported - the true number being more like 100,000 each year.

  • Telephone marketing raising awareness of COPD

    Cheshire and Merseyside Partnerships for Health (ChaMPs) are using telephone marketing to encourage vulnerable communities to reduce the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. People living in Vauxhall, Everton and Netherley in Liverpool, Kirby in Knowsley and Runcorn in Cheshire will be encouraged to wrap up warm and give up smoking. The work is part of the Catch Your Breath campaign. Click

  • Testicle-checking among British men triples

    Cancer Research UK has released a new report which reveals that the number of young British men who check their testicles for signs of cancer has tripled in a decade. In 1990 only 10 per cent of men checked their testicles but this increased to more than 36 per cent by 2000. Scientists found awareness among British and Irish men in 2000 was double the European average.To read more, click her

  • Testing a new approach to patient-centred care

    Millions of people in the UK are living with long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes. However, the extent to which they are able to lead full and active lives depends, in part, on how able they are to manage their own healthcare, for example by their medication doses or lifestyles in response to changes in symptoms.

  • The future role of the consultant RCOG

    EMPTY

  • Treasury: more civil service cuts on way

    The Treasury has announced further cuts in civil servants as par of the Gershon efficiency programme.It said that the government was two thirds of the way to the target to save £21.5bn by 2008. A total of 55,000 civil service posts have been cut in the last two years.

  • Troubleshooter drops in to save PCT with £43m debt

    A primary care trust with a cumulative debt of £43m has drafted in a troubleshooter to examine 'new management options', including bringing in expertise from the private sector or other NHS bodies.

  • Trusts need more time to balance books, says RCN

    Trusts need more time to regain financial stability rather than having to cut services and posts in order to balance their books, the Royal College of Nursing has said.The union said long-term recovery plans were needed and trusts should be given three years to create a sustainable buffer fund and achieve financial balance.

  • Trusts warned not to axe acute beds prematurely

    Mental health trusts have been warned not to cut acute beds until their community services are fully developed.

  • TV diet guru told to stop selling sex products

    A firm fronted by TV health adviser Gillian McKeith has been forced to remove two products from sale by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency.The MHRA decided that Fast Formula Horny, and Fast Formula Wild Pink, for men and women respectively, should be classed as medicines and therefore could not be advertised to the general public.

  • Warner publishes PEC consultation

    Health minister Lord Warner today announced the publication of a consultation document on the future of primary care trust professional executive committees.The consultation follows the recent review of PECs, the body of doctors, nurses and health professionals that guide PCTs on priorities, policies and investment plans. The review, carried out by the NHS Alliance on behalf of the Department of Health, considered PECs' future role, membership and support needs.

  • Warner: 'no excuses' for delaying commissioning

    New guidance telling primary care trusts how to provide GP practices with information and indicative budgets leaves 'no excuses' for delaying the introduction of practice-based commissioning, health minister Lord Warner has said.

  • Welsh Assembly launches therapies strategy

    Welsh health minister Dr Brian Gibbons has today launched the Welsh Assembly's strategy for improving therapy services.The strategy covers therapeutic services covering injury and health prevention, early intervention, acute care, rehabilitation, chronic condition management and long-term care. It identifies ten key and emerging roles that professionals can fulfil and develop.To read the strategy, click

  • When 3x9=24 and fewer tired doctors

    A fresh approach to rota design in the wake of the European working-time directive could help ensure that doctors and patients are better looked after. Professor Roy Pounder explains

  • When Norma, Dot and Beckie had their say about NHS care...

    A pioneering consultation event in Liverpool last week believes it could show the way forward in engaging the public in service redesign. Jeremy Davies was there

  • Where managers fear to tread, myths and legends may rush in

    Surrey and Sussex has opted for a prolonged period of public consultation on its extensive - and controversial - remodelling of services. But has the approach made managers' work any easier? Alison Moore investigates

  • WHO director general shortlist announced

    Five candidates will be interviewed today for the post of director general of the World Health Organisation.They candidates are: Dr Kazem Behbehani; Dr Margaret Chan; Dr Julio Frenk; Dr Shigeru Omi and Ms Elena Salgado Mendez.For more on the appointment click here

  • Work together to lessen the gap

    Fiona Adshead on local leadership

  • World Health Organisation names new director general

    China's Dr Margaret Chan should be confirmed today as the new director-general of the World Health Organisation after being nominated by the organisation's executive board yesterday. Dr Chan was director of public health in Hong Kong for nine years - tackling the world's first human outbreak of bird flu in 1997 and an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 - before joining WHO in 2003. She is currently the organisation's assistant director-general for communica

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