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Health Service Journal
Helen Mooney

  • A grand vision for Mexico's eyecare

    24-Apr-2013

    An innovative organisation is dedicated to restoring people’s sight

  • A beacon of hope for coordinated care

    18-Apr-2013

    A US model that can improve outcomes and reduce costs

  • Kelsey plans action on health technology education

    8-Mar-2013

    The NHS Commissioning Board will work with a charity to offer 100,000 people access to training in online health literacy over the next year, it has announced.

  • Innovation through technology - an HSJ supplement

    30-Apr-2012

    The efficiency challenge means NHS organisations are having to find new ways of working. One area ripe for innovation is technology, and this valuable HSJ supplement looks at how trusts can utilise innovation in technology to full effect.

  • New tools for new commissioners: an HSJ special supplement

    22-Mar-2012

    This week’s exclusive 28-page commissioning supplement brings a range of key topic articles to HSJ’s audience that will help commissioners to achieve more in their role.

  • HSJ supplement - special finance report

    2-Dec-2011

    This HSJ special finance report looks at the financial future for trusts eyeing foundation status, new legislation designed to stop bribery that could catch some organisations out, and why it can be difficult to find a finance director.

  • New ways of working: an HSJ report on Leadership and Workforce

    10 November 2011

    What are the new skills that will be required of managers, leaders and the frontline workforce post-reform?

  • Why it is crucial for commissioning support to be established successfully

    8 September 2011

    The theory behind commissioning under NHS reform is beginning to fall into place. But support for commissioners remains a concern, argues Helen Mooney, and doubts remain over whether the ideas can be successfully put into practice.

  • Managing the new NHS - an HSJ supplement

    30-Jun-2011

    This bumper HSJ supplement looks at the myriad of areas where organisations will need a firm handle, to manage the transition to a new, post-reform NHS.

  • Connected Care model seeks to ease local service integration

    8-Jun-2010

    Connected Care aims to allay the fears of commissioners about integrating local services, says Helen Mooney

  • Patient safety: falls prevention

    24-May-2010

    Assessing patient at risk of falling should not be left to nurses and geriatricians alone but must involve professionals from across disciplines, says Helen Mooney

  • Patient safety: the human factors

    17-May-2010

    ‘Human factors’ can create gaps in systems that endanger patients. In the second part in our series Helen Mooney explains how self-knowledge is the first step to safer care

  • WHO surgical safety checklist: a simple list gives a sure touch

    10-May-2010

    The World Health Organization’s surgical safety checklist is a valuable communication tool in a high risk environment. Helen Mooney looks at how a simple routine can save lives

  • Total Place: how partnerships can maximise resources

    15-Feb-2010

    In the final part in our series on Total Place, Helen Mooney looks at how Birmingham’s Total Place pilot is focused on cutting through organisational boundaries and slashing waste while delivering better services

  • Total Place: why working together boosts independence

    8-Feb-2010

    Offender management in Luton and Central Bedfordshire is cumbersome and costly. In the second article in our series on Total Place, Helen Mooney looks at how the NHS, local government and agencies are using the scheme to tackle this

  • Behavioural training: there's a new show in town

    2-Feb-2010

    High-tech training at a leading foundation trust is giving staff enhanced skills to cope with stress. Helen Mooney reports

  • Total Place: why NHS partnerships make total sense for savings

    1-Feb-2010

    In the first of three articles on Total Place, Helen Mooney looks at how Croydon’s PCT and council are using the scheme to focus on improving child health

  • Major injury: how regional units take the crisis out of trauma

    14-Dec-2009

    A group led by the Royal College of Surgeons has studied the benefits to patients and managers of a regionalised response to major injury. Helen Mooney reports

  • NHS managers on a mission in Sandhurst manoeuvres

    8-Dec-2009

    The foundation trust regulator asked Sandhurst Academy to give managers an insight into the military ‘chain of understanding’. Helen Mooney reports for duty

  • Focus funding plans on people – not processes

    1-Dec-2009

    Councils and the NHS are being urged to make service user experience the starting point for constructing their joint financial arrangements. Helen Mooney explains

  • Clinical coding with confidence

    9-Nov-2009

    Accuracy is essential in clinical coding not just to operate payment by results but to pursue quality and improvement with success, says Helen Mooney

  • Demystifying NHS data 

    2-Nov-2009

    Huge tables and 3D charts often baffle those who want to access information but there is a move under way to demystify the digits, writes Helen Mooney

  • A guide to decommissioning NHS services

    27-Oct-2009

    World class commissioning has to include deciding when current services no longer fit the bill. Helen Mooney looks at how to decommission services successfully

  • Supporting long term conditions in the NHS

    4-Jun-2009

    As the number of people living with long term conditions rises, Helen Mooney looks at the government’s plans to improve their care and help them navigate the health and social services maze

  • Managers 'regularly ignore frontline staff concerns'

    13-May-2009

    Nearly two-thirds of nurses have raised concerns about patient safety with their employers but more than one in three say no action was taken as a result.

  • GP quality: the final frontier for inspectors

    16 April 2009

    So far general practice has remained impervious to the expanding remit of the inspectors. This week the King’s Fund revealed proposals for a new GP quality inquiry that has even won backing from the profession. Helen Mooney reports

  • Foundation trusts: fans and critics speak out

    2 April 2009

    Five years after foundation trusts were created, Helen Mooney talks to fans and critics about how they have fared and made use of their increased autonomy

  • NHS career development: moving to the private sector

    19-Jan-2009

    The NHS offers many managers a career for life, but what is it like on the other side of the fence? Louise Hunt and Helen Mooney spoke to six long-timers who escaped their comfort zone and made the switch to the private sector

  • Mental health foundation trusts: F marks the spot

    8-Sep-2008

    Just under half of mental health trusts have achieved foundation status. Helen Mooney looks at the options for those that may not be able to make the grade

  • NHS Counter Fraud Service: watching the detectives

    28-Jul-2008

    The NHS loses tens of millions of pounds a year to cheating, but some observers are asking if the Counter Fraud Service is getting too tough. Helen Mooney reports

  • Workforce planning - six steps for success

    9-Jun-2008

    Using national guidance to plan its whole workforce has been a trust-wide ambition for a South West PCT. Helen Mooney reports on how the work has paid off

  • Hospital franchises - quantum leap

    12-May-2008

    The Royal Marsden is pioneering a satellite cancer unit at another hospital. Will the franchise model play a big part in the era of choice and competition? Helen Mooney finds out

  • Royal Marsden to launch cancer franchise

    17-Apr-2008

    The Royal Marsden foundation trust is to open a unit at Kingston Hospital trust as the first step in a plan to roll out its cancer service across the South East.

  • Treatment centres get Treasury nod

    17-Apr-2008

    Three more independent sector treatment centre schemes worth a total of £50m have been given the go-ahead by the Department of Health and the Treasury.

  • 'Overburdened' staff put mothers and babies at risk

    28-Feb-2008

    Too little focus on maternity services and safety by some trust boards is leading to problems, an independent inquiry is expected to warn tomorrow.

  • Tee calls for cash incentives

    28-Feb-2008

    NHS Direct could be paid extra to focus on taking calls from patients living in deprived areas or with specific health needs, its chief executive Matt Tee has revealed.

  • HSJ masterclass

    25-Feb-2008

    Trust boards should examine their governance structures and the partnerships between different agencies, according to a paper published this week.

  • What a carve-up: the future of SHAs

    25-Feb-2008

    After 18 months, the role of reconfigured strategic health authorities still does not seem clearly defined. So what does that mean for the future, asks Helen Mooney

  • GUM target

    22-Feb-2008

    The NHS is likely to hit next month's national target to offer patient access to a genitor-urinary medicine clinic within 48 hours, but public health experts predict there will be wide variations across the country.

  • Act now to avoid crisis, says RCN

    21-Feb-2008

    The Department of Health must recognise the need to train thousands more nurses now to meet 'unprecedented' demand by 2030, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

  • Cardiac target to cut deaths met early

    21-Feb-2008

    The NHS has made 'outstanding progress' in managing cardio- vascular disease, according to two reports published this week.

  • Private sector deals face audit office scrutiny

    21-Feb-2008

    The National Audit Office is to investigate the Department of Health's decision to cancel a large swathe of its independent sector treatment centre programme.

  • self-certification reviews

    18-Feb-2008

    Foundation trusts must accurately "self-certify" on all healthcare targets under a system which allows them to monitor their own performance or risk "significant financial and regulatory penalites", Monitor has warned.

  • NHS reforms have hardly begun, claims think tank

    14-Feb-2008

    The government's reform of the NHS remains 'embryonic' and in some cases is in 'full retreat', the think tank Reform has claimed.

  • Trust defends repainting to greet prince

    14-Feb-2008

    Birmingham Children's Hospital foundation trust has defended using government funding to repaint hospital wards and a conservatory used by patients and visitors ahead of a royal visit.

  • Decision on ISTCs 'pivotal', says Confederation of British Industry

    11-Feb-2008

    The Confederation of British Industry has challenged the government to give the go-ahead to a further wave of independent sector treatment centres.

  • Decision on ISTCs 'pivotal', says Confederation of British Industry

    11-Feb-2008

    The Confederation of British Industry has challenged the government to give the go-ahead to a further wave of independent sector treatment centres.

  • BUPA wins first deal to support commissioners

    7-Feb-2008

    Hillingdon primary care trust has signed a three-year deal with BUPA to help it commission services.

  • Six firms shortlisted for £80m NHS Choices contract

    7-Feb-2008

    Six companies have been shortlisted to run the Department of Health's NHS Choices website, HSJ can reveal.

  • DH knew commercial director was under investigation

    31-Jan-2008

    The Department of Health was aware its commercial director was being investigated over the alleged backdating of share options at the time of his appointment. And it emerged he is being given over £100,000 per year tax free by the government to pay for luxury London accommodation.

  • PCTs to fund controversial eye drugs

    31-Jan-2008

    Primary care trusts across Cheshire and Merseyside and Norfolk have agreed to fund two controversial treatments that can prevent patients with a serious eye condition from going blind.

  • Pressure grows on PCTs to increase obesity services

    31-Jan-2008

    Primary care trusts will be forced to commission more weight management services in an attempt to meet growing demand, the government has warned.

  • Strength in numbers - mental health partnerships

    28-Jan-2008

    The providers of services for people with schizophrenia in Liverpool saw ISIP as a great chance to bring the NHS and local authority together, as Helen Mooney explains

  • Department stalls over Freedom of Information requests

    24-Jan-2008

    The Department of Health has been failing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Two requests regarding senior DH civil servants made by HSJ last year have been delayed.

  • Lib Dems set out plans for future NHS

    24-Jan-2008

    Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has outlined plans for a £2bn 'care guarantee' plan for elderly people, a new patient contract and directly elected health boards as part of his proposed NHS reforms.

  • Screening for breast cancer misses targets

    24-Jan-2008

    Three in 10 women aged 50-70 are not receiving breast cancer screening every three years, despite government targets.

  • Women denied pain relief during childbirth

    24-Jan-2008

    Women are often left alone during childbirth and denied proper pain relief according to a survey.

  • Managers who went from Richmond House to the NHS

    21-Jan-2008

    Life at the top of the health service is enough to make even the toughest go-getter think of quitting, which is what our interviewees did - only to jump back in at a more grass-roots level. HSJ finds out about now and then

  • Ann Keen tours hospital ahead of transplant report

    17-Jan-2008

    Health minister Ann Keen toured the dialysis unit at Hammersmith Hospital in west London ahead of publication of a report by the Organ Donation Taskforce this week.

  • Moyes still waiting for new Monitor contract

    17-Jan-2008

    Bill Moyes, executive chair of the foundation trust regulator Monitor, has yet to agree a new contract with the Department of Health to guarantee his position, HSJ has learned.

  • NHS Alliance warning over damage caused by competition

    17-Jan-2008

    Primary and secondary care organisations must work together to deliver the best service to patients, rather than working in 'adversarial competition', the NHS Alliance has warned.

  • Neonatal nurse shortage raises concerns

    20-Dec-2007

    The National Audit Office has raised concerns over the capacity of NHS neonatal services, describing them as 'challenged'.

  • NHS Shared Business Services not obligatory

    20-Dec-2007

    NHS organisations will be given incentives but not forced to use NHS Shared Business Services for back-office administration, according to Department of Health finance deputy director Peter Coates.

  • North West acute chiefs doubt private scheme value

    13-Dec-2007

    North West acute trust chiefs are questioning the need for a new clinical assessment and treatment service run by the private sector.

  • PCT safety breaches still going unreported

    13-Dec-2007

    Primary care trusts are continuing to under-report breaches of patient safety, the chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has warned.

  • Foundation trust status fails to drive improvement

    6-Dec-2007

    Gaining foundation trust status is not yet driving sustained improvements in performance, the regulator Monitor has concluded in its review of their performance last year.

  • HIV/AIDS 'complacency' risks progress so far

    6-Dec-2007

    The UK has 'entered an era of complacency' about HIV and AIDS and risks undermining the progress of the 1980s and 1990s, says a report by the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV.

  • Learning difficulties report slates poor care and lack of activities

    6-Dec-2007

    The Healthcare Commission has published a damning report into the standard of residential care the NHS and private sector provide to people with learning difficulties.

  • Johnson hands out £50m to deep clean NHS dirt

    29-Nov-2007

    The government has given the NHS a £50m lump sum to kick-start its 'deep clean'.

  • Professor urges management skills for medics

    29-Nov-2007

    Doctors need to be better equipped with managerial skills to help improve the financial health of the organisations they work in, a Harvard business professor has said.Harvard Business School senior lecturer in business administration Professor Richard Bohmer, who runs a masters course in business administration for trainee doctors, said they should be given at least a 'basic understanding of the organisational and managerial skills they will need in the future'.

  • Care UK

    26-Nov-2007

    Care UK has called on the Department of Health to 'reinforce confidence' in the market by proceeding to financial close on the outstanding independent sector treatment centre schemes.Care UK chief executive Mike Parish said that although the company had been left 'shaken' when the DoH announced earlier this month that it was scrapping the West Midlands diagnostics scheme run by Care UK ...

  • DoH commercial directorate to be broken up and procurement localised

    22-Nov-2007

    The Department of Health’s commercial directorate is to be scaled down and regionalised and procurement of NHS private sector capacity handed to local commissioners.

  • Hospitals fail to assess risks of blood clots

    22-Nov-2007

    More than 10,000 hospital patients died last year from blood clots because the NHS has failed to implement recommendations on deep vein thrombosis, say MPs.

  • Most trusts breaking the law on race equality

    22-Nov-2007

    The Healthcare Commission will launch a review of NHS trusts’ compliance with race equality law, after it emerged most are not complying with the Race Relations Act.

  • Managers in Partnership: state of the union

    19-Nov-2007

    Two years after its birth, the association representing NHS managers has made admirable strides but it still has a long way to go as it tries to boost their poor public image. By Helen Mooney

  • Commissioning: delivering better services to communities

    16-Nov-2007

    The government plans to improve services by making trusts better commissioners. Helen Mooney explains how a framework to help PCTs access skills in commissioning from the private sector should help them ultimately deliver better fitting services to communities

  • Commissioning: wise buys

    16-Nov-2007

    Helen Mooney asks the early adopters of FESC and their private sector partners what they hope to achieve from the framework

  • DoH man gives thousands to Bush Republicans

    1-Nov-2007

    The Department of Health's commercial director has donated thousands of dollars to George Bush's Republican party over the past four years, HSJ can reveal.

  • HSJ commissioning supplement: an in-depth look at FESC

    1-Nov-2007

    The Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners has finally arrived. Launched by the Department of Health at the start of last month after several delays, the government hopes that the framework will usher in a change in the shape and strength of commissioning in the NHS.

  • Media Watch: out-of-hours and overseas

    1-Nov-2007

    Hospitals 'swamped by out-of-hours care failure' read a Daily Telegraph headline this week. It was telling readers that accident and emergency departments are being 'inundated' by patients with minor ailments because GP out-of-hours services are 'so poor'.

  • Mediawatch

    29-Oct-2007

    Hospitals'swamped by out-of-hours care failure'read the Daily Telegraph's headline earlier this week after it told readers that hospital accident and emergency departments are being'inundated'by patients with minor ailments because the out-of-hours service provided by GPs is'so poor'. ...

  • Media Watch: Cornwall trust achieves YouTube fame

    25-Oct-2007

    Just when the managers at Royal Cornwall Hospitals trust thought things could not get much worse, medical staff released a video mocking its performance.

  • Mystery over sudden exit of Barnet chief executive

    25-Oct-2007

    The interim chief executive of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health trust has left after less than three months in the job, HSJ has learned.

  • NHS paying high price for sexual health

    25-Oct-2007

    The government's lack of commitment to sexual health is costing the NHS millions, charities have warned.

  • Foundation trusts applications: shape up or ship out

    22-Oct-2007

    The deadline for all acute trusts to apply for foundation status by 2008 has proved unrealistic. What now for those that have not made the leap? Helen Mooney reports

  • Barnet

    22-Oct-2007

    The chief executive of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health trust has left the trust after less than three months in the job, HSJ has learnt.

  • Welsh trust mergers get green light

    18-Oct-2007

    The Welsh government is set to go ahead with its reconfiguration of acute services across south east and west Wales.

  • Tariff delays hit specialists

    16-Oct-2007

    Further delays to the specialist tariff under payment by results could jeopardise applications for foundation trust status, according to managers.Chief executive of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Andrew Woodhead told HSJ the Department of Health 's announcement last week to delay the publication of a list of providers eligible for specialist ...

  • DoH may pull private scanning schemes

    11-Oct-2007

    The Department of Health is reviewing plans to add private sector diagnostic capacity in five of its seven proposed schemes.

  • Media Watch: an odd week in politics

    11-Oct-2007

    This week kicked off in strange fashion. While prime minister Gordon Brown finally decided not to call an election, and the Conservatives cried foul, health secretary Alan Johnson revealed that he was 'not good enough' to become prime minister himself.

  • PCT denies new director has conflict of interest

    11-Oct-2007

    Hampshire primary care trust has appointed a new director of commissioning - on secondment from commissioning firm Humana.

  • SHAs warned over weak foundation trust applications

    11-Oct-2007

    The Department of Health has issued a stark warning to strategic health authority chiefs to send 'only the strongest' trusts to Monitor to be assessed for foundation status.

  • Confederation call to tackle health inequalities

    4-Oct-2007

    Moves to tackle health inequalities must start with the most excluded, the NHS Confederation has urged.

  • Media Watch: GP contracts and doctored photos

    4-Oct-2007

    As the party conference season drew to a close, the Conservatives this week came out fighting, with leader David Cameron pledging to rewrite the GP contract.

  • Report demands end to top-down direction and return of professional autonomy

    4-Oct-2007

    Clinicians want the government to let them get on with 'doing the right thing for the patient'.

  • Monitor applicant deferrals

    4-Oct-2007

    Aspirant foundation trusts will only be given three months to remedy inadequate foundation plans before they are pushed back to the end of the waiting list to beomce a foundation trust, according to the Monitor, the foundation trust regulator.

  • BUPA to help with commissioning at Hillingdon primary care trust

    27-Sep-2007

    Hillingdon primary care trust has confirmed BUPA as the company that will help it commission services under the Department of Health's external commissioner list.

  • Final salary pension scheme saved after four years of negotiations

    27-Sep-2007

    Senior managers' pension contributions will rise by 2.5 per cent as part of a new pensions deal for NHS employees finalised last week.

  • Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre trust considers merger

    27-Sep-2007

    Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre trust is considering a merger with the neighbouring Royal Berkshire Hospitals Foundation trust, HSJ has learned.

  • Public consultation to decide on the NHS's next step

    27-Sep-2007

    Public 'juries' in 10 cities linked up live last week to kick off a huge consultation to help decide nothing less than the NHS's future. And the prime minister put in a suprise appearance. Helen Mooney reports

  • Health hotel: exploring inequalities

    24-Sep-2007

    At the 'Access to all areas' event speakers will address the uneven picture of public health, and ask why - despite some progress - gaps are still widening. Helen Mooney reports

  • Darzi citizens' jury gives PM and Johnson wish list

    21-Sep-2007

    The prime minister this week joined the health secretary and health minister Lord Darzi at one of a series of ‘citizens’ juries’ on health.Gordon Brown, Alan Johnson and Lord Darzi talked to around 120 patients and selected members of the public about their priorities for the health service at an event in Birmingham.

  • Media Watch

    20-Sep-2007

    The papers are again keen to expose the 'scandal' of hospital food - this time the focus is on hospital kitchens. The Observer told readers of a 'searing indictment' of their cleanliness after government inspection reports revealed 'that breaches of food hygiene laws include infestations of mice and cockroaches, kitchen staff not washing their hands, food being kept at the wrong temperature and remnants of meals becoming stuck in equipment'.

  • Call for comparable data across care services

    20-Sep-2007

    All health and social care providers must publish comparable data and information, Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker has said.

  • Private sector 'jaded' over contracts

    20-Sep-2007

    The private sector is growing increasingly concerned that the government will row back on its plans to use independent healthcare providers to expand its NHS choice programme.

  • 2,000 in move to own homes

    20-Sep-2007

    Nearly 2,000 people with learning disabilities are to be moved into their own homes after the DH announced £175m in funding for primary care trusts to close NHS institutions.

  • nib 1

    20-Sep-2007

    A new chief executive has been appointed to NHS South Central. Jim Easton joins the strategic health authority from York hospitals foundation trust and replaces Mark Britnell who moved to the Department of Health in July.Mr Easton said: 'There is a real ambition across the NHS and its partners in the South Central area to continue to improve care for patients and health communities'.

  • nib 2

    20-Sep-2007

    Waiting times have continued to improve, new Department of Health figures show.Those waiting 20 weeks or more stood at 10,500 a decrease of 1,900 from June while the number of patients waiting less than eight weeks increased to 93.4 per cent from 84.8 per cent in July 2006.

  • NICE stands firm, but the public must learn to respect rationing

    20-Sep-2007

    When the High Court upheld NICE guidance on Alzheimer's drugs, it was seen as an endorsement of its fairness and credibility. But unless the public is better informed of resource issues, unrealistic demands for new drugs will continue to be an issue, writes Helen Mooney

  • PCTs assured over ICATS liability

    20-Sep-2007

    Primary care trusts in the North West will not have to pay out if the number of patients using privately operated clinical assessment services is lower than anticipated.

  • Remove DoH from the NHS, says academic

    20-Sep-2007

    The government should consider an 'alternative' comprehensive spending review which proposes new models of funding for the health service, according to a report published later this month.

  • BUPA expected to provide 'external support' for PCT

    13-Sep-2007

    Hillingdon primary care trust is set to name BUPA as the company it plans to use to help it commission services under the Department of Health's external commissioner list, HSJ has learned.

  • Senior exodus as board seeks new status

    13-Sep-2007

    Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health trust has seen several senior staff leave ahead of a reorganisation of its executive board as it prepares for its application to become a foundation trust.

  • nib 2

    7-Sep-2007

    The Health and Safety Executive has told hospital trusts to make sure that they ensure the health and safety of their patients especially from the potential dangers of falling from windows. The warning comes after Mid Cheshire Hospitals trust was fined£14,000 after an HSE prosecution following an accident involving a mental health patient who was seriously injured after jumping from a window.

  • Ofcare may not cover public health

    7-Sep-2007

    Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker has voiced concerns that the NHS's new super-regulator may be given too narrow a remit.Ms Walker insisted Ofcare, set to swallow up the Healthcare Commission in April 2009, must have the power to regulate and assess NHS organisations on health and health inequalities as well as healthcare.

  • Media Watch: immigrants in the news

    6-Sep-2007

    'Immigrants with cancer 'could swamp the NHS',' read The Daily Mail's headline. It quoted Lancet Oncology editor David Collingridge, who said so many East European migrants have arrived in Britain in recent years that the NHS may struggle to cope with the subsequent rise in cancer patients.

  • Mixed results for public health

    6-Sep-2007

    The Department of Health's performance chief has fired a warning shot over public health targets following 'mixed' quarterly results in sexual health and stop-smoking services.

  • Commissioning's stakeholders design their world-class future

    31-Aug-2007

    Primary care trusts that demonstrate they are 'world-class commissioners' could be rewarded with foundation trust-style freedoms.

  • Inequalities masked at local level

    31-Aug-2007

    Progress made towards the national target to reduce health inequalities is masking the areas that are facing the worst problems, public health experts have warned.

  • Exclusive: NHS gets first medical director as Sir Liam's role is scaled back

    23-Aug-2007

    Leading cardiac surgeon and president of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has been appointed as the Department of Health's medical director, HSJ has learnt.

  • Exclusive: NHS gets first medical director as Sir Liam's role is scaled back

    23-Aug-2007

    Leading cardiac surgeon and president of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has been appointed as the Department of Health's medical director, HSJ has learnt.

  • GPs urged to refer directly to the independent sector

    9-Aug-2007

    Western Cheshire primary care trust has told doctors across its patch to refer orthopaedic patients needing hip and knee replacements directly to an independent sector treatment centre because it is under-used.

  • Smoking battle heats up as age law targets the cool kids

    9-Aug-2007

    Raising the legal age for buying tobacco is the government's latest salvo in the war on smoking, and it is working hard to ensure maximum impact. Helen Mooney reports

  • Deferrals and delays put applications target at risk

    2-Aug-2007

    Prospective foundation trusts are facing delays to their authorisation of up to six months, Monitor has admitted.

  • Aborted PFI could 'end up in court'

    26-Jul-2007

    The collapse of a private finance initiative worth more than £900m could see both sides fighting in court to recover money.

  • HPA warning on sexual health target

    26-Jul-2007

    Increasing pressure on sexual health services could undermine progress towards the target of ensuring patients have access to a genito-urinary medicine clinic within 48 hours by 2008.

  • 'Information gap' warning over NICE guidance uptake

    19-Jul-2007

    Primary care trusts could be 'fudging' the information they supply to the Healthcare Commission on the implementation and uptake of clinical guidance.

  • ISTC data is 'poor quality'

    19-Jul-2007

    National data on the clinical quality of independent sector treatment centres must be improved, according to a review by the Healthcare Commission.

  • Monitor to government: do not let foundation trusts slip

    19-Jul-2007

    The chair of foundation trust regulator Monitor has fired a warning shot at the new government, telling ministers not to 'pull back' from healthcare reform to try to 'control' the system from the centre.

  • MPs attack £12m 'back-room' deal

    19-Jul-2007

    The Department of Health has been slammed by the Commons public accounts committee for 'pursuing a back-room deal' with healthcare information analysts Dr Foster.

  • Exclusive: HSE clears infection death managers

    12-Jul-2007

    An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive has supported senior managers' handling of a Clostridium difficile outbreak in which 33 people died.

  • Healthcare Commission slams sexual health data

    12-Jul-2007

    The Healthcare Commission has slammed the standard of data collection and information-gathering in NHS sexual health services.

  • Czars face the axe as policy shifts

    28-Jun-2007

    The Department of Health looks set to phase out the 14 national czars in a move that will signal a further devolution of NHS power to the front line, HSJ understands.

  • Nicholson slams medics over attacks

    28-Jun-2007

    NHS chief executive David Nicholson has rubbished claims that the financial performance of the NHS was a 'tragedy' or a 'farce' as 'factually incorrect'.

  • NHS Confederation rolling news: Monitor warning over foundation trust mergers

    22-Jun-2007

    The Department of Health must clarify how failing NHS trusts can be successfully merged with foundation trusts, Monitor's chief operating officer has warned.

  • NHS Confederation rolling news: Nicholson slams negative unions

    21-Jun-2007

    The negative comments of medical and staff unions are 'damaging to the public confidence and staff morale,' NHS chief executive David Nicholson told delegates at the NHS Confederation annual conference.

  • Leaders claim bullies thrive and middle managers are left to fail

    21-Jun-2007

    The NHS lacks strong leadership and does not develop and support its middle managers, an NHS Confederation report has warned.

  • NHS Confederation rolling news: external commissioning could be optional for PCTs

    21-Jun-2007

    Primary care trusts will not be forced to use the Department of Health's framework for procuring external support commissioning to strengthen their commissioning function, according to the commercial directorate's FESC lead.

  • Robinson slams NHS strategy obsession

    21-Jun-2007

    NHS leaders must learn to lead their organisations on a 'day-to-day basis' and not get confused with a health service 'grand plan', management guru Sir Gerry Robinson has said.

  • Trusts face monitoring on take-up of private services

    14-Jun-2007

    Primary care trusts in the North West risk being performance managed on the number of patients who use the private sector-operated national clinical assessment services across the patch, HSJ has learned.

  • Hillingdon to invite private commissioner

    7-Jun-2007

    The first primary care trust has been given the go-ahead to invite the private sector to run part of its commissioning function.

  • 'Damning' review slams family planning services

    24-May-2007

    The results of a review into contraceptive services in England are a 'damning indictment of contraceptive provision' in the NHS, according to sexual health campaigners.

  • Minister confident delayed ISTC report will restore public confidence, despite poor data

    17-May-2007

    The publication of the Healthcare Commission’s report into the quality of care provided by independent sector treatment centres has been delayed until next month.

  • Senior appointments: Mascie-Taylor tipped to land new NHS medical director role

    17-May-2007

    Leeds Teaching Hospitals trust medical director and former acting chief executive Hugo Mascie-Taylor tops the shortlist for the new NHS medical director, HSJ understands.

  • Reduced government funding leads to significant drop in smoking cessation efforts, FOI figures show

    10-May-2007

    A 41 per cent cut in Department of Health funding for smoking cessation advertising last year was accompanied by a marked drop in the numbers of quitters, figures obtained by HSJ can reveal.

  • Media Watch

    9-May-2007

    'Don't play god' The Sun protested last week as it quoted campaigners warning that abortions 'will soar' if parents are allowed to use a 'revolutionary' home test that can reveal the sex of their baby at six weeks.

  • DoH to get the measure of PCTs working with private sector

    26-Apr-2007

    The Department of Health will measure strategic health authorities on the percentage of primary care trusts in their region that use the private sector to help them commission, HSJ has learned.

  • DoH compiles a hit-list of acute trusts that cannot survive under Payment by Results

    19-Apr-2007

    The Department of Health has drawn up a list of acute trusts that will be closed, merged or broken up because they will not survive under payment by results, HSJ has learned.

  • Providers given open choice rules in PCTs

    12-Apr-2007

    NHS providers must not turn down patient referrals on the grounds of a primary care trust's location, the Department of Health has warned.

  • PCTs delayed on audiology contract

    5-Apr-2007

    An audiology contract has been delayed indefinitely because the provider has not been able to sign off quality and safety guarantees with the Department of Health, HSJ has learnt.

  • BMA pushes for referral centre rules

    29-Mar-2007

    The British Medical Association is to call for greater clinical engagement in referral management centres run by primary care trusts, HSJ has learnt.

  • Poor data threatens future of PbR system, warns minister

    22-Mar-2007

    Trusts must collect better data about patient services and involve clinicians in decisions if payment by results is to expand successfully, health minister Andy Burnham has warned.

  • Acute chiefs: NHS vision is lost in a political mire

    1-Mar-2007

    Labour's sweep to power in 1997 was followed by a groundswell of NHS optimism. Ten years on, an HSJ survey of 100 chief executives suggests the glory days are over. Helen Mooney asked a group of acute trust leaders why

  • Monitor criticised for data demand

    22-Feb-2007

    The foundation trust regulator Monitor must not seek to 'enhance' its regulatory role, Foundation Trust Network director Sue Slipman has warned.

  • PCT ditches two private hospitals over costs

    22-Feb-2007

    A primary care trust has removed the choice of two local private sector hospitals from its choose and book list because it says it was paying too much for their services, HSJ has learned.

  • Trusts poach sexual health funding

    15-Feb-2007

    Funds which should have gone to sexual health have been diverted elsewhere in almost two-thirds of primary care trusts, according to a survey by the Terrence Higgins Trust.

  • SHA pays £2m for firm to size up PCT commissioning

    8-Feb-2007

    South Central strategic health authority has called in turnaround specialists PricewaterhouseCoopers to assess whether its nine primary care trusts should contract out their commissioning functions to the private sector.

  • Data on ISTCs' clinical quality is 'extremely poor', says Healthcare Commission

    18-Jan-2007

    National data on the clinical quality of independent sector treatment centres is 'incomplete and of extremely poor quality', according to a review by the Healthcare Commission.

  • News Analysis: Is it new hope for 'No Hope' as cliffhanger reaches final reel?

    11-Jan-2007

    Birmingham's Good Hope Hospital trust might at last put its troubles behind it if its acquisition by a neighbouring foundation trust goes ahead. Helen Mooney chronicles the hurdles that have stood in the way and asks if the move is likely to be replicated

  • Workforce plans predict 'bitter opposition' and 'volatility'

    4-Jan-2007

    The NHS is facing a huge oversupply of consultants and a shortage of thousands of nurses, junior doctors and GPs, a draft government strategy has revealed.

  • Agency to aid foundation bids in London

    1-Jan-2007

    London's 34 non-foundation provider organisations will be performance managed by a new agency to help them push towards foundation status.

  • Audit Commission calls for end to deficit penalties

    1-Jan-2007

    NHS trusts should be reimbursed for the money they have lost under the Treasury's resource accounting and budgeting system, the Audit Commission has said.

  • Care UK chief urges swift ISTC take-up

    1-Jan-2007

    Chief executive Mike Parish sounds a cautionary note that government must move quickly to ensure a local ownership care system takes route

  • Charity should be 'hard-wired' to reform

    1-Jan-2007

    Charities and not-for-profit healthcare organisations need to be 'hard-wired' to the government's 'ongoing reform programmes', a government taskforce has said.

  • Community hospital cash depends on 'local backing'

    1-Jan-2007

    The Department of Health wants acute and primary care trusts to use a series of 'marketing tactics' in consulting local populations on the future of community hospitals.

  • Controversial American set to lead commercial directorate

    1-Jan-2007

    The Department of Health is set to draft in another American to head up the commercial directorate and oversee its merger with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency.

  • Deficits 'symbolic' of wider trouble

    1-Jan-2007

    Financial failure in NHS institutions reflects a wider malaise, the Audit Commission has warned.

  • DoH should contract out tariff-setting, says report

    1-Jan-2007

    The Department of Health should look at 'contracting out' elements of the tariff-setting process, according to a hard-hitting report commissioned by ministers.

  • Good intentions could be disguising a big, bad threat

    1-Jan-2007

    It is the much-heralded new model for 21st century healthcare provision, but could confusion over its meaning and the lack of safeguards against manipulation leave social enterprise open to abuse from profit-makers? Helen Mooney finds out

  • Hewitt hints at likely loss of Monitor regulatory role

    1-Jan-2007

    Monitor is expected to lose its current regulatory role in the government's review of healthcare regulation, although a decision on its future will not be taken until the autumn.

  • Inside track: public health

    1-Jan-2007

    What's on managers' minds this week

  • ISTCs: wave three under way despite doubts

    1-Jan-2007

    The Department of Health is pushing ahead with wave two of its independent sector treatment centre programme despite scant evidence of value, HSJ understands.

  • Media watch

    1-Jan-2007

    So we're at last going to see an end to junk food advertising aimed at children. And with the announcement came the expected outcry from companies that make their money selling bad food to kids, as well as health professionals who say the new rules will not go far enough.

  • Media watch

    1-Jan-2007

    EMPTY

  • Media watch

    1-Jan-2007

    The surrounding media coverage has led to yet another round of NHS manager bashing

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    'Ding dong as hospital bans carollers,' said The Daily Telegraphas it revealed that the Torbay Gospelaires had been banned from entering Torbay hospital wards.

  • Media watch

    1-Jan-2007

    And there you were thinking he seemed like such a quiet chap, but last week health minister Andy Burnham came out all guns blazing as he took at a swipe at people who 'get out their placards' when their local hospitals face closure.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    What Gordon Brown's premiership will mean for the health service has yet to be seen, but one thing is certain: the NHS is bound for more tumultuous times.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    Another week, another government attack on fatties and smokers as The Sun told readers that the 'fatties' op' ban is 'fair'. It quoted health secretary Patricia Hewitt who said it was 'perfectly legitimate' for trusts to refuse some treatments to heavy smokers and obese patients.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    Thousands of junior doctors are to be shipped abroad, The Daily Telegraph said this week as it claimed 'up to 10,000 young doctors unable to find NHS jobs could be offered voluntary work overseas'.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    The Department of Health is the second worst-performing government department, The Times told its readers at the weekend. It reported that the review by business leaders and public sector chiefs commissioned by cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell was damning about the DoH's 'lack of direction'.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    'Sack prat Pat' urged The Sun's leader as the paper told readers at the end of last week that 'if there's any justice, Pat Hewitt is not long for this political world'.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    'The focus has well and truly turned to the NHS, as it once again becomes the battleground for the next election'

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    News emerged over the weekend that the 'inflexible' hours of GP surgeries were costing the economy an estimated £1bn a year.

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    'The Daily Express claimed nurses were 'close to working to rule', saying: 'The move comes after nurses in England were denied the full 2.5 per cent pay rise given to colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for doing exactly the same work''

  • Media Watch

    1-Jan-2007

    'A Sunday Times.article quoted a survey commissioned by health insurer BUPA, which found 55 per cent of senior doctors pay for medical insurance'

  • Media Watch: drug company's promise

    1-Jan-2007

    This week comes news that a drug firm has offered to refund the cost of one of its products to the NHS if it fails to work on patients.

  • Media Watch: earnings cap

    1-Jan-2007

    So ministers have 'blundered' again, according to London's Evening Standard. This time it is because they have failed to cap doctors' earnings.

  • Media Watch: earnings cap

    1-Jan-2007

    So ministers have 'blundered' again, according to London's Evening Standard. This time it is because they have failed to cap doctors' earnings.

  • Media Watch: Granger leaves

    1-Jan-2007

    'Anger as best paid civil servant goes', The Sunday Telegraph told its readers as it emerged earlier this week that the chief executive of Connecting for Health Richard Granger would leave his £292,000-a-year post in October.

  • Media watch: hospital phone charges

    1-Jan-2007

    Those unlucky enough to spend Easter in hospital also had the misfortune of paying a whopping 26p per minute if they wished to call their loved ones. Not unexpectedly the tabloids and broadsheets were up in arms last week as they bemoaned the 160 per cent increase in hospital call charges.

  • Media Watch: junior doctors

    1-Jan-2007

    'How could they be so stupid?' asked the Daily Mail as it berated the government for failing to ensure junior doctors will be guaranteed jobs this summer in the Department of Health's new recruitment process.

  • Media Watch: NHS meddling

    1-Jan-2007

    'We're still waiting for Mr Brown to give any indication of what he might do to the NHS. Surely he won't be able to resist some meddling'

  • Media Watch: 'NHS penpushers'

    1-Jan-2007

    'NHS penpushers are paid £1.5m for doing nothing' the Daily Mail told its readers as the tabloids frothed earlier this week over news that the Department of Health is paying £1.5m to civil servants whose jobs have been made redundant.

  • Media Watch: Patricia Hewitt

    1-Jan-2007

    'Hewitt should back off', moaned The Daily Express. Most newspapers reacted with some contempt to the health secretary's statement that it is 'best practice' for doctors to order individuals to lose weight or give up cigarettes before they are treated.

  • Merger plans for six trusts as Welsh NHS feels cash squeeze

    1-Jan-2007

    Six acute trusts across Wales are facing mergers after the Welsh Assembly launched a consultation on reconfiguration.

  • Monitor concern over foundation progress

    1-Jan-2007

    Less than half of acute and mental health trusts are likely to reach foundation status by 2008, regulator Monitor has said.

  • MPs find no evidence of improved value from independent treatment centres

    1-Jan-2007

    There is no evidence that the Department of Health's independent treatment centre programme represents value for money or performs better than the NHS, according to a damning report.

  • NHS leaders singled out for birthday honours

    1-Jan-2007

    A number of senior managers and leaders in the health service have been recognised in the Queen's birthday honours.

  • Nottingham PCT chief starts Pfizer secondment-

    1-Jan-2007

    Nottingham City primary care trust chief executive Samantha Milbank has joined Pfizer Health Solutions on secondment as head of business development.

  • Number 10 summit: managers tell PM more cash is needed for 18-week target

    1-Jan-2007

    EMPTY

  • Patient top-up fees on rise, say doctors

    1-Jan-2007

    Patients are increasingly having to pay top-up fees for private care because of budget cuts in the NHS and long waiting times, according to a report by pressure group Doctors for Reform.

  • Porritt berates NHS over slow progress on sustainable future

    1-Jan-2007

    The NHS is moving at an 'incredibly sluggish and inadequate pace' to becoming sustainable and environmentally sound, green campaigner Jonathan Porritt has warned.

  • Private companies to join support framework

    1-Jan-2007

    The Department of Health is set to announce next week the list of private companies that have won a place on the government's national framework for procuring external support for commissioners, HSJ has learned.

  • Public health must move in 'corridors of power'

    1-Jan-2007

    The voice of public health must become less 'fragmented', according to new Faculty of Public Health president Professor Alan Maryon Davis.

  • Some trusts will stay in red, MPs warn

    1-Jan-2007

    Some NHS trusts will never get back into financial balance, one of the government's turnaround advisers has admitted.

  • South Staffs adds to foundation acquisitions

    1-Jan-2007

    A mental health trust has become the second foundation trust to use its independent powers to take over provider services from another NHS organisation.

  • 'Super agency' merger on hold

    1-Jan-2007

    A merger between the Department of Health's commercial directorate and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency has been delayed until October, HSJ has learned.

  • Targets in danger as London PCTs expect to spend a sixth of Choosing Health cash

    1-Jan-2007

    London primary care trust boards are being forced to slash funding set aside to meet the targets set out in the Choosing Health white paper by more than three-quarters as a result of financial problems in the NHS, HSJcan reveal.

  • Chief medical officer had two hours' input into Commissioning a Patient-led NHS

    7-Dec-2006

    The chief medical officer for England has revealed that he was given just two hours to insert a reference to public health into the Department of Health's key policy document, Commissioning a Patient-led NHS.

  • Audit Commission says PCTs should fine acutes for errors

    7-Dec-2006

    The job of clinical coding should be given a higher priority within NHS trusts in order to make payment by results work, according to the Audit Commission.

  • Independent centre deals abandoned

    4-Dec-2006

    The Department of Health is set to abandon a large swathe of its independent treatment centre programme more than a year after it invited providers to bid for the lucrative deals, HSJhas learned.

  • Cumbria and Lancashire CATS contract goes to consultation

    23-Nov-2006

    A contract to allow healthcare company Netcare to provide clinical assessment and treatment services (CATS) across Cumbria and Lancashire has been delayed after local primary care trusts decided to consult on some details.

  • GP shortage procurement scheme may be abolished

    23-Nov-2006

    The government's national procurement programme for under-doctored areas looks set to be drastically scaled back or scrapped.

  • Government urges quicker action on infection rates

    2-Nov-2006

    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.

  • Commission says sorry for PCT score mistakes

    19-Oct-2006

    The Healthcare Commission has apologised for sending 62 primary care trusts the wrong ratings last week. The commission was alerted to the errors by PCTs, which were given their individual scores on Tuesday, ahead of the official launch of figures for all of England on Thursday.

  • Healthcheck ratings: Audit Commission focuses on 37 trusts that failed in key areas

    12-Oct-2006

    The Audit Commission has voiced concern about 37 organisations deemed to be failing in three key financial areas. It compiled findings from local auditors for 2005-06 and scored all non-foundation organisations in the category of 'use of resources', which makes up half of the healthcheck ratings.

  • McKinsey accused of unfair advantage on commissioning

    5-Oct-2006

    Companies bidding to win a place on the government's list of approved commissioning support suppliers are questioning whether rival bidder McKinsey has been given an unfair advantage.

  • McKinsey 'PCT support' bid sparks conflict-of-interest row

    21-Sep-2006

    Management consultants McKinsey are bidding for a place on the government's controversial list of approved primary care trust commissioning support suppliers.

  • Four in five spearhead PCTs fall behind on inequalities

    20-Sep-2006

    Four in five of the government's 'spearhead areas' are not on track to meet the government's 2010 health inequalities target, the Department of Health has admitted.

  • Union attacks selection process for top PCT posts as 'scandalous'

    14-Sep-2006

    Strategic health authorities have been urged to give unsuccessful primary care trust chief executives 'transparent and appropriate' feedback on the reasons they have failed to secure a top job in the newly reconfigured organisations.

  • Celebs lined up for nursing role

    7-Sep-2006

    Three television celebrities are working alongside nurses at Barnsley Hospital foundation trust as part of a new TV series that highlights the role of NHS nurses.

  • Exclusive: Audit Commission calls for 'radical action' to plug Manchester health gap

    7-Sep-2006

    'Concerted radical action' is required to plug the growing health inequalities gap across Greater Manchester, a damning report has warned.

  • Report calls for 'radical action' to plug Manchester health gap

    7-Sep-2006

    'Concerted radical action' is required to plug the growing health inequalities gap across Greater Manchester, a damning report has warned.

  • Report calls for 'test action' to plug Manchester health gap

    7-Sep-2006

    'Concerted radical action' is required to plug the growing health inequalities gap across Greater Manchester, a damning report has warned.

  • Report calls for 'test action' to plug Manchester health gap

    7-Sep-2006

    'Concerted radical action' is required to plug the growing health inequalities gap across Greater Manchester, a damning report has warned.

  • Exclusive: 14 private firms win place on choice menu in £200m deal

    31-Aug-2006

    The Department of Health has signed a deal worth £200m with 14 independent healthcare companies to carry out thousands of additional elective care procedures, HSJhas learned.

  • Exclusive: Monitor says spending cuts could slow 18-week progress

    31-Aug-2006

    The independent foundation trust regulator has warned that progress towards the 18-week target could be slowed down by primary care trusts attempting to cut spending.

  • DoH warning over childbirth target

    24-Aug-2006

    The NHS could miss its target to expand choice in childbirth, the chair of the Department of Health's choice reference group has warned.

  • Government consults ahead of new choice framework

    24-Aug-2006

    The Department of Health has vowed to involve 'as many people as possible' in a national listening exercise about how to expand choice beyond elective care.

  • Netcare lead bidder for Manchester integrated clinical assessment and treatment services

    17-Aug-2006

    The Department of Health has named Netcare and Partnership Health Group - in partnership with Alliance Medical - as preferred bidders for its controversial integrated clinical assessment and treatment services in Manchester, HSJhas learnt.

  • Moorfields' new vision for Dubai

    10-Aug-2006

    Moorfields Eye Hospital is set to open a hospital in Dubai, HSJunderstands.

  • Stockport PCT denies limiting choice to independent sector

    10-Aug-2006

    Stockport primary care trust has denied claims that it is limiting patient choice for orthopaedic patients to the local private sector.

  • Monitor lays down law on foundations' acquisitions and mergers

    3-Aug-2006

    Foundation trusts will only be able to merge with, or take over, other trusts if they have a healthy financial risk rating, Monitor has said.

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