Latest Health Service News
South West trusts set up "pay cartel"
Sixteen provider trusts in the south west are seeking to move away from the national Agenda for Change agreement and have formed a consortium to lead regional negotiation on pay, terms and conditions.
Top managers set to escape regional pay
The NHS’s most senior managers should not receive localised rates of pay, the Department of Health has said.
'Landmark' agreement on 212 CCGs covering England
The NHS reforms have reached the “landmark moment” of agreeing the clinical commissioning groups which will go forward to take over budgets next year, the NHS Commissioning Board has said.
Exclusive: acutes' deficit and savings performance worsens, DH figures show
Plans to cut deficits in the acute trust sector fell further behind in the third quarter of 2011-12 as hospitals struggled to make up lost ground on challenging savings targets.
Expand independent sector provision, says 'most powerful' hospital chief
The NHS’s most powerful hospital trust chief executive has used a HSJ interview to call for an expansion of independent sector provision.
Information strategy an early example of major policy process - DH
The government’s newly launched information strategy for health and social care is an early example of how major policy will be made under its reformed system, according to the Department of Health.
Author of seminal NHS funding review Sir Derek Wanless dies
Sir Derek Wanless, the former banker whose seminal 2002 report laid the theoretical foundations for the following decade’s huge increases in NHS funding, has died, a parliamentary group today reported.
New patient rating system plans welcomed
Patients will be able to rate the treatment they receive in hospitals to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect on wards, the prime minister will announce today.
Minister rejects cancer drugs fund
The Welsh health minister Lesley Griffiths has told a group of top medics she is standing firm on the issue of a cancer drugs fund for Wales, saying the scheme would not work.
DH unveils plans for increased competition in diagnostics and mental health
The Department of Health has unveiled its strategy for extending competition from any qualified provider to new areas of NHS care, including mental health and diagnostic tests.
Ombudsman's claims on care quality complaint 'did not stand up '
An apparent failure to fully investigate a high profile complaint has led to a renewed call for changes to the system.
Overnight discharge data questioned as hospitals hit back
Misleading data has emerged as a possible explanation for claims that hospitals discharge large numbers of patients in the middle of the night.
FT ambitions will be 'very challenging' for community trusts
A leading provider of integrated health and social care looks set to abandon its ambitions to become a standalone community foundation trust in a move lawyers say could be repeated elsewhere.
Treasury targets off-payroll public sector salaries
The chief secretary to the Treasury has stressed that all public sector employees “should be on the payroll and paying the correct amount of tax”.
Exclusive: HSJ Clinical Commissioning Groups Map Tool
HSJ reveals the 212 clinical commissioning groups authorised to go forward as announced by the Commissioning Board today.
Minimum alcohol price set to become law
Plans for minimum alcohol pricing will be approved in Scotland today, which will become in the process the first part of the UK to pass the legislation.
MPs criticise delays in education and training reform
Ministers must provide more detail on their plans to reform health education and training to avoid service disruption and putting patients at risk, the health select committee has warned.
Exclusive: Commissioning board engagement and information director revealed
Tim Kelsey is to become the NHS Commissioning Board’s director of patient and public engagement, insight and informatics, HSJ understands.
Commissioning board seeks £130k GP to 'influence CCGs'
The NHS Commissioning Board is advertising a series of senior jobs with salaries over £100,000, including a deputy medical director whose job will need to “actively influence CCGs in their commissioning decisions, providing assurance the activity has robust clinical leadership”.
CQC whistleblower faces sack
The Care Quality Commission board member who gave highly critical evidence about the regulator to the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust public inquiry is facing the sack, it has emerged.
Providers urged to collaborate to speed clinical trial approvals
Providers need to work together to speed up the approval process for clinical trials if the NHS is to realise its potential as a research resource, a senior pharmaceutical industry figure has said
GP quality monitoring project under threat from reform
PERFORMANCE: A groundbreaking project monitoring the quality of GPs faces an uncertain future once its host strategic health authority is abolished.
New infection threats emerging to replace MRSA and C difficile
A third of healthcare associated infections are now caused by bacteria that need to be tackled with different infection control techniques to MRSA and C difficile, a report has warned.
Trust's high activity level costs commissioners £27m
FINANCE: Oxford University Hospitals Trust exceeded planned levels of activity by 3.7 per cent in 2011-12, costing the local health economy £26.6m more than expected.
PCTs to pay GPs an extra £1.1m following system error
The Department of Health has told primary care trusts to make an additional £1.1m of payments to GPs by the end of June, to correct an error dating back to 2004.
Adopting clinical decision support systems - FREE HSJ webinar
HSJ invites you to view and participate in an exclusive FREE webinar on the growing importance of clinical decision support systems, in association with UpToDate.
Public health staff to keep NHS pension
Public health staff who transfer to local government next year will retain their NHS pension, it has been revealed. However, it remains uncertain whether they will keep the pension if they subsequently change jobs within public health.
Bristol acutes consider merger
STRUCTURE: University Hospitals Bristol Foundation Trust and North Bristol Trust have set up a project board to consider whether the two organisations should merge to create an organisation with a turnover close to £1bn.
Morecambe Bay 'not sustainable' without reconfiguration, says new chief
Troubled foundation trust University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay “can’t work” in the future without the reconfiguration of key services, its new chief executive has told HSJ.
GMB members overwhelmingly reject pension deal
Thousands of NHS workers in the GMB union have voted to reject the government’s “final” pension deal by a majority of 96.5 per cent.
Unpaid work experience scheme to be extended to more hospitals
A scheme that gives unpaid job seekers the chance to provide patient care in the wards of a hospital is set to be extended, it has emerged.
Pension reform deterring would-be doctors - BMA
Junior doctors have been urged to fight for their pensions amid fears government reforms could dissuade talented students from studying medicine.
Information Centre to focus on cost of over-60s hospital care
Patients aged 60 and over account for more than half of the income hospitals receive under the payment-by-results tariff, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has reported.
Information strategy details: Lansley promises online GP access to 'end 8am rush'
The health secretary has promised patients easier interaction with GP practices, as he published the long awaited NHS information strategy today.
Night discharges controversy down to the time data was entered, says Barnet and Chase Farm
PERFORMANCE: The north London hospital trust was asked, like every other acute trust, to assess the number of discharges at night, in light of a report in The Times.
-
Integration pioneer Torbay to merge
-
Burns go-ahead for 2012 clinical excellence awards
-
Day surgery could increase by 15pc say analysts
-
RCN prepared to battle government over regional pay plans
-
Mixed-sex breaches rise across the NHS
-
Government announces extra mental health funding for veterans
-
Senior NHS figures shun 'poisoned chalice' CQC job
-
Trusts eye capital gains from surplus NHS land sales
-
Trusts needing bailout support almost double in 2011-12
-
Lansley against 'slamming together' health and social care
-
Lansley confirms NICE will no longer take funding decisions
-
Diabetes audit reveals thousands of errors in one week
-
Nurses and midwives face 60pc hike in registration fee
-
Royal college criticises SHA for moving mental health funds
-
PFI partner investigated over strike allegations
-
CCGs choose in-house commissioning support ahead of outsourced services
-
Miliband: attacks on nursing are 'totally unfair'
-
'Concern' over pledge to give patients access to GP records
-
Drug costs 'have to be secret' under new pricing system
-
Care bill to follow 'soon after' white paper
-
Doctors voting on pensions strike action
-
Schools could have health and wellbeing board role - Lansley
-
Miliband to attack government handling of the NHS
-
DH promises 'openness and respect' in bid to reach outside groups
-
Ed Miliband calls on local wellbeing boards to 'defend NHS'
In-depth intelligence on commissioning and providing organisations, helping you to manage the shifting health service landscape
Latest from HSJ Local
Royal United Hospital Bath refunds commissioners
FINANCE: Royal United Hospital Bath Trust has had to refund commissioners £34,000.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals removed from significant breach
FINANCE: Foundation trust regulator Monitor today confirmed that Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust was no longer in significant breach of its terms of authorisation.
Monitor calls time on smallest FT 'The Min'
STRUCTURE: Monitor has ordered the board of the country’s smallest foundation trust to develop a strategy for its future after concluding it cannot survive on its own.
-
Liverpool CCG given estimated operating budget of £11.4m
-
East Lancs CCG given estimated operating budget of £8.98m
-
SE Coast has higher than average HCAI prevalence
-
Ward changes at Pilgrim to improve care
-
Assaults on paramedics increase
-
Yorks has lower than average HCAI prevalence
-
West Midlands has lower than average HCAI prevalence
-
St George's loses £500k in Project Diamond funding
-
NHS Lewisham hires social enterprise for child weight management service.
-
Cumbria CCG given estimated operating budget of £13m
-
Norfolk and Norwich at risk of breaching authorisation
-
Western Sussex in hospital 'top 40'
-
NW London providers set to learn cluster's service change proposals
-
GP quality monitoring project under threat from reform
-
Block contract trust sets two-year deal with commissioners
-
NHS North West London makes 82pc of QIPP target
-
Trust's high activity level costs commissioners £27m
