HSJ Live 05.09.2014: HSJ reveals the top healthcare employers

4.47pm Unsurprisingly our story on NHS England cutting a quarter of senior posts is attracting some strong comments from our readers. Here’s a selection:

“Nonsense - they’ll get paid off and come back in one form or another somewhere in the system - there is too much to be done to simply continue to hack away at the number of managers on the ground.”

3.50pm The health and social care system in England is likely to be overwhelmed with the rapidly increasing numbers of people with osteoarthritis, according to a new report from Arthritis Research UK.

The charity says there is an urgent need to address the rise of an “arthritis epidemic” rather than relying on treating people when their condition becomes too severe.

Over 4.5 million people in the UK currently live with the pain and disability caused by knee osteoarthritis – the most common form of the condition. Latest estimates suggest that this number could nearly double to 8.3 million by 2035, a tenth of the projected UK population.

The charity’s new report calls for national and local governments to include maintaining healthy joints, bones and muscles to prevent conditions such as arthritis in their public health plans.

2.29pm The health service’s central ‘IT spine’ has migrated onto a new system in a move senior figures hope will improve the integration of data and information systems in the NHS and social services.

The migration to the newly built “Spine 2” system last weekend was overseen by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and is understood to have taken place without significant disruption.

The service’s central spine supports core systems such as the personal demographics service, nearly 40 million summary care records and the NHS Number system.

1.43pm Breaking news from HSJ’s Judith Welikala: NHS England could axe one in four of its senior posts within six months as part of a major structural reorganisation of the body, under plans unveiled by its chief executive today.

At least 75 management or senior clinical posts could be cut by March next year as part of its major reorganisation, Simon Stevens told staff in an email this morning.

1.22pm Medway Foundation Trust could become the first provider in special measures to face further regulatory action from the Care Quality Commission after inspectors found it had failed to improve during an unannounced inspection.

The concerns were raised after an announced inspection of the trust’s Medway’s Maritime Hospital at the end of July, which focused on its accident and emergency department and surgical services.

While a report on the July visit has yet to be published, the CQC’s deputy chief inspector of hospitals, professor Edward Baker, confirmed “further action” was planned.

12.26pm Derby Hospitals Foundation Trust has made “significant progress” in tackling accident and emergency delays, Monitor has said.

After Derby failed to meet national waiting targets for both emergency and routine care, the regulator imposed an additional condition on the trust’s licence. Monitor has now judged that the trust has made significant improvements so this condition has been removed.

However, the trust remains in breach of its licence because Monitor remains concerned about its finances. It ended the 2013-14 financial year with a deficit of over £15m and is forecasting that this will grow to as much as £23m by the end of 2014-15.

Monitor has agreed with the trust that it will develop a comprehensive financial recovery plan by 31 January 2015. 

Adam Cayley, regional director at Monitor said: “More patients are being seen quickly at the city’s A&E departments which is really good news.

“The challenge is now to get on top of the trust’s financial deficit which is worrying.

“We want the trust to develop a financial recovery plan, demonstrating to us how it will solve its financial problems while safeguarding the quality services which local people expect.”

12.21pm This week’s issue of HSJ magazine is now available to read on our tablet app.

Find out more about what’s in the issue here.

11.42am Today is the closing date for nominations to HSJ’s Top Innovators Award.

HSJ, working with Bird & Bird, is seeking to celebrate healthcare’s top innovators – the people who have found new, innovative ways of tackling the challenges facing healthcare.

Find out more and make a nomination here.

11.36am The expert who authored Ed Miliband’s health and social care plan has called on politicians to immediately begin a public debate on the future of funding for the services.

Sir John Oldham, a former Department of Health adviser and GP, was commissioned by the Labour leader to lead a commission on “whole person care”, which reported earlier this year.

He told HSJ the Barker report on the future of health and social care - which identified a funding gap and some potential solution - supported “once more the necessity of having a national conversation”.

10.53am London is facing double the shortfall in funding to prepare for the Care Act than previously thought, London Councils is warning.

The body, which represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London, claims £90m is needed to ensure appropriate systems and staff are set up to implement the changes to adult social care, due to be fully rolled out in April 2016.

It says that proposed new funding arrangements unveiled by the government will leave the capital with a £36 million gap and is calling for the suggested funding formula to be revised.

10.18am The Daily Telegraph reports that patient’s lives are being put at risk by inaccurate and illegible paperwork sent from hospitals to GPs when they leave the wards, NHS England has warned.

NHS England found that about 10,000 such errors, which can lead to “avoidable death and serious harm to patients”, were found for the past year.

10.14am One in five child deaths is preventable, according to experts who have called for urgent action to save 1,000 lives a year from accidents, illness and neglect, reports The Times.

Doctors must be trained to explain to parents when children’s illnesses become life-threatening, while tougher safety standards are needed on furniture and home appliances, the researchers from the University of Warwick said.

10.13am Leafing through this morning’s papers, The Times reports that more than 50,000 lives a year could be saved if Britain’s smokers switched to e-cigarettes, according to experts who have attacked the World Health Organisation for “alarmist” and “puritanical” plans for a crackdown.

Some of the world’s leading tobacco control experts say heavy-handed regulation would cut lives by “crippling the competitiveness” of e-cigarettes and forcing smokers to stick with tobacco.

9.59am A team of specialist health professionals have been jailed for nine years for conspiring to defraud more than £430,000 from Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Foundation Trust.

The four perfusionists were found guilty following one of the longest trials ever held at Basildon Crown Court, and a major fraud investigation by NHS Protect.

7.00am Good morning. Today we reveal the top 10 places to work in the NHS.

To compile the list, Best Companies Group used NHS staff survey findings to analyse each organisation across seven core areas: leadership and planning; corporate culture and comnunications; role satisfaction; work environment; relationship with supervisor; training and development; and employee engagement and satisfaction.