Health Service Journal
12 July 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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'Amber-red' rating for Newcastle Hospitals
PERFORMANCE: The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust received an “amber-red” rating from Monitor for its governance standards. -
Ambulance handovers miss target in Birmingham and Solihull
PERFORMANCE: All providers serving the Birmingham and Solihull primary care trust cluster failed to hit the required standard for ambulance handover times. -
Analysed: reconfiguration planned for Merseyside vascular services
HSJ Local Briefing is our new in-depth analysis of key issues facing some of the major NHS health economies. This week’s HSJ Local Briefing looks at proposals to reconfigure vascular services in Cheshire, Warrington and the Wirral. -
Anger over failure to agree social care funding
The government’s failure to agree a funding plan for social care have been greeted with disappointment from across the health sector. -
Anti smoking push in Sussex schools
STRUCTURE: Sussex Community NHS Trust stop smoking service has launched a stop smoking education resource for teachers delivering personal, social and health education lessons to year 8-11. -
Authorisation begins for East Riding CCG
STRUCTURE: East Riding CCG, which covers the area of East Riding of Yorkshire PCT, has submitted its authorisation application. -
Barts Health advertises £7m car-parking contract at Whipps Cross
FINANCE: The five-year contract to run the service at Whipps Cross University Hospital includes options to extend it by two years. -
Best foot forward: improving NHS organisations' carbon footprint
The NHS’s carbon footprint is massive, so what can be done to improve the environmental sustainability of healthcare, asks Chris Naylor. -
Birmingham and Solihull faces £16.9m QIPP shortfall
FINANCE: Commissioners in Birmingham and Solihull have reported a £16.9m gap in their efficiency savings plans, accounting for 29 per cent of the total for this year. -
Bowel campaign scuppers attempts to cut diagnostic waits
PERFORMANCE: Long diagnostic waits in Birmingham and Solihull have been blamed on the Heart of England Foundation Trust and a national bowel screening drive. -
Bradford Hospitals retains amber-red governance rating
PERFORMANCE: Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust remains rated “amber-red” by Monitor for governance. -
Burns details plans to close Trafford General A&E
PERFORMANCE: NHS North of England will this week consider proposals to remove accident and emergency services, acute surgery and inpatient surgery from Trafford General Hospital, health minister Simon Burns said today. -
C difficile penalties to remain despite concerns
The Department of Health has rejected calls to make the penalties for breaching C difficile targets more proportionate but promised to keep the situation under review, HSJ has learned. -
Calderdale CCG gets authorisation process underway
STRUCTURE: NHS Rotherham CCG, which covers the area of Rotherham PCT, has submitted its authorisation application. -
Calderdale CCG sumbits authorisation application
STRUCTURE: Calderdale CCG, which covers the area of Calderdale PCT, has submitted its authorisation application. -
CCGs may get to rate commissioning board's behaviour annually - mandate
The NHS Commissioning Board may be rated annually for its commitment to autonomy by a survey of clinical commissioning groups, according to its first “mandate” from the government. -
Central Manchester CCG plans £4.6m QIPP savings
FINANCE: The clinical commissioning group has developed quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) plans for savings totalling £4.6m in 2012-13. -
Children's heart surgery to end at Royal Brompton
Managers at a hospital at the centre of a bitter legal row over plans to streamline paediatric heart services said they were baffled at Wednesday’s decision to stop it performing heart surgery on children. -
Christie surplus £54,000 below target at end of May
FINANCE: The cancer specialist foundation trust recorded a surplus of £699,000 for the first two months of 2012-13, which was £54,000 behind its plan for the year to date, its latest finance report states. -
Clare Gerada: trust is essential for effective leadership
Even when you display personal courage and honesty, you cannot be an effective leader without the trust of your peers and the public, says Clare Gerada. -
Commissioning support market faces heavy regulation
The NHS Commissioning Board has revealed the future market in commissioning support services is likely to be heavily regulated, potentially including restrictions on firms making a dividend. -
Competition panel to probe referral management
The NHS Cooperation and Competition Panel has begun a probe of the competition implications of providers operating systems to manage patient referrals. -
Consultation challenges speech therapy redesign
STRUCTURE: Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust has received some “challenging feedback” about cuts to children’s speech and language therapy staff under a planned service redesign. -
Controversial vascular services restructure gets green light
Primary care trust cluster NHS Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral has approved a controversial plan for the reconfiguration of vascular services across Cheshire and Merseyside. -
Data error trust reviews deaths
An trust is probing whether its poor record keeping was responsible for 25 patient deaths. -
Developing a route map for sustainability
A three-stranded plan for how to build sustainability in to the NHS can be used from local to national level as a spur to action, writes Sonia Roschnik. -
'Developmental' CCG authorisation process gets underway
The authorisation of clinical commissioning groups will be an “iterative process” – with organisations able to correct their weaknesses throughout the process – government regulations have confirmed. -
DH approves £298m rebuild of Broadmoor
STRUCTURE: The Department of Health has approved a multi-million rebuild of the Broadmoor high-secure psychiatric hospital. -
DH pipeline tsar appointed special administrator at failure regime trust
Matthew Kershaw has today been confirmed as trust special administrator at South London Healthcare Trust. -
DH raises mortality concerns with Hull and East Yorks
PERFORMANCE: The Department of Health has raised concerns about mortality and finance with Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust. -
Doncaster physios sent to Olympics
PERFORMANCE: Two senior physiotherapists at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals Foundation Trust have been chosen from hundreds of applicants to provide high-level sports-specific rehabilitation and advice to British and international athletes during the 2012 Olympic Games. -
East Cheshire A&E introduces electronic clinical information system for GPs
COMMERCIAL: East Cheshire NHS Trust’s A&E Department can now collate and send clinical patient information to GPs electronically for all patients that attend the department. -
End-of-life care pathway 'used to cut costs'
Hospitals may be withholding food and drink from older patients so they die quicker to cut costs and save on bad spaces, leading doctors have warned. -
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals anticipate needing £17.7m 'cash support' from SHA
FINANCE: The Surrey/London borders trust’s latest board papers said: “The operating plan recently approved by NHS London had a projected cash support of £17.7m.” -
Exclusive: Commissioning board appoints long term conditions lead
NHS Lincolnshire commissioning director Martin McShane has been appointed the NHS Commissioning Board’s lead for long term conditions. -
Exclusive: fear over Olympic drugs overseas sell-on
Some pharmacies in London may request additional drug supplies during the Olympics only to sell them off overseas for profit, it has been claimed. -
Exclusive: new workforce chief promises staff flexibility
Health Education England will give commissioners the freedom required to create flexible workforces that meet their own local needs, its new head has promised in his first interview since being appointed. -
Ex-NHS staff held in payment probe
Two former NHS employees have been arrested by detectives investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials, Scotland Yard said. -
George Eliot franchise plan 'disappoints' suitor
STRUCTURE: George Eliot Hospital Trust’s preference for a franchise deal to secure its future has been described as “rather disappointing” by would-be suitor South Warwickshire Foundation Trust. -
Hospital and paramedic staff suspended after A&E death
WORKFORCE: Eleven NHS staff have been suspended by a Midlands hospital and West Midlands Ambulance service after an A&E patient collapsed and died. -
How patients could benefit from top-up payments
Top-up payments are a clinically and economically viable way of increasing choice and allowing the NHS to reshape services, say Mo Girach and Ryan Irwin. -
How to put patients at the centre of palliative care
Partnership working has been vital to delivering a co-ordinated 24-hour palliative care service, write Annie Macleod and Nicky Bannister. -
How to support the leaders of tomorrow
A social network is enabling medical students to gain supported experience in non-clinical environments to boost their leadership skills, write Harpreet Sood, Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton. -
HSJ retains Publication of the Year award
Health Service Journal was last night named Publication of the Year by the Medical Journalists’ Association for the second year in a row. -
Just nine CSS managing directors appointed
Just nine out of the 23 managing director posts for commissioning support services have been recruited, it is announced today. -
Kent prisons adopt new rehab service
COMMERCIAL: Kent has backed a new drug and alcohol treatment model to stop addiction and re-offending. -
Making sense of organisation branding in the NHS
The NHS and its multiple organisations are constantly evolving and the scene is set for further change under the government. The one constant in the last two decades has been the NHS brand and the way it has been applied by communications and marketing professionals. -
Mark Britnell: in defence of our imperfect PFI
The “pay later” problems of PFI may have come home to roost but its successes are impressive and its legacy lives on, says Mark Britnell. -
Media Watch: drumming up acrimony over social care
The collapse of cross party talks on social care dominated the non-tennis news agenda over the weekend, serving as a curtain raiser to the inevitable acrimony around this week’s social care white paper. -
Mid Staffs Inquiry criticism letters delayed
Letters warning witnesses to the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust Public Inquiry that they will be criticised by Robert Francis QC in his final report have been delayed by a month, HSJ can reveal. -
Mid Yorks announces reconfiguration options
STRUCTURE: Financially struggling Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust has announced rapidly developed options for service reconfiguration. -
Midlands director appointed commissioning board director of strategy
NHS Midlands and East director of commissioning Robert Harris has been appointed as the NHS Commissioning Board’s director of strategy, HSJ has learned. -
Monitor maintains amber-red rating for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole
PERFORMANCE: Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Foundation Trust remains rated “amber-red” by Monitor for governance. -
More than half of FTs behind plan on 2011-12 savings
More than half of foundation trusts missed their savings plan targets, according to Monitor’s review of last financial year. -
Morecambe Bay withheld damning report from regulators, probe finds
Monitor is to toughen disclosure rules for would-be foundation trusts, after a probe found University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay withheld information that could have led regulators to discover its major care failures sooner. -
NCUH reports £60,000 surplus for first two months of 2012-13
FINANCE: The trust reported a surplus of £60,000 for the first two months of 2012-13, but noted that this included “strategic support funding” of £4.1m. -
New quality of life indicators reveal long term condition inequalities
A major new health information collection has highlighted the worse quality of life suffered by people with long-term conditions in poorer areas. -
NHS London approves £150k+ severance payment to very senior manager
WORKFORCE: The minutes of the strategic health authority’s remuneration committee said it had reviewed “one severance case [worth more than £150k] and approved it since the last report to the board [in March].” -
NHS London confirms £2.2m cut in mental health funding to increase cancer spend
FINANCE: The strategic health authority for the capital has confirmed that is transferring £2.2m from the bundle funding for mental health to fund its cancer programme. -
NHS Propco could 'destabilise' local health economies, social enterprises warn
Department of Health plans to create an independent property company to take over primary care trusts’ estate are likely to have a “considerable destabilising effect on local health economies”, social enterprises have claimed. -
Nicholas Timmins: the aftermath of reform
Ahead of the publication of his report on the government’s NHS reforms, Nicholas Timmins gives HSJ an exclusive angle on his inside story. -
Nigel Crisp: the most precious commodity of all
Nigel Crisp writes exclusively for HSJ about an All Party Parliamentary Groups review that recognises the importance of a highly and varied skill mix among health professionals. -
No social care funding settlement until next spending review
Ministers have confirmed they cannot commit to a cap on the cost of social care unless they can find an extra £2.2bn at the next comprehensive spending review – and suggested the cap could be higher than the level recommended by an independent review of care funding. -
Nominations open for Western Sussex’s first governor elections
STRUCTURE: Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust is asking its 7,500 public members to stand for election to its first Council of Governors. -
North Yorkshire and York seeks consultants to help cut deficit
FINANCE: NHS North Yorkshire and York is tendering for consultants to review services and propose cost improvements. -
Ombudsman seeks wider powers to tackle failure
The health service ombudsman is seeking to broaden the scope of her office’s investigations into complaints about health treatment by probing systemic failings at NHS bodies, HSJ has been told. -
PCTs restricting access to sexual health services - report
MPs have warned the government that soem trusts are actively restricting women from accessing contraceptive services, in a new report published today. -
Readers' letters – 12 July 2012
Standardised barcoding could reduce risk – and the cost of risk; plus, why clinicians fear being managers -
Ready for the unexpected: how one trust is tackling unplanned admissions
Southend Estuary CCG provides one good example of how to deal with unplanned care issues when serving a challenging health population. -
Royal Brompton rules out merger after losing heart services
STRUCTURE: The specialist hospital at the centre of a High Court battle over paediatric heart surgery has ruled out merging with a large London neighbour. -
Royal Free extends contract with Barnet, Enfield and Haringey trust
COMMERCIAL: The north London mental health trust have won a contract to provide a liaison service in the Royal Free London’s A&E. -
Social care cuts pile pressure on NHS
Two thirds of NHS leaders believe cuts to council spending have impacted on their services over the past year, prompting warnings that the system is “heading for collapse”. -
South Warwickshire FT to redesign emergency pathways
STRUCTURE: South Warwickshire Foundation Trust is planning to spend up to £500,000 redesigning its emergency care pathways to ensure services are safe and comply with national standards. -
South Warwickshire in deficit amid overperformance
FINANCE: South Warwickshire Foundation Trust ended month two of 2012-13 with a deficit of £457,000 - £517,000 worse than planned. -
Southampton will keep children's heart surgery
STRUCTURE: Children’s heart surgery services will be kept at the University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust after a national reconfiguration programme recommended three other units in England lose their services. -
St Helens and Knowsley FT bid red rated for 2nd month running
STRUCTURE: The trust’s progress towards foundation trust status was red rated in June for the second month running, latest NHS North of England board papers show. -
Stability trumps choice in the birth of commissioning support
There is a pattern visible in the development arc of many policies which propose greater private sector involvement in the NHS. Ministers and their advisers declare it is time for an injection of new blood and that hurdles will be cleared to make way for the entrants. -
Staff shortage closes children's ward to admissions
A children’s ward has stopped admitting patients for three weeks due to a staff shortage. -
Stephen Childs confirmed as North East CSS director
WORKFORCE: Stephen Childs has been appointed as the managing director of North East Commissioning Support by the NHS Commissioning Board. -
Surgeons in warning over old equipment
Financial constraints on the NHS could lead to doctors operating on patients with outdated equipment, surgeons have warned. -
SW pay consortium to press ahead with Agenda for Change plans
A consortium of 19 NHS trusts in the South West has met for the first time and agreed to press ahead with plans to break away from Agenda for Change. -
Three North East CCGs sharing chief officer
WORKFORCE: NHS Newcastle West CCG, NHS Newcastle North and East CCG and NHS Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group are sharing a chief officer under an interim arrangement. -
Trust says it has 'learnt lessons' from stabbing case
PERFORMANCE: Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust missed three chances to identify the risk to the public posed by a patient who went on to stab a woman in a supermarket, according to an independent review -
Trusts receive £1 billion bailouts since 2006
Struggling NHS trusts have received more than £1 billion in bailout funds in six years, figures show. -
Two compulsory redundancies from NHS London cost more than £200k each
WORKFORCE: Two people made compulsorily redundant from the capital’s strategic health authority each recieved more than £200,000, annual accounts reveal. -
Valuable experience: internships in the healthcare sector
Three students share their experiences of internships within organisations in the healthcare sector. -
Virgin set to run children's services in Devon
COMMERCIAL: Virgin Care has been named preferred bidder for a children’s services contract worth £44m a year, it has been announced. -
Warrington and Halton Hospitals takes over former ISTC
STRUCTURE: The trust this week reported that it has received formal confirmation that it has acquired the Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Treatment Centre and will be using it to provide its main orthopaedic surgical services. -
West Mercia CCGs choose new support providers
COMMERCIAL: West Mercia clinical commissioning groups have chosen an alternative supplier of commissioning support services after plans to establish a local provider in their area were abandoned. -
Work begins on new Cumbria Partnership dementia assessment unit
STRUCTURE: Building work will begin this month on a £2.6m redevelopment of the dementia assessment unit at Carlisle’s Carleton Clinic, the foundation trust has announced.
