Health Service Journal
17 May 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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'A culture shift can help reduce prescription wastage'
Involving patients and getting away from an approach that still harks back to the 1980s will help GPs tackle the problem of wasted prescription, writes Neil Churchill. -
Analysed: reform of education and training budgets in London
HSJ Local Briefing is our new in-depth analysis of the key issues facing the NHS’s major health economies. This week, HSJ looks at reform of education and training budgets in London. -
Analysing the results of the largest ever stroke care survey
The Stroke Association conducted the largest ever survey of stroke survivors undertaken in the UK to get a better understanding of the issues facing stroke survivors in their daily lives. Joe Korner looks at the responses. -
Barnet Hospital gets gold accreditation for transient ischaemic attacks
PERFORMANCE: Barnet Hospital’s transient ischaemic attack service, which deals with ‘mini-strokes’, has been awarded gold accreditation by the North Central London Cardiovascular and Stroke Network and commissioners. -
Barnsley Hospital planning annual 'innovation day'
RESEARCH: Barnsley Hospital Foundation Trust is planning to hold an annual “innovation day”. -
Basildon and Orsett Hospitals receive continuity mark
PERFORMANCE: Basildon and Orsett Hospitals are prepared to ‘keep calm and carry on’ in a crisis after being awarded a kite mark from the British Standards Institution (BSI) for their plans for business continuity. -
Bedford Hospital clear of MRSA for a year
PERFORMANCE: Bedford Hospital has been clear of MRSA cases for over a year. -
Bid for Birmingham 'medical quarter'
COMMERCIAL: Property developers and a leading healthcare technology firm have joined forced to try and create a ‘medical quarter’ in Birmingham. -
Birmingham community trust overspends on temporary staff
WORKFORCE: Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust has reported that 7.9 per cent of its pay bill was going on temporary staff in March, against a target of 5 per cent. -
Birmingham community trust penalised over CQUIN
PERFORMANCE: Birmingham Community Healthcare received a £56,000 penalty for non-compliance with a Commissioning for Quality and Innovation target. -
Birmingham trust releases reserves to ease overspends
FINANCE: Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust has reported a better than expected surplus of £2.6m in 2011-12, thanks to the release of reserve funds. -
Breastfeeding award for West Suffolk
PERFORMANCE: West Suffolk Foundation Trust has taken the first steps towards UNICEF’s Baby Friendly accreditation. -
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. -
BSUH pens deal for EPR system
COMMERCIAL: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a contract for a new electronic patient record system. -
Cambridge and Papworth choose patient record system
FINANCE: A new electronic patient record system which will help to support clinical decisions has taken a step forward for Cambridge University Hospitals and Papworth Hospital. -
Can the NHS afford not to adopt mobile working?
Mobile technologies are revolutionising the way people work, and healthcare is no exception. Whilst a number of NHS Trusts are already reaping the benefits of mobile working and the business case is well proven, the majority of the NHS is still in the “information dark ages”. With £20bn savings needed and the demographic time bomb ticking, how can the NHS afford not to adopt mobile working? -
CCGs choose in-house commissioning support ahead of outsourced services
Clinical commissioning groups are opting to host support functions in-house rather than outsource to “unproven” commissioning support services. -
Chief exec praises waiting time efforts
PERFORMANCE: Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust has met the accident and emergency waiting time target for weeks in a row, according its chief executive. -
Colchester improves communication with care homes
SERVICES: Staff at Colchester General Hospital and Essex County Hospital are working more closely with local care homes to improve communication about patients. -
Concern over board FT meetings held in private
Only two out of the five acute foundation trusts which hold board meetings in private in the East of England have changed their policies, nearly a year being told to do so by the health secretary. -
'Concern' over pledge to give patients access to GP records
One of the leading figures in health information has cast doubt on the government’s ability to give all patients online access to their GP record by 2015. -
Consortium selected for radiotherapy service at South London Healthcare
COMMERCIAL: The south east London acute trust selected a consortium of HTI and Aspen as external partners to run the service with Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust. -
Consultation on new GP centre
STRUCTURE: NHS North Staffordshire has launched a public consultation to ask the local community to help design a new primary care centre. -
COPD project scoops best practice award
PERFORMANCE: A project to help Wirral patients with chronic lung diseases manage their own care has won a regional award for best practice. -
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. -
Day surgery could increase by 15pc say analysts
Most hospitals could increase the amount of day surgery they do by up to 15 per cent, according to health data analysts. -
Dementia care initiatives trumpeted in East Sussex
PERFORMANCE: East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has highlighted the improvements it is making in care for dementia patients. -
Derbyshire IAPT services on move
STRUCTURE: Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust is moving psychological therapies as part of a plan to improve service delivery. -
DH promises 'openness and respect' in bid to reach outside groups
The Department of Health’s top priorities for the coming year include improving links with outside groups, partly as a response to concerns about failure to communicate the NHS reforms. -
Diabetes audit reveals thousands of errors in one week
Medication errors occur in the treatment of 3,700 inpatients with diabetes in hospitals in England and Wales each week, according to the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit. -
Dial Q for quality: the programme helping healthcare leaders deliver change
To improve quality leaders must focus on relationships that facilitate change. Daloni Carlisle looks at a project to develop the right skills. -
Doctors voting on pensions strike action
Doctors across the UK have begun voting on whether to take industrial action for the first time in more than three decades. -
Ed Miliband calls on local wellbeing boards to 'defend NHS'
Labour leader Ed Miliband has called on health and wellbeing boards to “defend the NHS” from privatisation and increasing competition. -
Essex PCTs meet surplus targets
FINANCE: PCTs in the North Essex Cluster are expecting to have made the required surpluses at the end of the financial year - despite massive overspends on commissioned services. -
Exclusive: Plans for national communications service scrapped
Plans to set up a national communications service for clinical commissioning groups have been abandoned, HSJ has learnt. -
Firm sought to run pharmacy in Welwyn
COMMERCIAL: NHS Hertfordshire is looking for a company to run a pharmacy in a redeveloped hospital in Welwyn Garden City. -
Foundation trust criticises NHS London's nurse workforce planning
WORKFORCE: London’s largest foundation trust has criticised NHS London’s policy on nurse workforce planning. -
FTs join forces on pathology services
STRUCTURE: University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay FT and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals FT have announced plans to work together to develop pathology services in Cumbria and Lancashire. -
George Eliot amber-green for governance
PERFORMANCE: George Eliot Hospital Trust awarded itself an amber-green risk rating for governance in quarter four after achieving all but two of its performance standards. -
George Eliot falls short on surplus
FINANCE: George Eliot Trust reported a £35,000 surplus for the final month of 2011-12, bringing its total for the year up to £45,000. -
Gloucestershire could set up CFT
STRUCTURE: NHS Gloucestershire will be allowed to consider setting up a community foundation trust to house its provider arm, after being granted special permission from the Department of Health. -
GPs vs MPs: the ‘new’ battle ground for a redesigned NHS
On the website of south London’s Sutton Guardian the story with the most reader comments concerns the closure of the accident and emergency and maternity units at St Helier Hospital. -
Great Ormond Street tenders for renal support IT system
COMMERCIAL: The central London specialist trust has placed a tender for a system to manage information about children with chronic kidney disease. -
Guy's and St Thomas' predicts 2011-12 surplus of £14m-£20m
FINANCE: Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust has predicted a surplus of £14m-£20m. This is less than its £30m target. -
Guy's hits A&E target for quarter despite shaky January and February
PERFORMANCE: The south London hospital trust missed the A&E four-hour performance target in January and February but hit it in March, papers reveal. -
Health workers strike over NHS pension proposals
Up to 100,000 workers across the NHS were expected to take part in strike action today in protest at the government’s controversial pension refoms. -
Heart success for Medway
PERFORMANCE: The number of people dying of heart attacks in Medway has fallen by 77 per cent over the last two decades, according to latest public health data. -
Heatherwood site has a long-term future, local bosses say
STRUCTURE: NHS bosses in Berkshire have confirmed that Heatherwood Hospital has a long-term future as part of the local health economy. -
How to implement evidence-based stroke care
Alec Fraser and colleagues discuss four challenges that were overcome in successfully implementing better stroke services. -
How to improve commissioning for long term conditions
Don Redding of National Voices identifies three types of people who can enhance the commissioning of services for people with long term conditions. -
How to utilise the technology that can transform urgent care
Technology that could revolutionise care has already been developed, so how do we roll it out to all of the NHS, ask Jim Parle and Terry Young. -
Increased sleeping pill use costs NHS £50m
The NHS spent nearly £50m on sleeping pills last year, a sharp rise on previous costs, new figures reveal. -
Integration pioneer Torbay to merge
STRUCTURE: Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care Trust looks set to abandon its foundation trust ambitions and seek a merger. -
Kingston Hospital achieves caesarian target after renegotiating key performance indicator
PERFORMANCE: The south west London acute hospital trust has confirmed it will not face a penalty from commissioners on its C-section rate. -
Kingston Hospital record financial risk rating of three for 2011-12
FINANCE: The south west London acute hospital trust recorded a financial risk rating of three on the metrics Monitor uses to assess a trust’s stability. -
Lansley faces nurses' cuts and pensions complaints
The health secretary fought to rebut complaints about service cuts and damage to pensions in his speech to the Royal College of Nursing annual congress. -
'Lansley is right to say that age trumps poverty'
Favouring younger, deprived communities with funding serves neither of the core principles of the NHS, writes Sheena Asthana. -
Leeds Hospitals, Mid Yorks and York FT 'missing elective wait targets'
PERFORMANCE: NHS North of England has identified performance problems at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in its May board papers. -
Leicester receives CQC rebuke over trolley waits
University Hospitals of Leicester Trust has been issued with a Care Quality Commission warning notice after an inspection revealed lengthy trolley waits, resulting in “a lack of privacy and dignity”. -
Leicester transcription service goes to India
WORKFORCE: Medical transcription services at University Hospitals of Leicester Trust are to be outsourced to India with the initial loss of 12 posts, it has been revealed. -
London Central West Unscheduled Care Collaborative wins £3.3m contract
COMMERCIAL: The London Central West Unscheduled Care Collaborative has won the two-year contract to pilot NHS 111 services in Inner North West London. -
Media Watch: RCN congress sparks raft of health warnings
IVF always arouses strong and sometimes conflicting passions in the media. Either it is a fundamental right that should be more widely available on the NHS, or it is unsafe, costly and should never have been invented. -
Medway FT rated in top 40 list again
PERFORMANCE: Medway NHS Foundation Trust was named one of the 40 top hospitals in the country at the annual CHKS 40 Top Hospitals Awards. -
Memory service gains national accreditation
PERFORMANCE: A memory service run by Lancashire Care FT has gained accreditation “with excellence” from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. -
Mental health trust tenders for 'non-removable monitoring devices'
PERFORMANCE: The south London mental health trust is tendering a contract worth between £400,000 and £500,000 for security devices worn by service users when off the trust’s grounds. -
Michael White: gap between Lansley and nurses threatens to grow
Watching delegates to the Royal College of Nursing giving Andrew Lansley the bird again at their Harrogate conference, albeit more gently than last year, I thought of the Spanish indignados in the streets of Madrid, of angry Greek voters and all those other protesters struggling with the unfolding consequences of the financial crash. -
Mike Rawlins: NICE drug judgements can be improved
Judgements on which drugs should be paid for by the NHS can be improved, the chair of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has said. -
Miliband to attack government handling of the NHS
Labour leader Ed Miliband will today accuse the government of acting like “the masters, not the servants” of the NHS. -
Minister denies cutting Welsh NHS budget
PERFORMANCE: Wales’s health minister Lesley Griffiths has said she will not be taking any lessons from her party’s rivals the Conservatives when it comes to the NHS. -
Mixed-sex breaches rise across the NHS
The number of breaches of rules on mixed-sex NHS wards rose by 98 last month, according to new figures. -
MPs warn over medicine shortages
Patients are suffering because of a shortage of some NHS prescription medicines, a parliamentary group has warned. -
New medical training facility opens
STRUCTURE: Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust has officially opened a new state-of-the-art facility to improve patient safety. -
New medical unit at South Essex FT
SERVICES: A new short stay medical unit has been opened in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire. -
New nursing director for Tameside Hospital
WORKFORCE: Tameside Hospital has appointed a new director of nursing. -
NHS North Yorkshire & York just breaks even for 2011-12
FINANCE: NHS North Yorkshire and York narrowly finished 2011-12 in financial balance, but has been risk-rated red by NHS North of England for the year. -
NHS Suffolk appoints new director of public health
WORKFORCE: A clinician who has helped to improve health services in Ethiopia is facing a new challenge in Suffolk. -
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. -
No cases of MRSA in north Cumbria’s hospitals
PERFORMANCE: North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust did not have a single case of hospital-acquired MRSA during the last financial year. -
Noel Plumridge: in the savings equation, the answer is always QIPP
At first it seemed clear enough. The McKinsey proposition – save £15bn-£20bn – was simplified as £20bn. The clarification was made, as the Department of Health’s Jim Easton said, “without anyone noticing”. After all, what’s the odd £5bn between friends? -
Norfolk Community Health invests in facilities
FINANCE: Patients in north Norfolk are to benefit from substantial investments in community facilities. A £3.7m redevelopment of North Walsham Community Hospital is now finished and a new health centre in Aylsham is also nearing completion. Both units will be managed by Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust. -
North East CSS passes checkpoint 2
STRUCTURE: The single commissioning support service for the North East has been told it has only “medium to low issues” by the NHS Commissioning Board. -
North East director appointed as regional head of commissioning board
WORKFORCE: Richard Barker, the NHS North of England chief operating officer and previously director at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been appointed as the NHS Commissioning Board’s regional director for the North of England. -
Nottingham trust achieves lowest ever C difficile rate
PERFORMANCE: Nottingham University Hospitals Trust recorded its lowest ever number of C difficile cases in 2011/12. -
Nurses and midwives face 60pc hike in registration fee
The Nursing and Midwifery Council has proposed increasing the annual registrants’ fee to £120 from the start of next year. -
Oxfordshire in £23m overspend on acute trust
FINANCE: Oxfordshire primary care trust had overspent on its contract with Oxford University Hospitals Trust by more than £23m in the first 10 months of 2011-12. -
Patients to 'self check-in' at Robert Jones
SERVICES: Patients at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust will be able to ‘self check-in’ at a new £2.7m hospital entrance. -
Patients to tell Chesterfield how to improve
PERFORMANCE: A total of 850 former A&E patients at Chesterfield Royal Hospital are to be asked their views on how the foundation trust can improve its services. -
PFI partner investigated over strike allegations
WORKFORCE: A facilities management firm working at an NHS hospital is being investigated over allegations it brought in agency workers to cover for striking staff members. -
PiP scandal: Lessons must be learned says Lord Howe
A review of the PiP breast implant scandal has concluded “serious lessons” must be learned and improvements made by the medicines and healthcare products regulator. -
Princess Alex A&E performance concern
PERFORMANCE: A&E performance at Princess Alexandra Hospital is causing concern to the PCT cluster. -
QIPP shortfalls in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire
FINANCE: Efficiency plans in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire were both falling short of target at the end of 2011-12. -
RCN chief 'fears' for commissioners negotiating with private sector
NHS commissioners will be “taken to the cleaners” by private sector providers, the head of the Royal College of Nursing has claimed. -
Readers' letters - 17 May 2012
How advoates can improve clinical engagement, and why the veto on publishing the risk register is a threat to patient safety -
Record low in post-50 cancer deaths achieved
The number of people in their 50s dying prematurely from cancer in the UK has reached a record low, new figures have revealed. -
Renal service becomes biggest in East of England
SERVICES: Patients in Bedford and Harlow will be able to get dialysis closer to home thanks to two planned satellite renal dialysis units. -
Royal college criticises SHA for moving mental health funds
FINANCE: The president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said she is “deeply concerned” by a strategic health authority’s decision to cut a mental health budget in favour of cancer spending. -
Royal Wolverhampton gets simulated ward
WORKFORCE: Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals Trust has opened the first simulation hospital ward in the Black Country at a cost of £550,000. -
School liaison nurses work to reduce absenteeism
SERVICES: A pioneering service in Essex will see two school liaison nurses working to reduce school absenteeism and encourage appropriate use of health services. -
Schools could have health and wellbeing board role - Lansley
The health secretary has hinted that he would welcome the inclusion of schools among those represented on health and wellbeing boards. -
Senior NHS figures shun 'poisoned chalice' CQC job
The head of the General Social Care Council and a Department of Health director general are among those believed to have applied to become chief executive of the Care Quality Commission. -
Sheffield Hospitals FT scientist wins national award
RESEARCH: A Sheffield scientist who has helped change the way IVF treatment is carried out has been named Healthcare Scientist of the Year by the chief scientific officer. -
South Devon Healthcare goes almost two years without MRSA
PERFORMANCE: South Devon Healthcare Foundation Trust ended almost two years without a case or MRSA when a patient contracted the superbug last month. -
South Devon over achieves surplus
FINANCE: South Devon Healthcare Foundation Trust finished 2011-12 with a surplus of around £4.6m, £2.4m ahead of plan. -
Stephen Eames: is it time you turned around?
The old adage “If you keep doing what you have been doing, you’ll keep getting what you have been getting” will no longer wash in the current environment, says Stephen Eames. -
Strike threat as paid tea breaks scrapped at Cambridge
Staff at Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust could be balloted on industrial action in a row over pay cuts. -
Text message service launched to reduce missed appointments
SERVICES: Princess Alexandra Hospital is setting up a text message service in a bid to reduce missed appointments. -
The data debate needs a dose of pragmatism
The NHS is, hopefully, about to enter an era of much greater data sharing, and that sharing is likely to take place between a growing range of public and private organisations, as well as between patients and the service. -
The issues facing 'suitable alternative employment' changes
Sejal Raja considers the issues faced by employers when seeking to redeploy employees and justifying that the new role is suitable alternative employment to avoid a redundancy payment being made. -
The six steps to delivering better stroke care
Five years on from the National Stroke Strategy, London has turned around its performance. Alec Fraser, Sue Fenwick Elliot and David Cohen explain how the changes were made. -
Three commissioning support services fail key test
Three out of 26 commissioning support service plans have been scrapped and a further nine have been identified as needing “rigorous management”, the NHS Commissioning Board has announced this morning. -
Thriving in the NHS - five tips for healthcare leaders
Redundancies, reduced budgets and endless uncertainty. Being a senior manager in the NHS certainly brings its challenges. But there is a way to turn almost every high-pressure situation into an opportunity to shine, as Judith Krichefski explanis. -
Top 40 ranking for Frimley Park
PERFORMANCE: Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been named among the 40 best in the country for the eleventh time by health intelligence company CHKS. -
Trusts eye capital gains from surplus NHS land sales
NHS organisations plan to place surplus land equivalent to 350 Trafalgar Squares on the market for housing development in the next few years, latest figures from the Department of Health reveal. -
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. -
Trusts needing bailout support almost double in 2011-12
Thirty-one trusts received bailout payments in 2011-12, information released to HSJ under the Freedom of Information Act reveals. -
Under-19s sexual health service opened in Harlow by mental health trust
PERFORMANCE: A new under-19s contraception and sexual health service has been launched in Harlow, Essex. -
Wasted medicines costing Leicestershire £5.6m
Unused and wasted medicines are costing the NHS in Leicestershire £5.6m a year, it has been revealed. -
Why stroke care in England needs modernising further
The inconsistency in stroke care across England shows that although some issues have been addressed, there is still room for improvement, says Damian Jenkinson. -
Will economic problems finally fix London health care?
The NHS’s financial challenges could deliver a better standard of healthcare in London, even if it’s out of necessity rather than inspiration, reports Richard Smith. -
Work on new women and children’s unit ahead of schedule
STRUCTURE: Building work on a new £44m women and children’s unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital is ahead of schedule, say managers.
