Health Service Journal
19 April 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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A&E departments see fall in violence related cases
An estimated 307,998 people were admitted to accident and emergency units for violence-related injuries last year, 10,879 fewer than in 2010, data supplied by the units showed. -
Agenda for Change could survive regional pay push
The Department of Health is pushing for the Agenda for Change national pay framework to survive the introduction of regional pay rates in the NHS, it has emerged. -
Agenda for Change was built for a feast. How will it cope with famine?
This week marks the tenth anniversary of the most important event in NHS history after its creation: the 2002 Budget. -
Analysed: the foundation trust pipeline in Sussex
HSJ Local Briefing is our new in-depth analysis of the key issues facing the NHS’s major health economies. This week: the challenges facing provider organisations in Sussex as they progress along the foundation trust pipeline. -
Blocking dialysis contract could risk EU law challenge, trust warns DH
COMMERCIAL: The Department of Health has been warned that forcing Nottingham University Hospitals Trust to reconsider its recent award of a dialysis contract could place the government “in conflict” with international competition law. -
CCGs will be subject to Agenda for Change
Clinical commissioning groups will be made subject to the Agenda for Change pay agreement to avoid spiralling redundancy costs, it has been confirmed. -
Chair of troubled mental health trust resigns
WORKFORCE: The chair of a troubled mental health trust has resigned and its chief executive has gone on leave ahead of the publication of a report into the organisation’s governance. -
Chief exec confirms he is leaving in May
WORKFORCE: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Duncan Selbie is to leave the organisation at the end of next month. -
Circle scraps Hinchingbrooke's parking fines
FINANCE: The NHS’s first hospital to be run by a private company has revamped its parking charges in an attempt to reduce users’ “anxiety”. -
Commissioning board mandate could lead to government clashes
The Department of Health and the NHS Commissioning Board are preparing for a likely clash over the contents of the first set of instructions for the independent new body. -
Cornwall and IOS target GP performance to release savings
FINANCE: NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly is predicting a project working with GP practices with high levels of non-elective admissions will release £3m of savings in 2012-13. -
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly appoints new medical director
WORKFORCE: Shelagh McCormick has been appointed medical director at NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. -
CQC gives warning to independent treatment centre firm
PERFORMANCE: The owners of an independent treatment centre have been given a formal warning by the Care Quality Commission. -
East Sussex DPH given national role
WORKFORCE: Diana Grice, director of public health for East Sussex, has been appointed vice president of the Association of the Directors of Public Health. -
Engage staff by tuning in to their concerns - and celebrating their achievements
How can we engage 1.4 million NHS staff? Start by celebrating their achievements and ensuring that they feel empowered to drive change, says Hannah Forbes. -
Exclusive: Dame Ruth Carnall to leave NHS
NHS London chief executive Dame Ruth Carnall, one of the service’s most senior and respected leaders, is to leave the NHS next year. -
Exclusive: OFT to rule on foundation trust merger
The first ever merger between two foundation trusts is to be scrutinised for its impact on competition by the Office of Fair Trading, HSJ has learned. -
Ex-iSoft chair 'fiddled company accounts'
The chair of an IT company involved in a major NHS project became a multi-millionaire by fiddling accounts to mislead the stock market, a court has heard. -
GE Capital to finance equipment at new Kent hospital
COMMERCIAL: GE Capital will provide a £11.5m leasing facility to the Kent Institute of Medicine & Surgery. -
Heatherwood trust and PCT cluster agree extra cash for 2012-13
FINANCE: NHS Berkshire and Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Foundation Trust signed their 2012-13 local acute services contract just three days into the financial year after a thaw in relations. -
Hospitals to review discharge policies
David Cameron will today call for patients to be treated with dignity and respect as hospitals are told to end the practice of discharging vulnerable people from wards during the night. -
How better procurement can deliver financial benefits
Procurement needs to be brought out of the dusty recesses of the hospital and given a seat at the top table, says Rob Carter. -
How boards can better prepare for governance challenges
Research showing a clear gap between the theory and reality of board practice suggests there need to be changes to the governance systems that NHS organisations currently follow. Seamus Gillen looks at the challenges facing NHS boards. -
How localism really can be achieved in healthcare provision
Critics of the Health Act say the reform plans are about central control. In reality, the exact opposite is achievable if people are committed to making it happen, says John Rooke. -
How to handle NHS contract arrangements with confidence
Craig Barratt and colleagues look at contract management issues facing commissioners and providers, and offer practical tips on negotiation that can help keep potentially tense relationships amicable. -
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals installs £170k robot pharmacy system
COMMERCIAL: Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has installed a £170,000 robotic drug dispensary system at Castle Hill Hospital, and a second system is due to be installed in the dispensary at Hull Royal Infirmary in July. -
'Incentives required' to improve arthritis support
GPs should be offered incentives to improve the care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who continue to be “systematically and appallingly let down by the NHS”, according to Arthritis Care. -
IT contract signed by Sussex Partnership
COMMERCIAL: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has signed a contract with 2e2 to provide all its information and communications technology services. -
Keogh pledges action on overnight discharging
The medical director of the NHS has promised action after it was reported that hundreds of thousands of patients are being sent home from hospital in the middle of the night to relieve pressure on beds. -
Key questions to answer for improving procurement
Some might say procurement in the NHS is a “Cinderella” function: perceived as failing to fulfil its potential and frequently forgotten in the deepest darkest recesses of hospitals. -
King's Health Partners chief calls for academic health groups' protection
The head of a leading academic health science centre has called for the partnerships’ status to be protected ahead of the publication of authorisation conditions for a new wave of academic health science networks. -
Leading charities ask health secretary to adopt five NHS priorities
The Richmond Group, the coalition of 10 leading health and social care charities, has named five themes that it wants the government to make priorities for the NHS. -
Learning from listening: engaging the healthcare workforce
HSJ looks at three case studies from the Listening into Action programme aimed at engaging the NHS workforce. -
Locum costs and bed pressures key risk to Weston budget
FINANCE: Expenditure on locum staffing is one of the key risks to the delivery of Weston Area Health Trust’s 2012-13 budget, papers presented to April’s board reveal. -
London acute joins UCL Partners academic health science centre
RESEARCH: The board of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust has agreed to become part of a north London academic health science centre. -
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells sells old hospital site
COMMERCIAL: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has sold off its old Kent and Sussex Hospital site to a property developer. -
Media Watch: the overnight hot topic
The Times led the pack last week with a story about 240,000 patients being discharged from hospital overnight last year. Its scoop prompted a government investigation. -
Michael White: the many faces of Conservative ministers
I bumped into Andrew Lansley in the Palace of Westminster this week. “Are you sleeping better now the Health Bill is law?’ I asked.“I always sleep well,” he cheerfully replied without missing a beat. Do you know, I believe him. -
Mid Essex acute heading for year end deficit
FINANCE: Mid Essex Hospital Services Trust is heading for a deficit at year end after struggling to meet its cost improvement plans. -
Mid Staffs report not expected until October
The Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust public inquiry report will not be published until October, it has been announced. -
Minimum alcohol pricing 'will save lives'
Implementing a minimum alcohol unit price would save more than 1,000 lives each year, a report has claimed. -
Monitor tightens efficiency targets for acute trust
Monitor has issued a bleak assessment of the efficiency savings acute trusts must prepare to make over the next three years. -
New approach to back pain management could save NHS £120m
Outcomes among back patients could be improved if a stratified management approach to providing primary care physiotherapy is adopted, research suggests. -
NHS Bristol awards £1.9m contract
COMMERCIAL: Catering and support services provider Medirest has been awarded a three year contract to provide catering and support services at South Bristol Community Hospital. -
NHS must 'up its game' on homeless people's mental health
Mental health leaders must “up their game” in tackling mental health problems among the homeless, according to a new report. -
NHS Plymouth issues contract notice over A&E performance
PERFORMANCE: NHS Plymouth has issued Plymouth Hospitals Trust with a contract performance notice, after the trust failed to meet the four hour accident and emergency target during February and March. -
NHS private patient units let down by 'customer service'
Weak customer service is a greater obstacle to NHS hospitals increasing their private work than the “barriers” being investigated by competition authorities, the UK’s largest medical insurer has claimed. -
NHS redundancies costing tens of millions - Labour
Nearly £170m was spent on NHS redundancy payouts in one year, according to leaked government figures released by the Labour party. -
NHS staff vote to strike over pensions
The government faces further disruption from public sector workers after more industrial action was called by NHS staff and civil servants over controversial pension reforms. -
Noel Plumridge: CCGs meet their controllers
Chief executives speak of accountability; finance directors prefer control. Hold ’em to account by all means, but far better not to let’em stray in the first place. -
Northumbria Healthcare appoints new lead chaplain
WORKFORCE: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has appointed a new lead chaplain. -
Nursing director follows chief exec and chair out of James Paget
WORKFORCE: Nursing director Carole Crocker is the latest senior manager to leave the troubled James Paget University Hospitals Foundation Trust in Great Yarmouth. -
Obesity strategy criticised by royal colleges
Surgeons, psychiatrists, paediatricians and GPs launched a campaign today to battle rising levels of obesity, saying current strategies are not working. -
Ongoing problems for Sussex acutes in race for foundation status
STRUCTURE: Four out of the five acute trusts serving the Sussex health economy are yet to achieve foundation status and continue to face difficulties in doing so, with the government’s deadline now less than two years away. -
Out of hours performance data goes online
A fourfold variation in demand for GP out of hours services has emerged in the first detailed data to allow for comparisons between areas. -
Patients safer on trolleys in wards than in A&E
Patients should be moved to trolleys in ward corridors to wait for a bed to become free rather than wait in overcrowded accident and emergency departments, according to the College of Emergency Medicine. -
Pay scheme will force leaders to 'justify salaries'
Leaders will have to work harder to “justify their salaries” in the event of a care scandal, under pay plans awaiting final sign-off, HSJ has been told. -
PCTs bypassed in applications to Cancer Drugs Fund
Doctors have been told they can bypass primary care trust funding processes and apply direct to the controversial Cancer Drugs Fund in certain cases, under new guidelines issued by the Department of Health. -
Peninsula Community Health exceeds C diff limit
PERFORMANCE: Peninsula Community Health has has twice as many cases of Clostridium difficile as its agreed limit during 2011-12. -
Plymouth Hospitals Trust struggles with 18 week backlog
PERFORMANCE: Almost 1,000 patients at Plymouth Hospitals Trust had been waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment at the end of March. -
Police investigate health board over serious incidents
Detectives are “assessing” whether a health board which failed to provide information about 56 serious incidents at its hospitals was guilty of any “criminality”. -
Portsmouth CCG appoints GP to lead role
Portsmouth clinical commissioning group has announced Dr Jim Hogan as its clinical leader and accountable officer. -
Prime minister names members of nursing quality forum
The prime minister David Cameron has announced the next phase of the Nursing and Care Quality Forum, which he set up to investigate how to improve nursing and care standards. He has named its 22 members. -
PROMs performance improves slightly
Latest data on patient reported outcome measures has shown some improvement in the proportion of patients who felt their condition had improved following surgery. -
Prostate treatment pioneered at Southampton
Doctors at University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust are the first in the UK to use a pioneering non-surgical procedure to treat men suffering an enlarged prostate. -
Readers' letters – 19 April 2012
Is the support service market a closed shop? And help is at hand for tinnitus sufferers -
Recruitment drive at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals to address nursing shortages
WORKFORCE: The trust’s unscheduled medical care division has acknowledged it will need to recruit up to eight nurses and healthcare assistants a month to prevent a repeat of the staff shortages it experienced in 2011. -
Regulator puts Bolton FT in 'significant breach' over waiting times
PERFORMANCE: Monitor today found the Royal Bolton FT in significant breach of its terms of authorisation, following repeated failures by the trust to hit waiting time targets. -
Royal Brompton loses reconfiguration case at the High Court
A foundation trust has lost a High Court case it brought against a consultation on the national configuration of paediatric heart surgery services. -
Royal Cornwall fined £130,000
FINANCE: Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has been fined £46,000 for breaches of rules on mixed sex accommodation and £85,525 for ambulance handover times longer than 15 minutes. -
Royal Cornwall patients request alternative provider
PERFORMANCE: In 2011-12 41 patients at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust invoked their rights under the NHS Consititution to request treatment at an alternative provider. -
SASH announces intention to become standalone FT
STRUCTURE: Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust has agreed a two year plan intended to allow it to become a standalone foundation trust without merging with another organisation. -
Second hospital abandons staff sickness policy
WORKFORCE: A second hospital trust in the North West has ripped up a sickness absence policy under which nurses had pay increments withheld. -
Sefton public health director takes on national role
Janet Atherton has been named as the next president of the Association of the Directors of Public Health. -
Serco wins £120m deal to take over support partnership
One of the biggest shared services organisations in the NHS has effectively been taken over by Serco in a four-year £120m deal. -
Sheffield Children's FT nurse made national RCN lead
WORKFORCE: A Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust nurse has been appointed as a national lead for the Royal College of Nursing. -
Staff shortage forces closure of Herts community hospital beds
PERFORMANCE: Inpatient beds at a community hospital in Hertfordshire are to be closed from next week because of staffing problems. -
Sussex partnership launches ‘unique self-help resource’
PERFORMANCE: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has launched an online directory to help support mental health patients. -
Taunton and Somerset reports low death rates
PERFORMANCE: Taunton and Somerset Foundation Trust has a significantly better than average hospital standardised mortality ratio, and no difference between HSMRs for patients admitted on weekdays or at the weekend, according to latest figures from Dr Foster Intelligence. -
The budget laid bare: a bit less now, a lot less later?
The chancellor made no announcements on the future of the NHS in his 2012 Budget statement. Yet, the contents of the Budget report have quite profound implications for NHS funding. -
The dos and don'ts of contract management
Three experts give a list of key contract management tips for commissioners and providers. -
'The NHS could miss the next care revolution'
The man running GE Healthcare, one of the world’s largest health technology companies, has some words of warning – and encouragement – for the NHS, as Alastair McLellan finds out. -
Three top NHS regional chiefs decline commissioning board roles
Three of the NHS’s most experienced and respected leaders have decided against joining the NHS Commissioning Board. -
Timeline extended for Dartford and Gravesham merger
STRUCTURE: Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust has put back the date it expects to merge with Medway Foundation Trust, but remains confident the link up will go ahead despite increased scrutiny of its proposals by the Cooperation and Competition Panel. -
What are the alternatives to foundation trust status?
Jeremy Roper looks at the options facing NHS trusts if they fail to meet the Department of Health’s foundation status deadline. -
Yorkshire research highlights variations in type 1 diabetes care
RESEARCH: Research undertaken by Leeds Metropolitan University, with several Yorkshire and Humber NHS provider trusts and funded by NHS Diabetes, has highlighted discrepancies between type 1 diabetes services.
