Health Service Journal
25 November 2010
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Forecasting methods in healthcare planning
Current healthcare planning assumes that a combination of primary and community care initiatives and public health improvements will reduce the need for hospital beds, despite an increasingly elderly population. -
10 high-impact changes to older people’s services
Work is needed for older people’s services to keep becoming more personalised and preventative, say Kerry Allen and Jon Glasby -
Ambulance trusts in talks with NHS Direct over 111 provision
Ambulance trusts are likely to team up with NHS Direct to compete against private providers for NHS 111 urgent care contracts, with representatives from both telling HSJ they have entered discussions. -
BMA warns managers not to instruct consortia
British Medical Association GPs committee chair Laurence Buckman has attacked primary care trusts and strategic health authorities for attempting to control the creation of fledgling GP consortia. -
Book Review: Beyond Crisis
The world faces critical times and must keep self renewing, says Anoop Maini -
British Heart Foundation to answer questions in live chat session
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is to answer questions from the public on their health policies and campaigns in a live blog on 24 November. -
Britnell warns on NHS efficiency
Changes in the economic mix will result in less room for manoeuvre in the NHS, according to KPMG global head of health Mark Britnell. -
Commissioning board chief exec not in post until October
The chair and the chief executive of the proposed independent NHS commissioning board are unlikely to take up their roles until autumn next year, HSJ understands. -
Commissioning consortia told to buy in admin support
Department of Health commissioning lead Dame Barbara Hakin has said commissioning consortia should outsource many of the responsibilities inherited from primary care trusts. -
Competition panel bans exclusive provider deals
Exclusive framework agreements between commissioners and providers have been dealt a major blow by an NHS cooperation and competition panel judgement. -
Confed and RCGP to set up network for consortia
The NHS Confederation and the Royal College of GPs are to form a joint network to represent commissioning consortia. -
Cumbria chief loses £1m pension appeal
A primary care trust chief executive dismissed one month before qualifying for an enhanced pension package worth up to £1m has lost a discrimination case. -
Cuts 'provoke anxiety' among mental health patients
A major shake-up in the welfare system could have a “quite devastating” impact on people with fragile mental health, it has been claimed. -
Data protection
Recent moves by the Department of Health to tighten up on data management mean that healthcare service providers must meet the international quality standard, ISO27001. -
Data shows DH consultancy spending fall
Department of Health spending on management consultants fell by 69 per cent in the first five months of the new government, according to data released under its open government policy. -
Details of how DH has spent £1.85bn since election revealed
The details of £1.85bn of Department of Health spending since the coalition government came to power has been revealed. -
DH to appoint new Monitor chair
The health secretary plans to appoint a new chair to Monitor, the NHS provider regulator, early next year, HSJ has learned. -
'Dorrell argues now for quiet pragmatism, for letting change evolve'
Am I just imagining it? Or did Andrew Lansley start to modify his combative message to the NHS, its suspicious staff and customers, even before Stephen Dorrell’s striking intervention in the reform debate courtesy of last week’s HSJ? -
Ed Miliband promises 'profound change'
Ed Miliband has promised “profound” change to the Labour Party on the scale of Tony Blair’s reforms of the mid-1990s. -
Electronic prescribing
Picture the scene. A doctor is attending a Fitness to Practise hearing at the General Medical Council. She stands accused of making a prescribing error which has lost a patient his life. The doctor is now fighting for her career. -
Ex PCT chief exec loses £1m pension in tribunal case
A primary care trust chief executive who was dismissed one month before he was due to qualify for a an enhanced pension package worth up to £1m has lost a discrimination case. -
Exclusive: DH and Monitor in 'power battle' over running of regulator
A “power battle” is underway between the Department of Health and Monitor over the extent to which the regulator needs to be split in two to avoid conflicts of interest, HSJ has been told. -
Fundamentals of the NHS
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Fundamentals of the NHS conference. -
Fundamentals of the NHS - conference sessions
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Fundamentals of the NHS conference. -
GP incentive framework fails to slow admissions
The £1bn quality and outcomes framework has failed to halt the rise in hospital admissions of people with long term conditions and needs to be overhauled, a think tank has claimed. -
GPs and government battle for custody of white paper reforms
The struggle for the soul of the reforms is intensifying as the outline shape of the new landscape clarifies. -
GPs 'face patient revolt over reform plans'
Doctors face a patient revolt and the threat of demonstrations outside their surgeries because of government NHS reforms, a GP leader has warned. -
Hint at debt free start for commissioning consortia
A minister and senior Department of Health official both hinted that strategic health authority surpluses will be used to ensure commissioning consortia do not start life saddled with primary care trust debts. -
Hospital cleanliness requires 'radical improvement'
Rapid improvements need to be made in the cleaning of hospital equipment in Scotland, inspectors have said. -
How to reduce COPD admissions with personal care plans
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the second most common cause of emergency admissions to hospital; one in eight acute emergency admissions is the result of an acute exacerbation of the condition. -
'Huge concerns' remain over Mid Staffs care
A campaigner whose mother died at an NHS hospital criticised over disastrous standards of care today told an inquiry she still has “huge concerns” about the treatment of vulnerable patients. -
Improving quality and productivity in the NHS
Penelope Dash and Ben Richardson offer practical advice for how to use current policy thinking to boost care and cost-effectiveness -
Lansley denies reforms have caused PCT 'meltdown'
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has denied primary care trusts are in “meltdown” as a result of his reform plans. -
Lansley moves to replace Monitor chair
The health secretary will begin recruiting a new chair of Monitor in the next few weeks and make an appointment early next year, HSJ has learned. -
Lean in mental health
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust forecast a saving of £16 million and a 100 per cent increase in clinical time spent with patients. -
Little potential for drugs waste
Primary care trusts have been warned relatively little savings can be made by cutting medicines waste. -
Mark Britnell: quick fixes for making efficiency gains
Some people think more cash is coming for the NHS, but just in case it isn’t, here are some instant gains we can make in the meantime -
Media Watch: All eyes are on Lansley
Health secretary Andrew Lansley is not a politician to wilt in the face of criticism, which probably came in handy last week. -
Mid Staffs advised to shed some services
A report into the future clinical strategy of Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust has recommended it should no longer run a number of services. -
Mid Staffs doctors and nurses 'will not be named'
Doctors and nurses criticised during the public inquiry into disastrous standards of care at Stafford Hospital will not be named, it has been ruled. -
Mid Staffs inquiry hears from Cure the NHS campaigner
A campaigner whose mother died at Stafford Hospital has said the 86 year old once collapsed on a ward after being left without her oxygen supply. -
Migration caps may jeopardise service quality and safety
Proposed limits on migrants from outside the European Economic Area could affect the ability of trusts to continue providing high quality patient care, NHS Employers has warned. -
NHS Atlas of Variation highlights service value
The NHS Atlas of Variation further highlights the pressure on the NHS to restrict access to some services and medicines. -
NHS leads access-to-care survey
The NHS provides Britons with the most widely accessible treatments among 11 leading industrialised nations studied by an American think-tank. -
NHS London gives hundreds of staff at-risk notices
NHS London has begun alerting hundreds of staff internally and across the capital’s 31 primary care trusts that their jobs are at risk. -
NHS Plus announces new director
NHS Plus has confirmed the appointment of Professor John Harrison as its next director. -
Open clinical data to public, urges Lansley adviser
Writing in this week’s HSJ, future adviser to the health secretary David Kerr argues that opening up clinical data to the public will drive better outcomes. -
Parliament, prudence and productivity
What Commons health committee chair Stephen Dorrell said to HSJ last week was not symptomatic of a tiff between him and Andrew Lansley. More significant issues are coming into play. -
Patients need single online NHS information hub, says Which?
Online information for patients should be delivered by a single provider, according to consumer group Which?. -
PCT job losses 'will happen within a year' - Unison
The loss of thousands of jobs through the abolition of primary care trusts will happen within a year, instead of the previously expected two years, union leaders have claimed. -
PCTs need to up game on out of hours coding
Many primary care trusts do not always record whether out of hours patients go on to hospital and need to improve clinical coding in this area, according to a report by the Primary Care Foundation. -
Pete Mason on dealing with complaints
The number of serious complaints against primary and secondary care trusts was released last month as part of a review by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman. -
Pharmacy regulation
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), the new independent regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises, launched on 27 September 2010. The establishment of the GPhC will lead to changes to the way in which the profession is regulated. -
Pioneering 'NHS Atlas' reveals huge contrasts in care
The Department of Health has for the first time laid bare the huge regional variations in healthcare across England. -
Plain packaging for cigarettes planned
Tobacco companies could be forced to sell cigarettes in grey or brown plain packaging in an attempt to deter youngsters from taking up smoking. -
Practical tips to prepare for consortia commissioning
Commissioning consortia in the making should waste no time in ascertaining the legal duties and considerations heading their way, advises Mark Johnson -
Public health body fears PCTs are ‘asset stripping’
More than a quarter of London primary care trusts have no public health director and 13 per cent of PCTs in England have also failed to fill the key post. -
RCM highlights maternity care variations
Women should receive good maternity care wherever they live and should not have to rely on “chance and plain old good luck,” the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has said. -
Royal College of GPs appoints new chief
Neil Hunt has said he is looking forward to leading the senior management team and staff at the Royal College of GPs after being appointed its new chief executive. -
Smaller fines for mixed sex accommodation
Commissioners have been given the freedom to impose smaller penalties on trusts which breach rules on mixed sex accommodation, but told they have “no excuse” not to impose the fines. -
Southern PCTs least efficient at referral
Primary care trusts in the South experience more unnecessary referrals than those in the Midlands and the North, data analysis by Dr Foster and HSJ suggests. -
Sue Slipman back in post
Sue Slipman has been reinstated as Foundation Trust Network director but has stood down from her role on the NHS Confederation board. -
'The challenge is to get better average outcomes and reduce variation'
Post-Blair Labour health “reforms” overemphasised a centrist, target driven culture that tended to distort how care might best be delivered. It marginalised clinical staff, leaving them often to adopt a stance of disgruntled passivity. -
Top staff to move into community services, says Nicholson
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has called for the “best” staff to be transferred into community services in order to “revolutionise” patient care. -
UK heart surgery survival best in Europe
Patients undergoing heart surgery in England and Wales have a greater chance of survival than many other European countries, a report has suggested. -
Wasted prescriptions cost £300m
Unused prescription medicines cost the NHS at least £300 million a year, figures show. -
Women 'expect to retire later'
Women are twice as likely as men to believe they will stay in employment once they reach the state pension age, a report has claimed.
