NHS North East
NHS Direct staff uncertain over future as 111 deals pick up pace
NHS Direct staff in the North East still do not know whether they will be transferred to the new NHS 111 service due to go live in 12 months.
North Cumbria takeover bidder estimated it would need £78m over two years
FINANCE: The preferred bidder to take over North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust has estimated it needs the government to pump £78m of financial support into the troubled trust over the next two years.
Council plans £100m loan to buy out foundation's PFI contracts
A local authority is in negotiations to lend up to £100m to a foundation trust seeking to buy out its private finance initiative contracts, HSJ has learned.
Healthcare trust hopes to nationalise second-ever PFI hospital
The foundation trust poised to take over one of England’s first ever private finance initiative hospitals hopes to renationalise it, HSJ has learned.
Assura Medical staff told to give chlamydia tests to family and friends
A private company which has taken over NHS sexual health services in Teeside instructed staff to hand out chlamydia tests to family and friends in a bid to hit screening targets, a leaked memo has revealed.
UK tops European obesity league
The UK has performed poorly in an influential health and lifestyle study, recording the highest levels of obesity and teen pregnancy.
PCTs expected to be ‘ordered’ to cluster
The Department of Health is likely to make mergers of primary care trusts a requirement in its operating framework for 2011-12, HSJ has been told.
Management posts shed without full consultation
Warnings are being issued about the lack of consultation over job cuts as posts are shed in an accelerated bid to meet the Department of Health’s 46 per cent management savings target.
SHAs contrast sharply on community proposals
The Transforming Community Services programme is taking primary care in different directions at opposite ends of the country, research by HSJ shows.
Transforming Community Services: PCTs step closer to deciding fate of provider arms
Primary care trusts are edging closer to determining the future of their provider arms.
DH critical of loophole in pension rules
The Department of Health has said community service social enterprises should not exploit a loophole that would allow them to give new staff access to the NHS pension scheme.
Don’t sideline sexual health, warn clinicians
Leading figures in sexual health have called on health secretary Andrew Lansley not to ignore the sector.
SHAs told to step up NHS talent hunt
An HSJ analysis has uncovered large regional variations in the amount being invested in NHS talent and leadership.
Priorities for quality pilots
GP practices, community service providers, community pharmacists and out of hours providers will be expected to set out at least three, but no more than five, priorities for quality improvement each year, if pilot proposals become the template for primary care quality accounts due to be introduced next year.
Trusts face hard task to achieve 18-week ‘right’
Trusts are facing a difficult six weeks before the promised right for patients to be treated within 18 weeks comes into force on 1 April, at the likely start of a general election campaign.
Winter chill hits acute services hard
Elective surgery has been postponed, hospital wards closed, and patients moved to other hospitals for treatment, as freezing weather and virus outbreaks hit the NHS hard across the country.
Four SHAs have swine flu jab deals in place
Four strategic health authorities have now agreed regional deals with GPs for delivering swine flu vaccine to the under fives.
Two SHAs secure swine flu jab deals
NHS North East and NHS London have reached regional deals with GPs to vaccinate children between six months and five years against swine flu. It comes after negotiators failed to reach a national deal.
NHS North East backs £464m hospital build plan
A strategic health authority has backed a new £464m hospital planned for Teesside.
One in five PCTs overspent as SHAs predict cash freeze
There has been a significant deterioration in the NHS’s finances, with more than a fifth of primary care trusts reporting overspending.
What mental health service users want
Enabling mental health service users to communicate their views and direct their care requires a variety of routes, says Jennifer Taylor
NHS single rooms: preferences and privacy
While getting a one bed room on the NHS is a dream come true for many patients, for staff moving to single room acute care delivery it is an opportunity to break away from old working methods. Alison Moore reports
