Conservative NHS Policy
NHS Direct staff bid for role in 111 line
NHS Direct staff should have a role to play in setting up the new 111 urgent care service which is due to replace it in 2013, according to the chief executive of the telephone triage service.
GPs pose £2bn threat to commissioning budget
GP commissioners blew their budgets by a net 2.5 per cent last financial year, exclusive analysis by HSJ reveals.
GP largesse alarms Lansley’s colleagues
The prospect of GPs blowing the NHS commissioning budget remains the prime concern of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s Westminster colleagues.
Think tank questions feasibility of planned NHS cuts
The feasibility of government plans to slash 45 per cent of NHS management costs in four years has been called into question by a think tank close to the Conservative Party.
World class commissioning: PCTs raise the bar in final assurance test
Primary care trusts have set out their stall as support agencies for GP consortia by significantly improving their performance against the standards and competencies assessed in the second - and last ever - world class commissioning assurance test.
Uncertainty still dogs PCTs during transfer of power
Major uncertainties about the rapid transfer of commissioning from primary care trusts to fledgling GP consortia could lead to chaos, managers have warned.
Foundation trust proposals raise tough borrowing question
The government has left wide open the question of whether foundation trusts will be able to finance major investments with commercial loans - and risk seeing their taxpayer funded property sold off if they default.
NHS democracy proposals unveiled
The Department of Health has unveiled its vision for the role councils will play in making local health services democratically accountable by influencing the commissioning of local NHS services.
Sir David praises 'heroic' PCT and SHA managers
Sir David Nicholson is “incredibly proud” of the “remarkable work” done by primary care trust and strategic health authority managers.
Known unknowns form the white paper’s core
Last week’s white paper poses many more questions than it answers about how GPs and providers will manage their new freedom. The solution, says Andy McKeon, is to find the right balance between independence and accountability
Hard-nosed Lansley will be no ‘softie’ in negotiations
Health secretary Andrew Lansley told MPs he will not be a “softie” when it comes to dealing with GPs, in his first health committee appearance since the election.
Lansley refuses to rule out GP pay rise
The health secretary declined to rule out a pay rise for GPs as he discussed plans to hand them most of the NHS budget.
HSJ webcast - white paper major challenge for PCT management
Senior managers at primary care trusts are facing the tough challenge of managing major change while dealing with staff who have been publicly criticised, Ealing PCT chief executive Robert Creighton said on HSJ’s webcast on the government’s white paper.
Decision on cancer target 'will be down to NHS commissioning board'
The decision over whether to scrap Labour’s cancer treatment guarantee will be made by the NHS commissioning board, Downing Street has clarified.
Departing NHS London chair hits out at Lansley
The NHS London chair who resigned in protest at the government’s reconfiguration policy has formally stepped down, leaving the strategic health authority struggling to maintain a functioning board.
Consultants criticise white paper's lack of acute focus
Senior hospital clinicians have criticised the white paper for overlooking the role of the acute sector in the commissioning of services for patients.
Board will have power to assign GPs to consortia
The new NHS commissioning board will have a “reserve power” to assign GP practices to consortia where necessary.
GPs refuse to be Lansley's 'whipping boys'
GPs will refuse to become the “whipping boys” of the health secretary or independent board, a GP leader has warned.
All new blood makes up health committee
The Commons health select committee is to be entirely made up of MPs who have not served on it before - although several of them have a background in health or health related fields.
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More on Tory Policy
NHS spending debate focuses on the wrong type of consultant
Why is health secretary Andrew Lansley still acting like an opposition politician? That is the question raised by the government’s haranguing of primary care trusts for their use of management consultants.
Alarm bells sound as financial scrutiny falls victim to the cuts
Amid the sound and fury surrounding the abolition of the Audit Commission there was little comment on how it would affect the NHS.
'We all know NHS change will keep coming - the trick is to adapt'
In the immediate wake of the white paper it would be churlish to ignore what are potentially the most significant changes in the history of the health service.
'As silly season stories go, Milburn's appointment was at least a genuine fact'
So, our reformist ex-health secretary Alan Milburn is to advise the coalition government on social mobility. The predictable cry of “traitor” goes up from within the Labour ranks.
'How is the state going to conscript GPs?'
In seeking to diminish the role of the state, the government has established a policy that attacks NHS bosses as the cause of most problems and abolishes state run primary care trusts and strategic health authorities. Instead, it proposes GP led consortia to do commissioning.
'La la Lansley has abolished the people who monitor us'
‘There is £80bn out there to be carved up between ourselves and the GPs. Well, surely that makes everyone a winner now?’
