All Health Service Journal articles in 2007 – Page 48

  • News

    NHS faces big risk from back-pay claims

    2007-01-04T07:00:00Z

    NHS staff claims for back pay under the Agenda for Change contract are the 'biggest risk' to the Department of Health's pay and workforce strategy, HSJhas learned.

  • News

    Warning over union action on pay

    2007-01-04T07:00:00Z

    Department of Health senior officials warned of 'a real danger of industrial unrest' if the government set next year's NHS pay award at 2 per cent - just a month before the DoH proposed an even lower figure.

  • News

    Trusts falling short of 18-week target

    2007-01-04T02:17:47Z

    Trusts are currently only treating 35 per cent of patients within the 18-week target, the Department of Health has said.

  • News

    Green light for care record

    2007-01-04T00:00:00Z

    The government is to push ahead with the creation of an NHS summary care record after making partial concessions to doctors and privacy campaigners on confidentiality and consent.

  • News

    Sir Liam announces NPSA 'refocus'

    2007-01-04T00:00:00Z

    The National Patient Safety Agency is to be slimmed down and 'refocused' on collecting and analysing information through its national reporting and learning system.

  • News

    News Analysis: Next era of reform will hinge on Brown being as bold as Blair

    2007-01-04T00:00:00Z

    With Gordon Brown almost certain to take over as prime minister this year, and his reputation for springing surprises, people in the health service are beginning to wonder what it will mean for them and the NHS reform landscape. Daniel Martin looks for clues

  • News

    Plans for consultants 'absurd', says BMA

    2007-01-04T00:00:00Z

    British Medical Association consultants committee chair Dr Jonathan Fielden has criticised the Department of Health’s draft pay and workforce documents, revealed in HSJtoday. He said: ‘It is absurd to suggest that the NHS in England needs fewer hospital consultants. ‘To suggest that there should be fewer consultants, and of a ...

  • News

    High take-up for optician training

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    More than 90 per cent of opticians met the requirement for continuing education and training (CET) by the 31 December 2006 deadline.Final figures for the first cycle released by the General Optical Council show that 95 per cent of optometrists, 89 per cent of dispensing opticians and 86 per cent ...

  • News

    Sir Liam demands faster progress on safety

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    Chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has called for more speed in improving patient safety in his newsletter published today.Although Sir Liam praised a 'greater awareness among clinicians, managers and policymakers that patients are not as safe as they should be', he said that the pace of change had ...

  • News

    Stomach pain tops Christmas complaints

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    Stomach and jaw pain dominated calls to telephone helpline NHS Direct over Christmas, statistics show.Vomiting, toothache and diarrhoea were also among the top 10 reasons for calling the helpline in England.Over the whole of 2006 the service received around 7 million calls, while during the Christmas period there were a ...

  • News

    Smarter prescribing could save millions

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    More efficient prescribing of generic statins rather than branded versions could save the NHS £85m a year, according to the Department of Health. Latest 'better care, better value' indicators found that the savings could be made if every primary care trust prescribed such drugs to the level achieved by the ...

  • News

    Health figures honoured

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    Christie Hospital trust chair Joan Higgins has been made a DBE in the New Year Honours list. NHS Confederation chair Peter Mount, former Greater Manchester strategic health authority chief executive Neil Goodwin, Royal College of Nursing president Roswyn Hakesley-Brown and health economist Anne Mills have been made CBEs.To see the ...

  • News

    'Hooked' stop smoking campaign launched

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    A campaign that shows people being seized by fish hooks and dragged to their smoking spots has been launched. The campaign, which includes TV adverts, outdoor advertising, direct mail and a dedicated website, reveals that the average smoker needs over 5,000 cigarettes a year.www.gosmokefree.co.uk/getunhooked

  • News

    Legal age to buy tobacco to rise

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    The legal minimum age to buy tobacco is to rise from 16 to 18 on 1 July. The move is intended to make it easier for retailers to spot under-age smokers and reduce the numbers of teenagers who smoke. A campaign to raise awareness of the change will be launched ...

  • News

    2007 a make or break year for NHS, says think tank

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    A failure to tackle rising costs and to invest in modern services means that 2007 is a make or break year for the NHS, according to a report by think tank Reform. The report says the service's long-term strength has been sapped by the lack of an underpinning costed reform ...

  • News

    Superbug surge

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Mentions of Clostridium difficile on death certificates in England and Wales rose by 69 per cent to 3,807 from 2004-05, according to the Office for National Statistics. The rate for deaths involving C difficile in males increased from 23 to 38 per million population in 2005. In females the rate ...

  • News

    PCT triage plans spark opposition

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    A debt-ridden primary care trust has met fierce opposition from its local hospital over proposals to have accident and emergency arrivals triaged by primary care staff.

  • News

    SHAs to review need for PCT top-slicing

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    NHS North West is the first strategic health authority to confirm that it will not top-slice money from primary care trusts this financial year.

  • News

    PCTs told to be ready for patient moves

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts will have to respond quickly to movements of patients between GP practices when the results of the national patient survey are published, according to new guidance from the Department of Health.

  • Comment

    Michael White on the Welsh NHS

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Have we discussed the Welsh NHS lately? I thought not. But prescription charges are to be abolished in the principality on April 1, a month ahead of the Welsh Assembly elections and the day before Wales's new pub smoking ban starts.