All Acute care articles – Page 476
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News
Private provider queries future of comprehensive NHS care
The NHS will be forced to abandon its founding principle of providing a comprehensive service 'free at the point of delivery' by 2015, a leading private sector provider has predicted.
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News
Operating framework: updated principles put new emphasis on dignity
The Department of Health is consulting on a set of 10 principles to which all NHS organisations and contractors must sign up.
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News
DoH accepts 'double deficit' argument, but no decision yet
The government has said it accepts the case against the 'double deficit' accounting system for acute trusts - but has delayed a decision on whether to scrap it until the end of this financial year.
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News
Lord Warner retires
Prime minister Tony Blair has announced the resignation of health minister Lord Warner, who has decided to retire.Mr Blair complimented Lord Warner on an 'outstanding' contribution to health service reform, while the minister described his three-and-a-half years at the Department of Health as 'busy and enjoyable'.The NHS Confederation said Lord ...
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News
More long-waiters in audiology
The Department of Health has released its monthly update on diagnostic waiting times and hospital episodes statistics.The figures for October include a wider range of audiology tests than previously and have uncovered more long-waiters in this area.Read the press release here
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News
Consultant physicians change the way they work
Consultant physicians have changed the way they work dramatically over the past five years for the benefit of seriously ill patients.The 2005 census of consultant physicians, carried out by the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians, shows substantial growth in acute medicine as a specialty and fundamental changes in the ...
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News
NICE publishes guidelines on obesity in adults and children
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued its first ever national guidelines addressing both the prevention and treatment of obesity in adults and children.It says diet changes and exercise, supported by behaviour change, should be the first-line treatment for adults who are overweight or obese, followed by ...
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News
High-impact changes for GUM services released
A guide to 10 High-impact Changes for Genitouninary Medicine 48-hour Accesshas been published. The measures include developing a separate pathway for low-risk patients, reviewing current access arranagments and reorganising clinic opening hours.Read the guide ...
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News
Guidance launched on HIV positive asylum seekers
The National Aids Trust has published guidance on the dispersal of HIV positive asylum seekers for healthcare and voluntary sector workers. The guidance states that asylum seekers should only be dispersed if they are medically stable, adequate notice about the move has been provided and ...
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News
Over 40 maternity units may be closed or downgraded, Conservatives claim
The Conservative Party has claimed it has identified 43 maternity units under threat of being downgraded or closed, of which 21 are midwife-led and 22 consultant-led. Of the 43, 26 of the maternity units are operated by providers which finished the 2005-06 financial year in ...
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News
Nicholson says £250m surplus should be delivered by 2008
NHS chief executive David Nicholson has said the NHS should achieve a net surplus of £250m by the end of 2007-08. Other priorities, set out in an operating framework for 2007-08, include 85 per cent of patients admitted for hospital treatment and 80 per cent ...
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HSJ Knowledge
Cold comfort for the waitbusters
From planner to manager, Matthew Kershaw finds himself with the challenge of delivering the care pathway he helped to develop
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Comment
Hilary Thomas on clinical management
'The gap - often a tribal or cultural one - between doctors and managers seems to be widening again, not helped by the current, and inevitable, obsession with finance.'
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HSJ Knowledge
National audit for mastectomy and breast reconstruction
The NHS Information Centre for health and social care's national clinical audit support programme has begun a new audit for the Healthcare Commission to look at the quality of mastectomy and breast reconstruction care.
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News
Public sector managers 'must have more flexibility in determining pay'
A major change to the pay and reward system within the NHS and the rest of the public sector is needed to achieve serious improvements in delivery, the Confederation for British Industry has said.In a new report, the CBI has concluded that greater incentives must be created for public sector ...
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News
Audit finds little improvement in continence care
The second audit of continence care in the NHS has seen little improvement over the past 12 months, the Royal College of Physicians has found.The Healthcare Commission-backed audit found that only 37 per cent of hospitals, and 10 per cent of mental health care sites have a written continence policy.Read ...
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News
Hewitt announces new medical research centres
Eleven new biomedical research centres of excellence have been announced by health secretary Patricia Hewitt.The centres, which will focus on translational research, will be partnerships between NHS acute trusts, foundation trusts and universities.Read more here
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News
Service reconfiguration
While there may well be a case for focusing resources on a smaller number of acute sites, there is a huge issue about accessibility and convenience, which doesn't sit well with the supposedly consumer-friendly modern NHS.
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News
HSJ and NT launch NICE guidelines service
HSJand Nursing Timeshave teamed up with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to launch a service to help managers and nurses implement NICE guidelines. In the new year HSJand NTwill ...
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News
Drug trial report makes recommendations
A report into the drug trials at Northwick Park Hospital that left six volunteers with multiple organ failure has produced 22 recommendations designed to make such trials safer in the future.The inquiry group, chaired by Professor Gordon Duff, concluded that independent scientific advice should be sought before some drugs are ...