Acute Care – Page 470
-
Comment
Data briefing: deficit forecasts, financial reality
The recent quarterly financial report from the Department of Health provides some encouraging signs as the NHS gets to grips with previous years' overspends. But the detail looks patchy.
-
Comment
Healthcheck ratings: tougher test means story must be retold
The Healthcare Commission said it would be a tougher test - and so it has proved. In the first national healthcheck ratings only two dozen organisations were rated excellent for service quality, and even fewer for their use of resources. Only half of NHS organisations met all the core standards, ...
-
HSJ Knowledge
Data Briefing: Variations in length of stay
Length of hospital stay remains one of the greatest variables between acute trusts. By reviewing and influencing discharges commissioners can aim to improve the patient experience and save bed days, increasing capacity and saving money.
-
Comment
HSJ Barometer: acute trusts October 2006
Confidence has leapt up in our acute trust chief executives about the chances of achieving financial break-even this year - the score out of 10 rose from 5.78 to 6.80.
-
News
Variation in A&E admissions
Across England the rise in emergency admissions to hospital shows no sign of abating. Alongside it, bed days also continue to rise. The year-on-year rise in emergency admissions in the first quarter of 2006 was 7 per cent, while the corresponding rise in bed days was 5.9 per cent.
-
Comment
Simon Stevens on winning hearts and minds
'NHS targets have not yet been tough enough (yes you read that right) to alter public perception'
-
Comment
The age of uncertainty: new Audit Commission chair speaks out
New Audit Commission chair Michael O'Higgins has a lot on his plate as he waits for the health regulatory review and oversees the transition to a new inspection era ushered in by the local government white paper
-
Comment
What's driving the admissions rise
In last week's Data Briefing I raised some issues about the increase in emergency admissions to acute hospitals over the last five years. The increase has primarily been in accident and emergency, and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of patients turned around on the day. While ...
-
Comment
Patient and public involvement: clear water must flow into the goldfish bowl
Looking for a place to hide? Try the massed ranks of organisations currently holding the NHS to account. Jessica Crowe suggests clarity lies in resolving what it is accountability structures should be delivering
-
News
Media Watch
'Ding dong as hospital bans carollers,' said The Daily Telegraphas it revealed that the Torbay Gospelaires had been banned from entering Torbay hospital wards.
-
News
Patients' memory of offer of choice
It has been nearly a year since choice at the point of referral to hospital by GP was to be formally offered to all patients. Are the poor now getting the choices that have always been available to the rich (to paraphrase former health secretary John Reid)? And through their ...
-
Comment
Increased activity may put bright future at risk
While health service investment has soared, the pressure on organisations to secure financial control may be driving down productivity. Peter Smith unravels the paradox
-
Comment
How doctors learned to stop worrying and love data
The NHS has never lacked information, but, says Dr Foster Intelligence's Tim Kelsey, only now are managers and clinicians harnessing its power to change services. Public access is the next big challenge
-
HSJ Knowledge
Special report on ISTCs: Opportunity knocks
Independent sector involvement in the NHS has sparked fierce criticism. But consultants Andy Mullins and colleagues argue that it will be a catalyst for the innovation needed to ensure the long-term survival of the service
-
HSJ Knowledge
The Fall Guys: staff safety is a major concern
Violence against NHS staff is still at unacceptable levels, with incidents often unreported and perpetrators uncharged. Emma Dent reports
-
News
A different kind of revolution
Northern Ireland's streamlining of its public sector promised to be a less brutal process than England's. But some big holes in performance measurement brought challenges of its own, writes Daloni Carlisle
-
HSJ Knowledge
Sea change in health scrutiny
As the future of health scrutiny grows increasingly complex, healthcare professionals and local government must ride the wave and forge new relationships, reports Sasha Strong