All Commissioning articles – Page 250

  • News

    Drug addiction services hit by unrealistic targets

    2008-09-04T09:00:00Z

    Unrealistic targets to get more drug addicts into treatment are causing the quality of services to plummet, psychiatrists are warning.

  • News

    Top-up payment review highlights NHS bodies' worries

    2008-09-04T09:00:00Z

    Responses to the review of co-payments have revealed the extent of uncertainty about the way forward for the NHS on top-ups.

  • News

    Top-ups: experts divided over health's thorniest issue

    2008-09-04T09:00:00Z

    Should patients be allowed to top up their care by paying privately for drugs? The question has confounded experts and now the government has an unenviable task in making a final decision. Helen Crump reports

  • News

    PCTs press for south London hospitals shake-up

    2008-09-04T09:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts have warned that delaying the proposed reconfiguration of hospitals in south east London could push services to breaking point.

  • News

    Lansley boosts councils' role in public health

    2008-09-01T10:48:10Z

    Public health directors would have to report to local authorities under plans announced by the shadow health secretary last week.Andrew Lansley told an audience at the think tank Reform that the Conservatives now envisaged councils having an even greater role in improving public health.Outlining conclusions from the party's consultation on ...

  • Comment

    Paul Jennings on the commissioner-provider split

    2008-09-01T09:00:00Z

    It is just over two years since we began separating the commissioning and provider arms in Walsall teaching primary care trust.

  • News

    Surrey is first to agree its integrated care proposals

    2008-08-28T09:00:00Z

    The first primary care trust to unveil its plans for an integrated care pilot has warned that commissioners will have to overcome existing 'anomalies' to make the initiative work.

  • News

    Probe calls for tariff for fertility services

    2008-08-28T09:00:00Z

    A Department of Health group probing inequalities in IVF provision is demanding a national tariff for fertility services.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Measure the mix of interventions

    2008-08-28T09:00:00Z

    All primary care trusts must become world class by commissioning services that 'add life to years and years to life' and specifying the outcomes to be delivered.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Super patients should use their powers wisely

    2008-08-28T09:00:00Z

    The government is set to empower patients with personal budgets for care, but clear rules must guarantee choices are well informed and cost-effective, say Anna Dixon and Rebecca Ashton

  • Comment

    David Lee on integrating care

    2008-08-25T09:00:00Z

    Two recent phone calls from different parts of the country got me thinking about what good management can do to make mental health and social care systems tick.

  • News

    East of England bolsters IVF provision

    2008-08-22T11:18:00Z

    Primary care trusts in the East of England have agreed a new fertility policy that will raise and standardise the number of IVF treatment cycles offered.

  • News

    PCTs fight for local decision making on controversial drugs

    2008-08-21T09:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts must retain their right to decide whether patients receive controversial drugs in exceptional circumstances, PCT leaders have warned.

  • Comment

    NICE chairman hits back at critics

    2008-08-18T09:00:00Z

    Some recent criticisms of NICE's work ignore the realities of modern healthcare and misrepresent the facts. Institute chairman Sir Michael Rawlins sets the record straight

  • News

    PCTs suspect trusts may be allowing top ups

    2008-08-14T09:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts have received few requests from patients wishing to 'top up' their care but are concerned that hospitals are doing so without their permission.

  • News

    Sophia Christie on the Naomi Campbell effect

    2008-08-14T09:00:00Z

    At a recent House of Commons gathering to discuss the role of commissioning in delivering improvement, there was silence on the application of world class standards to the commissioning of primary care.

  • News

    Guilty by emission as carbon cuts loom large

    2008-08-14T09:00:00Z

    The NHS emits a million tonnes of carbon a year, but it must cut this figure drastically. Helen Crump asks whether trusts are giving this issue the priority it requires and highlights some innovative ideas.

  • News

    IT may change funding plans

    2008-08-14T09:00:00Z

    A new IT system could pave the way for a substantial change in the way primary care trusts and GPs are funded, HSJ has been told.

  • News

    Patients with rarer cancers face 'postcode lottery'

    2008-08-11T11:56:00Z

    Patients with rarer cancers face a postcode lottery over whether their 'exceptional requests' for NHS treatment are granted, the charity Rarer Cancers Forum has claimed.The charity is calling for national guidance on how primary care trusts should make such decisions.

  • HSJ Partners

    Housing support 'is cost effective'

    2008-08-05T09:00:00Z

    Hot on the heels of the Darzi review, the Integrated Care Network has published a study that suggests health and social care investment in housing support is cost-effective and can transform lives.