Commissioning – Page 241
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News
DH to boost third sector links
The Department of Health has launched a £5.5m programme to strengthen its links with the third sector.
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CommunityWord up
Readers may recall we recently exposed how far the DH is prepared to go to ensure that the word spread about world class commissioning is the rightly worded word. As we reported, many primary care trusts took the DH’s instructions for press releases literally, repeating them almost exactly. But surely ...
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NewsAcute overspending raises questions over PCT plans
Primary care trusts have overspent against acute contracts by hundreds of millions of pounds, raising questions over the success of efforts to deliver care more cheaply in the community.
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NewsGP quality bonuses do not reflect patient satisfaction
Despite uniformly high scores in the quality and outcomes framework bonus scheme, GPs in some areas are receiving 63 per cent more complaints from patients than others.
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News
Foundation trusts warn competition could fragment NHS
Foundation trusts have warned that NHS services risk being destabilised and fragmented under new competition rules.
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NewsGP quality: the final frontier for inspectors
So far general practice has remained impervious to the expanding remit of the inspectors. This week the King’s Fund revealed proposals for a new GP quality inquiry that has even won backing from the profession. Helen Mooney reports
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CommentDavid Peat on PCT provider arms
The proposed division of primary care trusts’ provider and commissioner arms reminds me of the old legal concept of “one roof with separate rooms”.
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News
Economic downturn forces many PCTs to rewrite funding forecasts
Primary care trusts are having to redraft their five year strategic plans because of out of date assumptions about funding in 2011-12.
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LeaderNHS commissioners hold the secret to thriving beyond the recession
With even the chancellor having to admit his forecast was woefully wide of the mark, the NHS could be forgiven for basing its financial planning on sunny spells rather than torrential rain.
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News
Health observatories dampen plans for commissioning umbrella body
Commissioning Support for London was established last week as part of region-wide efforts to improve commissioning.
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News
PCT boards risk governance failure over provider organisations
Primary care trust boards risk failures in governance because arrangements for appointing the boards of their arm’s-length provider organisations are unclear.
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Comment
Richard Lewis and Matthew Bell on healthcare market stimulation
Commissioners will have to sharpen their understanding of healthcare markets and see carefully managed competition as a tool that works for the benefit of patients
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NewsCan integrated care usher in a new age of risk taking?
A speedy selection process has led to 16 projects being picked for integrated care pilots. Can they improve quality and test bold ideas or have we seen it all before, asks Helen Crump
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News
Study reveals three-fold cost variation in GP out of hours services
GP out of hours services are costing more than three times more per patient in some parts of England than in others.
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News
Severe personality disorders service consultation launched
The South East Coast, East of England, South Central and London regions are set to jointly launch a consultation on how to improve services for people with severe personality disorder.
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NewsDavid Nicholson talks to HSJ about foundation trusts on their fifth anniversary
As the new financial year begins, NHS chief executive David Nicholson talks to HSJ about the first five years of foundation trusts, the national quality board, and how managers should respond to the gathering financial storm
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HSJ Knowledge
Practice based commissioning podcast
Listen to commentary on a King’s Fund audit of practice based commissioning policy with representatives from the King’s Fund and www.doctors.net.uk
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News
Practice based commissioning on the up
Support for the policy of practice-based commissioning continues to grow slowly but steadily, the Department of Health has claimed.
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News
PCTs say incentives policy fails local commissioners
Primary care trusts have criticised the Department of Health for backing away from plans to allow them to set local incentives in the national GPs’ bonus schemes.
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News
Learning disabilities services suffer from 'glaring inadequacies'
Improvements in the commissioning of learning disabilities services by councils and primary care trusts need to be quicker and more widespread, a report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, Healthcare Commission and Mental Health Act Commission has found.