All Government/DH policy articles – Page 167
-
News‘Clunky’ GP contracts raise questions on quality
There are huge variations in what different PCTs pay for the same services, yet there is no detectable correlation between cost and quality or patient satisfaction. Sally Gainsbury looks at why commissioning has not yet addressed these stark contrasts
-
CommentSophia Christie on getting the best from GPs
Successive governments have attempted to engage primary care in commissioning in recognition of the sector’s vital role in demand management.
-
NewsNHS East of England faces DH assurance test
NHS East of England has been told it needs to adopt a more “bottom-up approach” to supporting primary care trusts in the region.
-
CommentAndrew Lansley on a Conservative recipe for NHS reform
Competition, choice and clinician power: the shadow health secretary lists the ingredients that he would use to make NHS outcomes the best in the world
-
NewsElderly care is set to be election battleground
The government and the Conservatives have offered the electorate competing schemes to care for elderly people.
-
NewsPublic sector pay freeze threat from all sides
Both the government and the opposition have indicated that a large part of the savings needed to recover the UK’s public spending deficit will need to come from pay restraint.
-
HSJ KnowledgeHow to champion patient dignity
Privacy and dignity champions from across your workforce can enhance the patient experience, explains Alison Moore
-
NewsMost PCTs meet only ‘minimum requirements’ on resources use
The majority of primary care trusts are meeting only “minimum requirements” in their use of resources, the results of the Audit Commission’s annual test have shown.
-
NewsPCTs neglect value in general practice
Primary care trusts are doing little to tackle the huge variation in the cost and quality of their GP services, the results of a confidential internal NHS survey suggest.
-
CommentStephen Eames on defending district general hospitals
Reconfiguration of acute and community services is bound to be on the cards again, once the dust has settled on the autumn QIPP and Monitor downside submissions.
-
NewsQuestions raised over Gordon Brown's free personal care plans
Questions have been raised over the details of the prime minister’s pledge yesterday to provide free personal care for those most in need.
-
NewsHonour NHS pay deal, say NHS Employers and DH
The Department of Health and NHS Employers have recommended that there should be no review of the agreed NHS staff pay settlement for 2010-11.
-
NewsAlan Milburn attacks Andy Burnham for making NHS the preferred provider
Former health secretary Alan Milburn has attacked Andy Burnham’s decision to move away from competition and make the NHS the “preferred provider” of services.
-
NewsAndy Burnham promises to protect primary care budgets
Health secretary Andy Burnham has promised to do “everything he can” to protect primary care budgets from public sector spending cuts.
-
NewsNurses urged to show savings
The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement is to calculate and publish “opportunity savings” in 10 changes to the way nurses work.
-
NewsPatient satisfaction guaranteed: the future of payment by results?
The health secretary’s promise of a greater focus on patient experience has the approval of NHS leaders - as long as it is done properly, reports Rebecca Evans
-
CommentMichael White on NHS spending cuts
Gordon Brown’s belated admission of looming spending cuts unleashed a masochistic torrent of bid and counter-bid by leading politicians.
-
CommentMedia Watch: NHS cost cutting
At the start of last week, the papers were obsessed with Gordon Brown’s first use of the C-word. By the end of the week politicians of all hues were at it and it was impossible to get away from it.
-
CommentPaul Corrigan on NHS reform
NHS reform requires the creation of significant parts of the NHS system that are independent of the Department of Health and the NHS mainstream hierarchy of the past.
-
HSJ KnowledgeHow to get better health outcomes in diverse groups
Healthcare of people from BME groups is being improved by committed leaders and by projects monitoring community cohesion as well as equalities. Mark Gould reports