All GP practice management articles – Page 23
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News
Poor data threatens future of PbR system, warns minister
Trusts must collect better data about patient services and involve clinicians in decisions if payment by results is to expand successfully, health minister Andy Burnham has warned.
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News
PM's unit pushes more, but 'fairer', competition
The government this week set the stage for more providers to enter the healthcare market and spelled out the future of primary care trusts.
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News
The urgent care muddle may mean more nights to forget
The transfer of responsibility for out-of-hours care from family doctors to primary care trusts has been anything but smooth. And uncertainty remains on how services will develop in future. Alison Moore looks at the options for a politically contentious issue
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Comment
Consistency and agreement are needed to spread success
'The MPs' committee calls for lessons learned from the turnaround programme to be shared. But evidence for its effectiveness is opaque'.
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News
Government envisions a budget for every patient
Individual budgets as piloted in social care could be used in healthcare, according to the government's Commissioning framework for health and well being.
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News
News analysis: Primary care chiefs: a reorganisation too far
In the second of a three-part series, Victoria Vaughan turned to primary care trust chief executives for their views on Tony Blair's legacy to the NHS. They were found angry and disheartened by continued change.
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News
'Exceptional circumstance' clause for PCT outsourcing
Primary care trusts will only be able to outsource all of their commissioning expertise in 'exceptional circumstances', with plans to be signed off by the Department of Health.
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News
SHA pays £2m for firm to size up PCT commissioning
South Central strategic health authority has called in turnaround specialists PricewaterhouseCoopers to assess whether its nine primary care trusts should contract out their commissioning functions to the private sector.
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HSJ Knowledge
Legal briefing: patient choice and the model contract
Under the new NHS operating framework, there will be greater competition, and far more choice for patients
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News
PCTs fail to reach halfway point on choose and book
No strategic health authority is on track to hit the government target to make 90 per cent of outpatient bookings through choose and book by the end of March.
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News
PbR to become 'payment for performance' in NHS North West
Payment by results is set to become payment for performance in the North West of England, under a US model that rewards hospitals for the quality of their care.
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Comment
'Unacceptable risk' to acutes exposed by PCTs' contract
The final model contract released last week has provoked fierce resistance from hospital providers, which have little time for the argument that it rebalances the power levels between primary care trusts and acutes. For more, read New model contract threatens survival, foundations warn.
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News
Calls for mental health emphasis in primary care
Policy makers should ensure opportunities to improve mental health in primary care are always considered, according to a report by the Mental Health Foundation and the Pharmaceutical Schizophrenia Initiative.The report Primary Concerns: A better deal for mental health in primary caresays practice-based commissioning needs ...
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News
Defend general practice, say BMA
The BMA has written to over 42,000 GPs urging them to stand together to defend general practice.In the letter BMA GP committee chair Dr Hamish Meldrum said the profession was under threat from local deficits, encroachment from the private sector and political criticism of doctors.
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News
Survey says nine out of 10 patients can see GP within 48 hours
Nine out 10 patients can visit their GP within 48 hours and four out of 10 can get an appointment on the same day, according to a survey of 10,000 patients by Picker Institute Europe.The survey, commissioned by the Department of Health, also found that 70 per cent of patients ...
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News
DoH: reforms cutting unnecessary appointments
The Department of Health says GPs are sending fewer patients to hospital for unnecessary appointments following government reforms to give practices a greater say in procurement and provision of services.Evidence from early practice-based commissioning adopters shows that practices have cut patient referrals for hospital treatment by between 25 and 33 ...
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Comment
NHS independence: removing politicians will leave a hole that must be filled
Would an 'independent' NHS create a worse provider monopoly than British Leyland or set it lose from the targetitis of Whitehall? Who would hold the reins of scrutiny - regulators, Parliament or local councils? Where are the models - the BBC, Scandinavia, Oregon or New Zealand? Is independence even a ...
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HSJ Knowledge
What social enterprise can do for healthcare
A social enterprise is often defined as a business that trades with a social or environmental purpose. It is not driven by profit, and reinvests surpluses back into the organisation or community.
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HSJ Knowledge
Legal briefing: the separation of provider and commissioner
There is increasing pressure on primary care trusts to ensure clarity and robust processes around the distinction between provision and commissioning of services, warns David Owen
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News
Dentistry services on the increase
The amount of dental services commissioned by the NHS is continuing to rise, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.The figures also show that since the new dental contract was introduced last April, more services have been recommissioned than were lost in rejected contracts by dentists.Read the ...