17.26pm The NHS must have an “honest conversation with the public” about reforms to emergency care, says the NHS Confederation in response to the announcement of an NHS England review.

“We need to look at the way we spend money on urgent and emergency care, for example moving it away from crisis admissions and towards more supportive planned care,” says NHS Confed chief executive Mike Farrar.

“We need NHS and social care services working together more effectively so people are not moved around from one part of hospital unnecessarily or kept in hospital when they could be getting the care they need at home.

“And we need to look at how and where we base services, so that the most serious cases can be treated with the best specialised, round-the-clock care.”

16.45pm The British Medical Association (BMA) has expressed concern over plans for an Ofsted-style rating system for hospitals as part of proposals for the future of inspection and regulation launched by the Care Quality Commission earlier today.

“Such a measure would not be a full reflection of the quality of the numerous complex services assessed. It could only ever be a blunt indicator and risks giving a highly misleading impression,” said Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA Council. “It could also have serious consequences to patient care if underperforming services are overlooked and not addressed within an organisation that has a good overall rating.”

16.35pm The NHS Confederation’s European Office says patients will benefit from new measures to update the rules on health professionals moving around Europe including a cross-border “alert system” that would flag up whether a clinician has been convicted of a crime or is under disciplinary sanctions. Read more here.

15.33pm Some people seem less than impressed with chief executive of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust Phil Morley’s contribution to last week’s Workout at Work Day in which he dresses up as Superman and dances through the corridors to the song Show Me the Way to Amarillo. The video, which was apparently made for employees’ eyes only, appears to have leaked out somehow. Click here to see it on YouTube and scroll down to read the comments.

14.46pm NHS England and Monitor have set out how they will work together in a partnership agreement. The agreement outlines the duties, roles and responsibilities of each organisation.

14.39pm The appointment of husband and wife team Chris Reed and Karen Straughair to help turn round the fortunes of Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust is “lovely news”, comments Harry Longman of Patient Access. But he cautions: “Mr & Mrs, please make time for each other too. Pointless to rule out pillow talk but at least take minutes and avoid any tricky HR decisions away from the office.”

14.12pm Samantha Jones, chief executive of West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust, has written a blog post for the NHS Confederation about Operation Onion, an initiative that involves listening to clinical and non-clincal staff and making immediate, practical changes in an effort to improve patient care. Read it here.

13.42pm GP magazine’s Inside Commissioning channel has posted a full video of Andy Burnham’s appearance last week at the Commissioning Show.

That is - an almost full video. The broadcast, which contains a question and answer session with HSJ’s editor Alastair McLellan, omits the section where Alastair is introduced by Charles Alessi of NHS Clinical Commissioners as one of the most influential editors in the land. In the version streaming online now, Alastair just pops up without any explanation of who he is or what he’s doing there.

Perhaps that section was taken out of the 58 minute video for the sake of brevity? Make up your own mind here.

12.37pm The resignation of Aidan Thomas, chief executive of Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, should provide an opportunity to rethink “inadvisable cuts to staff numbers”, according to the British Medical Association. Read the BMA’s press release here.

12.21pm Oxfordshire’s CCG and county council are planning to almost double the size of their shared budget for older people’s services, reports David Williams.

The shared budget, if agreed by the council’s cabinet this week, would encompass community, mental health and end of life care services for older people. A new risk share model has been proposed, along with the removal of some internal ringfences within the pooled budget. Click here to read more.

11.55am Tens of thousands of pensioners are being put at risk of neglect every day because councils are still commissioning home care visits that last just 15 minutes, says today’s Daily Mail, reporting on a survey by Unison.

11.49am The NHS Confederation has said new proposals for regulation and inspection unveiled by the Care Quality Commission today must not add to bureaucracy within the NHS and recognise “the complexity of NHS organisations”.

11.45am The Care Quality Commission has today published its plans for the future inspection and regulation of health and care services, including a new ratings system. Read HSJ’s story here.

11.37am NHS England has now published full details of the emerging thinking in its urgent and emergency care review. See the document here

11.35am The Times splashes on a story headlined “Patients get new rights under NHS care charter”.

The story says “Doctors and nurses are to be issued with eight ‘commandments of care’ in a radical overhaul of standards to ensure they treat patients properly”.

Chairman David Prior told the paper the move was “a break with the past”, saying: “The way we have inspected has been based on 16 standards which are more about the systems the hospital has in place, so we have run the risk of finding systems that look ok, but care as experienced by people that isn’t.”

11.31am NHS England has published fresh information governance guidance for clinical commissioning groups and GPs. The document, Advice and Options for CCGs and GPs, sets out:

  • The information governance issues around risk stratification
  • A checklist of steps for GPs, CCGs, and other organisations involved in risk stratification should undertake to comply with the law
  • A range of options CCGs can use to conduct risk stratification legally

10.22am HSJ’s occasional contributor Your Humble Servant has published a new post this morning. He reports that, following his NHS Confederation speech, which included a run of barely-concealed attacks on his political masters, Sir David Nicholson has launched a coup d’etat. Click here to read the full, eye-watering account.

10.15am NHS leaders and managers, including Peter Griffiths, chair of the Foundation Trust Network, have been recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

Chair of NHS England Professor Malcom Grant, who is president and provost of University College London (UCL), was knighted for services for education.

Meanwhile Andrew Dilnot, who led a major inquiry into the social care system, was knighted for services to economics and economics policy.

Among those gaining CBEs were Allan Bowman, chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, for services to social care and Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, for services to public health.

Peter Griffiths, chair of Queen Victoria Hospital FT, was awarded a CBE for services to healthcare.

Chair of Dartford and Gravesham Trust Sarah Dunnett gained an OBE for services to the NHS while Dr Patricia Wilkie, president of the National Association for Patient Participation, was honoured for services to healthcare and patient involvement in the NHS.

Those gaining MBEs included Claire Henry, director of the National End of Life Care Programme, Celia Ingham Clark, medical director of Whittington Hospital Trust, Katherine Kirk, for her role as chair of South East Essex, and Dr Fionna Moore, medical director of the London Ambulance Service Trust, for services to the NHS and emergency services.

See the full honours list here.

9.57am: More than 4,000 lives are lost as a result of poor care in hospitals at the weekends, warned The Daily Telegraph, reporting ahead of the review of emergency and urgent healthcare due out today. See the story here.

9.39am: The weekend has seen pre-briefing and speculation on a Care Quality Commission consultation on its new inspection regime. Our story on the coverage is here.

8.35am: Good morning, a three-year study is exploring the relationships between the organisational and cultural characteristics of hospitals, and how these impact clinical effectiveness, patient safety and patient experience in EU countries. Naomi Fulop reports on the findings here.