Performance Watch: Lessons from the trial of new A&E targets
Performance Watch is HSJ’s fortnightly expert briefing on the most pressing performance matters troubling system leaders. Contact me in confidence here.
Plans to trial sepsis target could be dropped
Plans to trial a new standalone one-hour sepsis target for emergency departments as part of the NHS standards review pilot could be dropped, HSJ understands.
Fourteen trusts to be excused from reporting A&E target during controversial trial
Fresh concerns have been raised about how NHS England is conducting its controversial pilot of new accident and emergency standards.
Hospital trust leaves special measures after two years
A Midlands hospital trust has come out of special measures, two years after the Care Quality Commission uncovered “serious” problems with the care provided.
Revealed: The trusts testing the new A&E targets
NHS England has selected 14 hospital trusts to test new accident and emergency standards which could replace the four-hour target.
Revealed: The winners and losers of government's £2.9bn capital pot
Two out of three requests from NHS trusts for capital investment have so far been rejected under the government’s new funding regime, analysis by HSJ suggests.
Just one trust has 50pc BME board share
Only one trust has as many black and minority ethnic board members as white, and 96 trusts say they have no BME board directors at all, new data has revealed.
'Fantasy' trust debts overtake PFI liabilities
A steep increase in emergency bailouts means NHS trusts’ total borrowing from the Department of Health and Social Care has overtaken their PFI liabilities.
Radiology backlog a 'potential key risk' for trusts: CQC chief
Trust boards must recognise backlogs of unreported radiology images as “a potential key risk” and take action immediately, the chief inspector of hospitals has warned.
CQC highlights avoidable harm in 'fragmented' health economy
A review of the Northamptonshire health economy found several examples of patients being harmed by poor hospital discharge processes, as well as a “lack of trust” between organisations that was hampering progress towards system integration.
Patients 'pressurised' into treatment to hit cancer target
Some prostate cancer patients are “pressurised into receiving treatment within 62 days” even where it is deemed unnecessary, according to evidence within a new report.
Trust sector reports 'window dressing' deficit of almost £1bn
NHS trusts ended last year with a combined deficit of £960m, according to accounting data published by regulators.
Trust accepts control total after 'grip' warning from regulator
A financially troubled NHS trust has accepted its control total for 2018-19, despite the finance director saying it should be rejected in draft plans.
Waiting times blow out to 22 weeks as elective admissions falter
Waiting times rose again, and the longest waits were hardest hit. Continued, severe and widespread capacity pressures are the likely culprit. By Rob Findlay
Struggling STP bans 'unhelpful' board member behaviour
A struggling sustainability and transformation partnership has created a list of “helpful” and “unhelpful” behaviours for its board members and plans to hold a “reconciliation event” for system leaders.
Long waits soar as hospitals struggle to admit
Over one year waiters shot up by 20 per cent, as admission rates slumped in the face of record A&E pressures.
NHS consortium withholds money from major IT firm
A consortium of NHS trusts is withholding money from GE Healthcare because a multimillion pound imaging system is still not working properly.
Best and worst hospitals in each area for staff recommending care
A breakdown by area of acute and combined trusts performance on the NHS staff survey, according to the share of employees who would recommend their organisation for work or care.
In full: Pathology network proposals
HSJ approached the 29 pathology networks proposed by NHS Improvement to ask if local trusts had signed up. In most cases the proposed “hub” trust was able to answer on behalf of its network.
Small hospital no longer ‘inadequate’
The Care Quality Commission has upgraded a troubled hospital trust’s inadequate rating, just 10 months after it was issued.