Latest news – Page 1933
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Global health strategy proposals launched
The need for a global health strategy in order to protect the health of the UK was outlined in a report by chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson.The CMO made the case for concerted action on global health and for developing a strategy that will benefit the health of ...
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Plans to speed innovation revealed
The government and medical devices industry have published plans to accelerate the use of medical innovation more widely across the NHS. The report Innovation for health: making a difference is the culmination of joint work led by the healthcare industries task force strategic implementation group. Among six recommendations agreed by ...
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Non-executive network appoints lead
Rosanne Corben has been elected national lead for the NHS Alliance network for primary care trust non-executive directors and chairs, Nednet. She takes over from John Chapman who remains as network facilitator.
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Trusts warned over property maintenance
The Health and Safety Executive has warned the NHS to maintain its properties effectively. It follows a successful action brought by the organisation against South West London and St George's Mental Health trust after a man fell at Springfield University Hospital and subsequently died.The trust was fined £7,500 and asked ...
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Wales takes delivery of new ambulances
The first of 119 new ambulances, 67 patient transport services vehicles and 40 rapid response vehicles were due to be delivered today to the Welsh Ambulance Service trust.Two-thirds of the ambulances will be operational this month with the remainder by mid-May. The new fleet is the result of a £16m ...
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Cash boost for health inequalities
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has announced an extra £8.9m for local authorities in 81 areas across the country to invest in schemes to tackle health inequalities. She also invited views on working arrangements in the commissioning framework for health and well-being, which will bring local councils and the NHS closer ...
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Audiology waits 'unacceptable' says minister
Patients face 'unacceptably long waits' for audiology services, according to care services minister Ivan Lewis in his foreword to today's Improving Access to Audiology Services in England national framework.He calls for a 'radical reduction' in waiting so that the most complex cases are treated within the end-of-2008 18-week target, and ...
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No evidence for oxygen therapy
Insufficient clinical evidence exists to justify using oxygen therapy for heart attack patients, a medical expert has claimed. Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute in New Zealand says in the latest edition of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine that clinical dogma should be challenged on ...
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Leaked mental health report condemned
A £16m race equality programme for mental health has had no impact whatsoever on improving ethnic inequalities, says the Black Mental Health UK campaign, whose members have seen a leaked government report.www.blackmentalhealth.org.uk
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NHS to become unaffordable, says think tank
The cost of technological advances in healthcare will make the NHS increasingly unaffordable, the think tank Reform says in a report today. It says that diseases like cancer will become much more manageable and will not necessarily be fatal, increasing costs.www.reform.co.uk
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Boost for medical research
The Medical Research Council is investing more than £15m in creating six new research centres aimed at translating discoveries into new drugs, therapies, diagnostic tools or methods of prevention; or using clinical knowledge to inform fundamental research priorities.Read more here
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Campaign highlights hidden dangers of second-hand smoke
Second-hand smoke is an 'invisible killer', according to a new advertising campaign, launched by public health minister Caroline Flint today. Nearly 85 per cent of tobacco smoke is invisible and odourless, but it causes just as much harm to people's health as the smoke that is visible, according to the ...
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Organisational energy
I agree totally with Helen Bevan's article on organisational energy but can't help thinking about the amount of energy being wasted in primary care trusts across the country as they grapple with the Commissioning a Patient-Led NHS.reconfiguration.
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Air conditioning on the NHS
Patients with breathing problems could soon be prescribed air conditioning on the NHS to help them cope with hot weather, health secretary Patricia Hewitt is expected to announce today. Those with a lung condition that worsens in warm weather could be given a £500 portable cooling unit for their homes.
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Payment by results and productivity
Noel Plumridge is perplexed by the dilemma of paying for payment by results-induced productivity within a closed, cash-limited system (HSJ, 22 February). I.thought the answer to that was price. As the volumes go up so unit prices go down.
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BUPA and choice
I would like to make it plain that BUPA Hospital Leeds does not charge a 'premium to tariff' when treating NHS patients under choose and book. It is understandable that the complex system you outlined (HSJ, 22 February) could leave readers thinking otherwise.
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Prescription charges to rise by 20p
Prescription charges will rise by 20p - or 3 per cent - to £6.85 from 1 April, according to health minister Lord Hunt. Revenue from prescription charges is expected to raise around £425m for the NHS in 2007-08. Dental charges will rise by an average 2.7 per cent to £15.90 ...
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Winterton slams Lords over mental health
The House of Lords has 'seriously weakened' the government's plans for better protection for patients and the public through its amendments to the Mental Health Bill, according to health minister Rosie Winterton.She told a conference that the Lords' amendments 'must be overturned'. They include the introduction of a treatability test ...
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Foundation regulator calls for better preparation
Financial problems are the reason behind three-quarters of unsuccessful bids for foundation trust status, according to the regulator. Monitor chair Bill Moyes called for 'better preparation' by those going through the authorisation process.Foundation Trust Network director Sue Slipman said strategic health authorities needed to address the issue of trusts with ...
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Hewitt defends nurses' pay offer
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has said the 2007-08 pay deal for NHS staff and GPs is 'sensible' and 'fair'. Nurses and other healthcare professionals will receive a 1.5 per cent rise in April and 1 per cent more in November; hospital doctors a flat £1,000; junior doctors 3 per cent; ...