Latest news – Page 1947
-
News
BMA: make targets more ambitious
The NHS should be set more ambitious targets, rather than lay off surplus staff once a maximum 18-week wait has been achieved, the British Medical Association has said.
-
News
Consumers switch on to healthy eating message
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has revealed a rise in demand for fruit and vegetables in the last year as the public starts to adopt healthier lifestyles.New figures suggest people bought more fruit and vegetables in 2005-06, while buying less confectionary and soft drinks.The Expenditure and ...
-
News
Pension guidance released
The Department of Health has produced a guide for staff leaving NHS employment but wishing to continue their membership of the NHS pension scheme.The guidance also sets out advice about employer responsibilities for pension provision where staff have to leave the scheme.Read the guide here
-
News
Overweight drivers urged to detox
The RAC Foundation has called for overweight drivers to look at their habits after finding that they are twice as likely to be killed or seriously injured in road accidents.Every hour spent behind the wheel increases the risk of obesity, says the charitable foundation.www.racfoundation.org
-
News
Smoking cessation more successful in deprived areas, says report
Primary care trusts in areas of deprivation are providing the best approach to reducing smoking levels, says the Healthcare Commission in a report today.Half the PCTs rated excellent were in deprived areas where smoking is most prevalent.Read the report here
-
News
Letters about NEDs
I write as an non-executive director from a disbanded primary care trust. Seen from here, the appointment process to the new PCTs was a farce.
-
News
A new realism needed on CJD
Surely the time has come to end the monthly issue of CJD statistics. Last year's returns showed there were only five deaths from vCJD (7.5 per cent of total) compared with 62 deaths from non-vCJD. Peak mortality from vCJD was reached in 2000 when 28 deaths (34 per cent of ...
-
News
Doctors call for more allergy specialists
There is a need for more allergy specialists and better training for health professionals, a delegation of doctors from the medical royal colleges has told the Lords' science and technology committee.The committee is overseeing an ongoing investigation into allergy and allergic diseases.Find out more here
-
News
Now Blair says ministers can fight closures
Tony Blair contradicts himself by giving his backing to Labour MPs who oppose hospital closure when he once instructed Labour politicians to give their backing to changes in local services
-
News
Data on ISTCs' clinical quality is 'extremely poor', says Healthcare Commission
National data on the clinical quality of independent sector treatment centres is 'incomplete and of extremely poor quality', according to a review by the Healthcare Commission.
-
News
Gerry Robinson and the NHS
Management guru Sir Gerry Robinson's televised stint at Rotherham foundation trust to reduce waiting lists might have worked better in a trust that has not already achieved so much to place it on a more business-like footing.
-
News
New bursary scheme announced
The Department for Health has announced changes to the September 2007 NHS bursary scheme.Rent will become a deductible expense for all student nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and medical and dental students, when calculating their childcare allowances.The changes have been agreed with unions, and they include an increase in the ...
-
News
BMA slams back-to-work cuts
The British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners have criticised the Government for making 'indefensible' cuts to back-to-work programs.In a joint statement, the BMA and RCGP say such cuts are exacerbating GP shortages and damaging patient care.They urge ministers to restore funding to the GP returner schemes ...
-
News
Learning disabilities care 'outmoded and institutionalised'
The Healthcare Commission has found evidence of neglect of people with learning disabilities at Sutton and Merton primary care trust.'Outmoded and institutionalised' care was deemed to have led to the problems, according to a report from the regulator.It described some of the environments in which people lived as 'impoverished' and ...
-
News
Thinking long term on treatments
News that government action to tackle the effects of heart disease in the UK population through better care and statin drugs has to be welcomed. Yet it also leads to questions about why this strategy could not be adopted for other conditions which blight lives and cost the NHS (and ...
-
News
DoH publishes diagnostic waiting times
The Department of Health published the diagnostic test waiting times data for the month ending November 2006.This data shows the NHS' progress in tackling the waiting times for 15 key diagnostic tests.Click here to see the data
-
News
Thinking long term on treatments
News that government action to tackle the effects of heart disease in the UK population through better care and statin drugs has to be welcomed. Yet it also leads to questions about.why this strategy could not be adopted for other conditions which blight lives and cost the NHS (and the ...
-
News
A&E doctors struggling to cope, says report
A report by the British Medical Association says NHS debt is taking its toll on accident and emergency departments in England.Despite efforts from staff to tackle A&E waiting times, a survey conducted by the BMA and the British Association for Emergency Medicine suggests departments are struggling to sustain the four-hour ...
-
News
Report calls for more support for employing disabled people
Employers should be trained in the support available in employing a disabled person, according to the Public Accounts Committee.A report on the Department for Work and Pension's support for disabled people says more flexible employment advice should be given to disabled people, that current service provision is patchy and that ...
-
News
Nursing code gets overhaul
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is reviewing its rulebook for UK nurses and midwives. The Code of Conduct is to be made clearer and updated to reflect today's healthcare needs.The draft code was agreed in December and the NMC will be holding a series of focus groups and seminars around ...