Latest news – Page 1952

  • News

    High take-up for optician training

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    More than 90 per cent of opticians met the requirement for continuing education and training (CET) by the 31 December 2006 deadline.Final figures for the first cycle released by the General Optical Council show that 95 per cent of optometrists, 89 per cent of dispensing opticians and 86 per cent ...

  • News

    David Peat on lost baggage and fielding complaints

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    'I always try to acknowledge a complaint myself when it arrives on our doorstep, and I always sign off our response. It helps me keep in touch with patients' perceptions - their sense of grievance, injustice or perplexity.'

  • News

    Smarter prescribing could save millions

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    More efficient prescribing of generic statins rather than branded versions could save the NHS £85m a year, according to the Department of Health. Latest 'better care, better value' indicators found that the savings could be made if every primary care trust prescribed such drugs to the level achieved by the ...

  • News

    Health figures honoured

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    Christie Hospital trust chair Joan Higgins has been made a DBE in the New Year Honours list. NHS Confederation chair Peter Mount, former Greater Manchester strategic health authority chief executive Neil Goodwin, Royal College of Nursing president Roswyn Hakesley-Brown and health economist Anne Mills have been made CBEs.To see the ...

  • News

    'Hooked' stop smoking campaign launched

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    A campaign that shows people being seized by fish hooks and dragged to their smoking spots has been launched. The campaign, which includes TV adverts, outdoor advertising, direct mail and a dedicated website, reveals that the average smoker needs over 5,000 cigarettes a year.www.gosmokefree.co.uk/getunhooked

  • News

    Legal age to buy tobacco to rise

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    The legal minimum age to buy tobacco is to rise from 16 to 18 on 1 July. The move is intended to make it easier for retailers to spot under-age smokers and reduce the numbers of teenagers who smoke. A campaign to raise awareness of the change will be launched ...

  • News

    2007 a make or break year for NHS, says think tank

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    A failure to tackle rising costs and to invest in modern services means that 2007 is a make or break year for the NHS, according to a report by think tank Reform. The report says the service's long-term strength has been sapped by the lack of an underpinning costed reform ...

  • News

    DoH says avoid public health redundancies

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has decreed that 'all reasonable steps' should be taken to avoid making primary care trust public health directors redundant to enable the NHS to retain their specialist knowledge.

  • News

    Lord Warner: PCT commissioning advert blunder 'only human'

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Health minister Lord Warner has labelled his department's hurried withdrawal of an advertisement to contract out primary care trust management services as 'unfortunate' ' but stood by the government's assertion of the need to bring in private sector commissioning experience.

  • News

    Shortlist drawn up for NHS chief executive job

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Shortlisting for the post of chief executive of the NHS is due to take place today.

  • News

    Directors resign as report finds 'many years' of abuse

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    People with learning disabilities were hit, pushed and dragged by staff working for an NHS trust in Cornwall, a joint investigation by the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection has found.People with learning disabilities were hit, pushed and dragged by staff working for an NHS trust in ...

  • News

    UCLH sells hospital for £170m

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    A London foundation trust says it has used its commercial freedoms to raise millions of extra pounds by selling off a former hospital building, which will help pay off its debts and may help improve services.

  • News

    Plans dropped to rate senior managers

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Chief executive Anna Walker said the commission had spent months developing the indicators, which flag up leadership failures.

  • News

    Education hit hard by SHA cutbacks

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    University of West of England faces multi-million pound losses as course funding axed

  • News

    MP reignites Milburn row

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    An influential MP has called on the government to deliver on its promise to publish advice it sought on decisions made over the reconfiguration of primary care trusts.

  • News

    GPs close to winning choice on IT

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Deal aims to end two-year dispute with doctors and boost clinical engagement

  • News

    Hewitt to review pharmacy regulation

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has announced a review of the way entry into the community pharmacy market is regulated, but said the government has got the system about right.

  • News

    Royal Cornwall chief quits as deficit doubles to £15.8m

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The chief executive of a hospital trust has fallen on his sword after the trust's deficit was found to be twice what was originally claimed.

  • News

    Trust faces bill for dropped PFI deal

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    A £167m scheme to centralise a hospital trust's services on one site has been dropped at a likely cost of £10m. Essex Rivers Healthcare trust made because the decision because the opening of a new independent treatment centre would have made it unaffordable and because the plans did not align ...

  • News

    PCTs oppose Manchester maternity shake-up

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Plans for a shake-up of children's and maternity services in Manchester are under fire because one corner of the city could be left without inpatient services.