£100m pathology contract outsourced by London acute
A north London acute is outsourcing its pathology services to a public-private partnership in a deal worth £105m.
London gives way on consultant strike cover pay
London trusts have been told they can pay almost triple the usual rate for consultant cover during this week’s junior doctors’ strike.
London Eye: Trusts wobble on consultant pay demand
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by HSJ bureau chief Ben Clover.
Exclusive: 800 consultants refuse to cover juniors strike without extra pay
More than 800 consultants in London have signed a letter saying they will not cover the junior doctors’ strike next week unless their trusts agree to pay a higher overtime rate set by the British Medical Association.
London Eye: The nursing walkout isn't really about pay
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by HSJ bureau chief Ben Clover.
Revealed: The 27 trusts still without an electronic patient record
Almost 30 NHS trusts do not have comprehensive electronic patient records amid a renewed push by government to get electronic systems into all NHS hospitals, according to HSJ research.
London Eye: Same chair everywhere
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by HSJ bureau chief Ben Clover.
London Eye: Five go chief exec-ing
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by Ben Clover.
HSJ Value Awards 2021: HSJ Value Pilot Project of the Year
The project’s purpose was the redistribution of power, whereby citizens identify local needs and coproduce the agenda for improving quality in the Barkantine practice, Tower Hamlets. The project embodied power sharing at every level: system collaboration via a steering group, and a project team that included staff and community.
Acute trust forced to cancel electives after covid surge
A major trust in the North East has started cancelling elective operations after a surge in covid and other urgent and emergency patients.
New chief executive for hospital trust
A north London specialist trust has appointed a new chief executive.
GPs receive 'urgent' call to volunteer for work in crisis-hit ITU
GPs in Birmingham have been sent an “urgent” plea to assist in their acute trust’s crisis hit critical care services, HSJ can reveal.
Two hospitals ‘decanting’ to central London trust amid ‘extreme’ pressures
A pair of major London hospitals are decanting patients to central London sites as the region asks trusts to ‘super surge’ their critical care capacity, HSJ understands.
London’s largest trust reconfigures to give covid-swamped hospitals ‘breathing space’
Barts Health Trust has declared the sickest covid-19 patients along with emergency care and trauma admissions will be seen at the Royal London Hospital to give other hospitals in the group ‘breathing space’.
Executives all white in city where 40pc of population is BAME
Every current executive director at the five NHS trusts in Birmingham is white, despite more than 40 per cent of the city’s population being from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background.
Only six of 200 NHS private units signed up to complaints watchdog
Just six of the NHS’ more than 200 private patient units are signed up to the independent complaints adjudicator, HSJ has learned.
NHS looks to grab private sector work with major reconfiguration
A health system is proposing to consolidate seven NHS units that deliver inpatient elective orthopaedic surgery into two — aimed partly at capturing activity from the private sector.
London Eye: A clear path?
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by Ben Clover.
Teaching hospital chair to also run neighbouring trust
The chair of one of England’s biggest teaching hospital trusts will also chair its smaller neighbour from next April.
PM asks Hancock to investigate ‘removal’ of trust directors
The prime minister has asked Matt Hancock to investigate the “removal” of two non-exec directors from the board of a specialist hospital trust.
Hancock pressed to decide on capital schemes before election cut off
Two former ministers and one of the Conservative party’s most influential MPs have pressed the government for clarity on funding ahead of the upcoming dissolution of Parliament.
NHS trusts owe government £14bn
Heavily-indebted NHS providers are bidding to restructure their loans with the Department of Health and Social Care, albeit with little prospect of them being written off.
Trust appoints interim chair following MPs' criticism
A trust in the West Midlands has appointed an interim chair, after facing criticism from MPs over the reappointment of its previous chair.
Exclusive: NHS trusts dismiss Brexit impact on staff retention
NHS trusts are not expecting disruption to services caused by EU staff leaving because of Brexit, according to analysis by HSJ.
Trusts bemoan cost pressures from clinical waste switch
Several NHS trusts are grappling with extra costs and relying on temporary containers for clinical waste storage, after a forced change of supplier following last year’s stockpiling scandal.
Exclusive: NHS England told to act on internal review to end 'avoidable harm'
Spinal patients have been exposed to “avoidable harm” due to “wholly unacceptable” delays in their treatment, according to an unpublished NHS England report.
Exclusive: Major incident as hospital waste collections halted
More than 20 NHS trusts must store clinical waste, including human remains, at their premises for up to a fortnight after their scandal-hit contractor stopped collecting waste last week, prompting a major incident.
GIRFT: Significant savings to be had in oral and maxillofacial surgery
The NHS could save more than £18m by reducing follow-ups for oral surgery and increasing the proportion of wisdom teeth removals done as outpatients procedures, a new report has found.
New chief executive for Great Ormond Street
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Foundation Trust has appointed a new chief executive.
Exclusive: Genomic trusts named but 18 months from full operation
Seven hub trusts and 27 partners have been selected to be part of a high profile new genomic test network, but will not be fully operational for a further 18 months.
Trusts move clinical waste contracts to new provider after stockpiling scandal
Fifteen NHS trusts have transferred their clinical waste management contracts to another provider, after it emerged a key supplier to the NHS was stockpiling human body parts and other dangerous waste.
'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.
HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018: Cancer Care
Winner Belfast Health and Social Care Trust: Improving the safety of chemotherapy prescribing through implementation of a standardised electronic assessment proforma
HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018: Perioperative and Surgical Care
Winner St James’s University Hospital, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust: NELA – improving care for emergency laparotomy patients
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.
Dame Julie Moore dismisses further hospital takeover
Dame Julie Moore has dismissed suggestions of another takeover of a neighbouring trust but says the boundaries between acute providers are “blurring” across Birmingham and Solihull.
Hospital chain trust expects nearly £100m deficit
The founder trust of a hospital group has declared its “underlying deficit” is likely to be more than £95m this financial year.
Shocking deterioration in RTT waiting times
Elective RTT waiting times shot up by over a week in December, in the fastest monthly increase since 2010, notes Rob Findlay
Waiting times steady despite slowdown in admissions
Yet another large trust stopped reporting its referral to treatment data, which clouded the picture for the latest November figures and raised non-reported waiting lists to a new record.
Cowper’s Cut: The fear, the network and the path
Why does a safety-critical industry such as the NHS have the level of bullying and fear running through it at so many levels, asks Andy Cowper
Children potentially exposed to severe harm after waiting list blowout
Four children were potentially exposed to severe harm after delays in their treatment, as dozens have been on a surgery waiting list for more than a year.
Troubled specialist trust to lose paediatric surgery service
Birmingham’s specialist orthopaedic hospital will stop providing paediatric surgery after an external review recommended moving the service to a bigger site.
Exclusive: 'No way' NHS should ask for extra funding before tackling waste
The surgeon leading the national programme to reduce clinical variation in the NHS says there is “no way” he would ask for extra funding until the service improves efficiency and quality of care.
STP director appointed to lead trust's turnaround
A sustainability and transformation partnership has intervened in a specialist trust’s sharply deteriorating RTT performance, appointing an outside executive to lead the recovery.
Exclusive: Former royal college president to lead national A&E review
Two leading names in emergency medicine are to head a major project aimed at improving efficiency in accident and emergency departments across the country.
Private income up £20m at London specialist trusts
The capital’s specialist trusts have seen significant increases in their private income over the past year.
The best and worst performing trusts on patient experience
Five NHS trusts have been identified by the Care Quality Commission as having significantly poor overall patient experience scores.
NHSI director to review 140 trusts' progress on cutting variation
The leading surgeon heading a national programme to reduce unwarranted variation in NHS care and save £1.5bn is to revisit more than 200 hospitals to assess trusts’ progress.
Hospital trust tops sickness absence table for fourth year in a row
A hospital trust has topped the staff sickness absence rate table for the fourth year in a row, HSJ analysis reveals.
Five trusts responsible for over half of year-plus waiters
Data released today shows five trusts were responsible for more than half of all the patients waiting more than a year for elective treatment in England.
Analysis: Over 100 trusts report rise in E coli infections in a year
Almost 70 per cent of NHS trusts have seen a rise in E coli infections in the 12 months up to to January 2017, raising questions over their ability to meet the government’s target to cut rates by 50 per cent in three years.
London Eye: Missing data causes harm to patients in south London
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by Ben Clover
Revealed: Trusts with the best and worst manager engagement
NHS staff feel senior managers do not involve them enough in decision making, according to the latest staff survey results, released this morning.
HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards shortlist revealed
The organisations in the running to win one of the HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards 2017 at have been revealed.
New tariff would mean revenue cuts for specialist providers
A number of specialist NHS trusts are “exceptionally concerned” about the two year payment tariff proposed by regulators, saying it would be “damaging” for patient care.
London Eye: An unlikely story
Essential insight into England’s biggest health economy, by Ben Clover
Revealed: New oversight ratings for every NHS trust
Regulators have published proposed new ratings for every NHS trust that reflect the seriousness of the problems they face.
Exclusive: Regulator's list reveals trusts slated for takeover or franchise
Several NHS trusts which were slated by officials for takeover or management franchise are revealed in a list obtained by HSJ, which regulators sought to keep secret for 18 months.
Orthopaedic specialist promises to hit RTT target by September
PERFORMANCE: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust has made an agreement with NHS England to return to hitting waiting times targets by September.
Revealed: First digital maturity index scores in full
This is a full list of trusts’ scores on the new digital maturity index, based on HSJ analysis of NHS England data.
Specialist care vanguard may design new 'experimental tariffs'
An alliance of specialist trusts could develop new “experimental tariffs” to encourage acute providers to improve or franchise their orthopaedics services as part of the Five Year Forward View’s new care models programme.
Elective performance declines as national waiting list balloons
The total waiting list for patients awaiting elective treatment has ballooned to its highest level in seven years.
Specialist hospitals leading the way in innovation
Meet the financial challenge facing NHS
Carter review: Top surgeon to tackle clinical and cost variation
The government’s newly appointed quality tsar will work with Lord Carter’s team to drive out ‘unwanted variation’ in clinical practice across the NHS, it has announced.
Special report: How technology is giving letters a new take
Dictation and document management technology can reduce the paper burden
Private providers could take big hit from NHS price changes
Private hospitals could see a steep cut in their income from NHS funded services under draft prices proposed for 2016-17, Monitor has warned.
London's devolution demands revealed
Proposals to redesign London’s £93bn public services through wide ranging devolution from central government have been agreed by borough leaders and the city’s mayor.
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust
Best Places to Work 2015 – Acute Specialist Trusts
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust
Best Places to Work 2015 – Acute Specialist Trusts
Royal Free considers joint venture with specialist trust
STRUCTURE: The Royal Free London Foundation Trust is considering a joint venture with a specialist orthopaedic hospital trust.
Exclusive: DH concedes last minute U-turn over axing specialist hospital cash
The Department of Health has admitted it made a last minute reversal of its decision to stop providing “Project Diamond” funding for specialist hospitals in 2014-15, boosting the finances of up to 19 trusts.
Specialist West Midlands trust plans for 'unprecedented' deficit
FINANCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust is planning for a financial deficit for the first time in its history.
Trusts ‘unanimously’ reject NHS England's reduced specialist funding offer
London teaching hospitals have turned down an offer from NHS England to pay just a quarter of their previous allocation for highly specialist treatments.
Orthopaedic trust set to complete major upgrade of site and services
STRUCTURE: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital will complete an £11.7m investment by the end of the year bringing services including a new day case unit, electronic prescribing systems and CT and MRI scanners, its chief executive has promised.
'Perfect storm' tips Walsall trust into the red
Walsall Healthcare Trust has instigated an action plan to clear its ‘significant’ waiting list after being hit by a ‘perfect storm’ of IT problems and heightened demand that threatens to push it £9m into the red.
Hospital inspections in marginal seats could swing general election
Hospital inspections could play a role in deciding the outcome of next year’s general election, according to analysis shared exclusively with HSJ.
HSJ reveals the top healthcare employers
Four clinical commissioning groups are among the top 10 Best Places to Work in healthcare
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust
Best Places to Work 2014 – acute trust
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust
Best Places to Work 2014 – acute trust
Arm the NHS to better serve injured veterans
Armed forces personnel often find the service fails to meet their needs
MSK procurement model could 'destabilise' local health economies
Clinical commissioning groups that commission elective and trauma musculoskeletal services separately risk destabilising their local health economies, the British Orthopaedic Association has warned.
Uncertain future for Project Diamond funding
The future of funding for highly specialist treatments in various hospitals has been thrown into uncertainty after the Department of Health decided to stop providing a £62m budget that supplements it.
We welcome Simon Stevens turning the spotlight on hospitals
Rethinking specialists
Specialist hospitals fear NHS England centralisation plans
Specialist hospitals have urged NHS England to re-think its “one-size-fits-all” approach to centralising specialised acute services because it puts their independence at risk.
Heart of England appoints new chair
WORKFORCE: Heart of England Foundation Trust has appointed a new chairman.
HSJ Live 22.04.2014: Nurse training review gets under way in the east
Major review of nurse training and education in the East of England launched, and the rest of today’s news and comment.
HSJ Live 28.03.2014: Involve providers in 'better care fund' talks, ministers say
Norman Lamb and communities minister Brandon Lewis have jointly written to health and wellbeing board chairs calling for more involvement of providers in plans for the better care fund, and the rest of today’s news and comment
Specialist hospitals have a vital role in quality healthcare delivery
Key feature in the new NHS landscape
HSJ celebrates the NHS's outstanding chief executives
A week championing leadership at the NHS provider organisations
New chair at Coventry and Warwickshire
WORKFORCE: A new chair has been appointed at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust, the NHS Trust Development Authority has confirmed.
Record breaking rise in English waiting list
The English waiting list got much bigger again in April. There will be trouble.
Sharp increase in English waiting list
The number of patients waiting rose sharply in March, and is now higher than in recent years and may indicate waiting time pressures to come. But bed pressures over winter do not explain all the increase
One-year waits race towards zero
One year waits continue to fall sharply. 18 week waits, and the waiting list overall, are steady. Orthopaedic long-waits are deteriorating.
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital appoints new chair
WORKFORCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital has appointed Bryan Jackson as its chair.
RNOH plans to do 80 per cent specialist work
STRUCTURE: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust is planning an 80/20 split of specialist and routine activity in the future, according to a commissioner strategy document.
Orthopaedic hospital PFI a step closer after affordable housing rollback
A London trust’s private finance initiative rebuild has moved a step closer after it secured permission to sell off some of its land with a smaller proportion than usual earmarked for affordable housing.
Trust hires PR firm to 'manage negative coverage' of its planned PFI
COMMERCIAL: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital has hired a PR firm to “manage negative coverage” of its proposed private finance initiative rebuild.
NHS holds the line on 18 weeks
Small improvements meant new record-bests for long-waiters in November.
Orthopaedics scrapes inside waiting target for first time
Long waits are down again, but the total number waiting is a bit higher than usual. This will become worrying, if it carries on.
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital achieves waiting time targets
PERFORMANCE: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust has achieved its 18-week referral to treatment times targets for July and August.
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust behind on savings
FINANCE: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital spends £2.5m on 'external clinical support'
FINANCE: The Royal National Orthopeadic Hospital Trust is spending £2.5m on “clinical support services provided by other organisations”.
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital offers new national blood cancer service
CLINICAL RESEARCH: The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust has launched the new service to patients suffering from a blood cancer that affects the spine.
ROH overspends on agency staff amid vacancies and high sickness rate
WORKFORCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Trust’s spend on agency staffing for month three was over plan on agency staffing and medical locums.
ROH spinal income falls 22 per cent short in quarter one
FINANCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust has seen a 22 per cent shortfall in spinal activity in the first quarter of 2012-13.
Orthopaedic FT hits Monitor performance targets
PERFORMANCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust hit all Monitor’s compliance targets in quarter one of 2012-13.
Analysed: the future of Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals Trust
HSJ Local Briefing is our new in-depth analysis of key issues facing some of the major NHS health economies. This week we examine the options for Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals Trust as it seeks a merger partner.
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital breaches infection target for the year
PERFORMANCE: The north London specialist trust has recorded three cases of clostridium difficile for the year so far, equivalent to its full-year limit.
Report condemns trust's use of information and technology
PERFORMANCE: An external report has found that the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust has “no coherent vision” for information management and technology and is failing to use it to drive efficiencies.
Royal Orthopaedic FT misses Q4 surplus target
FINANCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust fell well short of its quarter four surplus target, but still beat its planned total for 2011-12.
ROH finances 'embarrassingly good', says new CEO
FINANCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust’s chief executive has warned his board against potential complacency after describing the trust’s finances as “almost embarrassingly good”.
ROH CQUINs worth over £600,000 at risk
FINANCE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust identified an increased risk in achieving Commissioning for Quality and Innovation requirements for 2012-13.
Spire to manage trust's private patient unit
COMMERCIAL: The private hospital chain Spire has secured a three-year deal to run the private patient unit at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in north London.
Royal National Orthopaedic Trust 'significantly under-performed' on private patient income
COMMERCIAL: The north London specialist hospital said its private unit had “significantly under-performed” in 2011-12 and that is was “finalising” plans for the private management of the facility.
Royal National Orthopaedic Trust wants £5.2m loan for 2012-13
FINANCE: The north London specialist hospital’s outline business plan anticipates applying for £5.2m in working capital loans in this financial year.
CQUIN and CQC quality results don't match, report finds
Trusts are improving the patient experience in areas where they receive financial incentives while neglecting others, a study suggests.
London trusts club together to pursue Welsh claims
FINANCE: Moorfields Eye Hospital, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Kingston and Barts are pursuing the Welsh Health Boards for unpaid bills, a board paper reveals.
Revealed: the six trusts that need DH support with their PFI
Six hospital trusts have been identified as needing Department of Health cash support with their private finance initiative payments in order to make foundation trust status, HSJ can reveal.
London trusts make 85 per cent of their CIPs at month four
FINANCE: London’s non-foundation trusts made 85 per cent of their savings targets at month four, £16.3m lower than planned.
Circle-style deal for London specialist?
Most regions have a few smaller specialist trusts and London is no exception.
Super merger plans let down by £116m PFI shortfall
STRUCTURE: A planned merger that would create England’s largest NHS trust would require £116m of support in its first year.
Royal National Orthopaedic's fate discussed at private SHA meeting
STRUCUTURE: NHS London was yesterday due to consider the fate of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust.
Exclusive: fifth acute trust says it is considering private franchise management
A fifth hospital trust has said it will consider private franchise management.
Worcestershire gains new chief exec
WORKFORCE: Penny Venables has been appointed to lead the Alexandra, Kidderminster and Worcestershire Royal Hospitals, replacing John Rostill who has retired.
Go reconfigure?
There was no “clever form of words” to spare the SoS’s blushes in the end.
Government will act as guarantor on PFI
The government will continue to act as a guarantor for private finance initiative schemes, the health secretary has announced.
Decisions on the organisational form of seven London trusts due in September
STRUCTURE: Seven London acute trusts are due to have decisions made about their future organisational form in September, an NHS London planning document says.
Royal Orthopaedic passes CQC spot check
PERFORMANCE: The Care Quality Commission found the trust was meeting standards relating to dignity and nutrition during a spot check as part of a wider investigation into how older patients are treated.
Nicholson says region's FT pipeline risks going backwards
STRUCTURE: Sir David Nicholson has written to the board of a strategic health authority saying “there is a real danger that by the end of 2011-12 many of these [trusts in the pipeline] will be a position where their ability to achieve FT by 2014 will have worsened”.
London trusts encouraged by delayed 'drop dead' date for FT status
So what does the slackening off of the pressure behind the foundation trust pipeline mean for London, the most stubborn of regions in resisting an all-FT health service?
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust finished 2010-11 in deficit
FINANCE: NHS London papers reveal that the specialist organisation in north west London had ended the last financial year in deficit.
London's acute trusts achieving 82 per cent of their CIPs in Feb
FINANCE: A document submitted to NHS London’s delivery group in April itemises each trust against its savings target and found a capital-wide variance of £69m against plan - some trusts achieving less than half their target.
RNOH presses ahead with PFI project
FINANCE: The north London specialist trust has shortlisted three bidders for its proposed rebuild.
Confidential report sets out quality issues for every provider in the region
PERFORMANCE: A confidential report commissioned by NHS London has listed the strategic health authority’s quality concerns about the capital’s provider bodies.
Minister announces merger option for non-FT acute
STRUCTURE: A merger or independent franchise are among the options for a hospital trust which has a private finance deal preventing it from achieving foundation status.
Acute trusts' FT plans slip back a year
More than a quarter of the acute trusts still bidding for foundation status have seen their application date slip by over a year.
Leading MPs fail to find anything positive in NHS reforms
The chair of the influential Public Accounts Committee has said the cross-party group of MPs struggled to find anything positive in the government’s NHS reform plan
Exclusive: hospital trust considers private franchise
The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital has become the third NHS trust to consider becoming privately managed after admitting it cannot achieve foundation status in the short term.
Exclusive: government admits PFI deals mean 22 trusts will struggle to meet foundation status target
The Department of Health has named 22 hospitals with private finance deals that are “an obstacle to them achieving FT status by April 2014”.
Reconfiguration threatening to derail London service level agreements
No sooner were service level agreements more or less signed off by London acutes and commissioners, than reconfiguration issues reared their head.
Orthopaedic Hospital in deficit despite delivering savings plan
FINANCE: The north London specialist trust has a £1.8m deficit despite delivering £2.1m saving plan, according to February board papers.
£1m from private mental health underspend funding acute overspends at NHS Dudley
FINANCE: NHS Dudley is using a £1m underspend on its private sector mental health services to offset a £2.9m acute overspend.
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust has been cleared to proceed with £90m PFI rebuild
STRUCTURE: The north London specialist trust was given permission to place an advert for partners for the scheme by NHS London in December.
National cancer unit opens at Royal Orthopaedic Hospital
STRUCTURE: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust has opened a new £313,000 national cancer facility for patients aged 13 to 24.
Care Quality Commission will 'do a number' on weakest NHS performers
The chair of the Care Quality Commission has pledged to get tough with NHS and social care organisations languishing in the bottom 10 per cent of performance tables.