News – Page 1989

  • News

    Commissioning and Managing Screening Programmes In the NHS in England

    2006-11-21T11:39:05Z

    Department of Health guidance on ensuring appropriate commissioning and performance arrangements for screening programmes in the NHS. Published in September 2005.

  • News

    Dental association: NHS should not be given more regulatory powers

    2006-11-21T00:00:00Z

    The British Dental Association has said the NHS should not be given regulatory powers but supports maintaining the current number of regulators. In its response to the Department of Health's consultation on the regulation of non-medical healthcare professionals, the BDA also supported a revalidation scheme being introduced to ensure dental ...

  • News

    Staff grade doctors seek assurance on career progression

    2006-11-21T00:00:00Z

    The chair of the British Medical Association's staff grade and associate specialist committee Mohib Khan has written to health minister Lord Warner to seek assurances that funding will be provided to allow staff grade and associate specialist doctors training to become consultants.To read the letter click ...

  • News

    Trusts need more time to balance books, says RCN

    2006-11-21T00:00:00Z

    Trusts need more time to regain financial stability rather than having to cut services and posts in order to balance their books, the Royal College of Nursing has said.The union said long-term recovery plans were needed and trusts should be given three years to create a sustainable buffer fund and ...

  • News

    Mental health budgets being cut, charity says

    2006-11-21T00:00:00Z

    Mental health charity Rethink has warned that £37m of further cuts are taking place in mental health services across the UK.The charity is calling for mental health to be included in the so-called 'Selbie Six' of top national priorities for the NHS and a national recovery plan for the current ...

  • News

    Government should stockpile more than one flu vaccine, scientists warn

    2006-11-21T00:00:00Z

    A report by the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences has warned that the government's preparations for an influenza pandemic are not keeping up to date with independent scientific advice.The report's working group said it was concerned that only one antiviral drug is being stockpiled as new evidence ...

  • News

    Communicating with patients

    2006-11-20T12:08:00Z

    I've always enjoyed Hilary Thomas's articles and admire her courage at writing about her breast cancer, but I was quite saddened to read what she said about not realising what her patients had to go through until she had experienced it herself. ...

  • News

    Coping with redundancy

    2006-11-20T12:06:43Z

    Adding to what Ken Jarrold has said, I've been through redundancy a couple of times and these are some of the lessons I've learned:

  • News

    Jessica Crowe on love at a local level

    2006-11-20T10:41:56Z

    'Lay scrutiny can act as a stimulus for real change and innovation - especially where local authorities and health bodies work closely together on a long-term basis'

  • News

    Law on small claims goes ahead

    2006-11-20T00:00:00Z

    A fast-track, low-cost scheme to resolve clinical negligence claims up to £20,000 without litigation has received royal assent.The NHS Redress Act will see the NHS Litigation Authority run a scheme to determine fault and decide after a trust has carried out a fact-finding exercise into an untoward incident. Patients accepting ...

  • News

    Public 'don't want NHS ads for services'

    2006-11-20T00:00:00Z

    Voters are overwhelmingly opposed to government plans to let hospitals advertise, according to a survey conducted by YouGov for the NHS Together alliance of health unions.The Department of Health is expected to publish a code of practice allowing hospitals to market their services under the era of choice.But the poll ...

  • News

    New role for former Audit Commission chair

    2006-11-20T00:00:00Z

    James Strachan, until recently chairman of the Audit Commission, has been appointed a non-executive director of Care UK PLC.One of the largest health and social care providers in the UK, Care UK operates 90 community-based care homes, runs a range of primary care services including GP out of hours services ...

  • News

    British Heart Foundation launches 999 campaign

    2006-11-20T00:00:00Z

    The public is being urged to call 999 immediately of they experience chest pain, warning that 'doubt kills'. A survey commissioned by the British Heart Foundation found that 40 per cent of people would not make 999 their first call if they thought they were having a heart attack.Read more ...

  • News

    Health Foundation extends Safer Patients Initiative

    2006-11-20T00:00:00Z

    Twenty hospitals will today receive £165,000 each under a scheme to improve patient safety. Funded by the Health Foundation charity, the Safer Patients Initiative will see a tailored package of support for each hospital including access to international experts. The four hospitals in the scheme since its launch in 2004 ...

  • News

    5,000 'social enterprise pathfinders' come forward

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Care service minister Ivan Lewis used social enterprise day to announce that more than 5,000 people have shown interest in becoming 'social enterprise pathfinders' in health and social care by looking at the application pack.The £1m pathfinder scheme is intended to support social enterprises that want to develop innovative services ...

  • News

    Northern Ireland smoking ban begins 30 April

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    The legislation allowing Northern Ireland to introduce a ban on smoking in enclosed public places has completed its progress through parliament and will come into effect on 30 April next year.Northern Ireland health minister Paul Goggins said his office would work to build support for the legislation and issue guidance ...

  • News

    Pay rates for PCT public health directors published

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has issued supplementary guidance to its pay framework for very senior managers, covering director of public health posts in primary care trusts.The guidance pegs PCT public health directors' pay at 70 per cent of the pay of their chief executives, but says other arrangements may be ...

  • News

    NICE faces judicial review on Alzheimer's drugs

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Two drug companies have threatened to take the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to judicial review.Eisai Limited, the licence holder for Aricept, and Pfizer Limited, its 'co-promotion partner', claim the process that led NICE to refuse to endorse the drug's use for NHS patients with mild Alzheimer's disease ...

  • News

    Mental Health Bill introduced

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    The government has moved swiftly to introduce the mental health bill announced in the Queen's Speech.Health minister Rosie Winterton and Home Office minister Gerry Sutcliffe published the bill yesterday, highlighting its provisions to provide 'more protection for the public and patients'.The bill will introduce a new definition of 'mental disorder', ...

  • News

    Youth offending

    2006-11-16T10:00:00Z

    The continual inability of the NHS to engage with this group of young people is a core reason why inequalities will never be adequately tackled (HSJ 9 November). The NHS is governed by moral choices and offenders do not score highly on the morality stakes.