All Acute care articles – Page 404
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Leader
Patients have a right to know about mortality rates
The argument in the West Midlands over interpreting mortality rates is just a taste of the rows that will ensue once the Department of Health starts publishing outcomes data.
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News
Academics doubt link between death and standards
Academic research has cast serious doubt on the link between hospital mortality rates and quality of care, raising questions over Department of Health moves towards routine publication of death rates.
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News
Call for improved acute mental health services
National quality standards should be introduced for mental health services in emergency departments and acute wards, the Academy of Royal Colleges has said.The call follows the publication of a report, led by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which has found dramatic variation in provision between hospitals.
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HSJ Knowledge
Assessing the opportunity for ambulatory care
The next stage review has again highlighted the opportunities for providing elements of urgent and chronic care outside the acute inpatient setting.
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News
Scots boards told to improve palliative care
NHS boards in Scotland have been told to raise their standards on palliative care after a critical report.
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News
Lib Dems challenge MRSA performance
Nearly two thirds of trusts failed to hit the government's MRSA target, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.
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News
Emergency units traumatised as Darzi plans develop
The next phase of reform will see major trauma go to regional centres, leaving smaller A&E units facing an uncertain future. Will they become unviable? Alison Moore finds out
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News
Monitor previews foundation trust finances
The regional Darzi plans will at last prompt foundation trusts to spend their surpluses, Monitor's executive chair has predicted.
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HSJ Knowledge
Promoting public health in the acute sector
Hospitals in England are expected to perform a public health function for the communities they serve. Abraham George and colleagues explain how hospitals can increase their capacity to do so
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Comment
NICE chairman hits back at critics
Some recent criticisms of NICE's work ignore the realities of modern healthcare and misrepresent the facts. Institute chairman Sir Michael Rawlins sets the record straight
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HSJ Knowledge
Finance: make your business boom
Commercialism in the health service means that trusts must look for profitable growth. Stuart Shepherd explains how developing service-line reporting can achieve this
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News
Careers: TGI Monday
Jobseekers have ranked healthcare management among the most desirable careers. Louise Hunt finds out why
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Comment
Steve Onyett on loosening central control
The sociologist Lipsky coined the term 'street level bureaucracy' to highlight the fact that you can't force people to work effectively on something they disagree with.
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HSJ Knowledge
Delivering 18 weeks: the steps to success
Meeting the December 18-week referral to treatment target will be a challenge for many hospitals, especially those that missed the March milestone. Heather Lawrence, Kieran Brett and Michael Macdonnell explain how Chelsea and Westminster foundation trust hit the target nine months early
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News
'Struggling' coders threaten tariff improvements in 2009
Research commissioned by the Department of Health has warned of huge problems in the way hospital services are measured and costed, saying they could undermine payment by results.
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News
PCTs suspect trusts may be allowing top ups
Primary care trusts have received few requests from patients wishing to 'top up' their care but are concerned that hospitals are doing so without their permission.
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News
Failures led to C diff deaths
Criminal charges may be brought against Scotland's largest health board after a review into a fatal hospital infection showed 'appalling and unacceptable' failures.
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News
Urgent call target triggers cash crisis
Ambulance trusts are warning of financial problems caused by efforts to meet a target for response times to life-threatening emergency calls.
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News
Guilty by emission as carbon cuts loom large
The NHS emits a million tonnes of carbon a year, but it must cut this figure drastically. Helen Crump asks whether trusts are giving this issue the priority it requires and highlights some innovative ideas.
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Leader
Young promises new regime will deliver speed and independence
The language used by the chair of the Care Quality Commission in her interview with HSJ was typically clear, robust and ambitious.