All Commissioning articles – Page 238
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HSJ KnowledgeThe provider-commissioner split: getting it right
A new King’s Fund report warns the chance to improve services could be missed if PCTs do not prepare for shedding their provider role. Ingrid Torjesen explains
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NewsNHS maternity spending falls in first year of DH strategy for improving services
The Department of Health has evidence that is believed to show that, in real terms, spending on maternity dropped in the first year of the government’s strategy for improving services.
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Local government to make £600m extra efficiency savings
Local government has been asked to provide an extra £600m in efficiency savings next year.
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News
UK government warns over EU health plans
Patients should not be able to charge the NHS for hospital services they receive abroad without first seeking permission from their primary care trust, the government has said.
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Anger over GP quality decision
The Department of Health has angered senior figures in primary care by appointing external consultants McKinsey to advise a panel of experts on how to measure GP quality.
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DH to boost third sector links
The Department of Health has launched a £5.5m programme to strengthen its links with the third sector.
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CommunityWord up
Readers may recall we recently exposed how far the DH is prepared to go to ensure that the word spread about world class commissioning is the rightly worded word. As we reported, many primary care trusts took the DH’s instructions for press releases literally, repeating them almost exactly. But surely ...
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NewsGP quality: the final frontier for inspectors
So far general practice has remained impervious to the expanding remit of the inspectors. This week the King’s Fund revealed proposals for a new GP quality inquiry that has even won backing from the profession. Helen Mooney reports
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News
Foundation trusts warn competition could fragment NHS
Foundation trusts have warned that NHS services risk being destabilised and fragmented under new competition rules.
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NewsGP quality bonuses do not reflect patient satisfaction
Despite uniformly high scores in the quality and outcomes framework bonus scheme, GPs in some areas are receiving 63 per cent more complaints from patients than others.
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NewsAcute overspending raises questions over PCT plans
Primary care trusts have overspent against acute contracts by hundreds of millions of pounds, raising questions over the success of efforts to deliver care more cheaply in the community.
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CommentDavid Peat on PCT provider arms
The proposed division of primary care trusts’ provider and commissioner arms reminds me of the old legal concept of “one roof with separate rooms”.
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Economic downturn forces many PCTs to rewrite funding forecasts
Primary care trusts are having to redraft their five year strategic plans because of out of date assumptions about funding in 2011-12.
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Health observatories dampen plans for commissioning umbrella body
Commissioning Support for London was established last week as part of region-wide efforts to improve commissioning.
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PCT boards risk governance failure over provider organisations
Primary care trust boards risk failures in governance because arrangements for appointing the boards of their arm’s-length provider organisations are unclear.
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LeaderNHS commissioners hold the secret to thriving beyond the recession
With even the chancellor having to admit his forecast was woefully wide of the mark, the NHS could be forgiven for basing its financial planning on sunny spells rather than torrential rain.
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Comment
Richard Lewis and Matthew Bell on healthcare market stimulation
Commissioners will have to sharpen their understanding of healthcare markets and see carefully managed competition as a tool that works for the benefit of patients
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NewsCan integrated care usher in a new age of risk taking?
A speedy selection process has led to 16 projects being picked for integrated care pilots. Can they improve quality and test bold ideas or have we seen it all before, asks Helen Crump
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Study reveals three-fold cost variation in GP out of hours services
GP out of hours services are costing more than three times more per patient in some parts of England than in others.
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Severe personality disorders service consultation launched
The South East Coast, East of England, South Central and London regions are set to jointly launch a consultation on how to improve services for people with severe personality disorder.