All Commissioning articles – Page 244
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News
Monitor chair calls on PCTs to set out plans for services
The coming years will see an increase in foundation trusts running primary care services, as well as culls of failing hospitals, executive chair of the regulator Monitor Bill Moyes has predicted.
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News
PCTs say realpolitik is behind unequal healthcare
Primary care trusts claim confusion, self-interest and realpolitik lie at the heart of the unfair distribution of NHS resources.
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News
Maternity services growth fails to keep up with births
Maternity services faced growing pressure on capacity and staff last year despite government commitments to improve safety and choice.Newly released reports from regional midwifery officers show midwife numbers in many areas failed to keep up with the rising birth rate in 2007-08.
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HSJ Knowledge
NHS rationing: the time of their lives
An ageing population means the question of whether some patients have more right to treatment than others will increasingly cause financial and moral conflicts. So whose quality-adjusted life year is it anyway, asks Alison Moore
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News
Hold-up: Treasury eyes NHS surplus
The Treasury is in talks with the Department of Health over the NHS's £1.7bn surplus and when the service will be able to spend it.
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News
Commissioning and decommissioning
It was with incredulity and then growing anger that I read the recent news item on commissioning.
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Comment
Nigel Edwards on NHS exceptional case panels
Over the summer no media report on the state of the NHS was complete without mention of the postcode lottery in treatments, either through challenges to primary care trust exceptional case panels or the perceived ethics of the current rules on top-ups.
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Comment
David Levy on world class commissioning's training implications
World class commissioning has already had a significant impact on primary care trusts and their development.
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News
Integrated care pilot sites sought
The Department of Health is looking for primary care trusts ready to commission new services from innovative groups of clinicians in a bid to pilot integrated care.
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News
Treasury eyes hidden PCT surpluses
Increased demand for health services as recession bitesTwo-year timetable for service reconfiguration and investmentSurpluses vulnerable
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News
City shockwaves threaten NHS budget
Economists are warning this week's£38bn rescue plan for UK banks creates a "structural hole" in public finances that will make NHS funding cuts and claw-backs inevitable.The government has insisted the bank bail-out will not affect public finances. A senior Treasury source said there were no plans to revisit the commitments ...
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News
GP practice fights PCT over branch surgery
A GP practice is fighting a primary care trust, claiming it stopped its planned branch surgery because it would compete with another new practice.
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News
PCTs failing to decommission services
Two out of three primary care trusts failed to decommission any services last year, showing the extent of the challenge they face to become world class commissioners.
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News
Killer health conditions go unseen by GPs
Only half of all patients with some killer conditions have been diagnosed and treated by their doctor.
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Leader
Calm before the storm as PCTs prepare to flex their muscles
This week's HSJ survey of the extent to which primary care trusts have been decommissioning services represents the calm before the storm of world class commissioning.
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News
Foundation trusts get £300m in a year-end spending rush
Foundation trusts were handed up to £300m in advance payments by primary care trusts towards the end of the last financial year, HSJ has been told. The prepayments were made as some primary care trusts struggled to keep 2007-08 surpluses below 'control totals' set by the Department of Health.
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Comment
Clinical leadership in out of hours services
The Department of Health has signalled that it may allow practice-based commissioning consortiums to take over commissioning out of hours services. Rick Stern explains why this would be good for patients and budgets
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News
Hundreds tune in to HSJ's live online commissioning debate
HSJ hosted a live online debate on commissioning this morning.The debate covered areas such as decisions by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, devolving power to primary care trusts and the provider/commissioner split.
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HSJ Knowledge
Primary numbers
Commissioning is no longer just about PCTs checking the invoices from the acute trust or the ISTC. Andy Cowper investigates the key role of information in commissioning in primary care.
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News
Tories: Labour using NHS money for votes
The government is 'manipulating' the NHS funding allocation formula to 'shore up' votes in areas loyal to Labour, the Conservatives have claimed.