All Commissioning articles – Page 252

  • News

    PCTs ignoring demands to inspect private providers

    2008-04-17T09:00:00Z

    Hardly any commissioners are carrying out full inspections of private mental health providers despite fears over poor standards, an HSJ poll has revealed.

  • News

    Severe mental illness unit to close

    2008-04-17T09:00:00Z

    A national service for people with severe personality disorders is to close. South West London and St George’s Mental Health trust is ‘temporarily’ closing Henderson Hospital in Surrey next Wednesday due to insufficient referrals and income.

  • News

    PCTs warned not to fail on choice

    2008-04-17T09:00:00Z

    Health minister Ben Bradshaw has told primary care trusts to 'get their act together' to promote and deliver choice of treatment for patients.

  • News

    Bradshaw warns PCTs: make the right choice

    2008-04-17T09:00:00Z

    As ‘free choice’ is extended to all patients, minister Ben Bradshaw tells primary care trusts they must undergo a cultural change to make it work - with consequences if they fail. Rebecca Evans met him

  • News

    Former ambulance trust chief defends controversial style

    2008-04-17T09:00:00Z

    A former ambulance trust chief executive has hit back at a report in which staff branded him a 'benevolent dictator', under whose leadership targets were put before patient safety.

  • News

    Survey shows rise in practice-based commissioning

    2008-04-15T12:18:00Z

    The number of new services commissioned through practice-based commissioning is rising, according to figures from the Department of Health.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Disease: a warning from history

    2008-04-14T09:00:00Z

    Improved public health, medical advances and greater public awareness should have consigned many diseases to the past. But now illnesses such as rickets and syphilis have staged a comeback. Ingrid Torjesen looks at the latest efforts to combat them

  • News

    Practice-based commissioning results published

    2008-04-11T11:28:00Z

    The latest wave three practice-based commissioning results from the GP practice survey have been released.

  • News

    Psychological therapies toolkit launched

    2008-04-11T11:25:00Z

    The Department of Health has published a toolkit for improving access to psychological therapies.It aims to help primary care trusts implement National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines on depression and anxiety disorders.

  • News

    New release date for commissioning review

    2008-04-10T09:00:00Z

    The long-awaited value for money assessment of the framework for procuring external support for commissioners will now be completed next spring, the Treasury has revealed.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Care quality data on mental health is too hard to pin down

    2008-04-10T09:00:00Z

    Data about the care of people with mental illness in the independent sector is inadequate. The government must fix this before service users get lost in the system, say Anthony Deery and Veena Raleigh

  • News

    DH heralds bigger role for pharmacies

    2008-04-10T09:00:00Z

    The Department of Health is to draw up plans for primary care trusts to commission more services from pharmacists.

  • News

    Wales to axe most local health boards

    2008-04-10T09:00:00Z

    The Welsh Assembly has announced plans to slash the number of local health boards and strip them of their commissioning role.

  • News

    Alliance - let firms help PBC

    2008-04-10T09:00:00Z

    Consortia of practice based commissioning GPs should be able to bypass primary care trusts and buy commissioning support from the private sector, the NHS Alliance is demanding.

  • HSJ Partners

    Research funding: raising the game

    2008-04-08T09:00:00Z

    I recently heard from an experienced research colleague that commissioning bodies need to 'kick evaluators out of their comfort zone'. He proposed that evaluators and researchers deliver less than they could because funders are not really engaged, interested, or skilled enough to ask for more.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    How primary care grew up

    2008-04-07T09:00:00Z

    In our latest feature marking 60 years of the NHS, Ingrid Torjesen charts the general practitioner's rise from poor relation to commissioner

  • HSJ Knowledge

    GPs in the dock: case for the defence

    2008-04-03T09:00:00Z

    Around 90 per cent of NHS work is done by family doctors, so why is there so much heat around their pay and workload? The Royal College of GPs' president answers the critics

  • News

    Call for helpline funding to close inequalities

    2008-04-03T09:00:00Z

    Mental health campaigners have called on commissioners to fund helplines as a way of tackling health inequalities among ethnic minority communities.

  • News

    CBI claims contract debacle will hit future bids

    2008-04-03T09:00:00Z

    Private companies will be reluctant to bid for future NHS contracts, the Confederation of British Industry has warned.

  • News

    Call to target NHS money at young people

    2008-03-27T12:49:00Z

    A leading Church of Scotland minister believes the NHS should stop using its money to keep the elderly alive and spend it on the young instead.