All Finance articles – Page 495

  • News

    Troubleshooter drops in to save PCT with £43m debt

    2006-11-02T11:00:00Z

    A primary care trust with a cumulative debt of £43m has drafted in a troubleshooter to examine 'new management options', including bringing in expertise from the private sector or other NHS bodies.

  • News

    Payment by results tariff launched

    2006-10-31T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has published the test version of the 2007-08 national tariff. The overall uplift in prices is 2.5 per cent, net of 2.5 per cent efficiency savings.NHS chief executive David Nicholson says trusts should use the latest version to model the impact of the increased tariff.To ...

  • Comment

    Reform and instability

    2006-10-31T00:00:00Z

    'Why instability is inevitable' - Simon Stevens' article on the NHS and the J curve (page 19, 19 October) reminded me of a classic false syllogism: 'It always gets worse before it gets better.It certainly is getting worse. Therefore it will get better.'

  • Comment

    Turnaround consultants

    2006-10-31T00:00:00Z

    I am sure Malcolm Lowe-Lauri's opinion column on management consultants must have struck a chord with PCT colleagues who have been subjected to the turnaround process in recent months (page 17, 5 October). Although the consultants input has been valuable in some areas the benefits were not apparent in many ...

  • News

    NHS campaigners to hold mass demonstration outside Parliament

    2006-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Protesters are to march on Westminster tomorrow to demonstrate against NHS 'cuts'. Health unions and community groups including the Trades Union Congress and Keep Our NHS Public plan to lobby MPs at the end of the protest. To download the announcement, click ...

  • News

    NHS redundancy figures revealed

    2006-10-30T00:00:00Z

    NHS chief executive David Nicholson has published figures showing that 900 compulsory redundancies were made in the NHS in the first half of this financial year.The vast majority of those were in managerial and administrative roles and under a quarter in clinical posts.To see the figures click ...

  • News

    Lansley slams PFI 'lunacy'

    2006-10-27T00:00:00Z

    Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley has described hospital private finance initiatives as 'complete lunacy' after government responses to his parliamentary questions showed that the NHS will pay private sector contractors £53bn for hospitals worth only £8bn. Mr Lansley is calling for a 'fundamental review' of how the NHS accesses capital ...

  • News

    New pay-off packages to reflect length of service

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    New redundancy and retirement packages based on length of service rather than age have been agreed by the Department of Health.

  • Comment

    Sue Slipman on foundation trusts and the healthcheck ratings

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    'Having strengthened their financial management without comprising service quality, foundation trusts are now in a position to step up their investment in providing first class patient care'

  • News

    PbR 'fundamentally flawed' says coding chief

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The current system of payment by results is 'fundamentally flawed and unacceptable' the head of the Professional Association of Clinical Coders warned last week.

  • News

    Call to scrap funding formula

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The NHS funding formula is based on an untested scientific premise and should be scrapped, the chief economic advisor to the Department of Health was told last week.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Legal Briefing: resolving payment disputes between PCTs and foundation trusts

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    As the NHS becomes accustomed to the legally-binding contracts between primary care trusts and foundation trusts, the main pressure points are beginning to emerge.

  • Comment

    Efficiency indicators do not tell the story behind the numbers

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The comprehensive spending review is no longer the distant event it once seemed - the coming financial squeeze makes a numbers game out of the next 18 months or so.

  • News

    Efficiency savings costed at £2.2bn

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health is to expand the number of productivity indicators on which trusts are compared as the first set of figures revealed the NHS could save £2.2bn a year if it improved its efficiency.

  • News

    Inappropriate admissions: guidance to urge 12.5pc cut

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The prime minister's delivery unit is taking a key role in shaping 'crisp' new guidance for primary care trusts to reduce inappropriate hospital admissions and save over £1.4bn a year.

  • News

    Private finance guidance for trusts published

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    New draft guidance which will help NHS trusts select, evaluate and appoint private sector bidders in private finance schemes has been published by the Department of Health.The guidance has been developed in conjunction with the Treasury, private sector contractors and managers of NHS organisations that have been through private finance ...

  • News

    NHS could save £2.2bn by tackling inefficiency

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    The NHS could save up to £2.2bn if trusts take steps to address wide variations in productivity and efficiency.The Department of Health has published its Better care, better valueindicators, which show trust-by-trust performance against a range of measures.Reducing unnecessary admissions could unlock £348m, and ...

  • News

    Primary care trusts told to save money for 2006-07 GP payments

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    Primary care trust directors of finance should accrue funds during the financial year 2006-07 to enable them to pay GPs in the first quarter of 2007-08.The guidance is published in a series of letters to trusts and GPs about this year's GP Patient Survey.Read the letters ...

  • News

    Response to NHS charges report

    2006-10-20T12:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has published its response to July's Commons health select committee report on NHS charging. The response covers charges levied on patients and families for prescription dental charges, sight tests, additional charges for some clinical services, assistance with transport costs and charges ...

  • News

    Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald on GPs and commissioning

    2006-10-19T00:00:00Z

    'Strategic health authorities and GPs must represent the best interests of the citizen and patient... However, they face some pretty daunting challenges'