All Independent providers articles – Page 71

  • News

    PCT ditches two private hospitals over costs

    2007-02-22T00:00:00Z

    A primary care trust has removed the choice of two local private sector hospitals from its choose and book list because it says it was paying too much for their services, HSJ has learned.

  • News

    Milton Keynes PCT names preferred bidder

    2007-02-16T00:00:00Z

    Milton Keynes primary care trust has appointed Guildhouse as its preferred bidder to build health and care premises over the next 25 years, starting with the Wolverton Health Centre later this year.The 3,000sq m supersurgery will be part of the South East Midlands local improvement finance trust and will house ...

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Legal briefing: can non-NHS bodies access the NHS pension scheme?

    2007-02-13T00:00:00Z

    Our legal experts guide you through the pension implications for companies taking on NHS services

  • News

    National Audit Office slates DoH over £12m Dr Foster deal

    2007-02-08T10:26:01Z

    The Department of Health has been savaged by the National Audit Office for the handling of its £12m deal with healthcare information analysts Dr Foster.

  • News

    SHA pays £2m for firm to size up PCT commissioning

    2007-02-08T10:22:35Z

    South Central strategic health authority has called in turnaround specialists PricewaterhouseCoopers to assess whether its nine primary care trusts should contract out their commissioning functions to the private sector.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Legal briefing: patient choice and the model contract

    2007-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Under the new NHS operating framework, there will be greater competition, and far more choice for patients

  • News

    PCT could slash 90 per cent of staff

    2007-02-01T00:00:00Z

    A troubleshooter chief executive plans to strip an ailing primary care trust down to its core functions and reduce the number of staff from 300 to 30.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    What social enterprise can do for healthcare

    2007-01-22T00:00:00Z

    A social enterprise is often defined as a business that trades with a social or environmental purpose. It is not driven by profit, and reinvests surpluses back into the organisation or community.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Legal briefing: the separation of provider and commissioner

    2007-01-22T00:00:00Z

    There is increasing pressure on primary care trusts to ensure clarity and robust processes around the distinction between provision and commissioning of services, warns David Owen

  • News

    BMA slams private treatment centres

    2007-01-22T00:00:00Z

    Plans for privately run clinical assessment, treat and support (CATS) centres in England could jeopardise NHS finances, threaten medical posts, and create potential conflicts of interest, the British Medical Association says today. The warning comes in response to consultation on plans for up to 10 CATS centres in Cumbria and ...

  • Comment

    Independent sector falls down on data

    2007-01-18T00:00:00Z

    A level playing field is the holy grail of trust managers who see themselves as competing with the private sector for clinical work. Key to that is confidence that patients and their GPs will be able to make informed choices about where they should go for treatment.

  • News

    Trusts prepare for hard sell to earn picky patients' custom

    2007-01-18T00:00:00Z

    DoH guidelines have opened the door for hospitals to use commercial advertising techniques. Is this necessary for healthy competition or a green light for unseemly publicity battles? Kaye McIntosh hears some early pledges of fair play

  • News

    Data on ISTCs' clinical quality is 'extremely poor', says Healthcare Commission

    2007-01-18T00:00:00Z

    National data on the clinical quality of independent sector treatment centres is 'incomplete and of extremely poor quality', according to a review by the Healthcare Commission.

  • News

    Commission appoints new head of independent healthcare

    2007-01-16T00:00:00Z

    The Healthcare Commission has appointed Jon Billings as head of independent healthcare.Mr Billing has been acting in the post since March 2006 and was previously in charge of the Commission's London and South East Region operations team.He takes the role as the commission moves to inspecting fewer independent healthcare sites ...

  • Comment

    Speak out

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The IPPR's Joe Farrington-Douglas says private companies may be able to give valuable support to commissioners - but decisions about who gets what healthcare must remain public and accountable

  • Comment

    Michael White on politics

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'Some Labour MPs suspect the NHS could have run more such centres just as well'

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Special report on ISTCs: Opportunity knocks

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Independent sector involvement in the NHS has sparked fierce criticism. But consultants Andy Mullins and colleagues argue that it will be a catalyst for the innovation needed to ensure the long-term survival of the service

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Special report: PCT futures

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    In December, HSJran the PCT Futures conference in London, bringing together a wide range of speakers from government, primary care and the independent sector. In this special report we examine some of the main themes to emerge, from the complex arguments around splitting commissioning ...

  • News

    Minister unveils social enterprise start-up fund

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    A £73m social enterprise fund will be given to start-up social enterprises in health and social care, according to health minister Ivan Lewis.

  • News

    Minister: end third sector 'mutual loathing'

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Commissioners have been urged not to hold third sector health services at 'arm's length'.