All articles by Jo Stephenson – Page 8
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Media Watch: GP opening hours
Doctors were in the spotlight this week, after the British Medical Association advised GPs to accept a new contract that means practices will open for longer.
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Media Watch: agency nurses
Agency nurses are raking it in with some hospitals paying them more than £120 an hour, according to figures obtained by the Conservatives.
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Bromley Hospitals trust fails cleanliness spot check
Bromley Hospitals trust has been rapped for breaching the hygiene code after a Healthcare Commission spot check.
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Focus on targets instead of patients led to health scandals
NHS managers implicated in serious care failings are too often focused on targets and mergers instead of patients, the Healthcare Commission has warned.
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New target regime should give trusts local freedom
The Department of Health has released delayed guidance on new 'vital signs' performance indicators which aim to give trusts more freedom to set local goals with less interference from the top.Under the new operating framework, trusts will be judged on three tiers of 'vital signs' - and can set local ...
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nurse nib
Barts and the London trust says a policy that allows nurses to discharge patients without the need to wait for a doctor has already saved the trust thousands of pounds and helped free up hospital beds. Under the scheme senior nurses can discharge patients using clear criteria agreed with medical ...
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Auditors sceptical about cull of arm's-length bodies
Finance experts have questioned the value for money of a major Department of Health review aimed at cutting spending on arm's-length bodies.
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Media Watch: donations row
Health secretary Alan Johnson was big news this week, as a row over a donation to his campaign to become Labour deputy leader spread across front pages faster than a hospital superbug.
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Scottish plan to fight fraud
NHS bodies in Scotland will be encouraged to appoint 'counter-fraud champions' in a bid to stop money being illegally siphoned from the health service.
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Most PCTs want to keep existing accountability systems
Most primary care trusts do not want new structures for improving accountability to patients, NHS Confederation research suggests.
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Media Watch: compensation claims
While Leslie Ash celebrated, columnists seethed, indignant at the £5m in compensation the actor received after contracting an infection in hospital.
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11 foundation trusts face probe for missing targets
Eleven foundation trusts are being scrutinised for failing to hit performance targets they claimed they would meet.
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GPs back call to vet leaflets
There is mounting pressure to introduce a system for vetting information leaflets in GP surgeries after it emerged many are sponsored by big brands or contain large amounts of advertising.
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Confed rejects LGA call for new 'hire and fire' powers
NHS organisations have rebuffed a call for councils to hold the power to hire and fire trust chief executives.
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Trusts told to gather data on clinical outcomes
Trusts will be expected to collect information on the success of treatments in a move that could pave the way for more public information about individual clinicians' performance.
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Media Watch: super-surgeries
Is it a GP practice, is it a shop? No it's a super-surgery - the answer to patients' prayers (possibly) but not necessarily good news for doctors.
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3rd sector
More voluntary organisations would work alongside the NHS as 'strategic partners' under government plans to modernise the health service's investment in the third sector. The Department of Health has launched a consultation in a bid to create a fairer and more streamlined funding system.
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floods nib
An interim report into the way public services responded to the summer floods has highlighted confusion over the roles of health organisations in providing health protection advice. The review, led by Sir Michael Pitt, chairman of the South West Strategic Health Authority, calls for urgent clarification from the Department of ...
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Sir Gerry had a point, admits Rotherham chief
Management guru Sir Gerry Robinson's documentary series at Rotherham General Hospital has led to dramatic changes in the way it is run, its chief executive has claimed.
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GPs told to get specialist commissioning help
Practice-based commissioning should be changed to let mixed teams of hospital specialists and GPs decide how budgets are spent, according to a report by a leading health policy analyst.