Latest news – Page 1949

  • 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.

  • 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

    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.

  • News

    PCT to lose 90 posts in £29m cuts plan

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    A primary care trust has announced plans to cut up to 90 jobs in response to the Department of Health requirement to balance its books within one financial year.

  • News

    DoH publishes new smoking cessation figures

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has published the latest quarterly statistics on access to smoking cessation services. It shows Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority had the highest proportion of successful quitters (63 per cent) while Cheshire and Merseyside SHA reported the lowest (41 per cent). ...

  • News

    Fall in Welsh waiting times

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The number of people waiting for over eight months for inpatient or day-case treatment in Wales has fallen by 737 over the last quarter - a 10.5 per cent reduction. In outpatients, the number of people waiting over eight months for a first appointment has ...

  • News

    Mayor calls for action on Muslim health in London

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    London mayor Ken Livingstone has called on NHS organisations to act on the recommendations of the first ever large-scale report on the lives of Muslims in the capital One in twelve Londoners is Muslim and the report finds that their health is disproportionately affected by ...

  • 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

    New regulations on mental capacity research

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The government has responded to the consultation on the Mental Capacity Act draft regulations, governing people with impaired mental capacity and their involvement in research work.The response covers proposals for appointing a body to oversee research arrangements for people who previously gave consent, then subsequently lost the mental capacity to ...

  • News

    New incontinence guidelines

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has launched new guidelines to improve the management and care of the estimated 5 million women in the UK suffering from urinary incontinence. Topics include diagnosis, treatments and training. http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=378930

  • News

    Occupational therapy

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    I read with great delight the article by David Woodheadreferring to the virtues of working on an allotment and how beneficial it is.

  • News

    NPSA and menus

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Your article 'NPSA attacks meaningless glossy menus' (news, 12 October, page 16) misrepresents my comments at the patient safety fringe event during the Conservative Party conference.

  • News

    Warner: PCT consultations 'pretty inept'

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts have been criticised by government ministers and opposition MPs for sparking public protests by their handling of reconfigurations.

  • News

    News analysis: time to give PECs the muscle to make a real difference

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Professional executive committees have been weighed down by corporate affairs and unable to influence strategy and clinical design, so the DoH's decision to review them has been widely welcomed. But what will the new PECs look like? Daloni Carlisle finds out

  • News

    Community petitions: threshold options revealed in DoH paper

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Details of the way 'community petitions' could be used to trigger formal service reviews have been revealed in a Department of Health paper.

  • News

    Tips for achieving the 18-week target

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    There is no magic solution to achieving the 18-week target from GP referral to hospital treatment; but the secret is to tighten up all aspects of every element of the patient's journey.

  • News

    West Midlands chiefs named

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    HSJ introduces eight new primary care trust chief executives appointed by NHS West Midlands

  • News

    Unions demand 'decent' pay increase

    2006-10-24T12:00:00Z

    The 14 unions that make up the NHS Staff Council staff side have blasted a 1.5 per cent pay rise the Department of Health is predicted to propose. In a joint press conference the unions outlined their case for a 'decent' pay rise based on ...

  • News

    Rise in NHS sight tests

    2006-10-24T12:00:00Z

    Two out of three sight tests are paid for by the NHS, compared to a decade ago when almost half of all sight tests were carried out privately. The total number of sight tests has increased by 5 per cent since 2003-04 with a small ...