Latest news – Page 1770
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Winning formula for resource allocation
The research cited in your article on resource allocation understates the extent to which the existing formula adjusts for age and wealth relative to deprivation. The hospital and community health services formula, for example, allocates more than 10 times as much for people aged 85-plus as it does for those ...
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Top-up payments are a lottery
I would like to thank HSJ for its coverage on top-up payments. The final decision will have huge implications for the health service. If top-ups were allowed, this would enable patients who can afford it to get rapid access to interventions that would not be normally available to all in ...
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Data quality requires careful analysis
Your article on the King's Fund's report into variations in primary care trust spending raises several issues. Although the data we used does allow an insight into spending, we warned that a degree of caution should be exercised with the figures. Data quality is an issue and so too is ...
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Sophia Christie on management lessons from literature
While the 1980s saw an explosion of books promising 'the management secrets of...', War and Peace seems to have been sadly neglected. But Tolstoy's commentary is instructive in the context of current discussions about the next stage review.
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Charities warn on information prescriptions scheme
Charities in information prescription pilots have warned the scheme risks failure unless it is mandatory and supported by incentives.
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Lord Carter to head up NHS competition panel
Lord Carter of Coles is to be the first chair and director of the NHS Co-operation and Competition Panel.
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Stroke services improving - Royal College of Physicians
Stroke services have shown marked improvement in the last two years, an audit by the Royal College of Physicians has shown. The audit of 224 hospitals in all areas of the UK except Scotland found near universal provision of specialist stroke beds.
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Mental health lacks national vision
Mental health plans arising from the next stage review lack ambition and risk being 'lost' as the service focuses on other sectors, managers are warning.
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Lib Dems unveil plan to slash NHS managers' pay
Senior health managers should be forced to reapply for jobs and take pay cuts as part of a public sector cost-cutting drive, the Liberal Democrats proposed at their annual conference in Bournemouth this week.
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NHS failure regime: up to 92 trusts may be culled
The Department of Health expects to cull up to six hospital trusts a year under its new failure regime, figures in its impact assessment reveal.The document shows the DH expects to save £200m a year under the plans, which are out for consultation. It focuses on six trusts affected by ...
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NHS Direct relieves pressure on A&E and GPs
I refer to your feature on NHS Direct and referrals to accident and emergency. Independent research published in June shows that NHS Direct is helping take the pressure off A&E and GP surgeries as it increasingly continues to advise callers to treat themselves at home. In fact, our most recent ...
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Integrated care warning
Integration is in vogue. This is fine, but different enthusiasts interpret 'integration' differently. Confused enthusiasm is never a good thing on which to base health policy. At its best, such confusion could waste money; at its worst, it could cost lives.
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Cases of legionnaires' to rise
More cases of legionnaires' disease are likely as a result of climate change, researchers predict.
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Patient information consultation begins
Connecting for Health has launched a consultation on the use of patient information. It wants the public and health professionals to give their views on the use of patient information for purposes such as health research and managing and planning care.
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Health Professions Council president re-elected
The Health Professions Council has re-elected Anna Van der Gaag as council president.
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Shortfall in care home funding
An extra £540m is needed to pay for residential care for older people, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation predicts.
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Cancer patients cannot afford prescriptions
A third of cancer patients do not take their prescribed medicines because they cannot afford the prescription charge. Many do not know that buying prescription prepayment certificates would help with the cost.A survey by Macmillan Cancer Support found that 41 per cent of cancer patients did not know about how ...
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Health students consider quitting over debts
Over half of all students training to become members of professions including nursing, midwifery and occupational therapy are considering quitting their studies due to debt, according to a survey by Unison.Ninety per cent of respondents believed health students should be paid a salary. Mature students with children and students from ...
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Infections prompt agency to issue blood testing guidance
Guidance for the testing of blood glucose in residential care homes is to be issued by the Health Protection Agency after testing led to breakdowns in infection control. Five incidences of onward transmission of hepatitis B are believed to have occurred in care homes from 2004-07.
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Scottish walk-in pharmacy services launched
Eight Scottish pharmacies are piloting walk-in services such as immunisation, health checks, nurse-led minor injury clinics, sexual healthcare and smoking cessation. The pharmacies will stay open until midnight six days a week during the pilot, which is due to run until March 2010.