Latest news – Page 2609
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Blair line on GDP spend dubbed cynical
Prime minister Tony Blairs promise to increase the share of national income spent on the NHS to European levels in five years has been attacked as a cynical ploy by financial analysts.
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View from the opposition: It doesn't add up to a row of beans
Opposition parties were deeply sceptical about Mr Blairs promise, suspecting it was a sleight-of-hand to deflect mounting criticism of the governments handling of the NHS.
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Standards report seeks further change in appointment process
Dramatic improvements are needed in the way appointments to NHS boards are made, according to the latest report of the committee on standards in public life.
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HA backtracks
Leicester health authority is re-examining plans to move breast care, cardiac and intensive care services from the citys Glenfield Hospital, to turn it into a community hospital.
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NHS to take over MoD hospital
Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority is planning to take over the site of a military hospital at the centre of heated debate among local people angered at Ministry of Defence plans to close it down.
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Delays and failure to involve patients dog new charter
The government has come under fire over lengthy delays and failures to properly involve patient groups in the creation of a new NHS Charter .
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Complaints evaluation slips behind schedule
Patients groups have complained of slippage on the NHS's evaluation of complaints project - ordered in November 1998.
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in brief
Health secretary Alan Milburn has warned that waiting lists will rise over the next couple of months because of the planned priority the NHS has been giving to winter emergencies. The number of patients waiting for inpatient and day-case treatment fell by 8,000 in November to 1,071,400.
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Academic takes up chair at Food Standards Agency
Health secretary Alan Milburn has announced key appointments to the new Food Standards Agency. Its chair will be Professor Sir John Krebs, former chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council and a Royal Society research professor at Oxford Universitys zoology department. His deputy will be Suzi Leather, chair of ...
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BMA calls for GPs to be brought within race act
The British Medical Association is calling for GP practices with five partners or fewer to be brought within the ambit of the 1976 Race Relations Act as the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill makes its way through Parliament. A similar loophole excluding small practices from the Sex Discrimination Act was closed ...
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CHC patients panel to inform major Welsh merger
A public consultation exercise is being launched in Cardiff, Rhymney Valley and Vale of Glamorgan involving three community health councils and University Hospital of Wales and Llandough Hospital trust. The trust was formed recently by the merger of two acute trusts and is about to merge again with community services. ...
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NHS Direct call centre planned to divert enquiries
Nurse-led telephone helpline NHS Direct has launched a virtual all centre that will automatically divert calls to an NHS Direct centre in another part of the country if one receives an excessive number of enquiries. The technology was developed by Access Health UK to cover nine counties from Northumbria to ...
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Pharmaceutical industry puts case for medicines
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has issued a report arguing that the government will need the help of modern medicines to meet its targets set out in the Saving Lives white paper. Director general Dr Trevor Jones said it was surprising that the government had not identified a ...
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MP's challenge cuts to Third World Surrey NHS
Surrey MPs have accused the government of reducing their local NHS to a Third World service. In an adjournment debate in the Commons last week, the Conservative MP for Guildford, Nick St Aubyn, led the challenge to funding cutbacks, which ministers claim are necessary to redress a historic overspend in ...
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MSP's dither in health debate
The Scottish Parliaments health committee met for the first time this year last week and carried on in pre millennium vein by failing to make any decisions, other than to appoint Malcolm Chisholm as deputy convenor .
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Patchy service in old-age mental health
Mental health services for elderly people are patchy and inconsistent, with many areas continuing to sink resources into hospital and residential care while failing to deliver joint working, according to the Audit Commission.
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PFI shrinking HS capacity, MPs are told
Labour MP's clashed with a long-term opponent of the private finance initiative at a meeting of the influential Commons Treasury select committee last week.
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Public health body to end contract culture
The demise of the Health Education Authority will end contract culture and poor co-ordination in public health, the head of its slimline successor has pledged.
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CHI to pick four sites for reviews
The Commission for Health Improvement is likely to start its programme of clinical governance reviews with four pilot studies of acute trusts.
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Days like this
Scores of GP practices have formally registered an interest in fundholding, due to begin next year. Regional health authorities say they have typically received 20 to 40 expressions of interest. One regional co-ordinator commented: It ay be they just don't want to miss the boat and it might all fizzle ...