All News articles – Page 1196
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News
No problems accessing HPV vaccine
I would like to clarify that Luton teaching primary care trust does not anticipate problems in providing the HPV (cervical cancer) vaccination to Muslim girls in Luton, despite the programme starting during Ramadan. We have arranged a rolling programme of immunisation that will run throughout the year, and are happy ...
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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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ISTCs: where are all the patients?
Under-capacity independent sector treatment centres look set to leave the health service £350m out of pocket, despite an upturn in the number of patients treated. Could a system facelift improve usage? Alison Moore investigates
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NHS managers lack faith in all three parties
An exclusive poll for HSJ reveals the extent of dissatisfaction in the health service with the three main parties' policies.
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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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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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Andrew Lansley backs value-based drug pricing
Pharmaceutical companies should be paid according to the benefits that their drugs bring to patients, shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley has said.
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Mental health takes wrong approach
The improvements to community mental health services found by the Healthcare Commission are to be commended, but not without a word of caution regarding the 350,000 service users who are shortly to be removed from the care programme approach in the coming months, as they receive only 'standard' rather than ...
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NHS Litigation Authority to increase legal fees
The NHS Litigation Authority is set to increase the fees for its clinical negligence scheme for trusts next year in the face of rising legal costs and compensation payouts.
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Whitehall will pay buildings costs on ISTCs
The Department of Health has said it intends to pay any buy-back costs for independent sector treatment centres - taking a massive financial burden off primary care trusts.
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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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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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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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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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Northwick Park Hospital cleared over maternity deaths
An investigation into maternal deaths at Northwick Park Hospital has found the trust innocent of any wrongdoing.
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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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Prescription drug marketing comes under debate
Organisations representing patients, medical professionals and consumers are calling on the European Commission to rethink proposals to allow drug companies to provide information direct to consumers.
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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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Emma Dent is humbled by medical ingenuity
It may have come to your attention that I have something of a cynical nature. And unfortunately writing about health policy has done little to stem that. But when someone acts in a truly humane way to help those worse off than them, even I can stop being world-weary long ...
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Learning disability housing plans at risk
The pledge to shut all 'outmoded' NHS homes for adults with learning disabilities by 2010 is at risk, HSJ has learnt. Poor quality local proposals have been blamed for slow progress on the commitment.