All News articles – Page 1277
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PFI contracts: losing bidders could win back costs under EU law
Trusts will have to compensate unsuccessful bidders for private finance initiative contracts under new EU regulations, the Department of Health has confirmed.
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Letter sets out ophthalmics' loss of earnings arrangements
The Department of Health has sent out a letter detailing payments for loss of earnings for optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners who have attended training.It also gives the 2006 level of payment, which is due to be handed out this year.Click here to read the letter
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Anti-smoking drug gains NICE backing
A drug that helps smokers quit their habit has been approved in draft guidelines by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.Champix is recommended for people who have expressed a desire to quit smoking and should normally be prescribed alongside behavioural support.Click here for more details
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Guy's denies pathology plans go against guidance
Guy's and St Thomas' foundation trust has denied claims by the union Unite that it is attempting to privatise its pathology services against Department of Health guidance.
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Staff cuts in social care 'not affecting patients'
The overall number social services staff has dropped in England but care has not suffered, according to figures from researchers at the Information Centre for health and social care.However, the number of social workers employed by local councils increased in 2006, compared with 2005.
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Primary care trusts charged with rewriting £300m script
The National Audit Office has urged primary care trusts.to use generic medicines to save money. Oliver Evans hears from the leaders who will be expected to drive the savings in the milieu of restructuring and inform GP prescribing behaviour right down the line
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SHAs' £117m training raid attacked
Strategic health authorities are raiding over £117m from this year's training budgets, HSJ has learned.
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Welsh ambulance times off target
Ambulance response times in Wales are continuing to slide, according to figures from the Welsh Assembly published today. Just 79.1 per cent of responses to all emergency calls were within target times between January and March this year, the fourth successive quarterly decline.For more information on the latest Welsh ...
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NHS Alliance names new commissioning director
Former South Leicestershire primary care trust chief executive Julie Wood has joined the NHS Alliance as director for practice-based commissioning and its chief executive transformation network. Ms Wood will also continue to work as a consultant.Click here to read the NHS Alliance announcement
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Ministers should not make reconfiguration decisions, says report
Ministers should not be permitted to make decisions about local hospital reconfiguration, a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research argues.According to the report, the Independent Reconfiguration Panel should play a bigger role in hospital changes and ministers should not get involved.To read the report, click here
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Scientists isolate breast cancer genes
Cancer Research UK says its scientists have isolated five regions of the genome containing genes that can increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.The Cambridge-based scientists led an international team in a large-scale whole genome search. The team studied DNA from nearly 50,000 women.
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Uncertain roles for maternity assistants lead to care concerns
A national study into the role of support workers in maternity services claims that a lack of standardisation in training could leave some mothers and babies at risk.The report, from King's College London, recommends putting in place a national framework for training and competencies of support workers. It also says ...
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Mental health charity calls for new approach to commissioning
A new approach to commissioning is needed to promote better mental health, according to the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.In its response to the government's commissioning framework for health and well-being, SCMH has called for a new strategy that sets out how to promote good mental health and the skills ...
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PCT Network appoints new chair
The NHS Confederation's Primary Care Trust Network has elected Dr Lise Llewellyn as its chair and Paul Sabapathy as vice chair.Dr Llewellyn is chief executive of Berkshire East primary care trust and Mr Sabapathy is chair of Birmingham East and North PCT.
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Legal briefing: staying in bed
Delayed discharge can be caused when clinically well patients refuse to go home. In such circumstances, what is the legal position for trusts faced with coercing patients to leave? Ian Long explains
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Process pathways - the answer to 18 weeks?
Traditional efforts to improve efficiency and reduce waste in the NHS have focused on redesigning disease- or condition-based pathways. While this approach reaps the rewards of improved flow and quality of care, improvements are often on a micro scale and do little to attract investment into service improvement at a ...
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Warning on drinking while pregnant
Pregnant women and those trying to conceive should avoid alcohol, according to revised government guidance. The advice is not a result of new scientific evidence but has been introduced to provide a stronger, more consistent message for the whole of the UK, said the Department of Health. The last DoH ...
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Cataract surgery oversubscribed
The NHS is performing too many cataract operations, according to new research. Procedures have increased 10-fold over the past 40 years in England and trusts are now oversupplied. Analysis published in the British Journal of Opthalmology showed wide variation in admissions, ranging from 172-548 people per 100,000 of the population. ...
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Midwives vote to consider industrial action
The Royal College of Midwives has unanimously decided to ballot its 37,000 members on whether to take industrial action over the government's below-inflation 2.5 per cent pay award. The call was made at an RCM conference in Brighton yesterday.