All News articles – Page 1318
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David Peat on lost baggage and fielding complaints
'I always try to acknowledge a complaint myself when it arrives on our doorstep, and I always sign off our response. It helps me keep in touch with patients' perceptions - their sense of grievance, injustice or perplexity.'
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Legal age to buy tobacco to rise
The legal minimum age to buy tobacco is to rise from 16 to 18 on 1 July. The move is intended to make it easier for retailers to spot under-age smokers and reduce the numbers of teenagers who smoke. A campaign to raise awareness of the change will be launched ...
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2007 a make or break year for NHS, says think tank
A failure to tackle rising costs and to invest in modern services means that 2007 is a make or break year for the NHS, according to a report by think tank Reform. The report says the service's long-term strength has been sapped by the lack of an underpinning costed reform ...
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Superbug surge
Mentions of Clostridium difficile on death certificates in England and Wales rose by 69 per cent to 3,807 from 2004-05, according to the Office for National Statistics. The rate for deaths involving C difficile in males increased from 23 to 38 per million population in 2005. In females the rate ...
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Scottish surplus
The NHS in Scotland ended the last financial year in surplus, according to figures published today. At the end of 2005-06, the health service had underspent its £9bn budget by £70.6m, Audit Scotland has reported. The previous year resulted in a deficit of £32m.
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'I say what I think - it can be uncomfortable'
Emergency access czar Professor Sir George Alberti has spent his career as an outspoken agent of change. Here he reveals how he prefers to eschew politeness and tackle controversy
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More power to scrutiny
Stuart Shepherd looks at how scrutiny committees are tackling the growing problem of obesity in Britain
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UK tops state spend poll
More healthcare is funded by the state in the UK than in many other Western countries, a study claims. An analysis of 12 comparable nations found that the NHS's share of UK spending increased from 80 per cent in 1998 to 86 per cent in 2005, due to extra government ...
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Radiation overdose triggers probe
Immediate inspections of Scotland's five cancer radiotherapy centres will be held after a report into a radiation overdose found a catalogue of failings.
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PCT triage plans spark opposition
A debt-ridden primary care trust has met fierce opposition from its local hospital over proposals to have accident and emergency arrivals triaged by primary care staff.
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Non-executive was unlawfully sacked
The Appointments Commission has admitted unlawfully sacking a non-executive director of a primary care trust who opposed an ill-fated independent treatment centre contract.
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Noel Plumridge on payment by results
I'm sorry, local currency and price is not payment by results in. a meaningful sense
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SHAs to review need for PCT top-slicing
NHS North West is the first strategic health authority to confirm that it will not top-slice money from primary care trusts this financial year.
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MPs to probe IT programme
MPs on the Commons health select committee are set to investigate the NHS IT programme later this year in response to a letter from 23 computer experts. MPs will examine the national programme and decide whether there is a need for an independent audit.
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Some trusts will stay in red, MPs warn
Some NHS trusts will never get back into financial balance, one of the government's turnaround advisers has admitted.
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PCTs told to be ready for patient moves
Primary care trusts will have to respond quickly to movements of patients between GP practices when the results of the national patient survey are published, according to new guidance from the Department of Health.
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Monitor settles payment by results row
A public dispute between the foundation trust and primary care trust in Bournemouth over payments under payment by results has been settled.
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Mixed picture on PBC uptake
More than 40 per cent of GP practices have begun to adopt practice-based commissioning, according to government figures published today.
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MP reignites Milburn row
An influential MP has called on the government to deliver on its promise to publish advice it sought on decisions made over the reconfiguration of primary care trusts.