All News articles – Page 1362

  • News

    PCT to lose 90 posts in £29m cuts plan

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    A primary care trust has announced plans to cut up to 90 jobs in response to the Department of Health requirement to balance its books within one financial year.

  • News

    Inappropriate admissions: guidance to urge 12.5pc cut

    2006-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The prime minister's delivery unit is taking a key role in shaping 'crisp' new guidance for primary care trusts to reduce inappropriate hospital admissions and save over £1.4bn a year.

  • News

    Rise in NHS sight tests

    2006-10-24T12:00:00Z

    Two out of three sight tests are paid for by the NHS, compared to a decade ago when almost half of all sight tests were carried out privately. The total number of sight tests has increased by 5 per cent since 2003-04 with a small ...

  • News

    Unions demand 'decent' pay increase

    2006-10-24T12:00:00Z

    The 14 unions that make up the NHS Staff Council staff side have blasted a 1.5 per cent pay rise the Department of Health is predicted to propose. In a joint press conference the unions outlined their case for a 'decent' pay rise based on ...

  • News

    Homeless people lack health support

    2006-10-24T00:00:00Z

    Eight out of 10 homeless people do not know where to get health support to help with drug, alcohol or mental health problems, according to a homeless charity. Research carried out by Broadway on the impact its healthy living centre has on homeless and vulnerably ...

  • News

    World Health Organisation makes flu vaccine warning

    2006-10-24T00:00:00Z

    Immediate and sustained action and funding is needed if the world is to be prepared for an influenza pandemic, the World Health Organisation has said. The organisation said stocks of influenza vaccines were several billion doses short and could lead to a public health crisis ...

  • News

    Boosting nursing numbers could save lives, says RCN

    2006-10-24T00:00:00Z

    Patients on wards with fewer nurses are more likely to experience complications, according to research launched by the Royal College of Nursing. The research also found that nurses working on wards with lower numbers of nurses are more likely to experience burn out.Read the press release ...

  • News

    More long-term contraceptives being used

    2006-10-24T00:00:00Z

    One in five women are using long acting reversible contraception such as implants and the contraceptive jab, according to research by The Information Centre for health and social care. There has been a massive increase in the numbers of women using the intrauterine system and ...

  • News

    Private finance guidance for trusts published

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    New draft guidance which will help NHS trusts select, evaluate and appoint private sector bidders in private finance schemes has been published by the Department of Health.The guidance has been developed in conjunction with the Treasury, private sector contractors and managers of NHS organisations that have been through private finance ...

  • News

    New NI guidance for child death procedures

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    The Northern Irish Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has published a consultation paper on procedures to be followed in cases of sudden unexpected child deaths.The regional child death review protocol recommends a multi-agency approach to be followed in cases on unexpected deaths of children up to 18 ...

  • News

    Lord Warner welcomes millionth choose and book referral

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    More than one million referrals to specialist care have been made through choose and book by GPs across England, health minister Lord Warner has announced.He said 85 per cent of all practices were using the IT system to make referrals, and more than 6,000 practices made referrals last week.Read the ...

  • News

    Law on assisted dying is 'not working', says charity

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    A charity campaigning for the legalisation of euthanasia has argued that the UK is failing terminally ill people and their loved ones.On Friday, David March was given a 12-month suspended sentence for helping his wife, who had suffered from multiple sclerosis, to die.Dignity in Dying chief executive Deborah Annetts said ...

  • News

    NHS could save £2.2bn by tackling inefficiency

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    The NHS could save up to £2.2bn if trusts take steps to address wide variations in productivity and efficiency.The Department of Health has published its Better care, better valueindicators, which show trust-by-trust performance against a range of measures.Reducing unnecessary admissions could unlock £348m, and ...

  • News

    Primary care trusts told to save money for 2006-07 GP payments

    2006-10-23T12:00:00Z

    Primary care trust directors of finance should accrue funds during the financial year 2006-07 to enable them to pay GPs in the first quarter of 2007-08.The guidance is published in a series of letters to trusts and GPs about this year's GP Patient Survey.Read the letters ...

  • News

    Improving outcomes for wheelchair users

    2006-10-20T12:00:00Z

    Out and About: wheelchairs as part of a whole systems approach to independencehas been published by the Department of Health. The document provides a view of the current state of wheelchair provision and makes recommendations on how the NHS working with partners can improve outcomes ...

  • News

    Response to NHS charges report

    2006-10-20T12:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has published its response to July's Commons health select committee report on NHS charging. The response covers charges levied on patients and families for prescription dental charges, sight tests, additional charges for some clinical services, assistance with transport costs and charges ...

  • News

    New head of policy at ASH

    2006-10-20T12:00:00Z

    Asthma UK policy and campaigns director Martin Dockrell has been appointed as the new head of policy at pressure group Action on Smoking and Health. Mr Dockrell was an AIDS activist in the 1980s and 1990s. For the last five years he has worked closely ...

  • News

    'Unbundling' options promised soon

    2006-10-19T00:00:00Z

    Ministers are to review financial incentives to encourage the NHS to rehabilitate older people in the community, rather than acute settings.

  • News

    Michael White on politics

    2006-10-19T00:00:00Z

    Tony Blair on the Prime Ministers Question Time and the Health Care Commissions annual rating

  • News

    Nicholson: mixed reviews but the right idea

    2006-10-19T00:00:00Z

    Six weeks into the job, NHS chief executive David Nicholson has had a few days in which he will have felt the full force of the pressure he must withstand in his role at the centre of the increasingly heated debate about the future of the NHS.