All News articles – Page 1998

  • News

    Denham reveals CHI clampdown on infection rates

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Health minister John Denham has said the Commission for Health Improvement and Audit Commission will have a legal right to demand information on hospital infection rates - and publish it. The move will be part of an attack on what Mr Denham called 'unacceptable variations' in infection rates between hospitals ...

  • News

    Heading for a change

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    The fourth article on the government's modernisation programme looks at the work of the professions modernisation action team. Its brief is 'to increase flexibility in training and working practices and remove demarcations, in the context of major expansion of the healthcare workforce'.

  • News

    CBE honour for CHI chief Homa

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Former waiting-list buster and current director of the Commission for Health Improvement Dr Peter Homa has been made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday honours.

  • News

    Careers without tiers

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    A course that teaches nurses to do work normally carried out by surgeons has led to some graduates running their own day-case clinics. Jane Farrell reports

  • News

    Cancer money may be spread wider in future

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Public health minister Yvette Cooper has said that NHS cancer research money may in future be spread wider than the big three cancer research centres.

  • News

    Calls for tougher restrictions on consultants' private undertakings

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Consultants should not be allowed to undertake private practice unless they can show that none of their NHS patients are waiting more than three months for hospital treatment, the health select committee heard this week.

  • News

    Rapid rise in HIV diagnoses may lead to budget shortfall

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Fears are growing that the budget for AIDS and HIV services in London will fall short by at least £5m this year, despite receiving a £21.7m uplift.

  • News

    Buddy byes

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Actor Tony Robinson led a fulsome tribute to general secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe, who is retiring at the end of the year.

  • News

    In brief: National Institute for Clinical Excellence

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has ruled that taxanes Taxotere and Taxol can be used to treat advanced breast cancer where other drugs have not worked or are unsuitable. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry welcomed the decision , but said it should have been reached without the ...

  • News

    In brief: Dr Mo Mowlam

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Cabinet Office minister Dr Mo Mowlam, who co-ordinates drug policy across the government, has announced that £1m from the confiscated assets fund will be used to finance research on drug misuse among women and ethnic minorities.

  • News

    In brief: Private finance initiative contract

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Thirteen of Wales' 15 trusts are taking part in a single procurement exercise for replacement finance systems. The £20m private finance initiative contract is due to be signed in September. Project board chair Alan Brace, finance director at Pontypridd and Rhondda trust, said it offered 'big economies of scale' and ...

  • News

    In brief: Mancunian Community Health trust

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Mancunian Community Health trust is providing staff who will act as one-to-one mentors for pupils at three Manchester schools. They will meet 15 to 16-year-old pupils regularly to advise on health service careers.

  • News

    In brief: Ministry of Defence

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    The Ministry of Defence has set up a system to monitor the health of troops deployed in Sierra Leone, describing this as a 'sensible precaution' because of the large number of personnel involved. Some arrived in West Africa without anti-malaria tablets or immunisations.

  • News

    Boost to medical training with go-ahead for schools

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Two new medical schools have been approved. One will be based at the University of East Anglia and the other will be a joint development between Exeter and Plymouth universities.

  • News

    Report blames breech deaths on poor care

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Late diagnosis and poor care during labour are putting breech birth babies at increased risk, the Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy has found.

  • News

    Bark versus bite

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    As the media bays for the blood of incompetent medical staff, the Commission for Health Improvement took to the road and found itself under pressure to offer reassurance about its role. Seamus Ward reports

  • News

    Grants awarded to first healthy-living centres in NI

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    The New Opportunities Fund has given grants worth £500,000 to establish the first healthy living centres in Northern Ireland. The money is going to two centres. The Irvinestown Community Partnership will transform four run-down houses into a healthy-living centre providing employment skills and training programmes as well as health activities. ...

  • News

    'Whole-systems' approach urged to solve chaos in rehab services

    2000-06-22T00:00:00Z

    Rehabilitation services for older people are patchy and poorly co-ordinated, even though they can cut costs and reduce the number of emergency admissions, the Audit Commission says in a report published yesterday.