The latest news from the last day of the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool
5.18pm So what did we learn at this week’s NHS Confederation conference? Click here to find out.
3.48pm Health Education England has revealed a multimillion pound project to prepare the NHS workforce for the advent of healthcare based on advances in genetic medicine.
The national education and training body unveiled its genomics programme at the NHS Confederation conference, and revealed it will begin making changes within next year’s annual workforce planning process.
2.46pm Leadership troubles at a North West clinical commissioning group could be a “symptom” of wider problems with the CCG model, according to an influential GP.
James Kingsland, president of the National Association of Primary Care, told HSJ the issues that led to NHS England’s investigation into Wirral CCG’s leadership were unlikely to be isolated.
1.38pm The 2014 NHS Confederation conference has now closed.
12.46pm Kate Granger is now delivering the final speech of the 2014 NHS Confederation conference.
12.34pm @ShaunLintern: “Tim Kelsey accepts the concerns about care.date which caused its delay were justified#confed2014”
12.33pm @ShaunLintern: “We can’t follow the patient through the system. We need to start sharing data to understand whats happening - Tim Kelsey#confed2014”
12.31pm @ShaunLintern:@tkelsey1 “I want to talk about data unleashing the power of people”
12.24pm You can follow HSJ’s Shaun Lintern on twitter (@ShaunLintern) for full coverage of Mr Kelsey’s speech.
12.21pm Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and engagement at NHS England, has just started his conference speech.
11.56am The Independent reports that the former health secretary, Andrew Lansley, is set to become Britain’s European Commissioner after saying yesterday that he is ready to do the job.
Mr Lansley told the BBC’s Daily Politics: My general approach is, if the prime minister asks me, I want to say yes”. Asked whether he had been offered the post already, he did not reply.
11.45am Papworth Hospital Foundation Trust’s first surgeon Christopher Parish has died at the age of 97, the trust has announced. He led pioneering work on heart-lung surgery as the first cardiothoracic surgeon at the hospital. Here’s the trust’s press release, which gives an indication of the extraordinary life Mr Parish lived:
“Mr Parish was appointed initially as thoracic surgeon at Papworth Hospital in 1952, though he went on to work in and develop cardiothoracic surgery. At that time, tuberculosis had been brought under control so Papworth Hospital’s work as a tuberculosis sanatorium was fading whilst the number of cardiac cases on the waiting list was increasing.
“On arrival at the hospital, he found that its surgical facilities were very limited and unsuited to the requirements for the hospital’s changing role so he set out a pioneering vision to establish a specialist cardiothoracic surgery unit at Papworth.
“Mr Parish was able to convince the Regional Health Authority that cardiac surgery required dedicated radiographers and clinicians and subsequently recruited the late Ben Milstein who developed open heart surgery at the hospital.
“This attracted fellow cardiothoracic surgeons to join the team and paved the way for many milestones in Papworth Hospital’s remarkable history including the UK’s first successful heart transplant and the World’s first heart- lung and liver transplant.
“Prior to his time at Papworth Hospital, during the Second World War, Mr Parish served in the Army, working at field hospitals for the 8th Army in the North African Desert and then moved on to the landings at Salerno and Anzio in Italy where he performed life-saving surgery.
“On one occasion, he was presented with a patient suffering from a chest wound and surgery on his heart was essential if his life was to be saved. At the time, the concept of heart surgery was highly controversial amongst his clinical colleagues but the operation was essential to save the man’s life. With no relatives or next-of-kin to consult with, he decided to perform the operation.
“The patient survived and it was this decisive wartime experience which proved to him that heart surgery could be done and led him into cardiothoracic surgery at Papworth Hospital.”
10.51am The Times reports that the contamination of hospital drips that killed one baby has left 17 more seriously ill, although doctors say they are responding well to treatment.
The babes are being treated for blood poisoning linked to liquid food that is thought to contain toxic bacteria. A spokeswoman for ITH Pharma, whose manufacturing plant is now under investigation, said the potential contamination was “linked to a sourced single raw material ingredient”.
10.26am This week’s issue of HSJ magazine is now available to read on our tablet app.
In this week’s issue Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, reveals to HSJ that he is open to changes in structures and rules in his first major interview since taking post.
10.22am GP surgeries are being put under severe financial pressure because of changes to the way some practices receive funding, leading doctors have said.
The British Medical Association said that last year, health officials began to phase out the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee, which the union said was an “important financial lifeline to many GP practices by guaranteeing a minimum level of funding”.
A spokesman said that more than 20 GP practices in east London were facing a “funding crisis” because of the changes.
10.19am Greater Manchester’s clinical commissioning groups voted unanimously this week to launch a public consultation on proposals for a major shake up of general surgery and emergency care across the conurbation’s eight acute providers.
The options set out for the Healthier Together reconfiguration would see the centralisation of emergency and high risk general surgery, currently performed at ten Greater Manchester hospitals, on to four or five sites.
HSJ understands that the commissioning groups’ preconsultation business case for the reconfiguration has now been formally submitted to NHS England for assurance, with a decision expected by the end of this month.
The timing of the planned consultation is intensely politically sensitive, coming less than a year before the next general election.
10.07am Accident and emergency departments have failed to meet the four hour target to see, treat, admit or discharge 95 per cent of patients for the fourth week in a row.
This is the first time that the target has been missed across a whole month since April last year.
Consultant-led 24 hour A&E departments – known as type 1 – have missed the target for 46 weeks now.
9.57am HSJ’s Shaun Lintern is live tweeting NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh’s speech on seven day services. Follow him @ShaunLintern.
7.00am Good morning and welcome to HSJ Live. We begin the day with a comment piece from Professor Jill Maben, director of the national nursing research unit at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London.
In the piece Professor Maben argues that the take up of Schwartz rounds, where healthcare staff come together to discuss the challenges of their jobs, show that staff support is finally being taken seriously in the NHS.
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