Concern GPs are struggling to find the time to meet CPD requirements, the latest in the row between health secretary Jeremy Hunt and his shadow Andy Burnham, new warnings over A&E pressure and the rest of the days news and comment.
3.17pm Diane Abbott has written about her dismissal from Labour’s front bench team on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website. She writes: “Having told he wanted me to go, Miliband said a little anxiously “How do you feel?” I said: “You must be right. You are the leader and it’s your reshuffle.” I have enjoyed being on the frontbench. But I plan to enjoy being a free agent on the backbenches even more.”
3.04pm Michael White’s column is now online on hsj.co.uk. This week he discusses the cabinet and shadow cabinet reshuffles and how Andy Burnham held onto his job.
2.11pm The BBC is reporting that Diane Abbott has been “axed” as shadow minister for public health. The story quotes the “outspoken” Hackney MP as saying Labour leader Ed Miliband wants someone more “on message” and points out she has recently been critical of his leadership.
1.36pm NHS England has agreed to change the way the results of the friends and family test are presented online by NHS Choices following complaints from trusts, HSJ has learned.
The about-turn comes as our analysis reveals almost a third of hospitals rated top performers by NHS Choices in July do not have a statistically significant score and the website’s methodology puts independent sector and specialist providers at an advantage. Read the full story and analysis here.
The about-turn comes as our analysis reveals almost a third of hospitals rated top performers by NHS Choices in July do not have a statistically significant score and the website’s methodology puts independent sector and specialist providers at an advantage.
1.30pm Chair of the National Association of Primary Care Charles Alessi has warned that many GPs are likely to fall short of their annual continuing professional development accreditation requirements due to their increasing workload.
As part of the General Medical Council’s new revalidation process, GP’s now require a minimum of 50 CPD credits each year to prove they are fit to practise.
Dr Alessi said the “multitude of different roles” carried out by GPs, including increased imnvolvement in commissioning following the Health and Social Care Acts, is making it difficult for GPs to find time to update their professional knowledge.
He said: “I’m worried that we could find ourselves in a situation where GP’s are practising without the correct accreditation or worse, are forced not to practise at all. The repercussions of this are obvious.”
1.12pm HSJ is holding a free webinar on regulation with two partners from Ridouts, one of the leading law firms in this area. Averil Dongworth, chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust which has been the subject of much Care Quality Commission scrutiny will also be taking part. The webinar will run from 12.30pm until 1.30pm on Thursday 17 October. Register here.
12.53am Monitor is in with talks with the Office of Fair Trading to try to prevent trusts which want to merge from facing drawn out inquiries under competition law, it has emerged. In a story that has just gone live on hsj.co.uk Alison Moore reports on comments from Monitor chief executive David Bennett.
11.56am For anyone interested in finding out more about the new addition to the health team, here is Jane Ellison’s constituency page and her Wikipedia entry.
Her appointment appears to support speculation the reshuffle was designed to present a more diverse and modern face of the Conservative party: the Bradford born MP co-habits with her partner John, according to her website. Before becoming an MP she worked at the John Lewis Partnership for more than a decade. John Lewis has frequently been held up as an example of an organisation with high staff and customer satisfaction that the NHS can learn from. NHS England board member Margaret Casely-Hayford is the department store chain’s director of legal services and company secretary.
11.50am Following yesterday’s reshuffle, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has welcomed the new addition to his ministerial team, MP for Battersea Jane Ellison.
Good luck at MOD @Anna_SoubryMP - been a pleasure. Welcome @janeellisonmp - look forward to working with you on vital public health issues.
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) October 8, 2013
11.27am New on HSJ Local today: United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust has been fined by the Health and Safety Executive while in the South West Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has announced it has restricted the practice of a cardiologist due to safety concerns
11.06am Care and support planning must play a key role in redesigning services for people with long term conditions and making integrated care a reality, says National Voices policy and communications adviser Laura Robinson on hsj.co.uk. The article explores how organisations can comply with NHS England’s new guidance on the participation of patients which ighlights the need for every person with a long term condition or disability to have a personalised care plan supporting them to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their own health.
10.50am The Guardian reports that health secretary Jeremy Hunt has retreated from accusations that his predecessor Andy Burnham was involved in an NHS cover-up, following a threat of legal action from Labour.
In a personal letter, Hunt said he never meant to suggest Burnham, now the shadow health secretary, was “personally involved in covering up poor care” and did not doubt his rival’s integrity.
However, the cabinet minister did not delete a post on Twitter that refers to “shocking revelations on Andy Burnham’s attempts to cover up failing hospitals”. Hunt made the remarks after newspaper reports that Burnham’s department interfered in the publication of a Care Quality Commission report about standards of care in Basildon hospital, which Burnham strongly denies.
10.41am Back to A&E for a moment with an interesting tweet from Birmingham Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust boss (and wife of NHS England chief executive David Nicholson) about the government’s recent £250m A&E fund:
I am really not understanding the rationale behind the allocation of the “A+E Target Monies”.And its not just because we haven’t got any!
— Sarah-Jane Marsh (@BCHBoss) October 8, 2013
10.39am Ahead of the Care Bill returning to the House of Lords tomorrow, the Mail and the Telegraph also carry stories about the local authority cut backs on the amount of time paid carers are allocated to spend with their charges. Both papers highlight the case of 83-year-old Sally Lubanov who has not had a bath for three years because the care visits are too short. “Families’ despair at 15-minue care visits”, reports the Mail while the Telegraph reports a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that warns human rights of the elderly are being “abused” by councils that have driven down the amount they pay agencies for providing care in the home. The paper also features an article by Esther Rantzen highlighting the plight of a number of elderly people.
10.23am More bad news for UnitedHealth UK: the firm has posted an £8.2m loss in 2012 due to a “difficult market place”. HSJ’s James Illman reports.
10.16am Chief operating officer of the NHS Confederation Matt Tee called for a cultural change to introduce seven day a week working in the NHS and social care
He added: “We also need a greater shift of our resources to enhance community services, so that patients receive care closer to home. This is a more sustainable model of healthcare where problems are addressed early, in the community, and A&E can focus on patients who need urgent attention.”
10.10am Commenting on the report NHS Employers chief executive Dean Royles said the report highlighted the need for “urgent changes to the working patterns of doctors, both in emergency departments and elsewhere”.
He said the renegotiation of the medical contract to encourage more consultants to be present at nights and weekends would address “what is making other careers more attractive than emergency medicine”.
“These negotiations are an opportunity for doctors to modernise terms and conditions and to lead the way in changing how we deliver healthcare – not only to address immediate concerns over how they work but to build a sustainable NHS with more seven-day care. I hope doctors will impress on their negotiators the urgency in reaching agreement.”
10.07am Here is HSJ’s report on the College of Emergency Medicine’s survey. Andrew Goddard, director of the Royal College of Physicians’ workforce unit, warns finding ways to make consultant working in hospital medicine more attractive when A&E is under so much pressure “is one of the key challenges facing the NHS at the moment and needs to be addressed as a matter of priority”.
10.03am The Daily Mail reports that A&E wards are “on the brink” highlighting the survey’s finding that almost two thirds of “casualty doctors” say they are “being pushed to the limit to deal with soaring numbers of patients”.
9.53am Accident and emergency doctors are emigrating to avoid long hours, the Daily Telegraph reports. The story, based on a survey of more than 1,000 emergency department doctors by the College of Emergency Medicine, says nine out of ten are working longer than their contracted hours. The paper says the number of emergency consultants emigrating from the UK rose from two in the whole of 2009, to 21 between January 1 and August 8 this year.
8.40am: Good morning, in the UK, carers involved in supporting others save the country £119bn annually. Offering support at the right time and in the right place is a critical component of quality care.
On today’s Innovation and Efficiency channel, Vickie Cammack and Kerry Byrne discuss how carer networks are helping to improve the support available.
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