Primary Care – Page 290

  • HSJ Knowledge

    No cash, lots of commitment

    2007-01-04T00:00:00Z

    Deprivation in leafy Staffordshire provided an interesting challenge for Dr Zafar Iqbal

  • News

    Stomach pain tops Christmas complaints

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    Stomach and jaw pain dominated calls to telephone helpline NHS Direct over Christmas, statistics show.Vomiting, toothache and diarrhoea were also among the top 10 reasons for calling the helpline in England.Over the whole of 2006 the service received around 7 million calls, while during the Christmas period there were a ...

  • News

    Sir Liam demands faster progress on safety

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    Chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has called for more speed in improving patient safety in his newsletter published today.Although Sir Liam praised a 'greater awareness among clinicians, managers and policymakers that patients are not as safe as they should be', he said that the pace of change had ...

  • News

    High take-up for optician training

    2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

    More than 90 per cent of opticians met the requirement for continuing education and training (CET) by the 31 December 2006 deadline.Final figures for the first cycle released by the General Optical Council show that 95 per cent of optometrists, 89 per cent of dispensing opticians and 86 per cent ...

  • News

    David Peat on lost baggage and fielding complaints

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    '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.'

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Legal briefing: medical care for prisoners

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    The challenges faced by primary care trusts in delivering health services to prisoners have been seriously underestimated, says David Lock

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Early intervention in psychosis team

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster's early intervention in psychosis team has a range of help available over a three-year period for clients aged 14 to 35 who have experienced an episode of psychosis.

  • News

    Smarter prescribing could save millions

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    More efficient prescribing of generic statins rather than branded versions could save the NHS £85m a year, according to the Department of Health. Latest 'better care, better value' indicators found that the savings could be made if every primary care trust prescribed such drugs to the level achieved by the ...

  • News

    Health figures honoured

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    Christie Hospital trust chair Joan Higgins has been made a DBE in the New Year Honours list. NHS Confederation chair Peter Mount, former Greater Manchester strategic health authority chief executive Neil Goodwin, Royal College of Nursing president Roswyn Hakesley-Brown and health economist Anne Mills have been made CBEs.To see the ...

  • News

    'Hooked' stop smoking campaign launched

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    A campaign that shows people being seized by fish hooks and dragged to their smoking spots has been launched. The campaign, which includes TV adverts, outdoor advertising, direct mail and a dedicated website, reveals that the average smoker needs over 5,000 cigarettes a year.www.gosmokefree.co.uk/getunhooked

  • News

    Legal age to buy tobacco to rise

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    2007 a make or break year for NHS, says think tank

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Comment

    David Peat on lost baggage and fielding complaints

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    '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.'

  • Comment

    Martin Pearson on warm glows and icy winds

    2007-01-02T00:00:00Z

    'Directors and managers of today's organisations need to recognise that they are there not only to create cost-efficient and financially successful health businesses but also to lead services in a way that saves the world from further degradation and climate chaos'

  • News

    Every GP practice to get kitemark rating

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Every GP surgery is to be rated from next year under a kitemark scheme backed by the Department of Health.

  • News

    Inside track: public health

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    What's on managers' minds this week

  • News

    GP star-rating talks called off over fears of misuse

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Any system of 'star-ratings' for GPs now looks unlikely after the Royal College of GPs broke off talks with the government over the proposals.

  • News

    DoH opts out of traffic light rating for PCTs

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has decided not to give primary care trusts an overall traffic-light rating at the end of fitness for purpose assessments.

  • News

    Test strip price cut is 'step back' in diabetes care

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    People with diabetes could suffer if the Department of Health goes ahead with planned cuts in the prices for glucose testing strips, an industry body has warned.

  • News

    Central procurement to fill GP gaps

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The government is to take control of the majority of procurements for GP services in 30 under-doctored areas in England, HSJ has learned.