Primary Care – Page 297
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News
Statutory control on decisions is not enough to allay fears
All over the country, primary care trust chief executives are sitting hot and sweaty in their best suits, fighting for their future careers.
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News
Noel Plumridge on questioning commissioning
As HSJreaders will be aware, the Department of Health is keen to improve standards of commissioning in the NHS.Much has been written in recent months about demand-management techniques (or rationing, as we used to call it) being the route to financial happiness. About the ...
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Comment
Data briefing: deficit forecasts, financial reality
The recent quarterly financial report from the Department of Health provides some encouraging signs as the NHS gets to grips with previous years' overspends. But the detail looks patchy.
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Comment
Healthcheck ratings: tougher test means story must be retold
The Healthcare Commission said it would be a tougher test - and so it has proved. In the first national healthcheck ratings only two dozen organisations were rated excellent for service quality, and even fewer for their use of resources. Only half of NHS organisations met all the core standards, ...
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News
Sophia Christie on challenging acute trusts
'A trust has never pointed out where the tariff gives a generous cross-subsidy to other activity'
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News
HSJ Barometer: PCTs Oct 2006
There were significant rises in a number of key indicators in the latest Barometer survey of primary care trust chief executives. Faith in the national IT programme has continued to rise, and there has been a big boost in optimism on keeping a grip on elective activity. The only noticeable ...
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News
Data briefing: prescribing variations by PCT
In 2004-05, prescribing cost nearly £8bn in England - over 681 million items at an average of nearly 13 per GP list patient and £150 per year.
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Comment
Simon Stevens on winning hearts and minds
'NHS targets have not yet been tough enough (yes you read that right) to alter public perception'
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Comment
The age of uncertainty: new Audit Commission chair speaks out
New Audit Commission chair Michael O'Higgins has a lot on his plate as he waits for the health regulatory review and oversees the transition to a new inspection era ushered in by the local government white paper
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Comment
Patient and public involvement: clear water must flow into the goldfish bowl
Looking for a place to hide? Try the massed ranks of organisations currently holding the NHS to account. Jessica Crowe suggests clarity lies in resolving what it is accountability structures should be delivering
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News
Patients' memory of offer of choice
It has been nearly a year since choice at the point of referral to hospital by GP was to be formally offered to all patients. Are the poor now getting the choices that have always been available to the rich (to paraphrase former health secretary John Reid)? And through their ...
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Comment
Increased activity may put bright future at risk
While health service investment has soared, the pressure on organisations to secure financial control may be driving down productivity. Peter Smith unravels the paradox
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Comment
Barometer: PCTs January 2007
The latest Barometer survey of primary care trust chief executives showed growing confidence in negotiating power with acute providers, with the indicator score up again to 6.88 out of 10.
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HSJ Knowledge
Power of two
A new bill will oblige councils and primary care trusts to work together. In a joint feature with Local Government Chronicle, Kaye McIntosh asks how it will work in practice
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HSJ Knowledge
The Fall Guys: staff safety is a major concern
Violence against NHS staff is still at unacceptable levels, with incidents often unreported and perpetrators uncharged. Emma Dent reports
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News
A different kind of revolution
Northern Ireland's streamlining of its public sector promised to be a less brutal process than England's. But some big holes in performance measurement brought challenges of its own, writes Daloni Carlisle
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HSJ Knowledge
Sea change in health scrutiny
As the future of health scrutiny grows increasingly complex, healthcare professionals and local government must ride the wave and forge new relationships, reports Sasha Strong
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News
Pilots lead way in new era of high-tech 'telecare' at home
Three primary care trusts will be chosen next month to deliver hardware worth thousands of pounds to the homes of patients with long-term conditions, according to Department of Health head of primary care Gary Belfield.
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News
Helpline aims for foundation trust status
NHS Direct has become a trust under the Department of Health's review of arm's-length bodies.