Primary Care – Page 297
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News
BMA urges members to petition on slow PBC implementation
Primary care trusts that are not implementing practice-based commissioning can expect to receive a letter from GPs asking them to take action.
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News
Hewitt prioritises PBC after GPs and managers dismiss impact
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has promised that support for practice-based commissioning will be an 'absolute priority' for the NHS over the next year.
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Simon Stevens on the great pbc debate
PBC is desirable but sadly not workable as a universal mechanism. It wasn't in the 1990s, and it isn't now
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Independent providers opened up to public scrutiny
The Healthcare Commission has launched a new web service that provides patients and the public with information about performance in independent acute hospitals, mental health units and independent sector treatment centres.Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker, said: 'We want to make sure that patients have access to information about the ...
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News
Scottish patients urged to get a flu vaccination
Scottish doctors have urged patients who are eligible but have not yet received the winter flu vaccination to contact their GP practice.Uptake rates for November are lower than ever before with just over half of Scots aged 65 or over receiving their vaccination.Only about a quarter of patients in the ...
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News
Five portions a day is not keeping obesity at bay
An annual study published by the Information Centre for health and social care indicates that more people in England are eating the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.However one in five adults remain obese, the Health Survey for England 2005 reports.Reported daily consumption of five or more ...
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Liberal Democrats announce changes to shadow cabinet
Norman Lamb has taken over as Liberal Democrat health spokesman. He replaces Steve Webb, who has become chair of the party's election manifesto team.Mr Lamb has been chief of staff to Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell since March. He said: 'I'm thrilled at the prospect of taking the health ...
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News
Survey: new year optimism outweighs financial fears
A survey of 648 managers and leaders, published today by the Chartered Management Institute, shows that the mood of optimism in the sector remains despite fears over increasing business taxation and inflation.Key findings included that most managers in the health sector believe employment levels are unlikely to drop and the ...
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News
MHRA issues safety warning about blood glucose meters
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has identified a safety problem with some blood glucose meters which, under certain conditions, may display the wrong units of measurement.This could result in an insulin overdose and hypoglycaemic coma.The MHRA has issued advice following a number of reports of adverse incidents where ...
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News
Call for National IT programme revamp
The British Computer Society has called for a major re-evaluation of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.The society's health informatics forum says the programme has achieved some significant successes around infrastructure, but has slowed the deployment of local systems. It also says elements of the NHS Core Records ...
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Seasonal gloom at the BMA
The British Medical Association has picked up on health secretary Patricia Hewitt's comment that the NHS has had its 'best year ever' by publishing its own review of the Best of Years, the Worst of Years.Overall, it says that while there have been some ...
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News
Think tank slams NHS reform
The think tank Reform has accused the NHS of failing to develop a coherent vision for change, and warned that unless the government tackles 'centralised, dysfunctional bureaucracy', its funding and policy achievements will go to waste.Author Ian Smith, a private sector manager interviewed for the NHS chief executive's post this ...
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DoH puts safety first
The Department of Health has issued a report on improving support patient safety in the NHS.Safety First - a report for patients, clinicians and healthcare managerssays the National Patient Safety Agency should be 'refocused' on collecting and analysing information through its national reporting and learning system, and that this should ...
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Comment
A year in review: catching up with the excess in 12 turbulent months
2006 has been dominated by efficiency drives and government reforms. Financial problems began to bite and the public took to the streets over attempts to revamp local services. Amid the financial storm, NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp resigned and only two trusts got top marks in the Healthcare Commission's ...
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News
NICE chair calls for implementation push as GPs warn of drug companies' influence
The chair of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has floated the idea that it should spend more on ensuring guidance gets implemented than it does on producing the advice.
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News
Private provider queries future of comprehensive NHS care
The NHS will be forced to abandon its founding principle of providing a comprehensive service 'free at the point of delivery' by 2015, a leading private sector provider has predicted.
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Exclusive: PCT fitness bill hits £6.5m
The primary care trust fitness for purpose programme cost the Department of Health £6.5m, HSJhas learned.
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Operating framework: updated principles put new emphasis on dignity
The Department of Health is consulting on a set of 10 principles to which all NHS organisations and contractors must sign up.
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DoH accepts 'double deficit' argument, but no decision yet
The government has said it accepts the case against the 'double deficit' accounting system for acute trusts - but has delayed a decision on whether to scrap it until the end of this financial year.