Primary Care – Page 302
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News
Are GPs making inappropriate referrals to orthopaedic surgeries?
General practitioners have a pivotal role in providing medical care for the NHS - acute referrals to various hospital specialties are often arranged by them. But inappropriate referrals can cause unnecessary inconvenience for the patients and affect the target times for care provision in A&E.
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News
How to run health networks for young people
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has released a report calling for health services for children and young people to be delivered within networks of care.
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HSJ Knowledge
Preparing for healthcare resource group four
Healthcare resource groups are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments which use comparable levels of healthcare resource.
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HSJ Knowledge
New system for processing commissioning data sets
The NHS-Wide Clearing Service was decommissioned on 31 December 2006. The secondary uses service is now the single NHS wide system for processing commissioning data sets.
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HSJ Knowledge
Stronger links between annual health check and peer review
Links between peer review and the annual health check are to be strengthened, following discussions between the Health Commission and Information Centre.
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HSJ Knowledge
Andy Burnham to launch Information Centre business plan
Andy Burnham, minister of state for delivery and reform, will be the keynote speaker at the launch of the Information Centre for health and social care's business plan 2007/08 and information strategy.
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HSJ Knowledge
Why hospitals are like cashpoints
When I first began talking to primary care staff about the Croydon virtual wards project I had to explain to them that patients would only be offered admission if they ranked highly on predictions from a computer.
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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
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.