All Primary care articles – Page 272
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News
Pandemic flu guidelines published for social care
The Department of Health has published guidelines for dealing with an influenza pandemic.The guidelines, for social care staff and volunteers, is supplementary to the revised national framework on responding to a flu pandemic.Read the guidance here
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HSJ Knowledge
Legal briefing: IVF
At the crux of the present IVF debate is a lack of clarity over its role and status. Ben Troke analyses the medical and legal ramifications
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Comment
Richard Bourne on the price of better performance
The NHS.occupies a special place in the national psyche. It is a huge organisation with the major economic consequences implied. It is at the heart of politics, with the perceived state of the NHS being a proxy for the popularity of a government.
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News
Men 'not worried about getting prostate cancer'
A poll commissioned by the Prostrate Cancer Charity suggests men are more worried about their pension that they are about the possibility of getting prostate cancer.Asked about their concerns about getting older, 32 per cent said their pension, 13 per cent said getting prostate cancer, seven per cent weight gain ...
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News
Burnham launches payment by results consultation
Andy Burnham has invited views on a number of ways to develop the payment by results system for 2008-09 and beyond.The ideas include strengthening payment by results data, more unbundling of tariffs, setting prices based on effective practice rather than on average costs and extending the system to more services.Read ...
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News
Family health initiative launched
Public health minister Caroline Flint today launched the Healthy Living Initiative, a programme to help families lead healthier lives.The programme will tackle barriers to healthy living through a range of initiatives aimed at families with young children.Ms Flint said: 'Tackling overweight and obesity in children is complex because there are ...
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News
DIY service improvement kit launched
Doctors, nurses and call handlers will be able to assess their ability to identify emergencies, the quality of their advice and speed of response using a new clinical audit toolkit to help improve the standard of out-of-hours services.The arrangements are set out in a document published by health minister Andy ...
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News
Minister responds to continuing care report
The minister for care services Ivan Lewis has responded to the report by the health service ombudsman Retrospective Continuing Care and Redress.He recognised the difficult decisions faced by families considering residential care and said the government would isssue guidance in response to the ombudsman's recommendations.Read more here
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News
BMA defends GPs over out-of-hours criticism
The British Medical Association has said that the quality of out-of-hours services is the responsibility of the local NHS - not GPs.GP committee chair Dr Hamish Meldrum agreed with the findings of a Public Accounts Committee report on out-of-hours care, but rejected the report's assertion that GPs were the only ...
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News
Patients fear effects of nursing shortages
A YouGov poll commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing has found the public are concerned that nurse under-staffing will have a detrimental effect on patient safety.Over 70 per cent thought that if more nurses were employed standards of healthcare would improve. Ninety-three per cent felt the NHS has a ...
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News
DoH publishes partnerships guidance
The Department of Health has published guidance on the role of third sector providers in health and social care.The guidance includes case studies on how effective commissioning of the third sector can lead to a more innovative and dynamic service.Read the guidance here
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News
Lord Crisp heads bid to tackle health worker shortage
A World Health Organisation international task force co-chaired by former NHS chief executive Lord Crisp met for the first time today to tackle the global shortage of health workers.The shortfall of workers worldwide is around 4.3 million in 57 countries, including 1 million in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Initial ...
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News
Healthcheck consultation launched
The Healthcare Commission is to consult on plans to drive a culture of safety through the NHS, using its annual assessments of NHS organisations to monitor rates of healthcare-acquired infection and compliance with the hygiene code.The proposals also include a stronger focus on clinical effectiveness and commissioning.Find out more here
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Comment
Tristan Reuser on clinical engagement
The re-engineering of health systems requires traditional barriers between primary and secondary care to come down, writes Tristan Reuser
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News
Over a million dental check-ups not being provided
Dental contacts statistics have shown that over 1.5 million units of dental activity (each worth one check-up) have not yet been provided under the new contract.The Department of Health said the amount of dental activity commissioned by the NHS continued to rise and more have been recommissioned than were lost ...
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News
Commission to look at learning disabilities accusations
The Healthcare Commission has said it will review six cases highlighted by learning disability charity Mencap of people with learning disabilities who died from physical illnesses.Mencap has accused the NHS of institutional discrimination against people with learning disabilities, saying their physical health needs are ignored.Meanwhile the Department of Health has ...
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News
Nurses encouraged to complain over pay
Nurses have been encouraged to write to their MPs to complain about this year's pay settlement.The Royal College of Nursing is urging its members to point out to their MP that this year's pay deal will mean an effective pay cut for nurses, when the rate of inflation is taken ...
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News
PCTs have 'taken their eye off the ball' on audiology
Some primary care trusts and strategic health authorities have 'taken their eye off the ball', and allowed waiting times for audiology services to lengthen, health minister Ivan Lewis has told the Commons health select committee.Mr Lewis told the committee's investigation into audiology services that the provision of hearing aids had ...
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News
Flu vaccine success
General practice staff delivered excellent levels of flu vaccination this winter despite vaccine deliveries being delayed by several weeks, health secretary Patricia Hewitt said in a written statement this morning. Figures from the Health Protection Agency showed that at the end of January 2007, vaccine uptake in those aged 65 ...