All Primary care articles – Page 303
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HSJ Knowledge
Legal Briefing: resolving payment disputes between PCTs and foundation trusts
As the NHS becomes accustomed to the legally-binding contracts between primary care trusts and foundation trusts, the main pressure points are beginning to emerge.
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Comment
Efficiency indicators do not tell the story behind the numbers
The comprehensive spending review is no longer the distant event it once seemed - the coming financial squeeze makes a numbers game out of the next 18 months or so.
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News
News analysis: time to give PECs the muscle to make a real difference
Professional executive committees have been weighed down by corporate affairs and unable to influence strategy and clinical design, so the DoH's decision to review them has been widely welcomed. But what will the new PECs look like? Daloni Carlisle finds out
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News
Efficiency savings costed at £2.2bn
The Department of Health is to expand the number of productivity indicators on which trusts are compared as the first set of figures revealed the NHS could save £2.2bn a year if it improved its efficiency.
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News
PCT to lose 90 posts in £29m cuts plan
A primary care trust has announced plans to cut up to 90 jobs in response to the Department of Health requirement to balance its books within one financial year.
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News
Inappropriate admissions: guidance to urge 12.5pc cut
The prime minister's delivery unit is taking a key role in shaping 'crisp' new guidance for primary care trusts to reduce inappropriate hospital admissions and save over £1.4bn a year.
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News
Rise in NHS sight tests
Two out of three sight tests are paid for by the NHS, compared to a decade ago when almost half of all sight tests were carried out privately. The total number of sight tests has increased by 5 per cent since 2003-04 with a small ...
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News
Unions demand 'decent' pay increase
The 14 unions that make up the NHS Staff Council staff side have blasted a 1.5 per cent pay rise the Department of Health is predicted to propose. In a joint press conference the unions outlined their case for a 'decent' pay rise based on ...
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News
Homeless people lack health support
Eight out of 10 homeless people do not know where to get health support to help with drug, alcohol or mental health problems, according to a homeless charity. Research carried out by Broadway on the impact its healthy living centre has on homeless and vulnerably ...
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News
World Health Organisation makes flu vaccine warning
Immediate and sustained action and funding is needed if the world is to be prepared for an influenza pandemic, the World Health Organisation has said. The organisation said stocks of influenza vaccines were several billion doses short and could lead to a public health crisis ...
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News
More long-term contraceptives being used
One in five women are using long acting reversible contraception such as implants and the contraceptive jab, according to research by The Information Centre for health and social care. There has been a massive increase in the numbers of women using the intrauterine system and ...
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News
Private finance guidance for trusts published
New draft guidance which will help NHS trusts select, evaluate and appoint private sector bidders in private finance schemes has been published by the Department of Health.The guidance has been developed in conjunction with the Treasury, private sector contractors and managers of NHS organisations that have been through private finance ...
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News
Lord Warner welcomes millionth choose and book referral
More than one million referrals to specialist care have been made through choose and book by GPs across England, health minister Lord Warner has announced.He said 85 per cent of all practices were using the IT system to make referrals, and more than 6,000 practices made referrals last week.Read the ...
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News
NHS could save £2.2bn by tackling inefficiency
The NHS could save up to £2.2bn if trusts take steps to address wide variations in productivity and efficiency.The Department of Health has published its Better care, better valueindicators, which show trust-by-trust performance against a range of measures.Reducing unnecessary admissions could unlock £348m, and ...
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News
Primary care trusts told to save money for 2006-07 GP payments
Primary care trust directors of finance should accrue funds during the financial year 2006-07 to enable them to pay GPs in the first quarter of 2007-08.The guidance is published in a series of letters to trusts and GPs about this year's GP Patient Survey.Read the letters ...
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News
Improving outcomes for wheelchair users
Out and About: wheelchairs as part of a whole systems approach to independencehas been published by the Department of Health. The document provides a view of the current state of wheelchair provision and makes recommendations on how the NHS working with partners can improve outcomes ...
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News
Response to NHS charges report
The Department of Health has published its response to July's Commons health select committee report on NHS charging. The response covers charges levied on patients and families for prescription dental charges, sight tests, additional charges for some clinical services, assistance with transport costs and charges ...
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News
New head of policy at ASH
Asthma UK policy and campaigns director Martin Dockrell has been appointed as the new head of policy at pressure group Action on Smoking and Health. Mr Dockrell was an AIDS activist in the 1980s and 1990s. For the last five years he has worked closely ...
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News
'Unbundling' options promised soon
Ministers are to review financial incentives to encourage the NHS to rehabilitate older people in the community, rather than acute settings.
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HSJ Knowledge
Gender-specific services: equal, but not the same
From next April, trusts will have a legal duty to demonstrate gender equity across all areas of service provision. But as the deadline approaches, the national picture is looking decidedly patchy. Gabriel Fleming looks at how it will work