- Nhs Performance Will Be Measured Against What Really Matters. Department
of Health Press Release 98/024 Wednesday 21 January 1998
- Dirty hospitals to be named
Guardian Society
Tuesday April 10, 2001
- Q&A: hospital cleanliness Guardian Society
Tuesday April 10, 2001
- A healthcare management double act is set to head the national patient
safety agency (NPSA), the body set up to ensure the NHS minimises clinical
errors and learns from its mistakes. Guardian
Unlimited Wednesday September 12, 2001
- Milburn names the worst hospitals. Trusts' failing chiefs told to
improve rapidly or face sack. John Carvel, social affairs editor Guardian
Wednesday September 26, 2001
- Q&A: the hospitals league table David Batty Guardian
Society Wednesday September 26, 2001
- Mixed response to Kennedy blueprint. Guardian
Friday January 18, 2002
- The heart of the matter. Now Milburn must end negligence
suits. Leader
Guardian Friday January 18, 2002
- The threat is external, not least from a poisonous press. A new
report shows that, contrary to rumour, the NHS is in good health.
Polly Toynbee Guardian
Unlimited Wednesday January 23, 2002
- Milburn details NHS successes Health care improvements push up life
expectancy. Guardian
Society Saturday February 2, 2002
- Troubleshooting managers are to be brought into poor performing hospitals
to reduce the rising number of cancelled operations, the government has
announced. Guardian
Society Friday February 8, 2002
- How Nice fulfils its aim to ensure the best health treatments are
available to NHS patients. Patrick Butler Guardian
Society Friday March 22, 2002
- Patients are to be involved in the assessment of mental health care in
order to improve services. Linda Steele The
Guardian Wednesday July 3, 2002
- After Enron, private firms are anxious about their boards. The NHS, too,
has been looking at its model of corporate governance. Patrick Butler reports.
Wednesday June 25, 2003 The Guardian
- Drug safety watchdogs are preparing new guidance on prescribing,
dispensing and administering anti-cancer and blood-thinning drugs after
serious medication errors that have led to patients dying or being permanently
harmed. James Meikle, health correspondent
Thursday January 22, 2004 The Guardian
- Patients will be able to see if public services are giving them value for
money with the introduction of new service delivery yardsticks, it has emerged
today. The move to revolutionise the way public service output is measured
begins later this year with the NHS, according to the National Statistics (NS)
office. The measures could include one-year survival rates for patients after
they have major operations, according to a report in today's Financial Times.
Alternatively, it could quantify the numbers who quit smoking following a
government-sponsored smoking cessation initiative. Hélène Mulholland
Friday May 14, 2004
- NHS hospital star ratings will be scrapped in England after next year and
replaced by less crude measures of performance to help patients choose where
they would like to be treated, the health inspectorate said today. Sir Ian
Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, said the new system would
provide detailed information on safety and quality of care at individual
hospitals, giving patients the opportunity to make an informed choice. John
Carvel, social affairs editor
Monday
November 29, 2004 The Guardian
- Health mapping 2005: methodology and notes. Paul Aylin, Alex Bottle, Steve
Middleton, Susan Williams
Wednesday June 15, 2005
- Health service performance indicators have long concentrated on hospitals
- but all this is about to change. Primary care trusts (PCTs), now the main
budget-holders of the NHS, will have to subject themselves and their GP
commissioners to greater scrutiny to ensure quality of care - rather than
throughput - becomes the driving force of the new NHS market.
Wednesday June 15, 2005 The Guardian
- Government reforms in the NHS are failing to keep pace with public
expectation, according to a report today on attitudes to public services
policy. Though the government has caught the public mood by focusing on the
NHS, many people believe waiting times remain too high, with a clear
difference of opinion between government and the public about what a
constitutes a "reasonable" wait. Hélène Mulholland
Tuesday December 13, 2005
- Regulation is
acutely contested. The need for an economic regulator to oversee the new
healthcare market has sparked a row over the future responsibilities of
different groups. Monitor believes regulation of standards should be kept
separate from finance to avoid a conflict of interest where quality of care is
traded off against financial viability. But the Healthcare Commission and the
Commission for Social Care Inspection (the government wants social services to
be brought under the same regulation regime as health) are arguing that
quality and finance are inextricably linked and it is essential for the
regulator to cover both areas in the fragmented marketplace of the future.
Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of
Financial Times 23 January 2005
- Data to show
practices how they compare. Practices will receive "benchmarking" data on
how their performance compares with other practices in their area and against
a national average, under budget-setting arrangements for practice-based
commissioning. From April practices will be told what proportion of the PCTs
resources they are allocated, and how much they should be allocated according
to past levels of activity, with the intention of bringing the two figures
into line.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Doctor Update 1 February 2006
- The NHS must ensure stroke victims receive brain scans within three hours
of arriving in hospital to prevent avoidable death and disability, campaigners
said today. Less than one-third of patients are given a potentially
life-saving scan for bleeding in the brain on the same day of their arrival in
hospital, even when one is requested within 30 minutes of admission, the
Different Strokes charity said.
Wednesday February 8, 2006
- Hospitals and primary care trusts will be assessed separately on quality
of care and on financial management, it was announced yesterday. The move may
help ministers allay public dismay over revelations of huge NHS deficits
shortly after a huge government cash injection. It is hoped patients will be
reassured that a hospital provides good treatment even though it is in the
red. Sarah Boseley
Monday March 13, 2006 The Guardian
- Tougher tests
to measure hospital trusts. Patricia Hewitt has accepted the advice of the
Healthcare Commission to introduce new performance measures that will give
separate scores for meeting clinical care targets and financial management.
Under the previous star rating system hospitals simply received an overall
mark that did not distinguish between quality of care and financial
management. In the new Annual Health Check, the separate care and financial
measures will be judged on a four-point scale from "weak" to "excellent". The
commission will also impose tougher criteria for measuring financial
management. Trusts will be judged on a range of measures, including financial
planning and value for money, and there will not be any threshold of allowed
overspending. Under the star system, hospitals were only tested on whether
they broke even. Hospital trusts rated as poor performers under the new system
will lose the right to bid for foundation status.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Financial Times 13 March 2006
- Overhaul of
regulation needed for 'new' NHS to work, warns
minister. Lord Warner has said that big changes are needed to the way
healthcare is regulated to respond to recent developments that shifted care
out of hospitals, turned more hospitals into free-standing foundation trusts
and allowed new independent sector providers to enter the NHS market. In an
interview with the FT, Warner made clear that ministers plan to press on with
a new supplier market in
healthcare and are thinking through crucial regulatory changes that will be
needed as increasing amounts of care come from organisations no longer run
directly by the NHS. He indicated ministers were inclined to keep the
regulation of health service quality and finances together, as the Healthcare
Commission wants, rather than split them up, as
Monitor would prefer. History
suggested that if the two were separated "there is a risk that the quality
regulator will raise standards to the point of
unaffordability".
Monitor's argument is that the financial regulator might approve actions taken
by providers to keep themselves in business, which a quality regulator - the
Healthcare Commission - could then say openly were damaging patient care,
meaning there would be no hidden trade-off. But Warner said stronger
commissioning by the 10 new SHAs and the new PCTs could deal with competition
issues - for example, the risk that a sole provider in an area could come to
dictate prices to the service. SHAs and PCTs "will have an interest in keeping
a variety of providers where they can, and they should not be entering into
contracts with providers who are not meeting the specifications that they
require". He said regulation also needed to be extended into primary care.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Financial Times 28 March 2006
-
'Micro-management' fears spark debate on regulation. Attempts by the
government and NHS regulators to get a tighter grip on performance have been
described as "highly centralist" and "overtly prescriptive" by the Foundation
Trust Network. The criticism referred to the incoming developmental standards
from the Healthcare Commission which has itself criticised the Department of
Health over several of its productivity indicators, warning that its approach
to efficiency may lead to old style "'micro-management' rather than being
consistent with NHS reforms."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Health
Service Journal 31 May 2006
- Star rating
system for GPs ruled out by NHS watchdog. The Healthcare Commission has
categorically ruled out any form of 'star rating' system for GP practices,
representing final nail in the coffin for the RCGP's controversial proposals
for a three-tier rating system.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 23 June 2006
- Latest NHS cuts
compound crisis. NHS trusts driving through cuts and job losses are
already failing to deliver for patients. Trusts across the country were asked
to assess whether they would reach 44 basic standards of care by the
Healthcare Commission, the NHS's independent inspectors. Many of the trusts
that felt they would fail to reach the required
standards are the ones worst hit by the NHS
funding crisis - and
many have already announced major cutbacks. The report makes a mockery of
health secretary Patricia Hewitt's claim that job losses will not affect the
patient care. The
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust recorded the biggest financial
deficit across the health service, overspending by £40.8m. It has announced
400 job losses. The trust reported there was insufficient assurance that it
had reached the government's core standards in ensuring that reusable medical
devices are properly decontaminated; ensuring that staff are appropriately
recruited, trained and qualified for the work they undertake; and providing
healthcare in environments that promote effective care and optimise health
outcomes by being a safe and secure environment. Brighton and Sussex
University Hospitals NHS Trust, which has announced 325 job cuts - 7% - in an
attempt to claw back £10m, reported that it had not met six of the targets.
Both the Kennet and North
Wiltshire PCT and the West Wiltshire PCT reported they had not met or had
inadequate assurance on 26 of the 44 basic standards. Each of these PCTs is
also faced with a shortfall of over £10 million and both plan sweeping cuts to
claw back these deficits. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Socialist
Worker 12 July 2006
- To improve, the NHS must admit its faults. John Carvel
Wednesday October 25, 2006 The Guardian
- Standards of
regulation softer for private sector. The proposals within the
Government's white paper on regulation may not provide adequate provision for
private sector workers, the King's Fund has warned. In a briefing document on
professional regulation, the think-tank said the white paper's proposals were
constructed on the basis that professionals were NHS employees. But the
current 'enthusiasm' for non-NHS providers meant that centring plans around
mechanisms such as the NHS appraisal system could cause problems. The King's
Fund briefing paper came as the Healthcare Commission announced it had slashed
fees for independent providers by 15%, and inspected 20% fewer independent
providers in 2006/ 7 than in the
previous financial year, when all were inspected. All providers will still be
forced to submit a 'self-assessment' each year.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Pulse
20 April 2007
- Incidents going
unreported. There are advantages to being special, and foundation trusts
are making the most of their station. Nursing Times reports that these trusts
are using their independent status to opt out of reporting clinical incidents,
saying the guidance on reporting incidents to the National Patient Safety
Agency (NPSA) does not apply to them. It is not mandatory for any trust to use
the reporting system, but a large majority of NHS trusts are signed up to it.
Gail Adams, Unison's head of nursing, says: "The one way we can ensure patient
and service user safety is to require all organisations to monitor and report
information in a clear and consistent way - irrespective of where that
provider is." But Monitor, the foundation trust regulator, says it is up to
individual foundations trusts to decide.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Times
5 June 2007
- National Library
of Health. Navigate change in NHS, with a new information resource launched.
A comprehensive collection of current knowledge and evidence about NHS reforms
is available in the
Health Management Specialist Library run by the King’s Fund on behalf of
the National Library of Health. The collection was launched at the NHS
Confederation conference in London where the King’s Fund is running a series
of discussions on NHS reform. Managers, researchers and students will be able
to access, free of charge, all the latest information on key system changes
that have taken place over the last 10 years of Labour government, including:
Alternative providers, Patient Choice, PCTs as commissioners,
Foundation Trusts, Payment by results, Practice based
commissioning, Regulation. The aim of the Health Management Specialist
Library is to provide a unique on-line resource of the latest healthcare
knowledge. Each topic has links to guidelines, secondary research and primary
research. In this new strand on NHS Reforms, each topic is introduced by an
article written by King’s Fund’s policy team. The aim of this new resource is
to help managers, researchers, students and journalists to more easily
navigate the complexities of NHS reform.
Care & Health 21 June 2007
Sturgeon asks
public to help set new targets for the NHS. The public was invited to
suggest new targets to assess NHS performance. The Executive said it wanted
patients to be at the heart of plans to speed up developments in the health
service and tackle health inequalities. Nicola Sturgeon said the aim of the
consultation was to produce an action plan for the future of the NHS in
Scotland and
accelerate improvements suggested in previous Executive documents. The
discussion document, Better Health, Better Care, invites comments on proposals
including increasing access to community health services to keep people out of
hospital.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Scotsman
17 June 2007 - Private clinic
care for NHS patients questioned. The Healthcare Commission has questioned
the introduction of independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) because the
data on them is inadequate to compare the quality of care they provide to that
found in the NHS. The commission also found that fewer patients than expected
were being treated in the centres, leaving the NHS to pay for operations that
are not being carried out. Doctors have voiced worries that the quality of care
in the centres is not as good as in the NHS, and that the centres cream off
simple cases leaving the NHS with more complex ones. The commission said it
could offer some reassurance to patients, but could not be sure until it had
more complete information. Anna Walker, the commission's chief executive, said
the contracts with the private providers were not adhered to as the emphasis had
been on a speedy set up of the centres. Data collection was overlooked. Ms
Walker said: "I believe it was a cock-up. The contracts lacked clarity." Data
should be collected uniformly across both the NHS and the private sector, the
commission said. An HCC report said: "Without complete data the quality of care
in independent sector treatment centres cannot be assessed, and without uniform
reporting data from the NHS we cannot compare the NHS with independent sector
treatment centres." It added that doctors were often concerned that ISTCs would
destabilise the local NHS and as a result were often hostile to them being set
up, leading to a lack of communication between the NHS and treatment centres.
British Medical Association research carried out amongst its members found that
62% of NHS clinical directors were worried about the level of care provided in
ISTCs. A quarter said medical notes were never made available and half reported
patients requiring emergency readmission to the NHS as a result of complications
following operations in the centres.
Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph
19 July 2007
Healthcare Commission chief calls for
comparable information to be collected and published on all major healthcare
providers. Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission today
said that information comparable with the NHS should be available and
published on the performance of all independent healthcare providers, whether
serving NHS patients or not.
Care & Health 13 September 2007
Improving quality and safety.
Progress in implementing clinical governance in primary care: Lessons for the
new Primary Care Trusts. House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts
Download:
Improving Quality and Safety.
Care & Health 14 September 2007 -
Quarter of trusts failing on hygiene, survey reveals. More than a
quarter of NHS trusts in England failed to comply with the hygiene code
brought in by the government last October to combat superbugs in hospitals and
doctors' surgeries, the Healthcare Commission discloses today. In a
wide-ranging review of 394 NHS organisations, it found 111 trusts where
patients were not adequately protected from infections, including the killer
bugs MRSA and Clostridium difficile. Most trusts admitted the failings, but
inspectors identified 12 where senior managers signed a declaration saying
they were complying with national standards on infection control. They were
later discovered to have breached the rules. John Carvel, social affairs
editor
Thursday October 18, 2007 The Guardian.
See Society Guardian index on
NHS
quality and performance
- Petition to: Abolish ORCON
as the sole assessment of Ambulance Service efficiency. In April 2007
changed the ORCON standard to 8 minutes from when the phone rings in control.
This is the ORCON standard and is the only tool used to measure ambulance
efficiency. It means that if the ambulance arrives within 8 minutes and the
patient is dead, we have succeeded. But arrive in 8 minutes 1 second, and
resuscitate the patient we have failed in the eyes of ORCON as we didn't make
it in 8 minutes. The service is deemed to be inefficient. This is a silly and
totally unrealistic idea. It is a discriminatory standard as it means
ambulance trusts have to place their resources near to the big towns and
cities as they will have a higher volume of calls than rural areas. If you are
taken seriously ill in a rural area you will have to wait longer for an
ambulance to reach you. ORCON (Operational Research CONsultancy) was developed
in 1974 as a standard for monitoring ambulance service performance) because
ambulance services were now part of the NHS and no longer under county council
control. They carried no more than bandages and oxygen. Today we carry
defibrillators, thrombolytics, our skill base is higher than it has ever been,
but are still measured by standards set thirty years ago.
(updated 5 June 2007)
- Petition to: Cut the times
to get an MRI Scan.
(updated 29 September 2007)
- We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Introduce
Legislation that makes it mandatory for Doctors to supply a carbon "Carmel"
copy of every prescription for
the patient to keep and for the Pharmaceutical Industry to clearly label all
medicines with the medical name of the medicine not the brand name and the
dosage per tablet or 5 ml if liquid etc. My Mother died at 11:15 am on the
2nd September 2007 three days after being prescribed Steroids by her GP but
given Beta- Blockers by the Pharmacist. It is my wish and that of my Family
that we honour my mother and undertake to prevent such tragic events happening
again. 1) Whenever a prescription is handed to a patient it is accompanied by
a carbon copy typed or neatly hand written. I propose it is called the
"Carmel" copy in honour of my late and dearly loved Mother. 2) The
Pharmaceutical Industry ensure that every package (Box/Container/Bottle) has a
labelled area in an agreed background colour that ALWAYS identifies the
medication and the dose i.e. Amoxicillin 250 mg. (Cigarette Manufacturers have
to do it!!!) This labelled area should then match exactly the patient’s copy
of the prescription as handed to them by their own GP and enable them to prove
they have been given the correct medication by their pharmacist. 3) A Public
Education Campaign should be undertaken to accompany the introduction of the
carbon (Carmel) copy prescription.
(updated 3 October 2007)
|