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The summary articles in the table below related to the strategic health
authority area are copied from the following pages, indicated in the table by
key numbers.
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Charges
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Construction projects
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Resource shortfall Sources
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Treatment approval or not
- Withdrawal of Local Facilities -
Sources
Other
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Summary articles |
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Where the treatment centres will be. The health secretary, John Reid, today
announced details of the government's controversial programme of privately run
fast-track diagnostic and treatment centres, and a number of new mobile
ophthalmology units. This guide explains where they will be.
Friday September 12, 2003 [South-west peninsula (Mercury Health Ltd),
Lincolnshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Horton hospital, north Oxford (Mercury Health
Ltd), North-east Yorks (Mercury Health Ltd), Southampton (Mercury Health Ltd),
Northumberland (Mercury Health Ltd), East Berkshire (Slough,
Bracknell, Maidenhead and Windsor/Ascot) (Mercury Health Ltd), Didcot,
Oxfordshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Ashford, Surrey (Mercury Health Ltd),
Maidstone (Care UK Afrox), Barlborough Links, Nottinghamshire (Care UK Afrox),
Derriford, Plymouth (Care UK Afrox), Chase Farm, Barnet, London (Anglo
Canadian), King George hospital, Redbridge (Anglo Canadian), Royal National
throat nose and ear hospital, Kings Cross, London (Anglo Canadian), Bradford
(Nations Healthcare), Burton (Nations Healthcare), Daventry (Birkdale Clinic),
Trafford, Greater Manchester (Netcare UK), Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital,
Stanmore (New York Presbyterian), Shepton Mallet, Somerset (New York
Presbyterian).
Two mobile units will offer ophthalmology services in the following areas:
Cheshire and Merseyside (Netcare UK), Cumbria and Lancashire (Netcare UK),
Horton, Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), Wycombe, Bucks (Netcare UK), North
Tyneside (Netcare UK), South-west Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), North-west
peninsula (Netcare UK), Dorset/Somerset (Netcare UK), Kent/Medway (Netcare UK),
Hants and Isle of Wight (Netcare UK), Surrey and Sussex (Netcare UK), Thames
Valley (Netcare UK)] |
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A health trust was today fined £50,000 for the death of a patient with
severe learning difficulties who was lowered into a bath of scalding water.
The patient, Catherine Hourie, aged 39, died five days after suffering severe
burns to her lower body which caused the skin to peel away from parts of her
legs.
Thursday July 1, 2004 [Prudhoe] |
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Commuters will be able to get free medical attention on their way to and
from work at a chain of NHS walk-in centres to be built near city-centre
stations, the government announced yesterday. John Hutton, the health minister,
said the first seven centres would open in the spring in
London,
Newcastle,
Manchester and
Leeds at a cost of £25m over the first three years. John Carvel,
social affairs editor
Thursday November 4, 2004
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Fifteen hospitals have been hit by outbreaks of the new strain of the
hospital superbug Clostridium difficile which has so far contributed to 25
deaths, ministers have admitted. So far there have been 75 cases confirmed by
scientists at the specialist laboratory in Cardiff - the only one in the UK
equipped to analysis the new strain - health minister Jane Kennedy said
yesterday. The statistics reveal the outbreak of the new strain, which last week
was confirmed at a second hospital in the UK, is much wider than originally
believed. Hospitals where the strain has appeared are in: Preston, Birmingham,
Winchester, Bristol, Romford, Southampton, Truro, Carshalton, High Wycombe,
South Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tees, Sunderland, Stoke Mandeville and Exeter.
Debbie Andalo
Thursday
June 30, 2005 |
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Billion-pound
hospitals plan faces collapse. Ministers are considering scaling back or
cancelling about ten PFI hospital building schemes, including projects in
Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle, due to concerns over cost. Under payment by
results, hospitals do not have a guaranteed income and due to patient choice
they could potentially close, leaving the Department of Health worried about
the viability of the PFI. 24 PFI schemes with a total capital spend of £2.1bn
have been completed. 14 more schemes, worth £3bn, have been approved. A
further £12.1bn worth of projects are awaiting approval. A DoH source told the
Times "Ministers are considering how to make it clearer that PFI schemes have
to make financial sense. They are looking at how we got into this position and
how to avoid it happening again." Patricia Hewitt ordered a last minute review
of the St Barts and Royal London PFI project in December. If a decision is not
made by the end of January the contract with private partner Skanska will
lapse and the consortium will be entitled to walk away with costs of £100m
paid, or to continue and be paid more.
Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Times
16 January 2006 |
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MRSA "hit squads" are to be sent into 20 hospital trusts that are failing to
reduce the number of patients infected by the potentially lethal superbug, the
government announced today. The move came as new figures showed the NHS is
failing to halt MRSA infections, with 3,580 cases of the most serious type of
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) recorded between April and
September last year. There were a total of 7,269 cases of bloodstream MRSA
infection between October 2004 and September 2005. David Batty, health
correspondent
Monday
February 6, 2006
[worst are Sandwell, Northumbria and Aintree] |
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All our hard work
could be snatched away. Salaried GPs in Washington, Tyne and Wear, who
transformed a surgery from having no doctors to being a fully-staffed
training practice, now fear a private firm will be allowed to snatch away
the practice they have spent two years improving. They have been told by
Sunderland Teaching PCT there is "considerable" interest from the private
sector and it may be put out to tender. Dr Ashley Liston said: "It's the
principle of putting out to tender a well-run practice - it's jeopardising
good patient care. The patients are mystified."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 28 March
2006 |
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'Be
protectionist' to battle private firms. GPs in the North-East have
argued that practices need to be 'protectionist' to fend away the threat
from private firms. a discussion paper from Newcastle and North Tyneside LMC
urges doctors to form APMS companies and take up PBC to pre-empt private
companies. Dr Roger Ford, secretary of Sunderland LMC, said: "We are already
experiencing the private sector sniffing around vigorously and not just the
struggling practices."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 28 March
2006 |
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Protest over
plans to axe 100 NHS jobs.
Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the town's Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, plans to lose as many as 100 staff to balance the books
because it is £500,000 in the red. Clinical jobs will go, although the trust
aims to lose the jobs by not filling vacancies. Healthcare workers in the
North-East are planning a demonstration over NHS job losses. Unison members
will be holding a rally at their national conference in Gateshead later this
month.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Newcastle Journal 11 April 2006 |
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Concern over
Gateshead 'breach'.
Gateshead Health foundation trust 'might be in
significant breach of its authorisation', according to independent regulator
Monitor, which has has 'serious concerns as to the trust's liquidity'. The
trust is 'stretching its creditors' and is not 'adhering to best practice' in
paying back lenders. Meanwhile, University College
London Hospitals foundation trust is failing to operate 'in an effective,
efficient and economic way', according to Monitor. The regulator has so far
decided against intervention, but the trust has to submit a recovery plan by
the end of April that must show the 2006-07 deficit will not exceed £10m, and
that it will have broken even and improved its financial risk rating from 1 to
3 on a scale of 1-5 by April 2008.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Health Service Journal 20 April 2006 |
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The politics
column - Allyson Pollock. In the New Statesman's main political column,
Allyson Pollock writes: "According to Patricia Hewitt the NHS has had its
best year ever. So why is the Royal College of Nursing threatening
industrial action over cuts and
closures, and why did the annual conference of Unison, traditional
Labour supporters, greet the secretary of state with heckling?
In her words, "the NHS must
modernise or die".
So why, from
Surrey to
Manchester and from
Gateshead to
Shropshire, are local people banding into hospital action groups and "Keep
our NHS public" campaigns in an effort to defend the health service
? The chief targets for cuts are
mental health services, palliative care,
older people's care and emergency hospital care, yet Hewitt maintains,
to general derision, that quality will not be affected…
Pay accounts for 60-70 per cent
of NHS hospital budgets, but pay awards accounted for less than 30 per cent
of the new money and should have been absorbed easily. Nor was greed
involved; the increases returned NHS pay to previous levels after years of
pay freezes. The hourly rate of the lowest-paid rose initially from £5.16 to
£5.67 an hour; medical consultants got increases of 4-5 per cent a year,
taking them to averages of between £75,000 and £95,000, while managers -
their numbers swollen by the complications of marketisation - got 7.5 per
cent more last year. The real reason for the decision to axe in excess of
13,000 clinical staff and 1,000 NHS beds, plus associated services, is
market-oriented
reforms such as "choose and book",
"payment by results" and
foundation hospitals.
Hospitals and services are required to behave like stand-alone companies,
competing with each other and private corporations for income and patients…
The government plans to hand over most of the NHS budget to the private
sector through "practice-based commissioning". Under this policy, local PCTs
will eventually contract with for-profit companies such as the US-owned
UnitedHealth Europe to provide GP services… The Prime Minister asserts that
the reforms are bearing fruit, and so they are - for "investors" such as the
lucky shareholders of
Norfolk and Norwich and
Bromley
PFI hospitals, who received a
windfall of more than £500m within months of the new hospitals opening. But
the PFI has been less "fruitful" for local people, who have seen a quarter
of beds closed and clinical staff and community provision cut. A large part
of hospital trust deficits is due to PFI debts, running at £1.5bn a year…
And then there are the costs associated with establishing and operating a
market - costs the NHS was explicitly designed to avoid: these are for
invoicing, marketing, advertising, drawing up hundreds of thousands of
contracts, legal disputes with contractors and rival hospitals, and using
management consultants… And though NHS hospitals remain responsible for
balancing their books, the government has ensured that the only way they can
do so is by cuts, closures, the sale of land and buildings - and more
privatisation. Some foundation trusts are entering joint ventures with
companies such as the Hospital Corporation of America, providing care to
private patients in what were previously NHS beds. Others are
charging NHS patients for "extra" care: Queen
Charlotte's and Chelsea NHS hospital has introduced a fee of £4,000 for
one-to-one midwife care - once the NHS standard - and the government is
allowing it. The less fortunate hospitals - if that is the right word - are
closing services and sacking staff. Is this what the English patient needs
or wants ?"
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
New Statesman 2 May 2006 |
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An ambulance in
Tyneside was
misdirected twice by a satellite navigation system when on an emergency
call. The chair of the
patient and public involvement forum said, "... Satellite navigation can
be very effective when it is used correctly and with local knowledge.
It should not be relied on by itself though." Summary of Daily Mail 16 May
2006 [There is a danger of ambulance drivers' local knowledge
becoming less complete as a result of the Government's decision to merge
ambulance trusts.] |
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DoH throws down
gauntlet on APMS. The pace of private sector involvement in primary care has
accelerated, with ministers trumpeting the first in a series of
Government-backed private provider deals, allowing a private company to run a
traditional GP practice in east
London. Health
Minister Lord Warner said private provider Care UK would run a new 7,000-patient
practice and walk-in centre in Barking and Dagenham. The DoH said similar
contracts that would "challenge the existing monopoly of independent GPs" were
close to agreement in Hackney,
Liverpool,
Lancashire,
Plymouth and
Yorkshire. PCTs have also begun planning to put directly managed practices
out to tender to avoid the cost of running them.
Sunderland PCT has opted to put out to tender a practice run by two GPs for
the past two years. Dr Ashley Liston and Dr Tracey Lucas, who transformed the
struggling practice, had hoped to take it over. He said: "We are disappointed
but not surprised by the outcome. We're keen to continue the work we've started
here, so we will be putting in a bid. We recognise the challenges of competing
with large multinational companies, but we will give it our best shot." GPC
Medical Practitioners Union representative Dr Ron Singer said: "PCTs will get
Brownie points from the Government by involving the private sector. They are
beginning to realise that they don't want salaried practices." Dr Chaand Nagpaul,
a member of the GPC sessional GPs subcommittee, called on the Government to make
it a legal requirement that salaried GPs keep their NHS contracts when APMS
providers take over a practice: "We need to ensure the private sector is not
seen as a cheap option with doctors on lower rates. The worry is we will see a
downward trend in employer and employee terms." Dr Richard Fieldhouse, chief
executive of the National Association of Sessional GPs, told salaried doctors
not to sign alternative contracts if their practice is taken over: "It's like a
civil servant moving to become part of McDonald's."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Doctor Update 30 May 2006 |
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Protest
greets health chief. Angry patients lobbied NHS boss Sir Ian Carruthers
in a protest during the opening of a £6m
Wearside health centre. Campaigners are furious that their doctors'
practice, Encompass Healthcare in Washington, is to be put out to tender,
fearing their GPs may be forced out if a private firm wins the contract. The
practice had been without a permanent doctor for more than two years before
Drs Ashley Liston and Tracey Lucas took over nearly two years ago. The
patients say they don't want to lose them and handed a 1,200 name petition
to Parliament, which will end up on Carruthers' desk. Encompass patient
Brian Lawrence, 66, a retired haulage worker who has been with the practice
for 27 years, said: "I hope common sense prevails and we keep the doctors.
We want to see them get the practice. If we get a private company, I don't
think we would get the level of care we need. We want to keep these doctors.
They have done a brilliant job and we don't want to lose them." Sir Ian
Carruthers said: "I heard their view. They are very supportive of the
present general practice." He said it was a matter for Sunderland Teaching
Primary Care Trust, which runs the practice, but added: "What the trust
wants and the local public want are the same thing. They want to have a good
service which commands the support of the people."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Sunderland Today 12 June 2006 |
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GP fury over
practice out to tender. GPs in the North-East are embroiled in a furious
row over a PCT's decision to put one of its directly-managed practices out
to tender.
Sunderland Teaching PCT is to seek bidders to run the Encompass practice
in Washington, despite the incumbent salaried GPs asking to take it over
almost a year ago. Trusts around the country are trying to divest themselves
of their PCTMS practices. Dr Ashley Liston and Dr Tracey Lucas had been
under the impression they would be allowed to take their practice on. The
two GPs have turned the practice around in the past two years, taking on
training status and scoring 1,047 quality points. But the PCT has said
Department of Health guidance on alternative provider medical services (APMS)
contracts leaves it with no option but to run a competitive tender.
Sunderland LMC has warned the move will jeopardise recruitment to the region
and leave the two salaried GPs who made the practice an attractive
proposition for potential bidders out of a job. BMA lawyers have also
advised the LMC there is no legal requirement for the trust to advertise the
practice. Sunderland LMC accused managers of selectively quoting and
misquoting from key documents and legislation to support its move. It also
argued there had been inadequate patient consultation - because the PCT
believed their views would be "biased".
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 7 July 2006 |
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GPs are told to
tender for their own practice. The BMJ says: "Ashley Liston seems like a
model GP. He has an altruistic streak, inspired he says by Julian Tudor
Hart, the socialist doctor and passionate advocate of the NHS who worked as
a GP in Wales for 30 years. Two years ago Dr Liston gave up his position as
principal GP in a practice in a comfortable Newcastle neighbourhood, where
he had worked for eight years, to become a salaried GP at a practice that
had relied on locums for 30 months. "I wanted to maximise the benefits of my
skills without going abroad. I wanted to make a difference and to have a
personal challenge," he said. If the feedback from his patients at the
Encompass practice in Washington,
Tyne and Wear, is anything to go by then Dr Liston, who works with
another salaried GP, has achieved what he set out to do." However now
Sunderland Teaching PCT has decided to put the Encompass practice out to
tender, and he will have to compete with the private sector for his own
practice. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of British
Medical Journal 14 July 2006 |
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Foundation
hospital cuts 500 jobs to save £20m. About 500 jobs are to be axed at
the NHS foundation hospital in
Sunderland to save £20m over the next three years. City Hospitals
Sunderland NHS Foundation trust said it needed to cut up to 10% of the
workforce to compete effectively with other hospitals and private treatment
centres. Karen Jennings, for the public service union Unison, warned of a
"summer of discontent" and more job cuts on the way.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Guardian
27 July 2006 |
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Workers' fury
over NHS cuts. Angry doctors and nurses
leaders have blasted the Government over its health service reforms.
Officials from 12 unions met Patricia Hewitt to call for more consultation
over changes they fear are leading to
privatisation. The
talks followed news of almost 1,000 more job losses in the NHS as hospital
trusts continue to make cuts to try to balance the books. Those in
Sunderland and
Brighton are both axing up to 500 jobs each. It brings total NHS job
losses this year to 18,000. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC,
said: "There has been an unprecedented expression of anger. Morale is at a
very low ebb."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Mirror
27 July 2006 |
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Help for GPs to
compete on APMS. A PCT that is putting four practices it directly
manages out to tender has pledged to help the incumbent GPs compete with
major private providers.
Salford PCT has promised that managers will assist salaried GPs in
preparing a bid, including giving advice on how how they might be able to
collaborate with other practices or providers. The trust, which plans to set
up Chinese Walls to ensure impartiality, has also promised patients' views
will be taken into account in deciding criteria to judge the bidders'
proposals and in evaluating bids. It has made the pledges in order to avoid
the accusations of bias that have plagued similar tenders in
Sunderland and
Derbyshire. Mike Burrows, chief executive of Salford PCT, said tendering
was the best way to evaluate all models of care, including the private
sector and social enterprise. He said he was acutely aware of the furore
that occurred in Derbyshire and had deliberately taken a more even-handed
approach.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 11 August 2006. |
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NHS cleaners may
continue strikes. There could be further disruption at a Tyneside NHS
Trust after unions and hospital bosses failed to reach a deal following a
six-day strike by cleaners.
About 200 domestic staff returned to work on Tuesday at South
Tyneside Foundation Trust following the third strike since mid-July. The
GMB and Unison want to see job descriptions revised to recognise that
cleaners assist with providing drinks. But trust chiefs said cleaners should
only be responsible for cleaning. Hospital managers stepped in to clean
wards during the strike, and the trust has rejected claims by the unions
that hygiene standards were affected. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 15 August 2006 |
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A court ruling could make it harder for NHS trusts to
open up GP surgeries to big business in the face of opposition from
patients. Annie Kelly
Wednesday August 30, 2006 The Guardian
[Derbyshire
and
Washington] |
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Monitor in target
warning. The independent foundation trust regulator has warned that progress
towards the 18-week
target
could be slowed down by primary care trusts attempting to cut spending. summary
of findings from foundation trusts' annual plans warns that foundation trust
financial and operational planning will become 'increasingly uncertain' and that
'the progress towards 18-week waiting targets may be slowed'. 'Operational and
financial planning is complicated as foundation trusts balance waiting list
targets with commissioners' desire to minimise activity,' it says. The regulator
also says the 'priority to achieve financial balance is leading some
commissioners to demonstrate behaviour which conflicts with payment by results
reform'. Seven foundation trusts have forecast a deficit for the end of the
current financial year. University College
London Hospitals is
predicting the biggest deficit - £10m by year-end. Countess of
Chester Hospital,
Gloucestershire Hospitals,
Barnsley
Hospital, Doncaster and
Bassetlaw Hospitals, City Hospitals
Sunderland, and Homerton University Hospital foundation trusts are
forecasting deficits ranging from £1m-£3m.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Health
Service Journal 31 August 2006 |
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Villagers fight
PFI bid. Villagers yesterday came out in force against proposals for a
multi-million pound health centre in their
Northumberland community. They say the plans by Prime UK Development
will be out of keeping with the surrounding area in Corbridge. Prime UK has
applied to Tynedale Council for permission for the private finance
initiative (PFI) centre, which is expected to cost between £1.5m and £2m. It
will provide a range of services under one roof and would include a 32-space
car park. Health officials in the village say the current centre has become
too small for the population of the community, with 2,000 new patients
having joined the books since it opened in 1982. Tynedale Council is set to
give the plans the go ahead at its meeting of the development control
committee. But villagers and the Corbridge Village Trust are concerned that
the design of the building could have a detrimental impact on the village,
which is within a conservation area.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Newcastle Journal 15 September 2006 |
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£750m cottage hospital plan under way. The
first of a new generation of NHS
cottage hospitals will be announced by the Department of Health today,
kickstarting a £750m programme to move minor operations away from the big
general hospitals and closer to people's homes. Lord Warner, the health
minister, will sign a deal to build community hospitals to serve patients
living on the fringes of
Sunderland,
Bristol,
Gosport and
Minehead. They will provide minor surgery, medical tests and follow-up
care for about 75,000 patients a year.
Scores of cottage hospitals across England had been under threat of closure.
Some, but not all, will be saved and given new or upgraded accommodation.
Ministers think patients will benefit from having a full range of diagnostic
tests closer to their homes. But the move will reduce the income of the big
hospitals, with A&E departments offering a full range of medical services.
Some may be forced to close departments. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Thursday December 21, 2006 The Guardian |
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North east LIFT
reaches final close. Robertson Construction North East England Ltd (RCNEEL)
has reached financial on a £10million second tranche Local Improvement
Finance Trust (LIFT) project in
Newcastle and North Tyneside. The project will be delivered on behalf of
Newcastle and North Tyneside LIFT company (NNT LIFT Co) - a joint-venture
company that includes both private and public sector shareholders with
Scottish-based Robertson Capital Projects as majority investor. The
second-phase project will see the development of three new buildings in
Dudley and Shiremoor on North Tyneside and Gosforth in Newcastle. NNT LIFT
Co is jointly owned by Robertson Capital Projects, Newcastle and North
Tyneside Councils and Newcastle and North Tyneside Primary Care Trusts. NNT
LIFT Co holds exclusive rights to modernise primary care and community-based
premises for the NHS and can also be invited to develop a wide range of
premises for local authorities. The first-phase of the 20-year-partnership
has already delivered four resource centres in Brunton Park, Kenton and
Walker in Newcastle and a further facility in Shiremoor. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of thePFI.net 22
December 2006 |
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Blood centre
plans 'put lives at risk'. Lives could be put be at risk if health
bosses go ahead with plans to close
Newcastle Blood Centre, it was claimed. Dozens of protesters gathered
outside the centre for a Valentine's Day Save Our Service event, to campaign
against the decision to close the site over the next three years with the
loss of 250 jobs. The NHS Blood &
Transplant Service is planning a national shake-up, which will see blood
testing centralised to laboratories in London, Bristol and Manchester. This
will see the loss of 700 jobs nationally over four years, including
highly-skilled workers such as lab technicians and researchers. Union
officials at Amicus claim the move could put lives at risk. NHS bosses have
said there will still be a local blood bank in the North-East despite the
proposed closure, but Amicus claim there is a danger of a geographical gap
in services, which could lead to delays in vital deliveries. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Newcastle
Journal 16 February 2007 |
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Protestors take
to the streets over NHS cuts and closures. Thousands turned out last
weekend to protest at cuts, deficits, and increasing private sector
involvement in the NHS. The "Day of Action" was organised by NHS Together, a
collaboration of health service unions, NHS staff organisations, and the
Trades Union Congress. A series of events took place across the country. A
"Rock for the NHS" concert took the stage at
Woking, while in Crawley protestors marched in nightgowns and bandages.
Other rallies were held in Brighton,
Maidstone,
Gloucester,
Preston, Belfast,
London, and
Sunderland, where Dr George Rae, chairman of the BMA's northern regional
council (left) took part. In Tunbridge Wells, a small crowd protested at the
closure of the Homoeopathic Hospital. In
Birmingham, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said the protests were
"testament to the growing number of people worried about the future of our
NHS." Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of British
Medical Journal 9 March 2007 |
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Nurses told to
re-apply for jobs. Nurses at a North-East health trust have been told
they must re-apply for their jobs as part of a shake-up of surgery at five
hospitals. The review, being carried out by
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, is aimed at standardising
theatre procedures. But bosses have insisted there are no plans to cut jobs
as part of the review, which it is thought will affect about 100 nurses and
care staff in Wansbeck, North Tyneside, Hexham, Alnwick and Berwick. The
review could bring in changes to shift patterns at the hospitals to help
prevent patients being sent home without their operations being carried out.
Unison regional officer Keith Blackburn said: "We would be saying quite
categorically that to front-load the idea with people re-applying for their
jobs is no way to go about it. We've always told people to resist that. We
will be examining what they are proposing to see whether it has any legs and
whether it contravenes family friendly policies." The root of any problems
with surgery is that there is not enough staff, he added. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Newcastle
Journal 23 March 2007 |
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City health cash
goes to help out others. Health chiefs have transferred money from
Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust (TPCT) to Gateshead Primary Care
Trust (PCT) to make up a deficit in its finances. Last year Sunderland TPCT
spent carefully, leaving it with a surplus of £10.3m. That money has been
promised to be ploughed back in to Sunderland in the coming years, but £4m
of it has already been "lent" to Gateshead PCT to help it sort out its cash-
flow problems.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Sunderland
Echo 30 July 2007 |
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Legal disputes soar
as PCTs squeeze PMS practices. A massive rise in the number of recorded
disputes between PMS practices and PCTs is just the 'tip of the iceberg', the
GPC said this week. Statistics from the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) show
the number of disputes between PMS practices and PCTs rocketed almost six-fold
between the financial years 2005/ 6
and 2006/ 7. The rise - from 12
disputes up to 68 - is another indication of the cash squeeze facing PMS
surgeries. GP profits, especially in PMS surgeries, have been set to plummet as
PCTs attempt to claw back their deficits by renegotiating contracts. Chief
executive David Nicholson revealed last week that the NHS was heading for a near
£1bn profit, but the GPC warned that with 22 PCTs still in deficit and others
embarking on massive cost-cutting missions, PMS surgeries remain in the firing
line. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GPC negotiator and a GP in Stanmore, Middlesex, said
many more practices were involved in payment disputes that hadn't gone as far as
the NHSLA. Dr Ross Worthington, a GP in Haverhill and one of 46 PMS practices
being represented by
Suffolk LMC, is among those taking to the streets to protest at the weekend
at PCT proposals he says amount to 'more work for less money'. He said: 'We are
looking at a loss of £300,000 over five years - or 15% of the total budget for
the three practices in Haverhill.' Disputes over contract payments are also
raging in other parts of the country including
Barnet,
Northumberland and
Nottingham. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Pulse
7 September 2007 |
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Fly on the wall interviews: Local authority and primary care trust
partnerships. IDeA's National Adviser for Healthy Communities,
Liam Hughes, introduces a compelling series of case studies that explore the
relationships between councils and primary care trusts (PCTs);-
Barnsley Council and PCT 17 October 2007;
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council 17 October 2007;
London Borough of Brent 17 October 2007;
Cannock Chase Council and PCT 17 October 2007;
Croydon Council and Croydon's PCT 16 October 2007;
Gateshead Council and Gateshead PCT 16 October 2007;
Greenwich Council 17 October 2007;
Herefordshire Council 17 October 2007;
Kent Council and PCT 15 October 2007;
Knowsley: joint appointment council and PCT; 15 October 2007
Lewisham Council and PCT 15 October 2007;
Shropshire County Council 15 October 2007;
Stockton-on-Tees Council and PCT 17 October 2007;
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council 15 October 2007. Care
& Health 18 October 2007 |
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Heat Map North East
Community Hospitals under threat. Map and index
Telegraph 8 February 2007
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Closed |
Threat of closure/loss of service |
Under review |
| Northumberland, Tyne and Wear
former Strategic Health Authority |
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Morpeth |
Blyth |
PETITIONS
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