Category Archives: Medical News

The Associate Director and Head of Healthcare at Frontline, Andrew Butters, said that “It enables you to look at how work flows through a department. So you can look at the levels of staff and demand and model changing patterns of need. It will recognise the big bulge in demand within accident and emergency on […]

The Managing Director of Health at the Audit Commission, Andy McKeon, said that “It\’s reassuring that the NHS is getting better at clinical coding. Efficiency is more important than ever and accurate clinical coding under payment by results will contribute to better data, better decisions and better outcomes for patients. But the variation in error […]

Unison is concerned that costs to the National Health Service will increase if the not for profit body is privatised as companies will want a ‘piece of the action’. However, private sector medical agencies believe that any privatisation would help to improve efficiency in the NHS and actually reduce operational costs. The cost of administering […]

The Head of Health at Unison, Karen Jennings, said that “I find it incredible that the NHS chief executive would say he believes there is no legal duty on the secretary of state to consult on the merits of the proposals in the white paper. The white paper contains sweeping changes to the NHS and […]

The Head of Medical Pay and Workforce at NHS Employers, Bill McMillan, said that “It is critical that the correct number of doctors are trained in the specialities and geographical areas where they are needed most, to avoid the risk of a shortage or significant oversupply. Both of these things would be expensive, demoralising for […]

The Chief Medical Officer for the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Jonathan Fielden, said that “Everyone is now well aware that we are working to achieve our aim in a challenging financial situation that is facing the whole country and in particular the public sector. This year we have to identify and deliver a savings plan of £20 […]

NHS Reform Plans Earlier in the week the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, announced plans for radical changes to the way the National Health Service works in a white paper titled ‘Equity & Excellence: Liberating the NHS’. If fully implemented the changes will see: All 10 Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) abolished All 152 Primary Care Trusts […]

Nigel Watson, the GPC commissioning and service development subcommittee chair said that “The abolition of PCTs is something that they did not see coming. There is a real risk that in the transitional phase until 2013 all the good managers will go off and find other jobs. We need to work with the Department of […]

Harriet Harman, the temporary Labour Leader said to the Prime Minister \”The White Paper admits there will be extra cost because of loss of productivity, staff relocation and redundancies. Does he (David Cameron) stand by what he said just a few months ago about NHS reorganisation? He said the disruption is terrible, the demoralisation worse, […]

Peter Griffiths, the director of the National Nursing Research Unit, has said the onus is on the NHS to solve any shortages by training its own staff, rather than recruiting from abroad. Mr Griffiths recently told the Nursing Times that some areas, including theatre nurses, were experiencing shortages because they were no longer part of […]