Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

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NEWS IN BRIEF

2004/05 A&E capital incentive scheme - final results

Congratulations to the 80 trusts who achieved the incentive payment for the final period Q4 2004-2005.  As in previous stages, successful trusts received personal letters from the Department of Health's director of access, Margaret Edwards, congratulating them.Q4 2004-2005 was the fifth and final stage of the scheme, which closed at the end of March 2005. The capital released through the whole scheme totalled an extra £44.5 million (on top of normal capital allocations).In all, 88 per cent of trusts with a major A&E (137 out of the 155 acute trusts) benefited from the additional funding by achieving at least one stage. A total of 60 per cent (95 of the 155) achieved three or more of the required stages. The fact so many trusts benefited from the scheme is a real tribute to the hard work of staff in improving services for patients.

Improving care for children and older people

The Department of Health has worked with specialist frontline staff to develop two 'top tips' documents designed to help treat older people and children needing emergency care.  These documents highlight a number of steps for quickly and easily improving the care offered to these groups of patients.  The ideas are not new and many of you will already have implemented some, if not all, of the recommendations.Older people often present with more complex needs that can result in a longer length of stay in the emergency department. The emergency department is not a comfortable environment for older people and is not always the most clinically appropriate route into treatment.  The top tips highlight steps to reduce the need for acute hospital care and to provide faster access to specialist acute care where required.When a child needs urgent or emergency care, the experience can be particularly frightening and affects not only the child but also the whole family.  Treatment of children also involves a number of challenges specific to this group of patients.  The top tips for treating children highlights a number of steps that contribute toward a consistently high standard of care.

NHS chief executive's latest report

The latest report by NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp marks the fifth year of continuous improvement and is the half way mark of implementing the 10 year The NHS Plan. It celebrates the service's achievements to date, including the transformation of care offered to patients in A&E, despite the pressures faced and positions these achievements against the overall strategy. 

Lord Warner to lead on unscheduled and emergency care

Lord Warner's recent appointment as health minister responsible for NHS delivery, following the General Election, heralds an important move in the development this year of urgent care strategies towards an integrated system for patient centred care.His responsibilities include access and delivery, and bringing together both urgent and emergency care. One of the key challenges of 2005 will be to break down the geographical boundaries and join-up the agendas between primary and secondary care for patients. This joint responsibility will help drive forward work in urgent care towards more integrated services for patients. Lord Warner will also be responsible for winter planning, which will add further to the integration.

Preparing for a heatwave and other summer presssures

The Heatwave Plan for England sets out national and local arrangements for and actions to be taken before and during a heatwave. This has been re-launched for 2005. The effects of a heat wave on the NHS will be mitigated by how ready the service is for this possibility. The same applies to other summer operational pressures which however are certainties rather than risks. Reduced staff availability due to summer holidays, and pressures resulting from junior doctors' change over and the August Bank Holiday are all events that happen each summer. Unmanaged they can all result in temporarily reduced levels of service. The guidance is called Managing predictable events.

Pandemic flu

Operational guidance has been published

Models of care for alcohol misusers

An optimum local framework for the commissioning and provision of interventions and treatment for adult alcohol misusers in England has been produced and views are being invited on its proposals. The deadline is 1 July.

Improving emergency care for patients with tracheotomies

Ambulance and hospital staff need more training about treating patients with breathing needs, according to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).The NPSA is currently sending out patient safety information to NHS organisations, including accident and emergency departments and ambulance trusts, to highlight the problems.

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