Website of the Department of Health

GP out-of-hours review

A report by the House of Commons health select committee recently undertook a short inquiry into the potential impact of the GP contract on the provision of out-of-hours services.

The report and oral and written evidence considered by the committee can be found at:

• Further details (opens new window)

A feature looking at the changes taking place in out-of-hours primary care is included in this month's Primary Care magazine.

Drive to recruit from underprivileged backgrounds

A new £9 million drive to recruit more NHS staff from underprivileged backgrounds has been launched.

Nine schemes around the country will help people from disadvantaged backgrounds become doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

The schemes, which have been given £9m over five years by the Department of Health and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), will look at ways of encouraging a wider range of young people to train in the healthcare professions.

The project is part of AimHigher, a joint initiative designed to widen participation in higher education.

More information at:

• Drive for more doctors and nurses from deprived backgrounds

Recruiting NHS staff

A careers pack has been produced to help recruitment managers attract staff, both new and old, to the NHS.

The NHS Careers Recruitment Resource pack includes guidance, information leaflets and publicity materials. It is designed to help staff organise national and local recruitment, as well as return to work campaigns.

The Department of Health is currently distributing the pack to workforce development confederation and trust recruitment leads.

Anyone else interested in the pack should contact their local WDC recruitment lead who are authorised to order it from the password-protected section of the NHS Careers website.

For more information call David Townsend on 0207 972 5269 or e-mail:

• david.townsend@dh.gsi.gov.uk (opens new window)

Visit the NHS careers website at

• NHS careers (opens new window)

Overseas expertise

An innovative project to help qualified refugee doctors utilise their talents to the full has enabled three GPs to take their skills into the community.

The GPs, all experienced doctors in their home country, are each taking up healthcare support worker or primary care assistant posts in Staffordshire.

Each 12-month post gives refugees, with recognised medical qualifications, the opportunity to contribute to patient care while also undertaking dedicated study in English.

The project was organised by Stoke-on-Trent Teaching Primary Care Trust.

Methotrexate risks

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has alerted the NHS to the risks associated with the drug oral methotrexate.

Oral methotrexate tablets are taken by thousands of people in the UK, normally for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis and severe psoriasis.

Oral methotrexate is a safe and effective medication if administered and monitored appropriately. However, the NPSA is aware of 137 patient safety incidents over the last 10 years in England due to problems with the medication.

This includes 25 patient deaths and 26 cases of serious harm.

More information at:

• National Patient Safety Agency (opens new window)

Fact-finding mission on sexual health

Department of Health advisers are touring the country to find out more about the sexual health services in the NHS.

Leading the tour is Baroness Gould, who currently chairs the Department of Health's independent advisory group on sexual health and HIV.

The group kicked off the tour in the north east because of the trailblazing work at Newcastle Primary Care Trust.

Baroness Gould said: 'I feel it is important to find out, at first hand, how frontline services are operating, what the problems are and how these are being tackled in different parts of the country.'

More on Newcastle PCT at:

• Newcastle Primary Care Trust website (opens new window)

More on sexual health policy at:

• Sexual health

One-stop health centre

An £11 million health centre will provide patients with better access to a wider range of services closer to home.

The new one-stop centre for Stapleford in Nottinghamshire will have two GP practices, a minor injuries walk-in clinic, open seven-days-a-week, outpatient clinics for adults and children and a pharmacy.

Other facilities include social services, mental health departments and offices for community health and social care teams.

The centre is being built as part of the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme.

Patients are expected to start using the new facility in 2006.

More information at:

• Greater Nottingham LIFT (opens new window)

A new vision for adult social care

The opportunity to shape future social services in innovative and radical ways has been extended.

The plan to create a new vision for adult social care was announced in April and a survey has been carried out by the Social Care Institute of Excellence to gather views on the issue.

The responses to the survey have now been published by the Department of Health.

But all interested parties, particularly older and disabled people, are being invited to take part in a further debate to encourage new and radical thinking about the care offered to vulnerable adults in today's society.

This will lead to a full green paper in the next parliamentary session.

More information at:

Changing standards

The NHS Controls Assurance system has been scrapped, further reducing bureaucracy in the health service.

NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp announced that procedures to ensure quality risk management in decisions will instead be incorporated into the recently launched Standards for Better Health.

This will ensure trusts continue to consider risk management when purchasing and planning services, but will reduce the amount of bureaucracy involved in following the controls assurance criteria.

More information at:

• National Standards, Local Action: Health and Social Care Standards and Planning Framework 2005/06-2007/08

Gene therapy trial approved

Experts have given the go ahead for doctors to test a new treatment for patients with a rare type of brain tumour.

The new gene therapy treatment, approved for trial by the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee, involves injecting Herpes simplex virus into the brain tumours of Glioma patients.

Glioma is one of the most aggressive types of brain tumours for which there is no cure.

The virus is modified so it targets and kills cancerous cells but leaves normal brain cells undamaged.

More information at:

• Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (opens new window)

Investing in medicine

Research work at eight of England's newest medical schools is to receive an extra £12 million.

This is to set up state-of-the-art research facilities and develop their work in crucial areas like cancer, genetics and diabetes.

It is part of a sustained drive to strengthen research and innovation, and ensure the NHS benefits from the latest developments in the field of science.

Each medical school, through their local NHS partner organisations, will receive £1.5m.

More information at:

• Medical schools: delivering the doctors of the future

Strengthening childcare protection

More school nurses, a stronger public health role for midwives and new priorities for health visitors are planned to improve care for vulnerable children and young people.

Chief nursing officer Sarah Mullally has put forward a number of recommendations following a review of services as part of the Government's Green Paper Every Child Matters.

They include calls for PCTs to provide a school nurse for every secondary school and their network of primary schools, and increased recognition of the role practice nurses can play in improving child health.

The proposals form part of the Government's drive to improve the health, wellbeing and prospects of vulnerable children and young people and are based on feedback from service users.

See the full review at:

• The Chief Nursing Officer's review of the nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to vulnerable children and young people

Expanding pharmacy services

The roles of pharmacists are being expanded to enable them to provide a range of new health services.

Under Local Pharmaceutical Services (LPS), pharmacists will have the opportunity to vary their contracts with the NHS to provide stop smoking clinics or emergency hormonal contraception.

Eleven PCTs in Manchester, the Midlands and south London will take part in the latest (third) wave of LPS pilots

• Local pharmaceutical services (LPS)

Care worker scheme

Trainee care workers are being guaranteed a job at the end of their course as part of a scheme to attract new recruits.

Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust has launched its care worker scheme to encourage people who would not normally pursue a career in health or social care to do so.

Trainees will study towards an NVQ level 3 in health and social care, receiving teaching and on-the-job training. The scheme offers the chance for students to pursue a career in nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and social care.

Hepatitis B consultation

Working restrictions on healthcare staff infected with hepatitis B are being reviewed.

An advisory group on hepatitis (AGH) has recommended that any infected workers who take an oral antiviral treatment should continue to practice, providing they are carefully monitored.

The Department of Health has now issued a paper outlining findings from the AGH and is seeking comments.

The objective is to find a balance between protecting patients from the risk of infection and the rights of skilled healthcare workers to continue their chosen careers without unnecessary restrictions.

More information at:

• Hepatitis B Infected Health Care Workers and Oral Antiviral Therapy : Consultation paper on implementing expert advice about a limited relaxation of restrictions on Hepatitis B infected health care workers

£5 million for cancer care research

Funds of up to £5 million will be released over the next five years to improve the way cancer care research is carried out in the UK.

The Department of Health, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Macmillan Cancer Relief, the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK will jointly fund collaborative research networks in supportive and palliative care.

These will be based on the successful model of the National Cancer Research Institute prostate cancer collaboratives.

More information at:

• National Cancer Research Institute (opens new window)

New hospitals for the NHS

More than £4 billion of investment in new hospitals has been approved by the Government.

Local health organisations have been given permission to proceed with 15 Private Finance Initiative hospital developments.

This brings the total investment in new NHS hospitals to over £16bn since 1997 and keeps the Department of Health on track to deliver The NHS Plan pledge of 100 new hospitals by 2010.

Some of the projects will also enable new models of treatment and care to be provided in their local community.

More information at:

• Private finance initiative (PFI)

Ambulance services rewarded for quick responses

Two out of three ambulance services are being rewarded financially for seeing and treating people quicker.

Twenty of the 32 ambulance trusts in England will receive between £10,000 and £300,000 each - depending on their size - for reaching three out of four life-threatening 999 calls within eight minutes between April and June.

It's the first time that ambulance trusts have been rewarded under the Government's emergency care incentive scheme, which also rewards hospitals for A&E performance.

More information at:

• Ambulance capital incentive scheme

Treating self-harm patients

• New guideline to standardise care for people who self-harm (opens new window)

Coping with childhood diabetes

Children suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes should receive care from a specialist team of child diabetes experts.

This is the main recommendation in a new publication by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and National Collaborating Centre for Women and Children's Health focusing on how health professionals should diagnose and care for children and young patients with type 1 diabetes.

NICE says all type 1 diabetes sufferers aged 12 and over should be routinely screened for conditions including thyroid disorders and coeliac disease. Care should be provided by a team of specialists covering all clinical, educational, dietetic, lifestyle, mental health and foot care aspects of diabetes for children and young people.

A full set of NICE recommendations on managing type 1 diabetes for all sufferers is due in September.

More information at:

• Type 1 diabetes (opens new window)

Mental health workforce strategy

This publication sets out the values and vision of mental health services and the national workforce strategy targets.

These are:

For each of these key aims, the document sets out the statement of importance, the challenges, actions to be taken, development work in support of localities and examples of good practice.

For hard copies email:

• dh@prolog.uk.com (opens new window)

Essential shared capabilities

• The Ten Essential Shared Capabilities - A Framework for the whole of the Mental Health Workforce

quoting 40276.

More information at:

• Mental Health Workforce Strategy
• NIMHE Knowledge Community (opens new window)

More freedom for the best in the NHS

A further 20 top performing hospital trusts in the NHS can apply for new powers and greater freedom from Whitehall control.

Trusts which retained their three-star rating in this year's performance review can now apply to the Independent Regulator to become NHS Foundation Trusts.

The next batch of applicants will be authorised in two phases by 1 November and 1 February next year.

The applicants hope to join the 20 NHS Foundation Trusts already approved by the Independent Regulator.

More information at:

IT suppliers

Arrangements have been struck with a wide range of companies who have sub-contracts with the National Programme for IT's prime suppliers. Prime suppliers are responsible for delivering the IT needed to give every patient an electronic health record.

By negotiating enterprise-wide arrangements (EWA) directly with the sub-contractors, the national programme has been able to use the bulk-buying muscle of the NHS to drive down prices while maintaining quality, ensuring NHS organisations get the best value for money.

As the sub-contractors often supply more than one prime supplier it made sense to negotiate an enterprise-wide arrangement to secure competitive pricing for the NHS. Money saved can then be used for the delivery of frontline patient care.

The first eight enterprise-wide agreements with sub-contractors are expected to save the NHS around £70 million. Negotiations are continuing on agreements with a number of other IT suppliers.

Click here for more information:

• National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS (opens new window)

Changes to the welfare food scheme

• Change to Welfare Food Scheme

Active places

• Active places (opens new window)

New website for IT programme

• National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS (opens new window)