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DH News

A round-up of current Department of Health news and information

Fewer targets for the NHS

The number of targets for the NHS is to be reduced to place greater emphasis on the quality of care.

The Department of Health said that NHS performance targets had undoubtedly brought about improvements in care, speeding up treatment for patients and driving forward reforms.

But now that targets were being achieved it was time to move on to another stage to build on that success. New quality standards will be introduced from 2005 onwards.

A consultation paper Standards for Better Health has been launched which classifies quality specifications into core and 'developmental' categories.

It suggests the core standards will define the quality of care that every patient should expect, wherever they are treated in the NHS.

The specifications will include patients receiving emergency care promptly, getting information on the care and treatment they receive, improved patient safety plus disease prevention and health promotion programmes.

The developmental standards will include, among other things, action plans to tackle health inequalities between different communities.

The consultation period will end 4 May.

Read Standards for better health at

Payment by results

Details of new financial payments designed to reward efficient NHS trusts in the future have been published.

A National Tariff has now been released which sets out fixed charges for 48 standard procedures, such as a heart bypass.

The move is being made to standardise costs across the NHS, subject to regional cost of living variations, but will allow trusts operating at costs lower than the tariff to reinvest surpluses into improved patient care.

The current system of annual block sums will be replaced by the tariff which will underpin a new system called Payment by results, in which the funding for services will follow the patient.

This is integral to Government plans to provide patients with more choice on where and when they are treated.

Payment by Results will be phased in over the next four years to 2008, starting with the first foundation trusts on 1 April.

Further information at:

Public health consultation

A major public consultation on improving the nation's health is to be launched.

The Department of Health wants contributions from the public, media, industry, voluntary groups and health professionals on how to tackle issues such as obesity, smoking and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).

Overall, the nation's health is improving but more needs to be done to prevent cancer and heart disease.

A healthier population could save as much as £30 billion per year in NHS spending in 20 years time.

Details on how to take part in the consultation process will be made available towards the end of February. The results will be used to help frame a White Paper later this year.

More on public health at:

Foundation trusts countdown

Twelve NHS trusts are hoping to become NHS foundation trusts from 1 April.

The new Independent Regulator has named the trusts which will become the first ever NHS foundation trusts, providing they meet certain conditions.

The Independent Regulator will now examine whether each applicant has the resources and management skills required to safely run health services for its local community, free from central control by Whitehall.

The regulator will also make sure trusts have budgeted properly for future development plans and whether these plans meet local needs.

Another 12 trusts are scheduled to take on foundation status from 1 July. The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust has also now been approved by the health secretary and will go through to the final assessment by the Independent Regulator.

Read the publication Applying for authorisation as an NHS Foundation Trust: Guide for applicants at:

Better kidney care

Kidney failure patients are to receive better care and support with the launch of the first national standards framework for the quality of renal care.

About 30,000 people who suffer from kidney failure in England will benefit from more patient-centred services set out in the 10-year plan The National Service Framework (NSF) for Renal Services

Reducing medication errors

The latest drive to reduce patient injury through medication errors in the NHS has been launched by the Government.

Building a safer NHS for patients: improving medication safety sets out ways of avoiding errors in prescribing, dispensing and administering medicines.

It examines the causes of most accidents involving medicines and recommends changes in equipment and practices to reduce harm to patients.

Read the report at:

NPSA framework

The National Patient Safety Agency is building a transparent framework to assess and prioritise the work it undertakes and how it allocates resources.

Following consultation in 2003, the agency is holding regional consultative meetings, inviting patient and voluntary groups as well as health care professionals.

Further information at:

Palliative care boost

Care for terminally-ill cancer patients will be expanded following an extra £12 million investment by the Government.

The aim is to build on existing palliative care programmes by widening the pool of trained staff. It will also offer support to people in their preferred place of care.

Further information at:

ME care boost

New centres and local support teams will improve care and access to services for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), more commonly known as ME.

Specialists in the field will lead each centre to ensure patients have access to specialist assessment, diagnosis and advice on treating the condition.

They will also support clinical research into causes and treatments and develop staff education and training.

Twelve centres will be backed by 28 local support teams to provide patients with specialist rehabilitation programmes.

Further information at:

Older people's services

A further £100 million has been allocated to local councils to provide even more support for older people to continue living as independently as possible.

The additional funds are on top of the £220 million councils have already been allocated for older people's services for the forthcoming year.

Altogether councils will receive an extra £775 million for adult social services next year - an 8.2 per cent increase on the current year. This also includes services for disabled adults.

Further information at:

Social service performance improves

Star ratings for councils show there have been significant improvements in the performance of social services.

Ratings published by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI), show that 60 per cent of councils now have either two or three stars.

In total 150 councils have been rated and of them 41 have a higher rating than last year. The number of zero star councils has fallen and East Sussex has improved the most, rising from zero to two stars.

Further information at:

Mental health report

Mental health services have been praised for their user-friendly culture by the Commission for Healthcare Improvement (CHI).

CHI found there were signs of improvement in mental health care after many years of under investment, although there are still staff shortages.

Last year £262 million extra funding was spent to speed up the delivery of targets in the National Service Framework for Mental Health.

The report is at:

Your Life! Launched

A new consumer-style magazine featuring health tips from celebrities is the Government's latest initiative to encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Your Life! is aimed at young women and combines local NHS information and health advice with human interest stories and celebrity features.

Further information at:

'Presumed consent' on organ donation ruled out

New laws designed to tighten the rules on human organ and tissue retention has been proposed by the Government.

Under the human tissue bill, doctors would no longer be able to keep organs from dead patients without the full consent of their families.

Changes to the law have been proposed following the Bristol, Alder Hey and Isaacs inquiries, where some childrens' organs were taken without consent.

The Government rejected calls from some MPs for a system of presumed consent, saying such a concept had 'no place' in the bill.

Further information at:

Emergency care performance incentive

Hospitals, ambulance trusts and mental health services that provide faster, better emergency care for patients will each receive up to £500,000.

A new fund will help these trusts build on their achievements and develop improved emergency care for patients.

Money will be accessible in stages between April 2004 and March 2005.

Maternity guide for expectant mums

Important information about local maternity services is now available for mothers-to-be through a new free magazine.

The Department of Health and Dr Foster, an independent health information organisation, have joined forces to produce You're pregnant.

Further information at:

Patient forums launched

Every NHS trust is to have an affiliated independent patient forum, designed to give communities more of a say in how local services are delivered.

The setting up of 574 patient and public involvement (PPI) forums is the latest step in the drive to develop greater public and patient involvement in the NHS.

The forums, one for each trust, are designed to provide individuals and groups with the means to influence health priorities and the structure of services.

The Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health has set up the forums and more information is at:

NHS Direct praised

NHS Direct staff have received special praise in a report by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI).

The health watchdog found the nurse-led telephone advice service NHS Direct was well regarded by the public. It recorded that staff were polite, professional and reassuring.

NHS Direct now receives 500,000 calls every month. The majority take place outside normal GP surgery hours and a quarter concern young children under five.

Further information at:

Faster access to NHS information

A one-stop website has been launched to give patients faster access to information and advice on a wide range of NHS services.

The website - www.nhs.uk - tells patients how to find their nearest NHS Walk-in centre and how long they can expect to wait for treatment.

There is also data on waiting times, links to GP surgery electronic booking systems and details of hospital services.

For further information visit:

NHSU strategic plan launched

NHSU, the corporate university for the NHS, has launched its draft strategic plan outlining the new organisation's programme for 2004-2008.

NHSU became a special health authority at the beginning of December. It will be an educational organisation dedicated to health and social care.

Its key aim will be to improve patient care by offering learning opportunities to staff at all levels working for and with the NHS.

NHS employers' organisation

A new body giving a coherent voice to NHS employers is being created by the Department of Health.

The NHS Employers' Organisation will be run by NHS Confederation, the independent body that represents NHS managers.

It will draw together employer views on the practical implications of new NHS employment policies and support senior managers implementing Agenda for change and the new GP and consultant contracts.

More on NHS Confederation at:

Electronic recruitment

A pilot electronic recruitment scheme for the NHS has been launched to make job finding easier and to reduce advertising costs.

NHS Jobs will initially cover 46 organisations in London, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, County Durham and Teesside, and the south west Midlands.

Funded by the Department of Health, the project aims to get all NHS trusts advertising their vacancies for external candidates online when a full national service goes live from April.

The website is at:

Primary care IT boost

All GPs will have access to IT systems necessary to implement new contracts in full after an extra £30 million was made available by the Department of Health.

All practices intending to conform to the new quality and outcomes framework in the new general medical services (GMS) contracts need adequate and secure computer systems to process the necessary clinical data.

Further information at:

New NHS Walk-in centres

Patients will have better access to services and more choice when 11 new NHS Walk-in centres are set up across the country.

The centres are being funded from the three-year £40 million investment package announced last July and will bring the total number to 64.

More NHS Walk-in centres will be developed over the next two years as part of the Government's commitment to extend patient choice and access, backed by an extra £10million.

Further information at:

Handling major incidents

Emergency plans to deal with major incidents are to be overhauled after the publication of new guidance.

The Department of Health has produced Handling major incidents - An operational doctrine to develop new ways of updating procedures for dealing with terrorist attacks or biological outbreaks.

Further information at:

Tackling hospital infections

A new crackdown on health care associated infections, including antibiotic-resistant infections known as 'superbugs' has been launched.

Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has drawn up an action plan to revolutionise the way potential infections are handled in the NHS.

Getting the right treatment

Colour-coded posters are being launched to help patients identify which is the most appropriate health service to help them with a condition or injury.

This is the latest initiative in the Get the right treatment campaign, first launched in 1999 by the Department of Health.

Its objective is to make patients more aware of the different role of the various health services.

Further information at:

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