Website of the Department of Health

Consultations and evaluations

1. Disabled facilities grant consultation (DFG) (Gateway reference number: 7709)

The consultation document The Disabled Facilities Grant Programme: The Government's proposals to improve programme delivery is now on the Department for Communities and Local Government website:

• Communities and Local Government (opens new window)

2. Equipment provision in authorities in England (Gateway reference number: 7700)

Directors of adult social services are invited to arrange for completion of a voluntary survey to help The Information Centre for health and social care develop a collection on community equipment provision. Findings from the previous survey to date are also published and feedback is welcomed. See:

• The Information Centre - Equipment Provision in Authorities in England (opens new window)

Publications

3. The Human Rights Act (Gateway reference number: 7714)

There are many incorrect and misleading stories about human rights and, in a few cases, mistaken decisions made by public service workers in relation to human rights can have disastrous consequences. New guidance on human rights has recently been published for all public authority staff. It aims to provide clear, user-friendly advice and help you understand why human rights are relevant and how to apply them in the workplace. See guidance and hard copies are also available at:

• Department for Constitutional Affairs - Human rights publications (opens new window)

4. Reducing MRSA in renal medicine (Gateway reference number: 7380)

This voluntary self-assessment tool sets the framework for renal units to make significant reductions to infection rates.  It includes the guidance to make real progress, through effective implementation of clinical good practice and increases reliability of key clinical procedures.  The tools are ready to use and provide a step-by-step guide to reducing healthcare associated infections (HCAIs). See:

• Reducing MRSA and other healthcare associated infections in renal medicine

5. New skills-based framework for practitioners with a special interest in cardiology (PWSI) (Gateway reference number: 7582)

This skills-based operational framework is for teams who want to use the PWSI approach to deliver cardiology services. Aimed at commissioners of cardiac services, current and potential cardiology PWSIs, and training providers, it is produced by the NHS Heart Improvement Programme and endorsed by the Department of Health and professional clinical bodies. Available in Portable Document Format (PDF) at:

• Heart Improvement Programme (opens new window)

6. PCTs - Dental inspections in schools (Gateway reference number: 7698)

This document notifies PCTs of advice from the UK National Screening Committee that there is no evidence to support the continued population screening for dental disease among children aged 6 to 9 years. It invites PCTs to consider alternative methods of addressing inequalities in oral health and obtaining consent to dental inspections. See further advice for further details:

• Dental screening (Inspection) in schools and consent for undertaking screening and epidemiological surveys

7. NPSA launches national colour coding scheme for safer hospital cleaning (Gateway reference number: 7469)

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has launched a national colour coding scheme for hospital cleaning materials, designed to help hospitals in England and Wales reduce the risk of cross-infection. It is recommended that NHS organisations adopt this standardised code to improve the safety of hospital cleaning, ensure consistency across the service. See:

• National Patient Safety Agency - Colour coding hospital cleaning materials and equipment (opens new window)

8. CSR 2007: Policy review of children and young people (Gateway reference number: 7691)

The 2006 Budget announced that the 2007 comprehensive spending review (CSR) would be informed by a policy review of children and young people. This will build on the substantial progress of Every Child Matters. A discussion paper setting out the evidence collected to date was launched on 9 January. See:

• HM Treasury - Children and young people review (opens new window)

9. Commissioning of community based eye care services (Gateway reference number 7634)

Rosie Winterton, Minister of State for Health Services, launched the outcome of the General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) review on 17 January. The main outcome is a commissioning toolkit that provides practical advice for primary care trusts and practice based commissioners on the commissioning of community based eye care services. The GOS review’s findings on a range of other matters have also been published. Both documents can be found at:

• Eye care services

10. New firecode documents available (Gateway reference number: 7572)

A number of new or revised documents in the firecode suite have been published. Health technical memorandum (HTM) 05-02 which replaces HTM 81 and 85 comes into effect from April 2007 to coincide with the new Approved Document B to the Building Regulations. Applications to building control on or after 1 April should comply with the new HTM. Other documents recently published include HTM 05-03: Parts B, D, F, G and H. See:

• Knowledge & Information Portal for access (opens new window)

11. Secondary uses service replaces ClearNET (Gateway reference number: 7718)

The NHS-wide Clearing Service (ClearNET) was decommissioned on 31 December. The Secondary Uses Service (SUS) is now the national system for processing commissioning data sets (CDS). Organisations that used to receive CDS flows should use SUS Extract Mart to download equivalent data. See:

• NHS Connecting for Health - Secondary Uses Service (opens new window)

Conferences and events - i) what's new

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Conference and events - ii) places still available

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Patient safety alerts

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