Website of the Department of Health

The Government has announced proposals in response to the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the "Bournewood" case. The proposals will ensure the law in England and Wales is compliant with the ECtHR. A briefing sheet and consultation report (Protecting the vulnerable: the Bournewood Consultation - summary of responses) can be found at:

The Competence and Curriculum framework for the ECP consultation was launched on 23 June. An ECP is a healthcare professional who works to a medical model, with the attitude, skills and knowledge base to deliver holistic care and treatment within the pre-hospital, primary and acute care settings with a broadly defined level of autonomy. Details of the framework can be found at

On 3 July the Government launched a consultation paper on under-age sale of tobacco. The paper invites views on two issues: a) changing the age of sale and b) strengthening sanctions against retailers who persistently break the law by selling tobacco to children and teenagers under the legal age.

The consultation, which closes on 2 October, proposes that courts be given powers to ban shops from selling tobacco for up to a year when there have been three proven instances of breaking the under-age law. More at

Responses should be sent to:

The Department is reviewing implementation of the Guidance on Safeguarding Children in Whom Illness is Induced or Fabricated. As professionals and managers, we want to hear about your experience of using the Guidance and how the Guidance is being implemented within the NHS. To take part, email, requesting the questionnaire from:

NHS National Workforce Projects invites NHS organisations to submit bids for Taking Care 24/7 pilots to support WTD 2009 compliance. Pilots should look at how elements of hospital service delivery are organised over the whole 24 hour period to support compliance and quality patient care. More at

The Act comes into force on 1 September 2006. To learn if your Trust should be licensed and what action you will need to take, please see

Our health, our care, our community expands on the Our health, our care, our say commitment to develop a new generation of community hospitals and facilities. Key content includes how the NHS and partners can access £750 million of capital funding and the outline of a new community ventures approach for local solutions.

Final guidance on private prescribing and dispensing of controlled drugs, and interim guidance on changes to record keeping requirements for controlled drugs, is now available.

This best practice guidance identifies and explains changes required by the recent, and forthcoming (July 2006), changes to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations.

These have been amended to include four new services recently agreed between NHS Employers and GPC. These are: towards practice based commissioning, improved access, IM&T and Choice and Booking. The new Directions are at:

The Department has released information on the uptake of practice based commissioning. Data collected from SHAs on progress towards universal coverage and practice uptake of incentive payments as of 31 May is available at

Part of the Department's response to the NAO report The Provision of Out-of-Hours Care in England is to hold this conference. It is aimed at SHAs, PCTs and service providers including Chief Executives. For more details please visit