Health Management and Policy Alert

31/01/06 - NHS Direct commissioning framework

NHS Direct commissioning framework April 2006-March 2007 : guidance for primary care trusts on commissioning NHS Direct services from April 2006 is the latest commissioning framework, which gives further guidance to PCTs in their role as commissioners of NHS Direct services. It covers the period 2006/07 only and replaces the second version of the framework which was published in March 2005.
(DH - publications)

New and updated hot topics

New:

Our Health, our care, our say: A new direction for community services - White Paper

Updated:

Job planning;

Preparation for potential Pandemic Influenza (Avian Influenza);

Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework;

GMS Contract;

GMS Contract - Quality and Outcomes Framework

31/01/06 - New applicants for NHS foundation trust status – target authorisation dates

Monitor has set out the timetable for assessing the next applicants for NHS foundation trust status. As with previous waves of applicants, they will be divided into two groups, with target dates for authorisation of 1 April and 1 July 2006. Eighteen further NHS trusts have received the Secretary of State’s support to apply to Monitor for NHS foundation trust status. In addition assessment of six applications which were previously deferred will resume as part of these groups of applicants.

(Monitor - news)

31/01/06 - Guidance on energy efficiency in healthcare facilities

The Department of Health has published Encode : making energy work in healthcare, a Health technical memorandum. It is to ensure that everyone involved in managing, procuring and using healthcare buildings and equipment thinks about the implications of energy use. (DH - publications)

30/01/06 - White Paper on improving community health and care services

The White Paper, Our health, our care, our say:  a new direction for community services aims to provide people with more choice and say over the care they receive in the community, and much closer working and coordination between health and social care. New measures outlined in the White Paper include:

• Shifting expenditure from spending on hospitals to spending on care closer to home and on preventative services
• New responsibilities placed on local councils and the NHS to work together to provide joined-up care plans for those who need them
• Bringing some specialties out of the hospital nearer to people including dermatology, ENT, orthopaedics and gynaecology
• Introducing a new generation of community hospitals that will provide diagnostics, minor surgery, outpatient facilities and access to social services in one location 
• Pilot a new NHS “Life Check” to assess people's lifestyle risks, the right steps to take, and provide referrals to specialists if needed
• Give patients a guarantee of registration onto a GP practice list in their locality and simplifying the system for doing this
• Introducing incentives to GP practices to offer opening times that respond to the needs of patients in their area
• Increasing the quantity and quality of primary care in under served, deprived areas through nationally supported procurement of new capacity with contracts awarded by PCTs
• Supporting people to self care by trebling the investment in the Expert Patient Programme
• Developing an “information prescription” for people with long term health and social care needs and for their carers, investing in professional education and skills development
• Providing a Personal Health and Social Care Plan as part of an integrated health and social care record
• More support for carers including improved emergency respite arrangements and the establishment of a national helpline for carers
• Extension of direct payments and piloting of Individual Budgets for social care

(DH - press release)

There is also a research report on the results of the consultation: Your health, your care, your say - research report

Responses to the White Paper include: NHS Confederation, Healthcare Commission, King's Fund 1 & 2, BBC news item

27/01/06 - Flexible careers and returner schemes

Further to the letter of 7 October 2005, this letter from the Department of Health’s Head of Workforce Capacity confirms in-year allocations of £12 million for the flexible careers and returner schemes. This is the full central allocation to cover 2005/06 costs relating to the schemes.
(Department of Health - Dear colleague letters)

27/01/06 - Mental Health Act Commission biennial report

The Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC) biennial report, In place of fear? is based upon the MHAC’s visits to detained psychiatric patients in all hospitals in England and Wales in the two years 2003-05. It sets out the MHAC’s observations and concerns about current and future mental health care involving compulsion.

(MHAC - press release)

27/01/06 - Working the night shift : preparation, survival and recovery : a guide for junior doctors

Published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and NHS National Workforce Projects, this guide aims to provide simple advice for junior doctors on how to prepare to work at night. It includes guidance on managing sleep at home, staying as alert and refreshed as possible while on duty, and how to recover from working nights in the most efficient and effective way. Although the guide has been written with those working night shifts in mind, much of the advice is applicable to those few junior doctors who are still working extended hours on an on-call rota. (RCP - publications)

26/01/06 - Commissioning a patient-led NHS update

Commissioning a patient-led NHS update no 14 has been published. Topics included are: transitional arrangements; SHAs chairs appointment process; external panel; and commissioning capability - fitness for purpose tool. (Department of Health - articles)

26/01/06 - Sure Start to later life

One-stop shops for older people based on the Sure Start family services model are to be introduced by the government.  A £10 million programme to help deliver key services to disadvantaged people aged 50 plus, is part of a 30-point cross-government action plan published in a report - A Sure Start to later life: ending inequalities for older people - from the Social Exclusion Unit in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - press release)