Health Management and Policy Alert

31/05/06 - Publication on the development of patient choice in the NHS

The Department of Health has published Choice matters: increasing choice improves patients' experiences. This publication provides an update on the development of patient choice in the NHS since its introduction at the start of 2006, and details the experiences of patients, GPs and practice managers of choice, and Choose and Book. (DH publications)

31/05/06 - Survey reveals clinical quality matters most to patients

 Understanding patients' choices at the point of referral is the result of a joint study by RAND Europe, the King's Fund and City University. It is based on focus groups and a survey of 1,000 people across England with experience of being referred to a hospital for elective treatment in the previous five years. The main findings are that patients value clinical quality the most when choosing a hospital to be treated at but there are concerns that the government’s flagship health reform of offering patients greater choice risks widening health inequalities. (King's Fund news)

31/05/06 - NHS patients given more choice

Since 1st January NHS patients have had the right to choose from a list of at least four providers when they need hospital treatment. That choice has now been extended nationally to include NHS  foundation trusts and, over the next few months, independent sector treatment centres. (DH press release) BBC news

30/05/06 - Delivering Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier

This report provides details at a national, regional and local level of the progress made on the commitments from the Choosing Health White Paper for supporting the public to make healthier and more informed choices in relation to their health. The report reflects the contributions of all departments involved. (Chief executive's bulletin 320)

30/05/06 - Government grants over £24m to voluntary sector organisations

The Department of Health’s Section 64 scheme will allot an average £47,000 to over 300 organisations, a total of £17.2m for projects that promote health and wellbeing. The DH Opportunities for Volunteering scheme will allocate £6.7m to support local health and social care projects, enabling them to involve volunteers in their work and complement local service delivery. (DH publications)

29/05/06 - Additional government funding for children's hospices

An additional £27 million funding package will be spread over the next three years to allow hospices to offer a range of services for children, from help at home to end of life care in hospices, and both planned and emergency respite care. (DH press release)

27/05/06 - Tobacco pack warning consultation and website launched

Picture health warnings on tobacco products are the subject of a public consultation and website launched by the Department of Health. The consultation welcomes people’s views on the government’s proposal to put images of smoking-related diseases on the packaging of tobacco products by autumn 2007. The consultation runs until 25th August 2006. (DH news) BBC news item

26/05/06 - Statistics on the number of cancelled NHS operations

This winter saw a reduction in the number of NHS operations cancelled at the last minute, according to new statistics released by the Department of Health. Figures for the number of operations cancelled during the period from January to March this year show that there were more than 4,000 fewer operations cancelled at the last minute than in the same period last year. The number is also significantly down on other previous years. The figures show that almost 99 per cent of operations – around 1.5 million - were carried out as scheduled across 2005/6 . (DH press release

26/05/06 - Inpatients formally detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983, England: 1994-95 to 2004-05

This statistical bulletin, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), presents information on uses of the Mental Health Act (and other relevant legislation) in NHS hospitals, including the three high security psychiatric hospitals which are now the responsibility of NHS Trusts, and independent hospitals as defined by the Care Standards Act 2000. The bulletin shows trends, over the last ten years, in admissions to hospital under the Act. Admissions are analysed by sex, section of the Act under which patients were detained and category of disorder. (HSCIC - statistical bulletin)

26/05/06 - Survey of inpatients' experiences of care

The Healthcare Commission has published the national and individual trust results of the survey of patients who stay overnight in hospital. This is the third year of the survey, which captures the experiences of over 80,000 adult patients from all 169 NHS acute and specialist trusts in England. 54 per cent of respondents to the survey were admitted through A&E and 46 per cent were on a waiting list or had their admission planned in advance.

Positive findings included:

• 92 per cent of patients rated their overall care as “excellent”, “very good” or “good” with the proportion saying this ranging from 100 per cent in some trusts to 80 per cent in others
• 9 out of 10 patients who travelled to hospital by ambulance said they found the ambulance crew reassuring

Areas for improvement included:

• more than two fifths said they were discharged without being told about the side-effects of medication, with the proportion saying this ranging from 60 to 16 per cent
• of patients who needed help to eat their meals (a fifth of those surveyed),  almost 40 per cent said that they never (18 per cent) or only sometimes (21 per cent) received help

(Healthcare Commission - press release)