Health Management and Policy Alert

NHS foundation trusts: review of three months to 30 June 2007

Monitor's report reveals the sector has reported a net surplus of £88 million after paying the Government dividends totalling £78 million in public dividend capital and before exceptional items. The report also highlights the number of NHS foundation trusts which have failed to achieve the level of service performance predicted in their annual plans.  25 trusts are rated amber by Monitor for governance issues at the end of the first quarter. The target for year-on-year reduction in cases of MRSA is presenting the biggest challenge, with 22 NHS foundation trusts failing to meet this requirement during the first quarter. (Monitor - press release)

Building PBC capacity through community pharmacy

This bulletin, produced by Primary Care Commissioning (PCC), provides PCTs, practice based commissioners and pharmacy stakeholders with an opportunity to take stock of local clinical engagement between practice based commissioners and pharmacy and suggests ways in which practice based commissioners could benefit from closer working with pharmacy. (PCC - PBC bulletins). Also see PCC's Pharmacy PBC Week 24-28 September 2007.

Hygiene code inspection reports

The Healthcare Commission has published the latest Hygiene code inspection reports. The Code of Practice for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections (the hygiene code) was introduced under the Health Act (2006) and came into force on 1 October 2006. The code sets out the duties that NHS organisations need to observe to ensure that patients are cared for in an environment in which the risk of healthcare associated infections is kept as low as possible. The Healthcare Commission is carrying out inspections at 120 trusts to check compliance with the hygiene code. The visits are unannounced to allow assessment managers to see the hospital as a patient or visitor would view it when coming for an appointment or procedure. (Healthcare Commission - inspection reports)

Single system for handling complaints

This is the report of an event for health and social care senior managers, as part of the consultation Making experiences count: a new approach to responding to complaints. This consultation  was launched on 18 June 2007 and closes on 17 October 2007. It proposes a new single system for handling complaints across health and social care. This is in keeping with the new culture being introduced through the health reform changes. (DH - publications)

NHS statistics

Gross Investment Guarantee Monitoring Report. Final figures for 2003/4 - 2005/6 (England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland)
Dental Earnings and Expenses Report 2005/6

New hospital regulator

Alan Johnson, Health Secretary, has announced that a new hospital regulator will be introduced to cover hospitals across England. The new regulator will have power to impose fines and to inspect and issue warnings to healthcare providers that do not meet hygiene requirements, as well as to halt new admissions or even to cancel a provider's registration entirely. It will replace three existing bodies, Healthcare Commission, Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Mental Health Act Commission. The proposals to create the new regulator will be introduced in the Health & Social Care Bill in the next Parliamentary session. The establishment of the new body will mean that, for the first time, NHS and independent sector healthcare providers will be subject to the same regulatory framework. Trusts are also expected to begin deep cleaning programmes as soon as possible. (DH - press release)

Commissioning for patient pathways

This document, published by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, aims to support commissioning managers by creating a structured approach to commissioning planned care pathways that will meet 18 weeks and build towards a sustainable pathway-based commissioning approach. (NHS Institute - news)

Patients and the NHS - two new reports published

The Picker Institute has published its latest analysis of trends from the national patient surveys in England from 2002 to 2007, Is the NHS becoming more patient-centred?, revealing that there has been little improvement to patient engagement in the last five years. (Picker Institute - news)

The Health Foundation has published Patient and public experience of the NHS giving a comprehensive assessment of the Government’s efforts to create a patient-led NHS.  It also launched Co-creating Health, an initiative to create new models of healthcare that embed self-management within mainstream health services. (Health Foundation - press release)

Negotiating new Local Area Agreements [LAAs]

LAAs set out the priorities for a local area agreed between central government and a local area (the local authority and Local Strategic Partnership) and other key partners at the local level. The Department for Communities and Local Government has published Negotiating new Local Area Agreements and LAA dry run negotiations - final report - headline messages. The second of these outlines the headline findings of the LAA dry-run negotiation process which was undertaken between April and July 2007. (DCLG Local Area Agreement's section)

Report from Carers UK detailing the value of unpaid support provided by carers

The value of unpaid support that carers provide has now reached £87 billion a year according to a new report, Valuing carers - calculating the value of unpaid care. This is more than the annual total spend on the NHS, which stood at £82 billion in the year 2006-7.  The new figures, calculated by the University of Leeds, are 52 per cent higher than previous estimates of how much carers save the UK [£57 billion in 2002] and the average carer is saving the nation over £15,260 a year. (Carers UK - press release)