The detailed Winter Health Check plans put in place by the NHS have been outlined by Dame Barbara Hakin. NHS England’s Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive explained: “We have pulled out all the stops to get ready for this winter. We started planning earlier than ever before and we have taken steps to […]

More than 150 world leading pathologists and IT specialists will be meeting in Leeds today and tomorrow for the National Pathology IT Summit – 2013 to discuss and shape the future digital strategy for pathology services across the NHS. Almost all NHS patients access pathology services, and with £2bn invested in services annually, it is […]

A further £150 million will be distributed around England to help hospitals maintain their A&E services over winter. This is in addition to the £250 million targeted to the most at-risk areas in September. The distribution of the extra £150 million will include those communities that are not deemed the most at-risk, to bolster and […]

The CNO Summit (26-27 November, Birmingham)  will provide the opportunity to shape the future of nursing and midwifery further, discover ways of embedding and mainstreaming Compassion in Practice throughout the system and developing the professionalism of nurses, midwives and care staff.   The plenaries will be live streamed http://www.nursingtimes.net/cnosummit.

NHS England today welcomes the publication by the Department of Health of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. NHS England is now working with Rare Disease UK and the Specialised Healthcare Alliance to develop the Mission and Vision of the strategy for England. Input from stakeholders will be invited at scoping and engagement events throughout […]

This weekly summary offers an overview of the system and pulls together information on waiting times in A&E, ambulance response times, daily situation reports from the NHS, and information on flu rates. Winter health check report Nov 2013  

NHS England and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are working together to improve the reporting and learning in two important areas. It is proposed to increase and improve reporting of medical devices and medication errors via an integrated reporting system and enhanced governance (control) systems. In partnership we have drafted two Patient […]

NHS England has announced the list of provider hospitals chosen to take part in a new £4.8 million initiative, aimed at increasing access to specialist radiotherapy services. The 10 centres will provide Selective Internal Radiotherapy (SIRT) to around 220 patients a year as part of a time-limited programme called ‘Commissioning through Evaluation’. The successful centres […]

NHS England has today published 37 nationally consistent commissioning policies as part of its role as a direct commissioner for some non-specialised services. The policies, which are interim at this stage, are of particular benefit to the armed forces and health and justice populations as members of these communities, particularly serving armed forces personnel and […]

The National Quality Board, sponsored by Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer in England, has today published new guidance to support providers and commissioners to make the right decisions about nursing, midwifery and care staffing capacity and capability. The guide: outlines a set of expectations of providers and commissioners relating to staffing, and provides advice on […]