Health sector regulator Monitor and NHS England are working together to reform the way NHS services are paid for. Hospitals are currently paid through the Payment by Results system, which has been in operation for nearly a decade and has delivered benefits. However feedback from the health sector is that the current system is not […]
Plans to strengthen performance in urgent and emergency care are being put in place across the country to help hospital A&E departments meet demand and tackle waiting time pressures. Read the A&E improvement plan and accompanying letter to staff. (these documents are no longer available here but can be found on the National Archives website) […]
Detailed data about the first four of the 14 hospitals involved in the Keogh Review into mortality rates have been made public. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh’s national review team has analysed information from across the NHS about all of the 14 hospital trusts who were identified in February as having had higher-than-expected mortality rates for […]
The Interim CCG Assurance Framework for 2013/14 (this document is no longer available here but can be found on the National Archives website) published today will help NHS England, patients and the public identify how well Clinical Commissioning Groups are performing in their role as the commissioners of local health services. CCGs are accountable to […]
NHS England has today launched a series of web pages dedicated to each of the 74 specialised services Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs). CRGs cover the full range of specialised services and are responsible for providing NHS England with clinical advice regarding these directly commissioned services. The CRGs are made up of clinicians, commissioners, Public Health […]
NHS England has today at its board meeting reassured patients that a good NHS 111 service is now operating in most of the country. The performance standards which have been introduced for NHS 111 represent a gold standard which the majority of NHS 111 services in England are now meeting, though in some areas performance […]
NHS England has released an update to the national Cancer Drugs Fund list, further increasing access for patients to an additional three new cancer drugs. The additions to the list have been made following a review of trial data from the drugs by the Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group (CRG), one of 74 such groups which provide clinical advice to […]
To celebrate International Nurses day on 12th May and International Midwifery day on 5th May we are delivering a number of virtual events on Compassion in Practice, 6Cs Live! and a preview of the new 6Cs Live! Communication Hub. These webinars offer nurses, midwives and care staff an opportunity to find out more about 6Cs […]
NHS England is supporting the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s call for health professionals and patients to work together to ensure better use of medicines. A guide, called Medicines Optimisation: helping patients make the most of medicines, has been published by the Society which provides frontline professionals with four guiding principles to make sure that the right […]
The Department of Health, in partnership with NHS England and Public Health England, has announced a number of improvements to the vaccination programme to protect against flu, meningitis C, shingles and diarrhoea. From July this year a new rotavirus vaccination programme will start for children under four months. Rotavirus is a highly infectious bug that […]