NHS England is today (Thursday) taking action to end regional variation of access to the Cancer Drugs Fund. There will be one national list of approved fast-track drugs giving uniform access to treatment across the country. From 1 April, NHS England took on responsibility for the operational management of the Cancer Drugs Fund, creating for […]

NHS England hailed the introduction of the friends-and-family test in hospitals as a major step forward in its drive to give patients a greater voice. From 1 April 2013, every patient in England who visits an A&E, and all patients who stay in hospital overnight will be asked whether they would recommend the service they […]

Care Homes – Never Events For the attention of commissioners of Care Homes: Action is required to ensure that new and varied commissioning contracts include the Never Events applicable to Care Homes. Commissioners should read the alert (document is available via our archived website) and take the appropriate action in respect of their Care Homes […]

Half of all the new GP-led groups will begin commissioning healthcare on behalf of their local communities on April 1 with a clean bill of health and no requirement of on-going national support. Every community in England is now covered by one of 211 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which will be led by GPs and […]

The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) has opened the application process for patient and carer members of its 74 Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs) for 2013/14. CRGs are responsible for providing the NHS CB with clinical advice regarding specialised services, and for promoting equity of access to high quality services for all patients, regardless of where […]

NHS England – formerly the NHS Commissioning Board – pledged to use all its powers to ensure that everything the NHS does is driven by the best interests of patients. As the Government published its initial response to the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry, NHS England said it aims to help build an NHS that is […]

The Department of Health has published an updated NHS Constitution following a consultation that sought views on a number of proposed changes. Important areas we have improved in the NHS Constitution include: patient involvement feedback duty of candour end of life care integrated care complaints patient information staff rights, responsibilities and commitments dignity, respect and compassion In […]

The Chairman of the NHS’s new national body has welcomed the change of the organisation’s name to NHS England. The new body, which has until now been known as the NHS Commissioning Board, will have overall responsibility for the £95 billion NHS commissioning budget from 1 April 2013. From this date it will be called […]

Robert Garner has been announced as interim Managing Director. Robert is a very experienced Managing Director who has been leading the Norfolk and Waveney CSU for some time. He will be meeting with Clinical Commissioning Group Accountable Officers as soon as possible to explore solutions that deliver the very best commissioning support services and ensure […]

For 2013/14, the Government consulted on changes to the GMS contract including changes to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). For details of the changes to QOF for 2013/14 and the associated guidance, see the NHS Employers website. 2013/14 Enhanced Services guidance and audit requirements For 2013/14, the Government consulted on changes to the GMS […]