Simon Bennett, NHS England’s Deputy Director Quality Framework Team, examines the issues surrounding 24/7 care:  I want to focus on two things in this latest blog – the NHS Services, Seven Days a Week Forum as it prepares to publish its initial insight and evidence later in the autumn, and NHS England’s recent AGM. The […]

New legislation comes into force today which will mean that physiotherapists and podiatrists in the UK will be the first to be able to independently prescribe medication to their patients, Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb has announced. The move will mean patients will no longer have to go back to their doctors to get […]

Estimating the number of people who have dementia is important for both local planning and national guidance. On the face of it, this should be a straightforward metric but epidemiology is an intricate science. Most current estimates of dementia prevalence (the number of people affected by the disorder) and incidence (the number of people developing […]

NHS England sets out call to action to staff, public and politicians to help NHS  meet future demand and tackle funding gap through ‘honest and realistic’ debate. NHS England has today called on the public, NHS staff and politicians to have an open and honest debate about the future shape of the NHS in order […]

The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) today announces plans to help up to 100,000 more people to use the internet to improve their health. The Board is forming a new partnership with the Online Centres Foundation to fund existing UK Online Centres to train and support people to help their health and wellbeing through the […]

Practicing clinicians from across England are to work part-time at the NHS Commissioning Board to give expert advice on distinct areas of NHS care. Medical Director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh today (Wednesday) announced the names of 21 National Clinical Directors (NCDs) appointed to provide expert advice and research to the national medical directorate on conditions […]

All patients requiring treatment from a specialised service, are to have access to the same standard of service and the same clinical policy wherever they live.  The nature and extent of this specialised care are subject to a consultation, launched today by the NHS Commissioning Board. The six week consultation running from 12 December 2012 […]

Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of University Hospital of South Manchester, has been seconded to lead the establishment of a new NHS improvement body starting on 1 October for a 6 month period. The new NHS Improvement Body will be central to build improvement capability at scale across the NHS to enable delivery of transformational change. […]

The NHS Commissioning Board Authority has set out its plan for a small number of national networks to improve health services for specific patient groups or conditions. Called strategic clinical networks, these organisations will build on the success of network activity in the NHS which, over the last 10 years, has led to significant improvements […]