To our valued clients and readers of Highland Marketing’s Healthcare Roundup – Happy Easter – Enjoy the break and indulge in some chocolate… Yes, it is official! Chocolate IS healthy: (Well, the dark stuff anyway!) Go ahead and have a piece, guilt-free this Easter, knowing that chocolate has very high levels of flavonoids and antioxidants, and when enjoyed in moderation, has a positive effect on heart health.
News in brief – Easter Special
- Introducing ‘Barts Health’: One of the largest healthcare mergers in the country went live on Sunday, reports the Guardian. Barts Health is the new name for the joining together of three London-based NHS trusts: Barts and the London NHS Trust, Newham University Hospital Trust and Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust. It is now one of the largest NHS trusts in England.
- Replacement PAS/EPR on the cards for Basildon and Thurrock: EHI reports that twenty-five suppliers have already shown an interest in the project and will be attending a briefing at the trust today! The tender is to be split into three parts with the priority being PAS deployment by October 2013, followed by Clinical 5 functionality and clinical modules within the next five years.
- Cutting £20bn from the NHS – and spending £5,000 a month on expenses: Sir David Nicholson is coming under fire in a recent report by The Independent for not leading by example in these austere times!
- NHS Reforms – What next for the Health Service: The passing of the Health and Social Care bill is just the beginning, the real test lies in implementing the changes, says Dr Anna Dixon director of policy for the King’s Fund. In this article for The Guardian she sets out briefly the three priorities that face the implementers of the reforms.
- Health Secretary explains new Health and Social Care Act: In a news release issued by the Department of Health, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has set out what the Health and Social Care Act will mean for four key healthcare organisations and their staff – clinical commissioning groups, NHS foundation trusts, NHS trusts and local authorities.
- Care commissioning must meet people’s needs: In an article for The Guardian Lord Victor Adebowale chief executive of Turning Point explains why our social care system must adapt to meet the requirements of real people and communities. The key priority, he outlines is developing better integration between health and social care services.
- Market competition test proposed for trusts seeking extra funding: Monitor might refuse to allow local increases to the prices paid to NHS trusts unless commissioners haveproven they could not buy the services more cheaply elsewhere, an independent report (subscription required) for the regulator has suggested.
- Techsavvy patients drive demand for electronic health systems: Interesting new research out of consultancy KPMG has found evidence that a more technology-informed approach to healthcare provision can reap rewards – but that the biggest obstacles to progress on this front is probably more on the clinician than patient side, reports Public Technology. Highlights include: 61% claim eHealth will come about because of patient expectation, with 58% also suggesting demands for greater efficiency will lead to a technologically-driven health service.
- Building Better Healthcare Awards 2012 – Opens for entries: Celebrating the products, people, premises and processes that help to set a benchmark for the future delivery of healthcare services in the UK and overseas. 16 awards are up for grabs this year covering six categories including ‘technology, equipment and medical devices’: July 1st is your deadline to enter! Could this be the year your organisation or your customers get the recognition they deserve? For full details click here to visit the awards site.
Highland Marketing blog
This week Matthew Shelley asks the question, does the Information Revolution risk becoming a ‘Data Damp Squib’
