Nine London trusts seek EPR
A flurry of media coverage has followed news that nine London trusts are tendering for an electronic patient record system in a deal worth £250m to £400m. Industry sources believe the chances are high that the deal will go to Cerner, despite the sometimes troubled record of its Millennium system.
Computer Weekly says the collaborative procurement is between Barts and the London, Croydon Healthcare, Imperial College Healthcare, Kingston Healthcare, Newham University Hospital, Royal Free Hampstead, South London Healthcare, St Georges Healthcare, and Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS trusts.
The four-year contract is in three lots according to Information Age. One is to build, deploy and maintain the PAS/EPR systems themselves, another to provide a portal for clinical and patient access, and a third for hosting. EHealth Insider believes it is the largest collaborative procurement for healthcare IT outside the NPfIT.
Conservative loyalists want health bill dropped
A new round of attacks has been made on the health bill – this time by the government’s most loyal supporters. An editorial on the influential Conservative Home website states: ‘The NHS bill is not just a distraction … but potentially fatal to the Conservative Party’s electoral prospects. It must be stopped before it’s too late’.
The Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph has also published a series of highly critical stories. One claims that patients will increasingly have to pay for treatment which is currently free at the point of delivery. It quotes Allyson Pollock, professor of public health at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, as saying the bill had ‘a hidden purpose’ which amounts to privatising health services. The Telegraph also says that four English NHS regions have reported that the reforms pose threats to patient care and safety which have been rated as ‘high’ or ‘severe’ in an official scoring process.
The coming days will see more political turbulence with 50 MPs, including Liberal Democrats, calling on the health secretary to release the confidential strategic risk register (subscription required) outlining the dangers posed by his controversial shake-up. The information commissioner ordered Mr Lansley to make the document public last November but he is using legal means to resist publication.
Meanwhile a Greater Manchester GP’s e-petition to have parliament drop the health bill has now passed the 100,000 signature mark, meaning that it must be considered.
DH approves Twitter
The social media revolution has now been given official recognition with the DH recommending that staff get Tweeting. Official guidance has just been issued which states that ‘effective use of social media like Twitter is central to the DH digital communication strategy’.
Indeed it now seems that the 140 character messages sent out by ministers, and others, are being carefully managed and put together to avoid unfortunate mishaps. The departmental advice offers recommendations on how Twitter should be used and suggests that they can look to their communications experts, and private offices, for support on what – and what not – to say.
Department of Health tax deals apology
The Department of Health faces a potential scandal after being forced to reveal that 25 top officials have their salaries paid to limited companies – a route to cutting their tax bills. The news follows assurances from the department that this was not happening and has brought an apology for any ‘misunderstandings’.
The Guardian’s story follows news that senior figures at the government-owned Student Loans Company had been given similar deals. Documents obtained by the newspaper show that some of those involved at the DH are paid over £250,000 a year plus expenses. The payments amount to almost £4.2m in one year.
The department claimed the 25 were not civil servants, or technically even staff. But, internal payroll information details the DH offices in which they work, job titles and email addresses. The people involved work in areas such as policy, strategy and finance directorate, medical directorate, the office of the chief scientific officer, and commercial contracting.
Sources said the department allowed staff to define themselves for payroll purposes neither as civil servants nor payroll staff. The company addresses to which the money is paid tend to be the recipient’s home.
The department has now said: ‘We would be happy to clarify the situation in greater detail with anyone who asks and apologise for any misunderstanding involved. We are currently carrying out a full audit of such arrangements in line with the recently announced Treasury review of tax arrangements of public sector appointments.’
GPs condemn hospital and out-of-hours services
One in five GPs say they would not use their local hospital if they or their family needed substantial specialist care. A survey by Pulse reveals significant worries with some suggesting that care was handled like ‘a production line’. However 64% of GPs rated the clinical care at their local hospital as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
Dr Martin Wolfson, a GP in Surbiton, Surrey, said: ‘The local hospital is fine if you are young, fit and articulate, but if it was your grandfather, it wouldn’t happen. It’s money-driven and it’s lost the personal touch.’
Nor, it seems, are they impressed by out-of-hours providers with just half regarding them as good. Some 18% believed their patients had received care in the last year that was ‘dangerously sub-standard’, and 3% said they believed one of their patients had died due to sub-standard out-of-hours care.
News in brief
- Delay call over NHS 111 phoneline: Doctors’ leaders say they have ‘serious concerns’ about the rollout of the NHS 111 non-emergency phoneline in England, reports the BBC.
- Appointment delays rise: One in four patients have their hospital appointment moved to a later date, a survey has revealed. The Daily Mail says that last year 23% had their consultation with a specialist postponed, up from 21% in 2009.
- DH works with Medilink: The Department of Health has signed a concordant with Medilink UK to work together to accelerate the adoption of telehealth and telecare technology in the UK, reports British Journal of Healthcare
- Patient feedback reflects hospital quality: The DH has highlighted research suggesting that TripAdvisor-style patient feedback on the NHS Choices website gets it right on hospital quality. One example is that hospitals rated as cleaner by patients turn out to be those shown to have lower MRSA rates in official testing.
- Social enterprise plans fail: Government plans for more services to be provided by social enterprises suffered a blow after a legal challenge forced NHS Gloucestershire to back down over its attempts to move 3,000 PCT staff into a community interest company – Gloucestershire Care Services (GCS).
Opinion
Official claims that NHS productivity has been falling since 2000 have been condemned as a myth by a leading expert in the field. Writing in the Lancet Nick Black, from the department of public health and policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, argues that a proper analysis would probably show that productivity had risen.
‘Declining NHS productivity in England between 2000 and 2009 is just one recent myth in health-care policy. Many other myths have arisen in the past and many more will do so in the future. We cannot prevent myths developing but we should remain vigilant, spot them as early as possible, and attempt to minimise the harm they can do in distorting understanding and misleading policy makers. Meanwhile, development of accurate and competing estimates of health-care productivity are needed that make use of the burgeoning array of high-quality data and that translate improvements in quality into generic measures, such as quality-adjusted life-years.’
Highland Marketing blog
This week Susan Venables argues that Integrated marketing and communications isn’t just hype.
