Back to basics at Guy’s while GPs are warned over apps
The NHS needs to get the basics right before looking to the latest IT developments to solve its problems. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust is reported in EHI as having agreed a ‘better basics’ policy in which it will focus on improving PC performance and internet access.
The Guy’s and St Thomas’ strategy signals an investment of £213m in IT following underspending in core infrastructure which has resulted in stability issues and service outages. The range of problems are significant. The laptop estate does not support offline working or applications such as Windows 7 and Office 2010. The telephony systems are ‘becoming unstable’ and the internet service cannot support the demands for remote access to information.
Group IT director, Scott Sommerville, said: ‘The need for the investment is really not so much about how infrastructure is impacting patients or clinicians today, but how we need to support them in the new world where 90% of data is held electronically and they are using systems live.’
Meanwhile the chair of the Primary Health Info 2012 conference has warned that apps are not a free silver bullet. Ewan Davis, chair of the Primary Health Info 2012, has warned that apps are not a free solution to healthcare or IT problems.
He said: ‘The government is always looking for white knights riding in firing silver bullets, but unfortunately, white knights and silver bullets don’t exist. The apps stuff is where the “zeitgeist” is. It’s very exciting, but they are naive thinking it can be done on the cheap.’
Mr Davis also warned that there are still big issues to deal with and that GPs are concerned about the end of the National Programme for IT and in particular, the end of the GP Systems of Choice contract in 2013.
Waiting times rise and savings cause worries
A 6% increase in waiting times for routine operations has been described by the Telegraph as a blow to David Cameron’s election pledge to drive down delays. At the same time a survey by the Guardian Healthcare Network suggests that delivering savings is currently causing more headaches than implementing the Lansley reforms.
The Patients’ Association’s research into hospital waits also found that fewer people have undergone planned operations such as hernia repairs and joint replacements as the NHS attempts to cut spending by £20 billion.
The average wait for a new knee rose from 88.9 days to 99.2, while the wait for hernia surgery increased from 70.4 days to 78.3. Waits for gallstone removal rose by 7.4 days, hip replacements 6.3 days, hysterectomy surgery and cataract removals by 3 and 2.2 days on average respectively. According to data from 93 of England’s 170 acute hospital trusts, the number of operations performed fell by 18,268 between 2010 and 2011.
The figures may partly explain why 64% of respondents to the Guardian survey said efficiency savings are among the main concerns facing the NHS, with the impact of the Health and Social Care Act coming in slightly below at 62%.
Respondents displayed a strong public sector commitment with 56% rejecting further private sector involvement in the NHS and just 27% thinking it is a good idea.
An exclusive report in Pulse claims that private out-of-hours GP services are more expensive and rated worse by patients than those delivered by not-for-profit alternatives such as GP co-operatives. Companies often matched the performance of not-for-profit and NHS providers but lagged significantly on patient satisfaction scores.
Single framework for PACS/RIS procurement
NHS Supply Chain has launched a procurement to create a single national framework for picture archiving and communication systems and radiology information systems.
According to EHI, NHS Supply Chain will develop and implement the new national framework, which will provide further choice to trusts as they near the end if their local service provider contracts for PACS and related services.
The tender notice in the Official Journal of European Union says that the four-year framework agreement will be worth between £171m and £363m.
Breast cancer is ten separate diseases
Landmark research has completely redefined our understanding of breast cancer, revealing that it is not one but ten completely separate diseases. The findings, reported in BMJ, follow a study of 2,000 women carried out by Cancer Research UK and Canada’s BC Cancer Agency.
The research, which involved the largest ever study of breast cancer tissue, revealed that the 10 categories of illness also correspond to patients’ chances of survival. It is hoped that the findings will eventually lead to tailored treatment.
The BBC quotes lead researcher Prof Carlos Caldas as saying: ‘Our results will pave the way for doctors in the future to diagnose the type of breast cancer a woman has, the types of drugs that will work and those that won’t, in a much more precise way than is currently possible.’
Rapid advances are now expected in techniques to identify which form of cancer patients have, and tests are expected to be available within five years.
Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said the study would have a transformative effect on its approach to clinical trials and will lead to entirely new ways of judging the effectiveness of new drugs.
Child heart surgery could end at national centre of excellence
One of the country’s top paediatric heart surgery centres may close following an appeal court ruling. The Royal Brompton in London had won a previous court battle in which it claimed that a national consultation of the reconfiguration of services had been unfair.
HSJ (subscription required) reports that the Royal Brompton and Harefield Foundation Trust has now been left with a £1.5m legal bill. The appeal judges overturned the earlier decision, which said that the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts that carried out the consultation, had failed to take proper account of the centre’s excellence in research and innovation.
The JCPCT believes that two of London’s three paediatric heart surgery centres should remain open, and its preferred option is to keep the ones at Great Ormond Street and the Evelina Hospital (part of Guy’s and St Thomas). A final decision will be announced in July.
The appeal judges specifically praised the quality of the Royal Brompton Centre and the trust itself has argued that closure could have a knock-on effect as children’s heart surgery is integral to its other services.
The trust, which has a £287m turnover, is a specialist in heart and lung treatment. Fears are now growing that the entire trust could become unviable.
News in brief
- 2e2 lands major IT and comms contract: SussexPartnership NHS Foundation Trust has handed all its IT and communications technology services to 2e2 (subscription required) in a contract that will run until 2019. The company will take over from the mental health organisation’s current provider, Sussex Health Informatics Service, this year.
- Language checks for doctors: New measures are beingdiscussed to ensure that overseas doctors can not only speak English but have the right skills to work in the NHS. The DH announced the proposals as part of its launch of the consultation on the role of Responsible Officers.
- Blind mice cured: Scientists at University CollegeLondon have transplanted photoreceptor cells to restore the sight of blind mice. The BBC says the findings, published in Nature, provide hope for curing degenerative eye diseases in humans.
- Long delay on Mid Staffs inquiry: The results of theinquiry into severe failings, including avoidable deaths at Mid Staffs, will be published in October rather than May as was expected. HSJ (subscription required) says those who face criticism will receive letters of warning in July, and will then have time to respond.
Blog
The King’s Fund’s Nick Goodwin has taken on a tough blogging task, responding to the far from glowing study of 16 integrated care pilots. The issue matters a great deal to the trust as integrated care is one of its great causes – a potential solution to many of the ills and challenges facing today’s NHS. His conclusion appears to be that the fault lies with the implementation rather than the concept.
‘What these findings imply is actually a common problem in integrated care – the process of “doing” the integration can often become the priority and the emphasis on the care experience gets lost in the process. This problem needs to be red flagged. ‘A key lesson from the integrated care pilots is that the experiences of patients and service users must be captured and acted on. This would help ensure that new approaches to care – which might involve shaking up the way patients interact with care professionals – focus on developing continuity of care with service users. It is for these reasons that The King’s Fund recently called for the use of patient experience measures to drive forward the integrated care agenda.’
Highland Marketing blog
Sarah Bruce asks if the time has come for telehealth to take to the High Street. As an added extra read how to spot those good PR professionals in Susan Venables’ blog Good PR is not easy but bad PR is!
