To our valued clients and readers of Highland Marketing’s Healthcare Roundup – Happy Easter – enjoy the break and indulge in some chocolate…
Hurrah! The top five great reasons to carry on scoffing chocolate according to The Mirror.
1. It may help lower blood pressure: Flavanols found in cocoa beans aid production of nitric oxide, which stimulates blood vessels to dilate.
2. It might help to keep you smart: A nice mug of cocoa might also help an ageing brain, a study in the journal Hypertension found.
3. It doesn’t give you spots after all: This is a myth!
4. It could help protect against heart attacks and strokes: Chocolate is high in saturated fat, but the particular type – stearic acid – predominant in cocoa butter does not raise cholesterol like other saturates.
5. It’s good for bones: This is where the sweeter, less cocoa-rich bars actually score better, as they count as a dairy-rich food that helps keep your bones strong.
News in brief – Easter Special
Government responds to Francis report: The NHS must keep a relentless focus on creating a health service that is safer, more compassionate and fully accountable to the people it serves. This was the response from the NHS Confederation as the Government issued its response to the Francis report. Setting out an initial response to Robert Francis’ recommendations, health secretary Jeremy Hunt unveiled some of the Government’s plans, which include: putting in place a culture of zero-harm and compassionate care, a new statutory duty of candour and a review by the NHS Confederation of how to reduce the bureaucratic burden on frontline staff and NHS providers by a third. Responding to the Government’s statement, Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “There is no doubt we need immediate action to assure the public we are making every effort to put things right. But culture change will not happen overnight. All of us, from the ward to Whitehall, will need to keep a relentless focus on the long term goal – creating an NHS that is safer, more compassionate and fully accountable to the people it serves.”
Nearly 50 trusts ‘have no independent future’: Nearly 50 NHS trusts are likely to face merger or franchised management as they are unable to gain foundation status in their current form, HSJ (subscription required) has revealed. Of the 99 NHS hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance providers which have yet to become foundation trusts (FT), nearly half will be unable to do so as independent organisations, according to the authority responsible. The FT pipeline is the subject of the latest HSJ Briefing, published this week, and of HSJ’s FT Pipeline Tracker Map. The NHS Trust Development Authority, which is responsible for managing trusts and preparing them to become foundations, has confirmed to HSJ that only 52 would have a “standalone solution”. That leaves 47 which do not.
NHS IT shakeup feeds surge in demand for specialists: A massive upswing in demand for senior technology talent in the NHS sees 70% of NHS trusts say IT is their top priority, reported Engineering and Technology Magazine. The increase in the need for computer skills is being driven by large IT related change and transformation projects such as the computerisation of patient records, as well as the imminent replacement of Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Heath Authorities with Clinical Commissioning Groups and Commissioning Support Units. According to a recent survey undertaken by the UK Healthcare Practice of Twenty Recruitment, all of the 50 trusts polled said that they expected IT investment to play a significant part in their 2013 budgets with 70% saying that they were making IT their top priority, compared to 40% last year. Jessica Lorimer, senior appointments specialist for Twenty Recruitment said: “While many of the headlines in recent months have been around job cuts and downsizing in the public sector, it seems the war for talent – particularly from a technology perspective – is firmly back on the agenda.”
Ten suppliers on £300m framework: Ten suppliers are on a new framework worth up to £300m to supply clinical information systems to 30 community and mental health trusts in London and the South, reported eHealth Insider. A consortium of 30 NHS trusts and community interest organisations launched a procurement process in July last year to establish an IT framework agreement worth £150m – £300m over four years. The new framework is in preparation for the end of their National Programme for IT in the NHS contracts in October 2015. The organisations in London and the South got CSE healthcare’s RiO electronic patient record system delivered by BT under the programme. Both companies are on the new framework. The tender was split into three lots: 1. the application; 2. hosting services; and 3. integration, interoperability, reporting and portal services.
Francis response: Failing managers could be barred: HSJ (subscription required) has reported that senior NHS managers and non-executive directors who “let their patients and the NHS down” could be barred from holding high-level positions in future, under proposals set out in the government’s response to the Francis report. Robert Francis QC recommended a system where executives and non-executives could be disqualified from holding similar positions in future on the grounds of incompetence or serious misconduct. The government’s response to the report highlights the Teaching Agency’s barring scheme as an example of the type of “mechanism” the government would like to introduce for executives and non-executives. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said any system would have to “dine carefully” and with “due process”.
Failing hospitals to be named and shamed in NHS care overhaul: Failing hospitals will be named and shamed and NHS managers responsible for failures will be barred from working in the health service under government plans to ensure a Mid Staffs-style care scandal never happens again, reported The Guardian. NHS staff pay will be linked to how well they care for patients, and health professionals will be obliged to own up when they harm or kill patients, the health secretary announced. Jeremy Hunt unveiled the building blocks for what he called “a culture of zero harm and compassionate care” and a remedy for the “unacceptable and, in some cases, inhumane treatment” displayed in the scandal at Stafford hospital, governed by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, between 2005 and 2009.
Massive disparities in GP IT spend: Expenditure on GP IT varies enormously nationwide from between just 50p per head of population in Wiltshire to more than £10 in West Essex. This massive disparity in spending, revealed in a Freedom of Information request to the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB), has left the board struggling to delegate GP IT funding to clinical commissioning groups. However, enquiries by eHealth Insider reveal that for at least one primary care trust, the reported figure represents its entire IT budget rather than just money spent on GP IT. The NHS CB announced it was devolving responsibility for funding a significant part of GP IT to CCGs last June. In order to determine how much money CCGs should get, it completed a ‘primary care IT expenditure stock take’ of current annual spend. The NHS CB told eHealth Insider last month that a national GP IT budget of £186m had been set based on this stock take.
Nine-out-of-ten Scots happy with GP care: Nine-out-of-ten Scottish patients rate their GP services as good or excellent, in a result the General Pharmaceutical Council said was a ‘testament to the hard work of GPs and their practice teams’, reported Pulse. The Scottish Patient Experience survey found 89% of patients rated GP care as good or excellent, with the final report concluding that patients tended to be more satisfied with smaller GP practices. But the survey, which was carried out by the Scottish Government for services provided in 2011/12, saw patients report a lower rate of satisfaction with levels of access to see a GP, with just 75% rating it as good or excellent compared with overall satisfaction levels. The Scottish Government said: “The analysis has shown the importance of understanding the influence of non-patient factors such as the individual GP practice and size of GP practice.”
NHS 111 phone number sparks concern: Doctors are questioning the safety of a new non-emergency NHS telephone advice line launching in England, reported the BBC. The 111 service, replacing NHS Direct, is being piloted in many regions but has proved problematic, with some callers left on hold for hours. Dr Laurence Buckman, the British Medical Association’s GP committee chair, says wider rollout should be stalled. The Department of Health says it is giving some areas extra time. It has already sanctioned an extension of up to six months of the original 1 April 2013 deadline for regions struggling to set up the new service. Health minister Lord Howe insists that the NHS Direct 0845 4647 service will continue to be available to callers in areas where the NHS 111 service is not yet active.
Ipswich to get £14m for Lorenzo: The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust expects to receive nearly £14m in government funding for taking CSC’s Lorenzo electronic patient record system. eHealth Insider exclusively revealed last year that an interim deal between the Department of Health and CSC would give the first ten trusts who committed to taking the system before April, a signing-on bonus of £1m, as well as up to £4m in implementation expenses. According to Ipswich’s business case being presented to the board, the trust expects to get the £1m incentive with 20% “payable on approval of the investment case”, as well as up to £3.1m in deployment support. The trust will receive centrally-provided funding of nearly £5m in deployment charges and £4.7m in service charges for the full EPR over five years.
IMS MAXIMS to address the UK’s Dementia Challenge at HC2013: IMS MAXIMS will highlight the need for systems that support NHS trusts with the early diagnosis and improved care of patients with dementia, at the forthcoming national health IT conference and exhibition, HC2013, reported eHealthNews. IMS MAXIMS medical director, Angela White, will present a session on how the dementia challenge is already affecting the NHS. The session, which will be held in Theatre 1, Birmingham ICC on 17th April 2013 at 12pm, will also discuss how formally identifying those with such impairments and supporting their health and social care needs has been at best fragmented and needs to be improved. IMS MAXIMS will be exhibiting on stand 58 and delegates are invited to come along to find out more about the dementia module, VTE and the company’s current range of clinical healthcare information solutions.
TotalMobile launches mHealth workshops: TotalMobile has launched a roadshow designed to help healthcare professionals to spend more time with patients and less on administration and travel, through the adoption of mobile solutions, reported Mobile Marketing Magazine. The campaign will support the NHS Institute of Innovation and Improvement’s Releasing Time to Care (RTTC) scheme, part of the Productive Ward initiative, with TotalMobile delivering a series of workshops around the UK. The half-day sessions will focus on how mobile working can improve the patient experience and safety, in addition to the efficiency of care, all of which are objectives of the RTTC scheme. Attendees will see examples of how mobile working has streamlined routine tasks and improved working environments in various use cases, before taking part in an interactive live demonstration of TotalMobile’s app platform. NHS staff interested in attending a TotalMobile Time to Care workshop should email health@ctechs.co.uk to book their place. Alternatively you can register for the London workshop here, and the Edinburgh workshop here.
The new home on the web for the Department of Health: The Department of Health is the latest central government organisation to move it’s corporate and policy content onto the GOV.UK website – the new single home for all government services and information. Information from the Department of Health, plus the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards (ACCEA), has joined that of 14 other departments whose content moved to GOV.UK between November 2012 and March 2013. Content from all remaining departments will be brought into the site in the coming few months. The Inside Government section on GOV.UK makes it simpler, clearer and faster to find out how government works, what the government is doing and how you can get involved.
Opinion
A new machine
Roy Lilley uses the metaphor whereby an alien visits earth to find out how the world famous NHS IT system works. The transcript reveals the lack of accountability for different government departments.
“Monitor say; they don’t do quality that’s the job of the CQC, although, following the Francis Report, it might be their job or they might give some of their jobs to the CQC. But, they say absence of money does not necessarily mean the absence of quality. The absence of nurses does not mean the absence of good care, but it could – they don’t do care so they don’t care.
“… others say it’s money that makes sure there are enough nurses on the wards to deliver safe care. The CQC say they don’t do finance. They do outcomes not inputs but that is not to say there is not an interrelation between the two but Monitor do their stuff and the CQC do theirs and we are all stuffed….”
Lilley concludes that the NHS has along way to go before it can live up to the expectations set in the Olympic opening ceremony.
The legacy of NHS Change Day
In this week’s HSJ (subscription required) Jackie Lynton, lead associate at NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, discusses the legacy of NHS Change Day. Jackie describes it as a mass movement of people that want to transform the service. She writes that the challenge now is to harness this enthusiasm.
“On March 13 NHS Change Day saw a mass movement of NHS staff make an amazing 182,000 pledges to change the NHS for the better. In doing so, they not only improved the quality of care for patients, but created a powerful grassroots movement that will be at the heart of transforming the NHS.
The idea of Change Day was born nine months ago on Twitter when a group of young clinicians and improvement leaders concluded that the NHS not only needed to change, but that grassroots staff needed to be empowered to drive it.”
Jackie continues by saying that the shared purpose was to energise a coalition that held each other to account instead of seeking permission from the top.
“Our goal was to secure 65,000 pledges, 1,000 for every year of the NHS’s existence. The emphasis was not on the size of the change individuals could make, but on their willingness to turn their pledges into everyday practice and share what happened on the Change Day website.
The challenge now is to harness this enthusiasm, with NHS leaders supporting a culture which challenges the status quo and empowers staff to drive the change they want to see. This can only be achieved where the culture supports those who challenge the status quo.
The day has inspired the hope that is needed to transform the service. The call to action for NHS leaders, supporters and patients is to join us in future Change Days and being, as one leader put it, an “affirming flame” for positive change.”
Highland Marketing Blog
This week Chris Marsom discusses how important good copy is for effective marketing in his blog: Doctor, Doctor, I’m suffering from ‘writer’s block’.
