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NHS news review

Failed NHS records system

  1. HealthInvestor magazine has an article on the failed NHS records system. HealthInvestor – Article: NHS trusts forced to use failing suppliers
  2. The Department of Health fears a protracted legal battle with its IT suppliers.
  3. The Public Accounts Committee has severely criticised the Department of Health’s renegotiation of the failed NHS records system.

Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram has slammed the government’s NHS reforms, which will see Liverpool lose £33.3 million.

The BMA warns of gaps in NHS reforms.

Tory MP calls his hospital crap for not providing the NHS that the Tory party along with the Liberal-Democrat Tory party is abolishing.

Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

When suppliers attack and the NHS cowers | PublicTechnology.net

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In written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee for its latest damning report on the National Programme for IT, officials at the Department of Health admit that they fear a prolonged and expensive legal battle with three of its main ICT providers.

During the PAC hearing in May, former NHS director of informatics Christine Connelly rejected the notion put to her by MPs that US supplier CSC had the department “over a barrel” when it came to trying to renegotiate contracts that the DoH itself concedes are not working for it.

But in its written evidence the DoH paints a rather different picture, noting that the potential for legal conflict is incredibly high – and suggesting that the DoH may indeed be held over the proverbial barrel.

DoH officials warn: “Both BT and CSC have been clear that they are not willing simply to walk away. Therefore, it is safe to assume that some form of dispute will occur and that both suppliers will seek to recover costs. Legal advice provided to the Department indicates there is a risk of some unquantifiable “collateral damage” to the Fujitsu existing claim and the risk of suppliers working in unison against the Department is significant.”
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BT slammed over NHS NPfIT ‘value for money’ claim – PC Advisor

Liverpool MP slams unbelievable NHS cuts > Local News > News | Click Liverpool

Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram has slammed the government’s NHS reforms, which will see Liverpool lose £33.3 million.

Liverpool is second only to Manchester, which will lose £41.7 million, as the worst hit region of the North West.

The figures contrast greatly with areas further south, such as Surrey and Hampshire, who will benefit by £61.4 million and £52 million respectively.

Speaking upon hearing the announcement, Steve explained: “I feared from the moment David Cameron got his hands on the NHS, that hospitals and GP practices across Liverpool were going to suffer.

“It would appear my nightmare has become a reality today.

“How can this Tory government claim that we are all in this together when the Prime Minister’s Health Authority area gains millions of pounds and regions, such as ours, lose millions?
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BMA warns of gaps in health reform | GPonline.com

There are worrying gaps in the government’s plans to reform the public health system in England, the BMA has warned.

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But Dr Keith Reid, co-chairman of the BMA’s public health medicine committee, said it was ‘disappointing’ that concerns remained about how health issues, such as obesity, alcohol misuse and STIs, should best be tackled.

Dr Reid added that the financial climate and NHS restructuring meant posts in public health were being cut.

‘We do not want a situation where local authorities are handed the keys to public health, only to find that the engine has gone,’ he said.

The BMA wants a commitment from the government to maintain the current level of public health specialist posts.

GPs face a difficult commissioning climate | GPonline.com

In an exclusive interview with GP, NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) would face more difficult circumstances and tougher decisions than PCTs.

He said CCGs may struggle to find support from experienced PCT managers as many would already have left the NHS.

Mr Farrar said it was ‘very important’ that the NHS recognised just how big the challenge was for CCGs.

‘The circumstances CCGs face are tougher, there are tougher decisions to take, and PCT managers tended to have a career in being developed as managers,’ he said.

‘PCTs also had slightly easier relationships with the organisations around them.’

Mr Farrar said that although GPs were ‘very skilled individuals’ they may lack some of the knowledge that is needed to run CCGs.

He said clinicians often had little experience in controversial decision-making, consulting the public and doing media work. ‘Not every GP will be particularly happy giving lots of quotes to their local newspaper,’ he said.
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More leading NHS hospitals predict financial problems – Telegraph

In total 21 Foundation Trusts say they will likely experience cash problems over the next year, up from 13 the last time they were surveyed.

Meanwhile 16 of the hospitals say they are at risk of failing to meet a key target to treat patients on time, while a similar amount may breach A&E waiting time limits.

And in further evidence of the pressure the NHS is coming under, more than half of the Primary Care Trusts that pay for treatment say they are failing to make unprecedented savings of £20billion by 2015 as ordered by the Government.

The regulator for the semi-independent Foundation Trust sector, Monitor, is now warning hospitals not to try to balance their books by cutting back on patient care.

Its chairman, Dr David Bennett, said: “The challenge of reducing costs must be met, but it is essential that good patient care is at the heart of this. This year we have put extra focus on identifying the potential risks to quality that could result from each trust’s plan.
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Unite calls for NHS cuts to be reversed as new survey reveals trusts struggling to make ‘efficiency savings’

Unite has demanded that the government reverses its NHS ‘cuts’ policy in the wake of a new survey today (Thursday 4 August) showing that primary care trusts (PCTs) are struggling to meet their ‘efficiency targets’.

Unite, the largest union in the country, said that ministers have failed to realise the extent of the damage done by their edict that the NHS must save £20 billion by 2015.

An investigation by the GP newspaper revealed that 59 per cent of PCTs are failing to hit NHS efficiency targets for this year.

Unite national officer for health, Rachael Maskell, said: ‘”I have made strong representations at the NHS Staff Council about the expectation on trusts to make the largest cuts to the health service since its formation in 1948.

”It might be the case that the government has not fully understood the damage that such cuts would cause – it is one thing to look at cold statistics produced by Treasury mandarins, but quite another turning away elderly patients in pain.

”Unite is asking that these ‘efficiency savings’ are reviewed or the government will be responsible for damaging the life chances of thousands of patients.

”Ministers continue to argue that more resources are going into the NHS. However, the increased budget and the savings from the cuts are all going to fund the expensive and bureaucratic health system that David Cameron and Nick Clegg are introducing in the Health and Social Care bill.
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Hospitals’ waiting times warning comes as NHS starts to go backwards under Tories – Healey | The Labour Party

Lansley ‘breaks pledge on voice for patients’ – Main Section – Yorkshire Post

HEALTH Secretary Andrew Lansley was yesterday accused of breaking a pledge to give a bigger voice to patients in the NHS.

Under the Government’s NHS reform plans, patients will be given a key role in new HealthWatch networks.

Some 75 local Healthwatch pathfinders were launched yesterday to champion patients’ views and experiences and advise new groups of GPs in shaping local services.

But campaigners claimed the new organisations, which will evolve from existing Local Involvement Networks (LINks), were being starved of cash to develop before they take on new powers in October next year and were already struggling following public spending cuts of up to 70 per cent in their budgets.
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MP slams ‘crap’ hospital for turning away A&E patients | Politics

A Tory MP has attacked an NHS hospital as “chronically, institutionally, dysfunctionally crap” after it shut its A&E department for five hours because it was too busy.

Henry Smith made the comments on Facebook after patients were turned away from East Surrey Hospital in Redhill last week and diverted to hospitals in Brighton and Tunbridge Wells.

Michael Wilson, the chief executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said the hospital was one of the busiest in the country and needed the support of its local MPs.

Mr Wilson added: “For a short period last Tuesday evening the emergency department at East Surrey Hospital was only accepting seriously ill patients brought in by ambulance.”

Mr Smith, MP for Crawley, said: “It is absolutely appalling East Surrey closed… this is a frightening illustration that we need more provision.”

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NHS news review

The big NHS news story today is that the Government is reviewing a large IT contract to provide a records system across the NHS. The project was inherited from Labour and has wasted billions. There are ways to ensure good management of huge IT projects but successive UK governments have failed. I expect that many good lunches have been had with so many billions.

Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

NHS medical records project shows little benefit, say MPs | Society | The Guardian

The Department of Health will not deliver the £11bn programme intended to create electronic records for all 55 million NHS patients in England and has been “unable to demonstrate” any benefits for the taxpayer, according to a scathing report from MPs.

The Commons public accounts committee said parts of the national programme for IT have proved to be unworkable.

The Department of Health has so far spent £6.4bn on the programme, which was launched in 2002, including £2.7bn on patient records.

MPs said the intention of creating electronic records was a “worthwhile aim” but one “that has proved beyond the capacity of the department to deliver”.

The IT project has floundered almost since the day it was conceived. The national scheme was broken up into five administrative areas, with each region handing out a contract – often worth billions – to big private players, which, it was envisaged, would commission software houses to write computer code.
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Vulture IT contractors bleed NHS dry – Civil service ships talent elsewhere | TechEye

An expert in IT leadership has hit out at the government and the civil service’s cluelessness with IT, tracing back the £11 billion NHS IT debacle to Blair’s cultivation of outsourcing.

The comments come on the back of a select committee report calling for the end of the centralised NHS IT project. It marks another shocking failure at every level. MPs agree that the National Programme, part of a wider £11.4 billion e-record scheme, desperately needs an urgent review.

“The Department of Health is not going to achieve its original aim of a fully integrated care records system across the NHS,” said committee chair Margaret Hodgson MP.

“Trying to create a one-size-fits-all system in the NHS was a massive risk and has proven to be unworkable.”

Yet again, the government was paying way over the odds for services which did not work. BT is a culprit, leading to accusations of government officials having all the bargaining nous of a first-round Apprentice contestant. The report says the government is “clearly overpaying BT to implement systems,” and according to the Committee, it squeezed £9 million where the exact same systems had been purchased at other NHS organisations for £2 million.
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NHS news review

Conservative election poster 2010

An article about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

Yorkshire health trusts ‘to lose out by £100m’ – Main Section – Yorkshire Post

THE Government will slash more than £100m from Yorkshire health trusts’ budgets while increasing spending in wealthy areas of the South, new research has claimed.

Labour said changes to funding formulas will result in 10 primary care trusts in the region having their budgets cut, while Surrey, Kensington, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire will enjoy a cash boost.

For years areas which have higher incidences of poor health have been given higher per capita funding, but this weighting is set to be reduced.

The study, produced by Public Health Manchester for the Parliamentary Health Select Committee, has heaped more pressure on the Government. Transport and local government funding allocations were also claimed to strongly favour the South, while public sector cuts have also hit the North harder, the vast majority of new private sector jobs being created in London and the wider South East.
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NHS news review

It has emerged that Andrew Taylor, head of the Co-operation and Competition Panel has been liaising extremely closely with private-sector lobbying groups to produce the report claiming that PCTs impose waiting so that patients either pay for treatment or die. There’s a feint, familiar ring to that … a circular echo, something in a spin?

Anyway then he got taken to a Health Investor’s dinner. Of course, Health Investor’s dinner would be packed with higher management of private health care companies – the perfect situatuion for Taylor to be networked.

Hypocrite Andrew Lansley condemned PCTs for the actions claimed by the report when – of course – he is largely responsible for them. It is Lansley and the Con-Dems that are destroying the NHS and imposing huge cuts. It is clear that this was the intention.

There are reports on Labour’s analysis that deprived areas will see greater cuts than relatively prosporous areas. The Con-Dems’ are stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles concerning the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

Private healthcare group lobbied competition body for NHS inquiry | Society | The Guardian

The close links between a private sector lobby group and an NHS regulator in the runup to the launch of a groundbreaking inquiry into competition in the health service have emerged in a series of documents passed to the Guardian.

Emails released under the Freedom of Information Act show that NHS Partners Network, a lobby group which represents companies including Care UK, Circle, General Healthcare Group, Bupa and United Health, helped draft a letter requesting a formal investigation into how firms were being blocked from getting NHS work. A week later the private healthcare lobby group took the regulator out to a £250-a-head gala dinner.

The network began lobbying the Co-operation and Competition Panel (CCP) last October for an inquiry into restrictions on the use of non-state companies in the health service – an investigation that was given the go-ahead two months later. The result was a report published this week which included recommendations to offer patients “more choice” because people were “dying” while waiting for operations in NHS hospitals.

Since 2006, patients have had a right to choose where they go for treatment for elective surgery, including private hospitals. In this week’s landmark ruling the panel found that almost half of NHS primary care trusts, the state bodies which control health budgets, were unreasonably restricting patients’ choice over where they go for operations.

The tactics employed included setting minimum waiting times before patients were getting treated – even when private providers could treat them – and directing GPs to refer patients to keep cash flowing into a local hospital.

In a contentious passage the regulator claimed that “we understand that patients will ‘remove themselves from the waiting list’ either by dying or by paying for their own treatment at private sector providers”.

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, leapt on the findings, telling the BBC that “too many [trusts] have been operating in a cynical environment where they can game the system – and in which political targets, particularly the maximum 18-week waiting time target, are used to delay treatment.”

However, David Stout, director of the PCT Network, described this claim as “unsubstantiated”, pointing out that average waiting times were just eight weeks for what were non-emergency and therefore non-life threatening operations. He said the regulator’s statements “cause unnecessary public anxiety and alarm”.

Emails, obtained by Spinwatch which campaigns for greater transparency in government, between the head of the CCP, Andrew Taylor, and David Worskett, the director of the NHS Partners Network, reveal the inquiry followed a letter from the lobby group to the Department of Health, which Taylor helped draft.
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It’s obvious why PCTs are making patients wait » Hospital Dr

You really have to wonder what it’s like in the world of a Tory minister. It’s evidently a place where nobody has to rely on a public service. David Cameron’s gratitude to the NHS for treating his son Ivan, frequently repeated in the run up to the election, seems to have been conveniently forgotten.

First we have Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s director of ‘strategy’ (for which his qualification are…ummm…I’ll have to get back to you on that one), suggesting the abolition of maternity leave, job centres and consumer rights legislation.

Then Oliver Letwin claiming public sector workers need more ‘fear and discipline’ (how about a spot of whipping?). Thanks for that, boys – if that’s the direction of travel, we’ll soon be opening workhouses again. Let’s admit this government is devoid of intelligent ideas for deficit reduction, or indeed, any grasp on the realities of life for the majority who don’t have a trust fund and didn’t go to Eton.

Then we have the Cooperation and Competition Panel doing what it was set up to do – clobbering the NHS and cosying up to the private sector. Its report last week claims that PCT’s are unfairly giving work to local hospitals, and restricting access for elective surgery to save money.

Making patients wait for treatment, we’re told, is designed expressly to force those who can afford it to go privately. Not only that – those wicked managers are hoping that many others will tidy themselves off the waiting list by dying before they finally get an op date. With breathtaking hypocrisy, the government piles in with expressions of horror, completely ignoring the reason why PCT’s are so desperate to save money. It’s a shame PCTs are so strapped for cash that they can’t treat CCP members to the same corporate entertainment package that lobbyists from the private healthcare industry recently did, according to a report in The Guardian. It was obviously be money well spent.

What the government also fails to acknowledge, is that this was always the plan – i.e. to force NHS waiting lists to increase so that the private sector is able to ride in and save the day – patients will either pay privately, or demand an alternative provider. And this is before the Health and Social Care Bill has even become law.
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Deprived areas in England will ‘lose out’ in NHS reforms – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

Deprived areas in England will lose out to affluent parts of the country under health spending reforms, Labour has claimed.

Changes to funding formulas means poor health rates will be given less consideration when cash is allocated, the party said.

It suggested areas like Manchester and the London borough of Tower Hamlets would lose out to parts of the wealthy south east, such as Surrey and Hampshire.

Labour based the claims on an assessment of funding reforms by public health bodies in Manchester.
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27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingNHS news review

Thinking about restating the list …

and whether ACPO & co should be on it.

If ACPO are on it … should they all be on it?

That’s reasonable, don’t you think?

I am a political dissident and I object strongly to be treated as a terrorist. Isn’t it ACPO & co that are the terrorists? Ian Blair definitely was and was clearly persuing a vendetta whenever he opened his arse.

 

Continue ReadingThinking about restating the list …