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27 April 2009 / Issue 158 |
| The weekly news bulletin from your world class commissioning partner |
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Insight of the week |
£2.3bn in public sector savings to come from NHS
The Department of Health is contributing £2.3bn in additional savings, as part of £5bn efficiencies in spending across the public sector in 2010/11, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The department's revenue budget for 2010/-11 is adjusted from £104.6bn to £102.3bn.
More from the Central Office of Information website.
Stroke consultation announced
The Department of Health has announced a consultation on the national stroke strategy launched in December 2007. The strategy aims to improve the quality of training and knowledge among staff involved with stroke patients and to compensate for the lack of a nationally recognised training scheme. Responses to the consultation should be made by 12 June 2009.
Medical profiling and online medicine: the ethics of personalised health care
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is holding a consultation on the ethical issues raised by online healthcare, telemedicine and commercial medical profiling technologies such as DNA testing and body imaging. The deadline for responses to the consultation is 21 July 2009 and a report setting out the council's findings is planned for spring 2010.
New stats reveal England's calorific alcohol intake
The average wine drinker in England now consumes around 2,000 calories from alcohol alone each month, new figures show. Over a year this is equivalent to 38 extra roast beef dinners or almost 184 bags of crisps.
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You@PCC |
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You@ is your advisor's online consulting room where you can look at events and get news and views that matter to you. Via You@ you can access Your Community where you can network with colleagues, share information, get tips from the top
and book a one to one with your advisor. Go now to see what's new this week
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Regional highlight of the week |
London GOS network
NHS PCC's specialist advisor, John Hearnshaw, updated 60 delegates in the London area last week on eye care contractual issues, including variations needed to keep their GOS contracts compliant. Delegates welcomed the detailed information on management of contract variations, how to ensure the latest complaints guidance is incorporated in their GOS contracts, and many other points including commissioning extended eye care services in primary care.
John also trailed the soon to be released How to guide for commissioning eye care services which will be part of the world-class commissioning suite of documents.
If your area would like a similar PCC subscriber event please let your local advisor know.
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Commissioning |
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Working better together: managing local strategic partnerships
This Audit Commission study reviews arrangements for performance, resource management and governance for local strategic partnerships (LSPs). The study aims to identify how well LSPs and their partners manage local public service performance and finances, explore opportunities for and challenges to improvement, and provide practical guidance for partners in LSPs.
Regional world class commissioning events not to be missed
PCTs in London and the north-east are advised to make room in their diaries in May for the world-class commissioning events aimed at board members, senior managers and commissioners of primary care. Speakers include PCC representatives and senior figures responsible for commissioning policy from the Department of Health including director of commissioning Gary Belfield, director of primary care and community services strategy Jill Matthews and head of dental and eye care services David Lye. PCC advisors will also be available to address local issues and answer delegates' specific questions. Further regional events are running throughout the year.
For information and bookings:
London, 12 May
County Durham, 13 May
Tackling inequalities from the ground up
A new support team to tackle infant mortality has been launched by public health minister Dawn Primarolo, who said it would help turn the tide on health inequalities.
The new national support team will visit 43 areas with the highest rate of infant mortality in the routine and manual group, to deliver intensive four-day programmes of interviews and workshops and tailored support to local areas.
Template patient leaflets on MRSA screening
The NHS is now screening all relevant patients for MRSA before planned operations. This will help the NHS reduce the chances of patients getting an MRSA infection, or passing MRSA onto another patient. These template patient leaflets have been developed to assist local areas in their patient communications around this topic.
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Primary Medical Care |
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QOF aspiration payments 2009/10
The calculation of a practice's QOF aspiration payments is based on the previous year's QOF achievement value. But unlike other years, PCTs were not able to confirm and approve the 2008/09 practice QOF achievement in April 2009. PCTs will not be able to do this until 8 May, when the results of the national GP survey in respect of PE7 & PE8 are expected.
To ensure practices receive the aspiration payment PCTs should consult the Statement of Financial Entitlements (Amendment) (No 5) Directions 2008.
Coming soon: everything you need to know - in one document
The PCC team is working on a reference work for subscribers that lists useful documents for those involved in contracting and commissioning primary medical care services. The document will pull together all the relevant regulation around GMS and PMS contracts, directions covering enhanced services and statements of financial entitlement (SFE), premises costs and documents related to the DDRB pay award.
A link to the document will be published on the PCC website with further details in New@PCC.
End of the Primary Care Access Survey - further details
The decision to end the Primary Care Access Survey (PCAS) was confirmed by ministers on 15 April. The NHS was immediately instructed to abandon the April survey.
The GP Patient Survey provides more conclusive data than PCAS on whether general practices are providing a level of access that meets patients' needs.
The Care Quality Commission will use the GP Patient Survey to measure the experience of patients accessing GP services.
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Pharmacy |
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Prescription costs analysis 2008
The Information Centre has published the prescription cost analysis for 2008. The data are available in PDF and Excel formats. A correction is also available to data on some products.
East of England pharmacy leads network opens for business
The East of England held its first community pharmacy commissioning leads network on 7 April.
Further details are in the subscriber area of the PCC website.
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Dentistry |
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Steele review of NHS dentistry
Professor Jimmy Steele is leading an independent review into NHS dentistry and wants to hear the views of NHS staff who work on dentistry.
Four regional engagement events are planned:
- Newcastle, 29 April 2009
- Manchester, 7 May 2009
- Bristol, 12 May 2009
- Birmingham, 13 May 2009
Application of DDRB uplift
NHS BSA Dental Services are applying the uplift this month. Dentists will therefore see the uplift reflected in their pay statements on 1 May.
Superannuation reports
NHS BSA Dental Services will be sending out superannuation reconciliation reports in mid May. The deadline for responses is 31 July.
Guide to monthly pay statements - redesign
Following feedback from dentists and the BDA, the layout of monthly pay statements has been revised and improved. A full guide to the new format is available on the NHS BSA Dental Services website.
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Eye Care |
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New NICE guidelines aim to save the sight of those at risk from glaucoma
Thousands of people with or at risk of developing a potentially blinding form of glaucoma will benefit from new guidance. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Clinical Guideline Centre have announced measures to improve the diagnosis and management of chronic open angle glaucoma (COAG) and ocular hypertension (OHT). Available from 22 April, the guidance sets out how best to diagnose COAG, how people with COAG, OHT or at risk of COAG should be monitored, and which treatments should be considered.
GOC alert: bogus calls to practices
A number of optical practices have received calls from individuals claiming to be phoning from the General Optical Council, asking for employee details. These calls are not legitimate. When enquiries have to be made, the GOC would normally request that information be sent in writing. Anyone with concerns about the legitimacy of a request is advised not to divulge information of this nature over the telephone and to contact the GOC.
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