First estimates of funding in new health structure

CCGs could control almost £65bn of NHS funding according to the latest government figures, developed by mapping PCT spending in 2010/11 on to the future structure and uplifting them to 2012/13 levels.

Questions raised over access to end of life care community services

Research published by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network suggests that people who live in deprived areas are more likely to die in hospital than those living in affluent areas.

The report reveals that 61% of deaths among people living in the poorest 20% of areas occurred in hospital compared to 54% in less deprived areas.

Lost in translation: how much is translation costing the NHS?

This report investigates NHS spend on translation services, the overall costs, as well as the individual areas of spend.

CQC publishes reports on services for people with learning disabilities

The Care Quality Commission has published a further 20 reports from a targeted programme of 150 unannounced inspections of hospitals and care homes that care for people with learning disabilities.

An area of concern to emerge from an initial analysis of the first 40 reports is that many services are failing to provide care based on the individual needs of service users.

Commissioning intelligence report

The NHS Commissioning Board has published results of a large-scale engagement exercise to understand the information needs of emerging clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

The requirements are presented in the form of a commissioning intelligence model, developed to facilitate discussions between local PCT clusters, emerging CCGs, public health and emerging clinical support organisations.

Becoming an informed customer of commissioning support

Clinical commissioning groups are assessing their needs for support in the run-up to April 2013. PCC, NHS Alliance and NAPC are running a series of events next month to help CCGs to understand the support available and to become discriminating and effective buyers of support services. The events will also help emerging commissioning support organisations to understand the evolving needs of CCGs.

• 6 March - Birmingham
• 14 March - London
• 15 March - Leeds
• 21 March - Bristol

Commissioning care homes: common safeguarding challenges

This guide identifies the issues that commonly lead to safeguarding referrals from care homes. It identifies underlying causes and provides checklists to support commissioners and providers in reducing the occurrence of these issues.

Authorisation process - BMA guidance

This guidance document outlines the authorisation process for CCGs and highlights issues for GPs and local medical committees to consider. It also provides examples of how a competent and successful CCG should operate.

Long term conditions and mental health: the cost of co-morbidities

The Kings Fund has published a paper that suggests that developing more integrated support for people with mental and physical health problems could improve outcomes and play an important part in helping the NHS meet the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention challenge.

Get on course for patient engagement

PCC is offering a two-day course for all subscribers and their shadow CCGs on service user and citizen engagement and involvement. The course, run in collaboration with Unique Improvements and the University of Teeside, is fully accredited with the option to complete a university award of 20 credits at level 4. Aimed at frontline staff, the course will help all learners involved in patient engagement to understand the issues and build confidence. The course focuses on the individual and their relationship with their organisation, policy and their neighbourhoods. A limited number of free places for practice staff are available using the code: EDISC267.

• 8 March and 12 April 2012 - Liverpool
• 15 March and 25 April 2012 - London
• 26 April 2012 and 17th May 2012 - Stratford upon Avon

Briefing: choice of general practice

The government in January published guidance on changes to general practice boundaries designed to increase choice for patients. This briefing outlines the steps PCT clusters need to take now to meet the April 2012 deadline for establishing outer practice boundaries and to ensure that practices with out-of-area patients participating in the pilots make adequate provision for out-of-hours care.

CQC registration and the RCGP quality programme

Practice accreditation helps general practices enhance their organisational systems and procedures, such as risk assessment and processes for notifying patients of staff changes. Following a consultation, the Department of Health agreed to postpone the registration of most primary medical services with CQC, most of which are general practices. This joint statement, produced in conjunction with CQC, provides further information.

Bank holidays

There will be an extra bank holiday on 5 June 2012 to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee. There will also be a date change to the end of May bank holiday from 28 May 2012 to 4 June 2012 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This would mean that general practices will be closed on both these days. PCTs will need to clarify what is detailed in their contracts with their out of hours providers and if necessary commission additional services or make alternative arrangements for core hours on 4 and 5 June.

Quality and business success in practice

General practices need to focus on essential issues to achieve maximum income this year and prepare for next. This CPD accredited event prepares practices for success by explaining CQC registration, 2012/13 GMS changes including QOF and practice boundaries, and looking at what can still be achieved in the current year.

There are still spaces available for the event on 23 February, London, 7 March, Leeds and 19 April, Durham.

Fitness to practise information and applications to join a pharmaceutical list

PCC has received a number of queries regarding the provision of fitness to practise information by applicants applying to be included in a PCT's pharmaceutical list. This briefing sets out the requirements on sole traders, partnerships and bodies corporate and explains the provisions of home PCTs.

Latest list of participating dental practices in contract pilot scheme published

The Department of Health has published the latest list of dental practices participating in the dental contract pilot programme. The programme is testing three pilot models. The learning from these models will inform the development of a new national contract.

Dental commissioning statistics - quarter ending December 2011

Dental commissioning statistics published by the Department of Health show the number of units of dental activity commissioned as at 31 December 2011.

GDC seeks views on fitness to practise changes

The General Dental Council is launching a consultation on further changes to its fitness to practise processes.

A full public consultation will seek views about the proposals. This will run between Tuesday 7 February and Monday 30 April 2012.

See the PCC website for full details of events.