Posts Tagged ‘Andrew Lansley’

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Failed FT Managers will be “removed”

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has issued a warning to NHS managers, stating that those who fail to prepare hospitals adequately to become Foundation Trusts (FT’s) by the 2014 deadline will be “removed and replaced”.

In a speech to policy makers, NHS experts and private healthcare executives in London that signalled a new approach to the health service, Andrew Lansley said that he had contacted the chairs of all remaining NHS Trusts. They had reached agreements on the timescales for when they would be “clinically and financially sustainable”, allowing them “foundation” status.

There has been increasing concern in the Department of Health (DoH) over the time taken for the remaining 69 acute hospitals in the NHS to become FT’s. The National Audit Office noted this month that the number of authorisations peaked in 2007 and 2008, however, and only 14 FT’s had been authorised since the end of 2009.

The DoH have identified up to 36 Trusts that need access to £376m in government loans to meet a regulatory requirement to become an FT. Unlike NHS Trusts, FT’s will have the ability to compete in clinical and financial terms for patients.

Commenting on the issues that had plagued the move for many Trusts towards FT status, Mr Lansley said that often the problems rested with hospital management for their lack of decision making.  “For them, I have a stark warning. If your hospitals are not there by the time you say, you’re not getting there at all” Lansley said.

NHS workers have however claimed that the assessments determining Trust status are not focusing on patient care, but merely on the cash position of the NHS.

Peter Carter, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said that some Trusts are performing excellently in terms of patient care, but are still judges to be “failing” on the basis of their financial position, for which there may be significant underlying reasons.

Original Source The Guardian

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Personal Health Budgets

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told the Conservative Party conference in Manchester that he will be “truly putting patients at the heart of the NHS” as he announced personal health budgets for 50,000 people.

He stated his commitment to the NHS, asserting that he will never allow the service to become  fragmented, privatised or undermined, and focuses on giving equal access to excellent care.
He states that the NHS will take the freedoms and opportunities that are offered by the Department of Health (DoH) to provide healthcare to the general public, and focus on continually improving the quality of care. “That’s our priority. Our mission. My passion” he said.

Lansley went on to announce that the DoH will offer personal health budgets to the 50,000 people eligible for NHS Continuing Care. These Budgets will give them more control over how their needs are met, allowing them to choose support and services at their discretion. Under this plan, by April 2014 everyone eligible for NHS continuing healthcare will have the right to ask for a personal health budget, including the option of a direct payment.

Patients with long-term conditions would be handed a health budget and be able to buy NHS care or treatments from a private insurer by 2014. The voucher system is being trialled with 1,300 patients, and the DoH is expected to consider the evidence before expanding the scheme.

It was also revealed that the DoH are committed to increasing the NHS budget in real terms every year, which should equate to an additional £12.5 billion by 2015. Since May 2010, it has been reported that there had been more real terms investment in the NHS in areas such as cancer treatment. Furthermore, mixed-sex wards have been abolished, and there have been “radical” reductions in hospital infections.

Commenting on the controversy surrounding the coalition’s reforms have received, in particular the criticisms of the Health and Social Care Bill, Lansley said that they were just a continuation of the changes that the last government had already made and were going to carry on making.

Original Source Public Service

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Reforms vital for ageing population

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
The NHS will not be able to meet the demands of the increasing number of individuals with long-term conditions without successfully implementing it’s drastic reforms says health secretary Andrew Lansley.

Mr Lansley said if the NHS is to cope with the growing numbers then it will undoubtedly have to become more efficient with less funding. Whilst the overhaul of the NHS is proving controversial due to widespread redundancies, use of private providers and cuts to frontline care, fundamental remodelling may be the only method to manage the ageing populaiton

Currently, one in three people are inflicted with a long-term condition, such as asthma, heart and lung disease, arthritis, high blood pressure or diabetes. Recent figures do however indicate a projected 252% increase in the number of over-65s with conditions such as diabetes and asthma by 2050.

Figures from the Department of Health show people with long-term conditions are the biggest proportion users of the NHS, accounting for approximately 50% of GP appointments and 70% of inpatient hospital beds.

It has been revealed that the average cost of a patient without a long-term condition is around £1,000, which rises to £3,000 for those with one condition and to £8,000 for those with three or more conditions. Furthermore, the additional associated cost pressure of caring for people with multiple co-morbidities could reach £4 billion by 2016.

Sir John Oldham, national clinical lead for quality and productivity for the NHS, said: “If we continue to manage people with long-term conditions as we do now, the NHS is not sustainable. Mr Lansley believes however that the modernised NHS will see local health experts in charge, who will have the power and the budget to put the overall health of their patient first.

In order to operate at a higher level of efficiency, trusts could seek to implement an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system such as Therapy Manager, which has been seen to demonstrably reduce clinical and administrative input, increasing the potential to cope with greater demands on the service.

Original Source HSJ

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Government amends controversial health reforms

Friday, March 4th, 2011
The government has just announced an amendment to its controversial Health and Social Care bill which will remove the previous reference to the tariff being the “maximum” price charged for NHS services.

The amendment, outlined by health minister Simon Burns today removes the references to the maximum tariff price, but still retains allusions to the fact that the tariff could specify different prices amongst different providers. These prices, it specifies, cannot however now be determined by the private or public ownership of the provider or any other status aspect. This implies that although Monitor may specific different prices for different providers, this must be considered on a case-by-case basis, contrary to prior indications.

The Department of Health (DoH) have stated that the move comes in opposition to previous suggestions that private sector providers would benefit from more pay than their NHS equivalents for doing the same work from the reforms. Previously, it was indicated that some private sector providers benefitted from contracts which paid them around 11 per cent more than the NHS cost.

The DoH go on to state that amendment would allow Monitor not to vary the tariff according to the status of a provider as public or private sector, but instead to reflect unavoidable cost differences, such as geographical variations in wages and the cost of land.  The tariff is however already reflective of such geographical differences in cost through the Market Forces Factor, which is calculated for each provider.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley was reported as reasserting that the intentions of the amendments were to focus competition onto quality and outcomes as opposed to price. “We want the tariff to be a nationally regulated price, not a starting point for price competition” he said.

Whilst the previous notions of price competition were widely denounced, the flexibility to use tariff as a maximum has already been used by commissioners locally to agree a lower rate for some procedures. These changes will therefore require trusts to have a total and accurate picture of the true Costs of Care in order to ensure they are correctly charging for procedures, a key aspect of electronic patient record (EPR) systems software such as Therapy Manager.

Original Source HSJ

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) System specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Posted in Business, Conservatives, NHS | No Comments »

NHS hospitals cut over 1000 frontline staff despite government pledge

Friday, February 18th, 2011
The government’s repeated pledges to protect frontline NHS services have been dramatically undermined by the announcement that two London hospitals are to cut almost 1,000 jobs.

The first to be affected, St George’s hospital in south London announced that it was shedding 500 personnel comprised primarily of nurses and consultants. It also announced closure of 3 wards, with the loss of about 100 beds, which will reduce the possible number of births there from 4,200 to 3,000. These cutbacks come as part of an attempt to save £55 million in 2011-12. The second, Kingston hospital in southwest London is to lose 486 staff, almost 20% of its total workforce, over the next five years.

In the current NHS climate, job losses are mounting across hospitals in England as they struggle to cope with a £20 billion efficiency drive in conjunction with decisions by the coalition to restrict budget increases to 0.1% a year and reduce the fees hospitals receive for treating patients. This reflects the impact the financial crisis has had in the NHS, and is thought to have dramatic ramifications for the quality of frontline patient care.

These redundancies put fresh pressure on the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, who is already under attack for imposing radical structural changes to the NHS and regularly claiming that the NHS would escape the clampdown on public spending.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “Steps must be taken to stop this vicious spiral and not allow patient safety to be compromised by understaffed hospitals and wards.”

Original Source The Guardian

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Posted in Conservatives, NHS, Performance Management | No Comments »

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