NHS IT, Records and Data

NHS Counter Fraud: Who cares about ISO 17025:2005?

03.06.19: We do, writes Nikki Crook, technical lead of the NHS Counter Fraud Authority’s (NHSCFA) Forensic Computing Unit (FCU). I work for the NHSCFA, which is leading the fight against NHS fraud at the national level. Our dedicated FCU suppor...

Perfect storm brewing over NHS pensions and tax rules

28.05.19: Dr Phil de Warren-Penny, deputy co-chair for negotiations on the BMA consultant committee, discusses the perfect storm brewing in light of changes made to healthcare professionals’ pension rules. Separate changes to the current system...

How are we improving outcomes for those affected by stroke?

28.05.19: Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), provides her view on the newly published NICE impact report on stroke. Stroke is one of the greatest health challenges of our ti...

Trust to remain in special measures and issued with second CQC warning notice despite improvements

15.05.19: Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS FT (NNUH) is to remain in special measures and has received a second CQC warning notice despite the CQC finding evidence of improvements and upgrading the trust’s Inadequate rating. The majo...

NHS lost £212m from prescription fraud last year whilst 1.7m people wrongly fined, NAO finds

15.05.19: Around 1.7 million fines have been wrongly handed out to patients and then overturned in the last five years, whilst the NHS also lost £212m last year due to wrongly claimed exemptions, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found. The n...

‘Thriving’ UK medicines discovery sector being driven by brand new technologies

13.05.19: New state-of-the-art technologies are keeping the UK competitive in a “thriving” service and supply sector in medicines discovery, a 2019 State of the Discovery Nation report has revealed. The research from the Medicines Discove...

Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust fined over ‘potentially lethal’ asbestos exposure at its hospital

10.05.19: Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has been fined £34,000 after refurbishment work undertaken in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital exposed its employees and contractors to asbestos. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said...

NHS set to launch global recruitment strategy to bring in thousands of foreign nurses

07.05.19: The NHS is set to begin a global recruitment drive to recruit tens of thousands of foreign nurses over the next five years in a bid to fill a void of 40,000 skilled workers. According to the staffing strategy, seen by The Times, NHS Improve...

‘Worst winter on record’ as BMA warns of ‘hidden crisis’ in NHS

02.05.19: The BMA has warned that the NHS is in a “hidden crisis” of rising waiting times and intense pressures after the health service experienced its worst winter on record. The doctors trade union said that despite muted public debate...

Public inquiry into ‘worst treatment scandal in the history of the NHS’ hears first ‘harrowing’ evidence

01.05.19: The public inquiry into the NHS tainted blood scandal where nearly 5,000 people were infected with hepatitis C or HIV, leading to around 2,000 deaths, has started taking evidence. Witness statements given at the contaminated blood scandal i...

All NHS hospitals and GP practices to be equipped with fibre optic internet

01.05.19: All NHS hospitals, GP practices and community care services are to be equipped with full fibre optic internet, under plans announced by the health secretary. Part of the NHS Long-Term Plan’s bid to improve connectivity and modernise h...

Damning investigation sees ‘dysfunctional’ maternity services placed into special measures by health minister

01.05.19: The health minister has placed Cwm Taf’s “dysfunctional” maternity services into special measures and imposed a number of conditions and oversight following the release of a “deeply saddening” and “extremely s...

Police launch fresh criminal inquiry into Gosport hospital scandal

30.04.19: Police have launched a new full criminal investigation into the deaths of hundreds of patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital. A public inquiry in June last year into over 800 deaths at the Gosport hospital found that more than 450 patien...

Scandal-hit clinical waste firm HES goes into liquidation

29.04.19: Clinical waste firm Healthcare Environmental Services (HES) has gone into liquidation four months after making all of its staff redundant in the wake of the waste stockpiling scandal. The firm was stripped of 15 major NHS contracts after it...

Lessons from Mid-Staffordshire scandal being lost as NHS staffing levels are ‘putting patients’ lives at risk’

17.04.19: One in four NHS wards routinely operate with staffing levels so low they threaten patient safety, researchers have warned. Hospital wards are still understaffed to the extent that patients’ lives are being put at risk, researchers at...