Mental Health Network reports on personal budgets plan

Personal budgets could be a change for the good, but are such a radical step that the challenges with implementation must be carefully considered by the Government, according to a report from the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network. They use a variety of techniques, including polls...<<Read More>>

Letter offers patients private treatment

The medical profession has reacted with concern after a practice in York wrote to patients offering them a range of minor treatments which they could pay for privately, as they were not funded by the local NHS. The group of GPs in Haxby offered over eight procedures, including removal of skin tags...<<Read More>>

Personal budgets announced for 2014

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has announced that personal budgets will be offered to patients receiving continuing healthcare by April 2014. The scheme will allow 50,000 patients to choose and direct their care by buying treatments from a private insurer. A pilot...<<Read More>>

NHS squeeze benefits the private sector

Independent healthcare providers are benefiting from the increasing numbers of patients choosing to pay for treatment, a new report on the private healthcare sector shows. Out of 101 industry professionals surveyed, 34% believed that budget pressure had led to...<<Read More>>

Training needed on resuscitation procedure

Improvements must be made to training for ‘do not resuscitate’ orders in the NHS, according to Jasmeet Soar, chair of the Resuscitation Council. The process of prescribing these orders and communicating them clearly to patients and family needs...<<Read More>>

Hospital opens new outpatients department to mark its centenary

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham has welcomed the first patients to its new outpatients department, just over 100 years since it was founded. Work on a purpose-built department started back in... <<Read More>>

‘Misunderstandings’ over waiting times

Waiting times may be creeping up since targets and central monitoring were relaxed – but the data is not completely clear. That is the verdict of John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund health think thank, writing in the... <<Read More>>

More power to the patient

Patients will be offered more choice and control over their healthcare with the launch of the first direct payment scheme, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow has announced.

Eight Primary Care Trusts will begin to road test direct payments for personal health budgets. This will allow Primary Care Trusts to give the money for someone’s care directly to them, allowing individuals to decide how, where and from whom they receive their healthcare, in partnership with...