2010-July | Circle - Europe's Largest Healthcare Partnership

NHS Trusts preparing to bid for more private patients

Some of the country’s top NHS foundation trusts are planning to treat more private patients after the Government announced it would abolish a cap on the paying sick.

MPs to hold commissioning inquiry

The Commons health committee is to carry out a follow up inquiry into commissioning, which it hopes will contribute to the white paper reforms.

Doubt over removal of DH 'shackles'

Tensions are emerging in government plans to remove the “shackles” of central control by liberating foundation trusts and strengthening regulators.

NHS quangos to be cut in half

Many NHS bodies are to be abolished in an attempt by the Government to save £180m over the next five years.

NHS foundation trusts will have freedom to maximise private income and borrow from money markets, says Lansley

NHS foundation trusts will have the freedom to maximise private income and borrow from the money markets , under proposals put forward by health secretary Andrew Lansley.

Government says GPs can outsource commissioning to private companies

GPs have been told they can outsource commissioning to other organisations, including private companies, and are not expected to become managers under proposals contained in the health white paper.

Consultation paper on commissioning published

The Department of Health has published a detailed document outlining how its plans for GP commissioning will work.

Private US firm advising NHS sees surge in profits

The US group, UnitedHealth, which runs GPs' practices and advises PCTs in the UK, has reported a 30% leap in profits to $1.1bn in the last three months.

GPs need cultural shift to take on commissioning role, says think tank lead

A culture change in the way GPs work is needed in order for commissioning to be successful, according to a member of a right-wing think tank.

DH asks NHS to collect 'raft of data' on quality of care

The Department of Health has issued a consultation document setting out 100 quality measures, as part of the coalition government's plan to abolish process targets.

NHS has had a market for almost 20 years, says commentator

The proposals contained in the health white paper are nothing new, but are simply an extension of Conservative reforms of the 1990's, one commentator has argued.

Hire NHS managers, not private companies, BMA leader tells GPs

GPs have been told by the chair of the BMA’s GP committee to turn to NHS managers for their commissioning support and advice, rather than to the private sector.

President of US healthcare firm praises white paper's pro-market agenda

Simon Stevens, an NHS policy special advisor under Tony Blair, has welcomed the health white paper as a natural extension of the New Labour agenda.

Experts predict cost of reorganising NHS could reach £3bn

Analysts are warning that the costs of implementing Andrew Lansley's health reforms will spiral, as the BBC revealed that nearly £1.7bn has been set aside this year alone for reorganisation.

White paper will distract from the 'real task' of clinically-led service change, says King's Fund

Anna Dixon, acting chief executive of the King's Fund, says the health white paper is unlikey to enthuse clinicians and could instead be a distraction to the real change that is needed in the health service.

NHS will be no more than a brand in a few years, say policy commentators

Andrew Lansley's white paper signals the end of the NHS as a national service, and opens the door to comprehensive privatisation, says Seamas Milne, writing in the Guardian.

More than 200 GP surgeries now run by private companies

The growing commercialisation of primary care has been ‘substantially understated’, with private firms now running over 200 surgeries and health centres across England and many companies rapidly expanding their business, a study has shown.

Consultancy predicts that private providers will fill the gap as local health systems fail

In a detailed review of the health white paper, the public services consultancy, Tribal, says the Government will expect, 'if not invite', the private sector to step in as NHS bodies fail to adapt to the change.

Private providers could cause NHS to lose vital organisational skills by picking out the best talent, says NHS Chief Executive

Sir David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, has said that preventing the loss of organisational skills in the health service will not be easy following the publication of the white paper.

Commissioning can't be left to GPs alone, say hospital consultants

Senior hospital clinicians have criticised the white paper for overlooking the role of the acute sector in the commissioning of services for patients.

Five private firms prepare to move in on GP commissioning

A group of leading private companies is planning a major joint initiative to persuade GP consortiums to partner up with them, on the back of the Government’s White Paper on health.

Lansley's NHS reforms 'will open the door to unchecked privatisation', say critics

The Government has announced its plans to give GPs £80bn of the NHS budget amid fierce criticism from unions and the Opposition, and warnings from think tanks.

White paper reveals its pro-market agenda and potential for private sector

Hospitals are to be introduced to market forces, be freed from Treasury control, and allowed to borrow 'off balance sheet' under proposals contained in the new health white paper.

Private companies see white paper as chance to expand their role

Private firms are aiming to to gain an unprecedented foothold in the healthcare system once GPs start spending the £80bn of NHS funds that has been allocated to them in the white paper.

Think tanks and health organisations respond to the white paper

There has been a mixed response to the white paper's move towards a more competitive health system, with some calling it 'reckless' and others welcoming the shift.

JPMorgan says white paper will aid the private sector

The UK's largest independent provider of private healthcare has welcomed the white paper as a 'significant opportunity' for the private sector.

Think tank says Lansley's reform plans 'could set the NHS back three years'

The Government's white paper on health could set the NHS back at least three years relative to what could be achieved without any structural change, according to recent analysis.

Health white paper due out this afternoon

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, is due to release a white paper this afternoon that commentators have forecast will result in the biggest restructuring of the NHS in a decade.

Hospitals will receive payment directly from GPs, in 'revolutionary' white paper

Andrew Lansley has resolved disputes over the health white paper to announce that primary care for patients will be the responsibility solely of doctors.

Care quality ratings dropped for hospital trusts

The Care Quality Commission has dropped its annual review of the NHS after coming under criticism for awarding hospitals a 'good' rating, despite later investigations finding wards with bloody instruments and soiled beds

Study claims 'exhausted' doctors pose threat to patient safety

A year-long study of doctors by the NHS Practitioner Healthcare Programme has uncovered problems ranging from depression and anxiety to sheer exhaustion.

Clinicians' jobs under threat as trusts plan redundancies

At least 10,000 NHS jobs are earmarked to be cut despite promises from ministers that front line health services will be protected, a survey has found.

Circle moves one step closer in bid to manage NHS hospital

A debt-ridden NHS hospital is to become the first in the UK to be privately managed after the only public bidders to run the operation pulled out.

Hospital operating theatres open but lying idle, study claims

Hospital operating theatres are lying idle for more than half of the time they are open, with doctors and nurses routinely starting late and finishing early, a major study has found.

Cut NHS budget while building better relations with clinicians, says chair of health select committee

Stephen Dorrell, the new chair of the health select committee, has said the extra money being poured into the health service should be used to obtain 'real reform', by building good relationships with clinical staff who might otherwise frustrate attempts to redesign the health service.

Treasury looks at 'joining up' health with other services for greater efficiency

A plan to save up to £100bn by cutting duplication between locally-run public services, including health, is being considered by the Government.

'The NHS may not survive this volcano of ideology'

The NHS has a chronic disease – politicians' obsessive compulsive disorder, compelling them to reorganise the whole machine, argues one commentator.

£330m wasted annually by the NHS through 'unnecessary' hospital treatments

The Nuffield Trust has warned that £330m a year is being wasted by the health service in treating patients as emergency hospital admissions, when they could be seen by their GP.

PM's salary dwarfed by more than 300 NHS executives

An investigation has found that 320 hospital, ambulance and health authority chiefs are paid more than David Cameron's annual salary of £142,500.

Government's NHS plans face delay

The health secretary's plans for a radical change in the way the NHS works face delay after they were rejected by the committee that resolves disputes between the government’s coalition partners.

Foundation trusts see their profits declining

The financial fortunes of foundation trusts slipped in the last months of 2009-10, the latest report from their regulator Monitor shows.

NHS could face deficit of more than £1bn with new GP commissioning role

Handing the NHS commissioning budget over to GPs could cause the NHS to generate a gross annual deficit of at least £1.2bn, research due to be published soon suggests.

GP pay to drop by a quarter

GP pay is set to reduce by a quarter from its 2005 peak after the second of two successive public-sector pay freezes outlined by the Government.

Commissioning overhaul will 'open door to private sector'

The Government’s shake-up of primary care commissioning will increase the opportunities for the private sector to advise on how to spend NHS cash, a study has found.

Government says 'evidence-based' goals will replace NHS targets

The health secretary has announced that hundreds of new quality measures, identified by the NHS itself, will replace Labour's health targets.

UK hospitals are lagging behind other industrialised nations, claims new report

The UK has fewer doctors and fewer hospital beds than the average industrialised country, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.