Chief Executive Bulletin 5 - 11 January 2001 Issue 48

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Hard copy versions of these publications can be ordered from the NHS Responseline 08701 555 455. Contents: NHS interest 1. Assuring the Quality of Medical Practice: Implementing Supporting doctors protecting patients: The National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA) 2. Cancer - Improving Outcomes in Upper Gastro-intestinal Cancers - The Manual and Guidance for General Practitioners and Primary Care Teams 3. Pay offer to non review body groups 4. PCG/PCT Prescribing and Budget-Setting 2001/2 5. MET Office Workload Forecasts 6. Harold Shipman's Clinical Practice 1974-1998: A Review Commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer NHS interest 1. Assuring the Quality of Medical Practice: Implementing Supporting doctors protecting patients: The National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA) 8/1/01- This Government has made it clear that the modernisation of the NHS requires new, robust systems for quality assurance and quality improvement. This implies significant changes in culture and working practices. Two years ago we published our NHS quality strategy in "A First Class Service: Quality in the NHS". This sets out a framework comprising: clear national standards - through the establishment of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) to provide clear guidance to the NHS on clinical and cost-effectiveness across a range of health interventions, and the development of National Service Frameworks (NSFs), to help raise national standards of care and reduce unacceptable variations; effective local delivery of these standards through a new system of clinical governance, a framework through which NHS organisations will be accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services. This will be underpinned by life long learning for health professionals and by modernised systems of self-regulation; and strong monitoring mechanisms - a new Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) to provide independent scrutiny of local efforts to improve quality and to help address serious problems, a new NHS Performance Assessment Framework and a National Patient Survey, which will for the first time provide systematic, comparable information on the experiences of the people who actually use the NHS. Link to document www.doh.gov.uk/assuringquality/index.htm 2. Cancer - Improving Outcomes in Upper Gastro-intestinal Cancers - The Manual and Guidance for General Practitioners and Primary Care Teams 4/1/01 - This document has been produced by the National Cancer Guidance Steering Group. It summarises guidance for commissioners of upper GI cancer services given in Improving Outcomes in Upper Gastro-intestinal Cancers: The Manual, which draws on systematic reviews of the research evidence described in Improving Outcomes in Upper Gastro-intestinal Cancers: The Research Evidence. This follows similar publications on breast, colorectal, lung and gynaecological cancers. Hard copies will be available at the end of January from NHS Responseline. All related documents can also be obtained free of charge by calling the NHS Response Line on 08701 555 455. Link to document www.doh.gov.uk/cancer/pdfs/intestinal.pdf Links to other related cancer documents http://www.doh.gov.uk/cancer 3. Pay offer to non review body groups The following offer was made on the 5 January 2001 to the non-RB groups: an increase to basic pay rates (including London, on call, standby and emergency duty allowances) of 3.7%, OR to build on progress made last year to address low pay, a lump sum alternative of £380 where this is more favourable, plus special arrangements for trainee MLSOs and MLSO1s and 2s in the wake of the working group established last year to look at serious issues affecting these groups which will deliver additional increases on between 3% and 13% to over 6000 staff. The offer is conditional on a re-affirmation on both sides of their commitment to reach agreement on pay modernisation through the current negotiating process. 4. PCG/PCT Prescribing and Budget-Setting 2001/2 Guidance and accompanying annex from the Department of Health to inform local budget setting is now available to view from today on www.doh.gov.uk/prescribingbudgets/index.htm Please ensure its contents are cascaded to all relevant staff. It will also shortly be available to view on two other web sites, PCG/PCT (www.doh.gov.uk/pricare/pcts.htm) and Finance manual (www.doh.gov.uk/finman.htm) 5. MET Office Workload Forecasts WEST and the Met office are issuing twice weekly workload forecasts, which will bring together the following information: Respiratory Disease and Flu Surveillance information Existing workload Weather information There are two levels of information: The workload forecasts will be in detail for a limited number of specific areas. These are piloting the detailed system for possible role out in the future. Regional level forecasts We expect all those involved in responding to winter demand both in trusts and primary care to use the information as part of the management data-set when planning their organisations continued response to winter pressures. The forecasts can be obtained on the NHS web on the following address: nww.doh.nhsweb.nhs.uk/winter 6. Harold Shipman's clinical practice 1974 - 1998: A clinical audit commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer In January 2000 Harold Shipman, a general practitioner in Hyde, Greater Manchester was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients and of forging the will of one. These terrible crimes, tragedies for the patients and families concerned, led to widespread feelings of horror and outrage amongst the British public and within the medical profession itself. The events in Hyde were particularly shocking because they struck at the bond of trust which exists between doctors and their individual patients and which is at the heart of good medical practice throughout the world. When the nature of Harold Shipman's activities became public knowledge there was particular concern that there may have been other suspicious deaths. For this reason, as part of the Government's response to the Shipman trial verdict, I was asked by the Secretary of State to conduct a clinical audit of his past practice. This is the report of the clinical audit. It has been carried out for me by Professor Richard Baker of the Clinical Governance and Research and Development Unit in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Leicester. Link to report www.doh.gov.uk/hshipmanpractice Ref. 23057. Mailed to Chief Executives of Health Authorities, Primary Care Groups and Primary care Trusts. The documents in this bulletin are Crown copyright but may be reproduced by NHS and Local Authority staff without formal permission or charge for personal or in-house use - ©2000   Back to Chief Executive's Bulletin Home Page

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