Chief Executive Bulletin
9 - 15 March 2001
Issue 57
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Chief Executive Bulletin
9 - 15 March 2001 |
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Hard copy versions of these publications can be ordered from the NHS Responseline 08701 555 455. Contents: NHS interest 2. Advance Letter (SP)4/2001 Clinical Psychologists and Child Psychotherapists 3. Junior Doctor's Contract: Pay Protection 4. Treatment Choice in Psychological Therapies and Counselling 5. "Fifth wave" of NICE appraisals 6. Sold On Health - Informed Client Role Re: Property Disposals 7. National Medicines Management Collaborative Programme 8. Health And Safety Executive (HSE) Inspections Of NHS Trusts 1999/2000 9. Delivering quality online information on the NHS and local services 10. Investing In NHS Staff - NHS Individual Learning Accounts NHS and Social Care interest 11. The Health and Social Care Awards 2001 12. Mobile And Pager Numbers Change 13. Care trusts - emerging framework 14. The Fourth National Road Safety Week 15. Improving practice in seeking patient consent Social Care interest
NHS interest In the four weeks since the Redfern Report was published, the NHS has received over 20,000 inquiries from people concerned that their relatives may have had organs or tissue retained following post mortem examination. Some Trusts have received many hundreds of inquiries. With a few exceptions, Trusts have been unable to provide definitive information whilst the newly - established Retained Organs Commission has been considering how best to ensure that the information provided is accurate and comprehensive, to avoid the problems experienced in Liverpool. The Commission has now decided on the approach to be taken, which has been approved by Ministers. It is set out in the attached guidance note. The Department of Education will be writing today to university vice-chancellors and heads of medical schools to ensure that they have the guidance and play their part. Home Office colleagues are to write to coroners shortly. The agreed approach is in three parts:
This should enable most Trusts to begin to respond on a provisional basis to inquiries within a few weeks and to provide a final, definitive feedback reasonably shortly afterwards. This will involve quite a lot of work at a difficult time of the year for Regional Offices and some Trusts. I recognise that. Equally I am sure you recognise the importance of giving priority to this work to help restore the confidence of the public and the morale of the staff working in these services. Yours sincerely 2. Advance Letter (SP)4/2001 Clinical Psychologists and Child Psychotherapists This Advance Letter sets out the agreements on increases in national salary scales and London Allowances for Clinical Psychologists and Child Psychotherapists for 2001/02. Ref. 23562. Will be mailed to Directors of Finance and HR w/c 19/3/01. 3. Junior Doctor's Contract: Pay Protection Further guidance has been issued on the junior doctors' contract (available at http://nww.doh.nhsweb.nhs.uk/nhs/hr/juniordoctors.htm). This letter clarifes pay protection arrangements under the new contract as set out in Advance Letter (MD) 1/01. For further information e-mail enquiry-box@doh.gsi.gov.uk 4. Treatment Choice in Psychological Therapies and Counselling The DH has recently published an evidence based clinical practice guideline, entitled 'Treatment Choice in Psychological Therapies and Counselling'. The guideline was produced by a multi-disciplinary group led by the British Psychological Society to aid decisions about the most appropriate psychological therapies to use, and draw attention to all the factors needing consideration. Both the main guideline, and an accompanying leaflet are accessible on the DH website at: www.doh.gov.uk/mentalhealth/treatmentguideline 5. "Fifth wave" of NICE appraisals Earlier this week, ministers referred a further 8 topics to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, forming a "fifth wave" of appraisals. The topics are:
In addition, ministers have decided to extend the appraisal of etanercept (Enbrel) for rheumatoid arthritis, originally announced last November, to include its indication for juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Full details of all topics are on the NICE www.nice.nhs.uk and DH www.doh.gov.uk/nice/5thwaveguidance.htm websites. 6. Sold On Health - Informed Client Role Re: Property Disposals A letter has been issued by Kate Priestley, Chief Executive of NHS Estates, together with guidance on the informed client role of NHS Estates for all NHS Trust, PCT and HA property disposals. This informed client role is effective immediately. A copy of the letter and the guidance can be found on NHS Estates web-site at www.nhsestates.gov.uk/capital/sold_on_health.html 7. National Medicines Management Collaborative Programme The Department is inviting the NHS to apply to be one of the first collaborative medicines management sites. The Department will invest £1.9m in 2001/02 to support up to 25 sites based in PCG/Ts and their GP practices. Sites will recruit local facilitators to work closely with local GPs, pharmacists and primary healthcare teams to re-shape local services to meet the needs of patients and ensure the money the NHS spends on medicines is used to best effect. Further funding is planned to support more sites in future years. The application form available at www.doh.gov.uk/pharmacyfuture/medicinesmanagement.htm describes the programme and gives guidance on completion. Completed forms and statements should be returned to: Richard Seal, Medicines Management Project Team Leader, National Prescribing Centre, 70 Pembroke Place, Liverpool L69 3GF. E:mail: npc-mms@liverpool-ha.nhs.uk by 12.00 mid-day Wednesday 16th May 2001. In order to gauge likely demand, Primary Care Groups and Trusts are also asked to notify an interest in bidding to be a first wave site to their RO leads (see Appendix 3) by Wednesday 18 April. RO Leads will then pass details to the NPC. For more information, contact Clive Jackson, Director, National Prescribing Centre or Peter Dunlevy, Pharmacy and Prescriptions Branch at the Department (tel 020 7210 5822 or E-mail: peter.dunlevy@doh.gsi.gov.uk) 8. Health And Safety Executive (HSE) Inspections Of NHS Trusts 1999/2000 Each year, as part of the Health Services Advisory Committee (HSAC) 10 Year Work Plan, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carries out a programme of visits to NHS Trusts. The letter from Chris Taylor, Secretary to HSAC, outlines the findings and drawing conclusions from the programme of visits for 1999/2000. 9. Delivering quality online information on the NHS and local services A tremendous amount of work has gone into the exercise to collect, validate and publish accurate and useful information through nhs.uk and NHS Direct Online on the range of local NHS services available. This is a new area for the NHS as a collective and national whole and we are poised to complete the actions and data collection by the end of March. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this achievement. From April there will be fast and convenient access to online information about every NHS Trust, Health Authority, GP practice, dental practice, pharmacy and optician. There will be contact details, useful patient information, out of hours details, maps and much more. But this is the start of the process and not the end. This is a new way of providing information for the benefit of patients, the public and NHS staff that provide information to patients and the public, that is here to stay. The accompanying guidance provides details on ensuring sufficient resource and priority to maintain the information, good practice in working together and the responsibilities of staff and organisations concerned. Guidance at: www.doh.gov.uk/nhsexipu/whatnew/eguide2.htm available after 11.00 am 16/3/01. 10. Investing In NHS Staff - NHS Individual Learning Accounts The NHS Plan acknowledges that we have neglected for too long the need to invest in the skills and potential of staff who do not have a professional qualification. That will now change. Over the next three years all such staff will have access to an Individual Learning Account of £150 or dedicated training to NVQ Level 2 and 3. This investment will help the NHS make better use of the potential of healthcare assistants, operating department practitioners, pharmacy technicians and others. These staff will play a key part in raising standards in the fundamentals of patient care. A national framework to implement this will be put in place during the three-year period from April 2001. However, additional funding has been secured for the current financial year to lay some of the foundations for the involvement and engagement that will be required of all NHS employers in the future. This means that assistance can now be given to employers seeking to make work related training available to their staff through the early introduction of an Individual Learning Account (ILA) Scheme. Link to document - www.doh.gov.uk/nhsila NHS / Social Care interest 11. The Health and Social Care Awards 2001 This year there are a single set of integrated awards bringing together last year's first Social Care Awards, the Nye Bevan Awards and the NHS Equality Awards. The Health and Social Care Awards 2001 focus on recognising and rewarding the hard work and exellence of staff working in these services. There are 25 Awards in total across six categories and they are open to workers and organisations from across the Public, Voluntary and independent social care providers in England. The closing date for submitting entries is 20 April 2001. The Awards ceremony will take place on 5 July 2001 in Manchester and will be presented by the Secretary of State for Health and guests. More information about the Awards and how to enter can be found at www.doh.gov.uk/healthandsocialcareawards 12. Mobile And Pager Numbers Change Four million mobile and pager numbers stop working in six weeks time, as part of the final phase of the Big Number campaign. From Saturday 28 April, all mobile and pager numbers which do not already start 07 will change. Further information is available on www.numberchange.org or by calling free on 0808 22 4 2000. 13. Care trusts - emerging framework The NHS Plan announced a new kind of organisation called Care Trusts as the next stage in the continuing closer working between the NHS and local councils. Care trusts will enable integration of health and social care services beyond schemes already underway. The necessary legal framework is set out in the Health and Social Care Bill, now before Parliament. Care Trusts will build on existing joint working and enable local authorities to fulfill their Community Leadership role. This is the first of a series of communications from the Department about Care Trusts. It is not final policy but a pointer to the way policy is being developed in cooperation with a wide number of groups and organisations. It introduces their purpose, benefits and who they are intended to serve. The document also outlines various types of Care Trust and how they can be formed. Link to document www.doh.gov.uk/caretrusts 14. The Fourth National Road Safety Week Road crashes kill 3,500 people and seriously injure nearly 40,000 more every year. What is more road crash victims take up 3 million NHS bed days annually. The Department of Health and Brake, the not-for-profit road safety organisation, have joined forces for Road Safety Week 2001, 31 March - 6 April by producing a poster specifically designed for display in hospitals and GPs surgeries. The poster explains the risks of being killed or injured on the road and asks everyone to drive safely. It is available from Brake by calling 01484 559909. This will be the fourth national Road Safety Week and thousands of schools, companies and community groups will be getting involved. Please support this cause by encouraging prominent display of the poster during and after Road Safety Week to heighten awareness, and thereby helping to reduce deaths and injuries on the road. 15. Improving practice in seeking patient consent The NHS Plan promised a review of consent procedures to ensure that good practice in seeking consent in both clinical and research settings is in place throughout the NHS. This work is being taken forward through the "Good practice in consent initiative", supported by an Advisory Group made up of representatives of patients and carers, clinicians, academics and NHS managers. The Plan recognised that a change of culture would be required to ensure that patients become informed partners in their own care. During this year, the Department will be issuing detailed guidance to clinicians, making both the current law and good practice guidance on consent readily available. It will also be producing a much briefer aide-memoire, setting out key points on consent which all clinicians should know, and guidance aimed at those working with particular patient groups, such as children, older people and people with learning disabilities. Leaflets are being produced for patients, explaining what the consent process should involve and encouraging patients to ask when they need further information, and to take the time they need to make their decision. The Group recognises that further action, in addition to the publication of guidance, will be necessary to achieve the culture shift envisaged in the Plan. We are therefore exploring ways of achieving this aim, including the following possibilities:
The work of the 'Good practice in consent' initiative is focussing specifically on consent to treatment. Work on consent for the use of personal information, and on consent for the retention and use of human tissue after death, is being handled separately within the Department. Further information on the work of the consent initiative will be made available as soon as possible. A dedicated consent page will be set up on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/consent from early April. Contact: Katharine Wright (Katharine.Wright@doh.gsi.gov.uk) Social Care Interest 16. Local Authority Circular LAC (2001)9 Capital Grant For Improving Information Management 2001/2002 Implementing Information For Social Care: Core Funding And Demonstrator Projects This circular explains how the first year of the capital grant for improving information management in social services, announced in LASSL(2000)13, is to be used. It sets out the conditions attached to the core grant and the amount of the core allocation. It also invites Authorities to submit proposals for projects to be included in a Demonstrator Project Programme as part of the Information for Social Care implementation strategy. It provides detailed guidance on submitting bids for demonstrator projects and includes a proposal form. This circular also provides the final audit form for the core funding in 2001/2002. The Circular requires action by Directors of Social Services and Chief Executives. Ref. 23507. Hard copies available w/c 19/3/01. 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 - ©2001 Back to Chief Executive's Bulletin Home Page |
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