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Chief Executive Bulletin
Contents:NHS and social care interest 1. Consent Order: Mental Health Act 1983 NHS interest 5. Copying letters to patients Social care interest 9. Home care and PSS PAF data 12. Further items of interest NHS and social care interest1. Consent Order: Mental Health Act 1983 Chief executive bulletin 143 contained a summary of the effect of this consent order concerning same sex partners and nearest relative under the Mental Health Act 1983. It has come to the attention of the Department that there has been some confusion over the relevance of the consent order to the wider field. Guidance confirming that the order should be treated as a considered declaration of the law by the High Court is at www.doh.gov.uk/mhact1983/consentorders.htm Contact: Melissa Merritt on Melissa.Merritt@doh.gsi.gov.uk 2. Guidance on commissioning arrangements for specialised services This guidance supports advice given in Shifting the Balance of Power: The Next Steps (January 2002) which emphasises that PCTs should act collaboratively when commissioning specialised services and strategic health authorities should oversee and performance manage these collaborative arrangements. In particular, this guidance gives advice regarding the continuing role of the Regional Specialised Commissioning Group (or equivalent collaborative commissioning group) and also provides some examples of good practice. The guidance is available at: www.doh.gov.uk/commissioning/specservices03.htm 3. Teenage pregnancy local implementation grant 2003/04 The local authority circular and grant determination for the 2003/04 teenage pregnancy local implementation grant is on the COIN database The arrangements for the Sure Start Plus pilot programme have been revised following feedback from the consultation. Chief executives should advise their local Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Boards of the final terms and conditions of the grant. Contact: Angela Edwards on 020 7972 6532 or angela.edwards@doh.gsi.gov.uk 4. The Long Term Care Charter – Better Care, Higher Standards (BCHS) The current guidance for preparing local BCHS Charters expired in March 2003. A review of BCHS was completed last week and the Department will be considering the proposals for change. In the meantime, councils should publish their local BCHS Charters for 2003/04 as described in the guidance issued under HSC 2001/6/LAC(2001)6 See: www.doh.gov.uk/longtermcare/index.htm Contact : Catherine Alexander 020 7972 4058 catherine.alexander@doh.gsi.gov.uk NHS interest5. Copying letters to patients Information and choice are integral components of the drive to improve patients’ experience. We are making a step-change in strengthening accountability to individual patients through delivery of the commitment in the NHS plan (paragraph 10.3) that letters between clinicians about patients will be copied to the individual concerned as of right. You can access the copying letters web-page on www.doh.gov.uk/patientletters/issues.htm Good practice guidelines will be posted on the web-site later. 6. Commencement of new National Confidential Enquiry On 1 April the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) was launched by NICE to replace the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) and the Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (CESDI). CEMD has required trusts and other providers to report deaths of mothers up to one year after delivery, whilst CESDI has required reports on late foetal losses, stillbirths and deaths in infancy up to 12 months. Trusts providing maternity services should continue to provide this information to CEMACH and identify a local CEMACH co-ordinator to be the established point of contact. Contact: Richard Congdon, Chief Executive of CEMACH - richard.congdon@nice.nhs.uk 7. Mental health trust and primary care trust performance indicators Following the announcement of final performance indicators in December for acute, specialist and ambulance trusts, final lists for mental health and primary care trusts were announced on 31 March. Further details on performance ratings 2003 are at www.doh.gov.uk/performanceratings/2003/ and www.chi.nhs.uk/eng/ratings/index.shtml 8. Raising the profile of carers The 2002 Spending Review identified increased funding for carers support through the Carers Grant paid to local councils. Carers organisations have highlighted the limited inclusion of carers issues in health service planning as representative of a lack of recognition of their vital role. NHS organisations are reminded that in line with the 1999 National Carers Strategy (‘Caring for Carers’), they should be actively working in partnership with social services to consult, inform and support carers. Information concerning carers issues, including the revised Carers Grant guidance and the Strategy, is now available on the Government’s carers website at www.carers.gov.uk Social care interest9. Home care and PSS PAF data Home care data for September 2002 is available at www.doh.gov.uk/stats/hh2002.htm. Revised personal social services performance assessment framework data for 2001-02 and data for mid 2002-03 for seven of the 50 indicators is available at www.doh.gov.uk/paf/ All dates in the timetable for checking and submitting amendments to 2002/03 PAF indicator data set out in Annex B to CI (2003)3 (available on the COIN database) have been brought forward by one week for the children's returns. Contacts will receive further information. Contact: ian.flaxten@doh.gsi.gov.uk or 020 7972 5595. 10. Information and guidance for local authorities on use of new forms and leaflets The Department for Work and Pensions, Child Benefit Office, Department of Health and Inland Revenue have been involved in reviewing the arrangements for exchange of information with local authorities when a child is admitted to and discharged from care. From 1 April 03, all local authorities reporting children going into care should use the revised forms at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/menus/child_benefit.htm Contact: sean.wilson@ir.gsi.gov.uk 11. Residential allowance grant The Audit Certificates for the Residential Allowance Grant 2002/03 are now available at www.doh.gov.uk/residentialallowance/index.htm. Local authorities are requested to complete the form and return it, certified by the chief financial officer, by 30 September 2003. The form, certified by the Auditor should be returned by 31 December 2003. 12. Further items of interest NPSA hand hygiene project: the NPSA is looking to recruit six NHS trusts to test and evaluate a set of improvement tools for the hand hygiene project. Funding is available to support this process. Details and application form are at http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/admin/news/docs/hhtestsite.pdf Core information outputs for children's social care: a draft framework has been published to enable CSSRs to determine which information outputs they need to support the practice and management of children's social care. It is available for comment at: www.doh.gov.uk/qualityprotects/info/publications/ Spread and sustainabilty of service improvement: Factors identified by staff leading modernisation programmes, produced by the Modernisation Agency’s Research into Practice team, is at: www.modern.nhs.uk/scripts/default.asp?site_id=24&id=6953 An update on NHS Professionals is available at: www.doh.gov.uk/nhsprofessionals/index.htm Shared Financial Services Go Live - further information is available at: www.doh.gov.uk/sharedservices/shared_financial/latest_position.htm Medical device alert – MDA/2003/008 External Pacemakers: Models – E4162, E4164, E4165 and E4166 (manufactured by APC Medical Ltd) Device bulletins MDA DB2003 (01) - Adverse incident reports 2002.
These device bulletins are available on the Medical Devices Agency website: http://www.medical-devices.gov.uk 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 - ©2003
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