More government concessions on NHS bill

The bill plans to give GPs more power over their budgets and give the private and voluntary sector more input.

Opinion Former Comments

New GP-led commissioners failing to listen to mental health patients, according to new report

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) must do more to involve people with mental illness and their families when making spending decisions, according to a new report published today by the charity Rethink Mental Illness.

New dawn delivers fresh challenges for NHS

Having been a cauldron of controversy regarding care levels, rumoured budget cuts and waiting periods over the past few years, the NHS has hit the headlines again recently with its landmark reforms coming into effect. But what challenges do these pose for our health service - and what effect will they have on patients?

NHS must do more to help people with mental illness to stop smoking, says charity

Paul Jenkins, CEO of Rethink Mental Illness, has called on the NHS to do more to help people with mental illness stop smoking, as a new report reveals that health professionals are failing to support smokers with mental illness to quit.

Mental health must get same priority as physical health, says Rethink Mental Illness

“These figures highlight how patchy mental health care is across the country, which our members know only too well. Just 10 per cent of people with severe mental illness are currently being offered talking therapies for example. We have supporters who have sat on NHS waiting lists years for this basic treatment, which should be available to everyone who needs it."

MRSA Action UK: Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in mind “How can I provide for this right thing to be always done?”

When our Prime Minister was elected to his position he stated very clearly that his Government would be one that is transparent, open, and accountable to the people of this country. How sad it is then, that when the first real test arrives David Cameron has left himself wanting for his lack of action in having those involved in the Mid-Staffordshire debacle accountable for their insensitivities to patients’ and families’ concerns.

MRSA Action UK: Will the Francis report be The Watershed for Improvement in Patient Care?

With the anticipated release of the Mid-Staffordshire Public Inquiry on Wednesday it is not only expected to be critical of the underlying failings within the NHS concerning the standard of care at the Mid-Staffordshire hospital between 2005/2008, but across the NHS in general.

bpas response to cross-party inquiry into unplanned pregnancy

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) welcomes the findings of The Morning After: A Cross-Party Inquiry Into Unplanned Pregnancy. Bpas is particularly pleased that the report emphasises the needs of older women and their partners who are trying to avoid unplanned pregnancy in addition to recommendations to support younger women and men.

Diabetes UK: NHS has sleepwalked into unacceptably poor diabetes care - the time for action is now

When you consider that there are now 3.7 million people with diabetes in the UK and that another 700,000 people are expected to be added to this total by the end of the decade, it is self-evident that, for the good of the nation’s health, we need to deliver excellent diabetes care.

MRSA Action UK: Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust: Derek Butler will give the patient experience of MRSA

MRSA Action UK: Why blame patients for complaining when things go wrong?

The report on the 9th September by the Sunday Mail Medical Correspondent Jo Macfarlane titled “Complaints culture is bleeding schools and hospitals dry” made very interesting reading from the point of view of MRSA Action UK. The report centred on the fact that a report produced by the think tank “Centre for policy studies” has shown it says how litigation against public bodies such as the NHS is “ingrained in the national psyche as a warped form of normal behaviour”.

06/03/12

The government today announced further changes to its controversial health and social care bill.

The bill plans to give GPs more power over their budgets and give the private and voluntary sector more input.

Concessions involve further restrictions on the use of the private sector and the body which regulates the NHS, Monitor.

The coalition faces strong opposition to the bill from activists within the Liberal Democrats, who are planning a vote on dropping the bill altogether at the party's spring conference.

Opponents are condemning the bill's attempt to privatise certain areas of the NHS and have pointed to near-unanimous opposition from health professionals.

The bill returns to the Lords this afternoon.

Hancock: Clegg should drop his support for the bill

Burnham: NHS reform concessions are a fig leaf

Howe: NHS reform bill will stay true to its original intent

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BSIA: Information Destruction Exhibition & Conference 2013

Following the great success of the BSIA's Information Destruction Conference and Exhibition in May 2012, we are pleased to annouce that the event is returning again in June 2013. This one-day conference and exhibition is aimed at key decision makers in organisations that carry out the secure destruction of confidential material.