NEWS
Morecombe Bay trust announces recovery plan following CQC report
areas, including maternity and emergency care. The trust’s former chief executive, Tony Halsall, resigned in February.
Sir David Henshaw, who has been parachuted into the struggling Morecombe Bay NHS trust
to
help it improve care, has unveiled a ‘recovery plan’ to deal with the issues raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The trust has been criticised for failings in a number of
Sir David (pictured), a former chief executive of Liverpool and Knowsley councils, who has NHS experience as chair of Alder Hey and of NHS North West, was appointed by foundation trust regulator Monitor to turn things around.
Changes to improve trust performance include a project to improve end-of-life care and the implementation of a new system of appointment to deal with backlog.
A mobile operating theatre has also been opened at Royal Lancaster Hospital for extra emergency patient beds.
Sir David said the level of
care and safety investigators identified had been “completely unacceptable” but added: “Day in, day out our staff treat the majority of patients with a high level of care and professionalism and we appreciate the support and goodwill of our staff, which has been considerable.”
The CQC said it welcomed any action “towards full compliance”.
Foreign nationals to get free HIV treatment on NHS
The Government is to change guidelines to allow the NHS to offer free treatment for HIV to foreign nationals, with the aim of reducing the number of Britons infected and cutting the costs of more expensive treatment later.
Rationing care may be necessary for NHS
The NHS may have to extend treatment rationing to cope with financial pressure and rising demand, according to a survey of 821 GPs in England.
Commissioned by the Nuffield Trust health think tank, the survey found that 85% predicted that the Government will be forced to identify more clearly which treatments and care are available to patients and which are not.
Dr Judith Smith, the Nuffield Trust’s head of policy, said: “The NHS is headed into a new era, with considerably constrained budgets and great decision- making by local clinicians, which
could result in more variation in the care that is provided to patients.”
Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of GPs, recommended making drug prescriptions smarter to reduce wastage, routine access to GPs and walk-in clinics to be scaled back and hospital maternity and intensive care units to be
reduced in order to save money.
Only half of the GPs surveyed said they believed the NHS would succeed in making enough efficiency savings over the next five years as part of the so-called ‘Nicholson challenge’ to avoid having to cut back on certain services currently offered to the public.
Bower quits after Government review public confidence.
CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower resigned in February following the publication of a report on the CQC’s performance. While the Government review acknowledges some of the good work done by the organisation, it sets out key recommendations to improve the regulator.
The Performance and Capability Review calls for a clearer
strategic direction, developing and delivering the regulatory model, clearer accountability with a stronger board and clear measures of success to track performance. The report stated that the CQC faced operational and strategic
difficulties,
including delays to provider registration, shortcomings in
compliance 8 | national health executive Mar/Apr 12 activity and a negative impact on
It said: “With hindsight, both the Department and CQC underestimated the scale of the task of establishing a new regulator, bringing a new regulatory system into place and managing expectations of what CQC’s role would be. Even so, CQC could have done more to manage operational risks.”
At the moment people from overseas can only be treated for the condition if they pay, which is not the case for other infectious diseases.
The Department of Health said the plans would extend free treatment to those who have been in Britain for six months, bringing England into line with Scotland and Wales.
There will be safeguards to deter so-called ‘health tourists’.
Public health minister Anne Milton said: “This measure will protect the public and brings HIV treatment in to line with all other infectious diseases. Treating people with HIV means they are very unlikely to pass the infection on to others.”
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