NEWS


NHS Devon considers outsourcing children’s services to other bodies


for disabled children, and child protection.


The contract will be awarded to the ‘most economically advantageous’ bid, according to criteria listed on the European Commission website. The final bids will be evaluated in May.


NHS Devon’s director of strategic commissioning, Jayne Carroll, said the aim of contracting out the services was “to secure the best possible service and improve outcomes for children and young people while continuing to strengthen integrated community-based social care”.


health and


Private firms are bidding to run children’s services at NHS Devon, it has emerged. The companies in competition for the three-year, £130m contract are Virgin Care and Serco, as well as Devon Partnership NHS Trust, Barnardo’s and other charities.


The services include palliative care, treatment for mental health, therapy and respite care


A spokesman for health secretary Andrew Lansley told reporters that the Department of Health supports patient choice and this particular process, as long as the best organisation for the job wins the contract. The spokesman also said that the DH rejects the idea that a private company delivering a service means that service has been privatised.


Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the RCPCH, said: “Children’s services are complex, as some tragic high-profile incidents have shown. It is essential that any provider has proven expertise in managing not only clinical services but also key areas such as safeguarding and, on the face of it, it does not appear that all of the shortlisted bidders have experience in managing such services.”


Research facilities receive £100m funding


The Government has announced a £100m fund to develop new treatments for patients, to be spent at 19 NHS research facilities around the country.


The National Institute for Health Research is funding the scheme, which includes Alder Hey, University Hospitals Birmingham and Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS FTs.


During a visit to research facilities at Birmingham, health secretary Andrew Lansley said: “We are seeing not only opportunities in medicine but the ability, increasingly, to link discovery and science directly into new medicines and treatments for patients. These researchers will push forward the boundaries of what is possible. These are the


people and the facilities where the very best new treatments will be developed for a huge range of conditions – from cancer to diabetes and heart disease.”


Professor Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer and chief scientific advisor at the Department of Health, said: “These are very exciting times for clinical research in the UK, and this funding is a reflection of the commitment we have to


supporting experimental medicine.


world-class The


clinical research facilities will play a key role in supporting advances in treatments for a wide variety of diseases and supporting collaboration with industry.”


CUH has been awarded funding to extend the facility at


6 | national health executive Mar/Apr 12


Addenbrooke’s hospital, where the money will be used to fund running costs for the facility and a new satellite unit over the next five years. Professor Krishna Chatterjee of CUH said: “It will support clinical research in areas including peanut allergy, developing an artificial pancreas for


the treatment of diabetes,


understanding obesity, and dementia. We are privileged for this opportunity to translate fundamental research into patient benefit.”


In response to concern that the Government’s health reforms are linked to this potential outsourcing,


health minister


Simon Burns said: “The health bill is not relevant to this tender – local commissioners are following procurement rules issued by the previous Labour government.


“The health bill is the first piece of legislation that prevents discrimi- nation in favour of private health companies over the NHS. In ad- dition, it introduces safeguards to ensure patients can continue to access services, closing a hole left by the previous government.”


Consultants urged to consider seven-day rotas


The chair of the BMA consultants’ committee has said seven-day working in hospitals could help prevent unnecessary patient deaths.


Figures show that patients admitted for emergency treatment


at weekends are


almost 10% more likely to die than those admitted Monday- Friday. Less experienced doctors make up a greater proportion of staff at the weekends, although no causal link between these two facts has been established.


Dr Mark Porter said consultants need to make themselves available if needed, and ministers are considering financial incentives to improve weekend services.


A poll of more than 1,000 doctors conducted by medical website doctors.net.uk showed that 59% of GPs and secondary care doctors backed proposals for hospitals to operate on 24- hour, seven day rolling weekly schedules. Others raised concerns, however, about the cost and practicalities of such a service, ranging from doctors’ own childcare responsibilities, to hospital trusts’ staff and bed shortages.


Doctors.net.uk CEO Dr Tim


Ringrose said the poll showed that doctors want to see im- provements in the way hospi- tals operate, but are concerned about the potential costs.


The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has just issued a lengthy report into the benefits of consultant-delivered care, which NHE discusses in detail with report steering group chair Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, on page 26.


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