News
NHS Salford flags up PCT social media use
A survey conducted by NHS Salford has shown that only 36% of PCTs in England use Facebook and 28% use Twitter. While Facebook commands
an average of 200 friends per PCT, Twitter attracts an average of 400 followers per PCT. Twitter is also more active – 88% of accounts are active compared with 60% on Facebook. The survey, by the communi- cations team at NHS Salford, found that the large majority of PCTs use social media to high- light and promote health infor- mation online, with NHS Choices gaining the largest profile from this.
The larger the following a PCT
has, the more likely it is they will use social media to comple- ment their community engage- ment activities. Some trusts
Pay freeze in Scotland
The Scottish government has published its public sector pay policy for senior appointments. The policy, covering chief exec-
utives of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), public corporations and, for the first time, NHS executives and senior managers, states there will be no basic award in 2010/11, following Scottish ministers’ decision to impose a pay freeze. Finance secretary John Swinney said: ‘Scottish minis- ters have shown a lead by taking a pay freeze last year and this, and today’s policy extends that approach to the highest paid people across the public sector.’ He is writing to NDPB and public corporation chief execu- tives who may have earned a bonus in 2009/10, to consider waiving some or all the payment.
actively within the NHS, has passed on several tips to other NHS communication teams: ● Stay active on social media ● Proactively add people to your Facebook page
actively ask for comment and views on a range of services. NHS Salford head of commu- nications Karl Brookes said: ‘Good communication has always been about using the right channels at the right time to reach the right people. Clearly social media is one of these channels, and Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have been around long enough to answer doubters that believe it’s just a fad.’ NHS Salford, one of the first PCTs to start using social media
● Manage staff breakaways; multiple accounts are confusing and can allow nega- tive/positive comment to go unnoticed
● Follow the etiquette: acknowl- edge the source of your infor- mation; like others’ statuses; retweet others’ messages when you like them. The research was conducted during the week of 26 April and searched Twitter and Facebook for 148 PCTs. ● The new
ihm.org.uk website, launching this month, will have fully functional forums and links to social media outlets.
Mid Yorks celebrates £200,000 in IT savings
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust claims that if its identity management (IDM) system were replicated across the UK’s 375 NHS trusts, £75m could be saved over the next five years. The Mid Yorkshire has calcu- lated that before it implemented Salford Software’s IDM solution, the task of creating new user accounts, deleting old accounts and resetting passwords cost £39,750 a year.
‘IDM has eliminated the time and cost to Mid Yorkshire of provisioning and de-provisioning users from the system and resetting user passwords,’ says James Rawlinson, the trust’s assistant director of IT services. ‘This works by providing every NHS worker with the ability to be added/deleted once, across all internal systems.’
News Extra
GP surgery closed A GP practice has been shut by NHS Enfield because of concerns over care. One of the GPs, Dr Anthonipillai Nicholas-Pillai, was suspended from November 2009 by the General Medical Council. A fitness to practice panel found he botched the circumcision of a baby in June 2008, for which he was suspended for six months.
Drugs guidance Guidance has been issued to health boards to bring in a uniform Scottish policy on introducing newly licensed medicines. All boards will have to follow the guidance by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, which approves drugs for general use on the NHS, but the guidance can be adapted to local needs.
Lanarkshire logs on North Lanarkshire Public Partnership Forum has launched a Facebook campaign to encourage people to have their say on local health services. There are eight North Lanarkshire community forums.
He says the cost of using the Health Informatics Service’s Help Desk for password resets has been dramatically reduced. ‘The Mid Yorkshire will save just short of £200,000 in the next five years. If that were repli- cated across the UK, it would save £75m – and provide the NHS with greater security and better information governance. ‘IDM will help to ensure
employees accessing sensitive patient data do so based on their identity and access rights.’
Piles treatment Day-case treatment to cure piles – HALO (haemorrhoid artery ligation operation) – has been launched at Spire Bristol Hospital by consultant Paul Sylvester. Performed under light anaesthetic or sedation, it takes about 20 minutes and the patient can return to work soon after. It has a near 90% success rate.
Heaux covers FCO Healix International is to provide managed healthcare to 16,000 staff at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The three-year contract, from April 2010, gives FCO staff access to occupational health services in the UK and care services overseas.
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