Posts tagged "Department of Health"

Quarterly Data Summaries Published

The Quarterly Data Summaries (QDS)  are designed to fit on a single page to provide a quarterly snapshot on how each department is spending its budget, the results it has achieved and how it is deploying its workforce.

The summaries follow commitments made in the 2011 Budget and the Written Ministerial Statement on Business Plans. Their primary purpose is to make more of the management information currently held by government available to members of the public on a regular basis.

This information is not audited and the quality and accuracy of the data needs to dramatically improve. However, over time with improvements in data quality and timeliness the public will be able to judge the performance of each department in a meaningful and understandable manner.

Departments’ outturn data for 2011/12, against each of the QDS indicators will be included in their Annual Report and Accounts.

The information is presented in excel format to allow the information to be presented in a re-usable format.

• Cabinet Office

• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

• Department for Communities and Local Government
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport
• Department for Education
• Department of Energy and Climate Change
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Department for Health*
• Department for International Development
• Department for Transport
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• HM Revenue & Customs
• HM Treasury
• Home Office
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Justice

The summary template is the same for all departments, though many of the individual indicators are unique to the department (especially input and impact indicators).

This is the first time Government has published this kind of information, and while this is a good start, there is room for improvement. Before using this data people should ensure they take full note of the caveats noted in each Department’s measurement annex and treat with necessary caution.

At the moment, people should not be using this data to make direct comparisons between departments for several reasons. Firstly, the business of each department is unique and it does not make sense to compare some measures across all departments. Secondly, many of the measures are not directly comparable because they do not have common definitions, time periods, or data collection processes.

We will be regularly updating the QDS each quarter.

*Department of Health have also published their revised business plan on 19 July 2011, following the conclusion of the NHS listening exercise.

Supply of Boceprevir and Telaprevir for NHS

‘Fat tax’ on unhealthy food must raise prices by 20% to have effect, says study

Researchers say levy on junk food should be accompanied by subsidies for fruit and vegetables

“Fat taxes” would have to increase the price of unhealthy food and drinks by as much as 20% in order to cut consumption by enough to reduce obesity and other diet-related diseases, experts have said. Such levies should be accompanied by subsidies on healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables to help encourage a significant shift in dietary habits, according to research published in the British Medical Journal.

Academics led by Dr Oliver Mytton and Dr Mike Rayner of the Department of Public Health at Oxford University examined the evidence from around the world for what they call health-related food taxes. Denmark has brought in a “fat tax”, Hungary a “junk food tax” and France a tax on all sweetened drinks. Peru intends to add levies to junk food and Ireland may also introduce such taxes. David Cameron last October said the UK should considering following suit.

While it is unclear how such taxes could be brought in and enforced, they could help ensure that poor diet plays less of a role in future in a range of illnesses such as heart disease, type two diabetes and tooth decay, as well as obesity.

Although the less well-off are affected more by health-related food taxes, they may also ultimately benefit because “progressive health gains are expected because poor people consume less healthy food and have a higher incidence of most diet-related diseases, notably cardiovascular disease”, the authors say.

Evidence suggests that bigger health gains result from increasing the price of a broad range of foods rather than a narrow one, and sugary drinks offer the best proof that such a move can be effective. Research in America found that a 35% tax on drinks sweetened with sugar sold in a canteen, which added about 28p to the price, led to a 26% drop in sales. Studies have estimated that a 20% levy on such drinks in the US would cut obesity by 3.5% and that adding 17.5% to the cost of unhealthy food products in the UK could lead to 2,700 fewer deaths from heart disease.

But the food industry attacked the research. “When the whole of the food industry is focused on continuing to give hard-pressed families great tasting food at an affordable price, discussion of adding 20% to food prices seems fanciful if not irresponsible,” said Terry Jones, director of communications for the Food and Drink Federation, which represents food producers and retailers. Firms were working with the Department of Health through its Public Health Responsibility Deal “to make meaningful improvements in public health through pledges in areas such as salt and calorie reduction, and our commitment to improving the health of our employees”, he added.

Anne Milton, the public health minister, said the Department of Health was keeping an eye on all the evidence emerging internationally about such taxes. She defended the policy of relying on voluntary deals with food firms, which critics have criticised as an inadequate substitute for regulation of the food industry. “We are working with food companies through the Responsibility Deal to reduce calories and ensure healthier options are available. We believe that collective voluntary action can deliver real progress quickly,” Milton added.

Department of Health awards Pacs deal extension

Department awards one-year contract extension to Accenture for picture archiving and communications systems service

The Department of Health has extended its contract with Accenture to provide medical imaging systems to NHS trusts in the north-east and east Midlands.

The current contract, to provide picture archiving and communications systems (Pacs) will now run until June 2016. The contract value, however, has not been revealed.

The Department of Health said the extension gives trusts additional time to plan their long-term, strategic options for medical imaging, in line with the department’s vision for locally procured and implemented Pacs, tailored to meet the needs of local healthcare communities.

Accenture’s Pacs is a community-wide system used to electronically capture, view, store and distribute medical imaging such as x-rays, or MRI scans digitally rather than using the old system of printing images to film.

Matt Oakley, who leads Accenture’s medical images practice in the UK and Ireland, said: “Pacs is an excellent example of how technology is helping to improve patient care by providing clinicians with easy access to medical images and enabling them to make decisions more quickly.”

Accenture has said it will continue to manage a central data store, which provides trusts with a centrally-hosted, long-term image archive until June 2016.

NHS Supply Chain is currently leading a procurement on behalf of various authorities for Pacs and radiology information systems (RIS), including hardware and software. The four-year framework agreement, worth between £171m and £363m, will also include additional lots for x-ray workstations and a storage system including related hardware, software and managed services.

This article is published by Guardian Professional. For weekly updates on news, debate and best practice on public sector IT, join the Guardian Government Computing network here.

Revealed: private firm’s slice of NHS hospital savings

Circle, put in charge of indebted Hinchingbrooke trust, could earn tens of millions by imposing spending cuts

A row has broken out over a debt-ridden NHS hospital being handed over to a private company that will keep a large chunk of the millions of pounds in savings it will seek to make.

Bosses at Circle, which is running the Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust in Cambridgeshire, have insisted they will improve standards despite claims that they will need to make what have been described as “eye-watering” cuts.

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) has published a report saying the hospital will need to make surpluses of at least £70m over the next decade if it is to clear its debts and meet Circle’s contracted share.

A letter deposited in the House of Commons library by Earl Howe, a junior health minister, and uncovered by the HSJ, details for the first time the terms of the deal to hand running of the hospital to Circle.

A statement from the HSJ said: “The first £2m of any year’s surplus goes to Circle; the company then takes a quarter of surpluses between £2m and £6m and a third of surpluses between £6m and £10m.

“The terms mean the trust, which has an annual income of around £100m, will need to make a surplus of at least £70m to clear its debts. 44% of that money would go to Circle.”

In the past decade the hospital has never made an annual surplus of more than £600,000, suggesting widescale cuts would be needed to meet targets, the report said.

Circle began its 10-year management franchise at the struggling Huntingdon-based hospital in February in what is seen as a potential model for other hospitals across the country.

Ali Parsa, chief executive of Circle, did not comment on the scale of possible cuts but said the management team was committed to improving service and would not “share the rewards” until this goal had been achieved.

Parsa said: “Projections in the bid process showed the potential losses facing Hinchingbrooke in the coming years could reach many tens of millions. We have been tasked to stop taxpayers losing this money.

“Our plan is not only to do this and make the hospital sustainable but to turn it into one of the best district general hospitals in the country.

“Only when we succeed in our ambitious goal will there be rewards to share fairly between our partnership, which includes Hinchingbrooke staff, our start-up backers and the local health economy.

“Circle has always reinvested profits back into building our partnership and services and will continue to do so.”

Christina McAnea, head of health at Unison, called on the company to stick to assurances that it would not take a profit until debts are paid off. “Any surpluses should be going directly into improving patient care or paying off the hospital’s debt, securing its future for local people – not ploughed into making company profits.

“Instead patients and staff are facing drastic cuts.

“The hospital was already struggling, but the creep in of the profit motive means cuts will now be even deeper.

“Whilst this hospital was the first to be transferred into private hands, it may not be the last.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said that had the deal with Circle not been agreed Hinchingbrooke hospital may have had to close.
“Far from simply making a profit, Circle have already set out that they plan to repay the trust’s past deficit of £39m.

“Not only are they heavily incentivised to do this by receiving a share of any surplus over £2 million, but they must also fund the first £5 million of any losses while they are managing the trust.

“Any fee that Circle receives isn’t all profit – Circle must meet the ongoing cost of delivering the deal and indeed any costs they incurred in bidding for the contract.

“This process, which was started under the previous government, will deliver improved patient care and will put the hospital on a sustainable financial footing for the future.”

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• health service journal hinchingbrooke deal

Supply of herpes zoster vaccine to Department of Health

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.4)Date of dispatch of this notice:27.4.2012

Contract for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies for the Department of Health

Contract for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies for the Department of Health

The Department wishes to procure the provision of a Parenting Group which will be responsible for ensuring that the views of parents are collected and inputted to the CYP IAPT Project at a national and local level. Read more…

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• cyp health contracts
• government changes to child and adolsencent mental heal in 2012 atnational level
• tender for the provision of children and young people’s improving access to psychological therapies (cyp iapt) parenting group
• UK-London: provision of children and young peoples improving access to psychological therapies parenting group

Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme

Research Contract: Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme

NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme on behalf of the Department of Health. Read more…

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• research contract: efficacy and mechanism evaluation programme

Supply of rotavirus vaccine Department of Health

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Research Contract NIHR

Research Contract NIHR

Funding Opportunities with the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) programme. Read more…