A guide to the NHS Commissioning Board’s Everyone Counts

A guide to the NHS Commissioning Board’s Everyone Counts: What was on your Christmas reading list? Bradley Wiggins’s autobiography? Fifty Shades of Grey? Or Everyone Counts?
Just before the Christmas break the NHS Commissioning Board issued its ‘planning guidance’ to the 211 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that are to take control of local budgets from April. Everyone Counts sets out the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of commissioning in the reformed NHS. It replaces the Operating Framework that, for the past few years, has set out what is expected of the NHS, including targets and other ‘vital signs’, as well as tariff prices to be paid to providers.

What will 2013 have in store for healthcare?

What will 2013 have in store for healthcare?: Stephen Thornton discusses what he thinks will be the priorities for UK healthcare in 2013 and also what the Health Foundation's highlights will be. The Health Foundation

NHS end-of-life care 'shortage'

NHS end-of-life care 'shortage': There is a shortage of specialist end-of-life care in England, causing unnecessary suffering, experts say. BBC News

Health regulator problems 'persist'

Health regulator problems 'persist': The health and care regulator for England has yet to win the public's confidence, according to a highly critical report by a committee of MPs. BBC News

See also:

• Government's hospital inspectors criticised in damning report The Daily Telegraph

App shows how booze affects looks

App shows how booze affects looks: Smartphone app shows how booze affects your looks BBC News

2011 census data and the profile of the NHS workforce

2011 census data and the profile of the NHS workforce: This tool has been developed to help utilise census data in order to further analyse the NHS workforce at a local level. The tool enables workforce planners and diversity specialists to analyse workforce by age, disability, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation and religion or belief.

• Tool
• NHS Employers - news

Doctors attack 'scare tactics' used by private companies

Doctors attack 'scare tactics' used by private companies:
The chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee has criticised the use of "scare tactics" by private screening companies in order to get people to spend money on their services.Laurence Buckman said: "I am very sceptical of the claims made by screening companies."Many companies which offer screening for health problems such as heart disease and colon cancer write directly... Healthcare Today

Is children's asthma made worse by inhalers?

Is children's asthma made worse by inhalers?: “Genetic tests could pave way to ‘personalised’ asthma drugs” the Guardian has reported, before warning that current treatments may make symptoms worse. The newspaper goes on to say that, “screening could help GPs tailor drugs to children as study confirms variations in response to asthma medications”.

The NHS needs to be more open with the people it belongs to | Jeremy Taylor

The NHS needs to be more open with the people it belongs to | Jeremy Taylor: The biggest challenge for the NHS in 2013 is to change its culture of secrecy, cover-up and authoritarian management

In-debt South London Healthcare NHS Trust 'should be broken up'

In-debt South London Healthcare NHS Trust 'should be broken up':
A debt-ridden NHS trust which was on the brink of bankruptcy should be dissolved, an official consultation has concluded. The Independent

Liverpool Care Pathway: A way of death worth fighting for?

Liverpool Care Pathway: A way of death worth fighting for?: 
It was developed as a measure to help ease the suffering of the dying. Instead it is alleged to have introduced “backdoor euthanasia” into the NHS, leading to the early deaths of tens of thousands of patients in return for millions of pounds in “bribes” for hospitals. The Independent

Hospital inspection results 'fail to reflect patients' assessments'

Hospital inspection results 'fail to reflect patients' assessments': A worrying "disconnect" between official inspection results and the real standards experienced by patients has undermined public confidence in hospitals and care homes, according to a scathing report by MPs. The Independent

HPA update on seasonal norovirus activity: 8 January 2013

HPA update on seasonal norovirus activity: 8 January 2013: Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show there have been 4,140 laboratory confirmed cases of norovirus this season (from week 27 to week 52 2012). The latest figures are 63 per cent higher than the number of cases reported at this point last year, when there were 2,535 cases.