Recent News 18th March, 2008
Speaking at the Labour Party’s spring conference, the health secretary, Alan Johnson announced his plans to ‘personalise’ the NHS. Alan Johnson told the conference in Birmingham that the "one-size-fits-all" approach of the NHS belongs to the past, and in future patients should have more choice. Elsewhere in the speech, Mr Johnson also called for the extension of GP surgery opening hours to meet the needs of a working population. Mr. Johnson emphasized the innovative nature of the NHS alongside these announcements, listing various forward thinking achievements of the NHS’ including the completion of the UK’s first heart transplant 40 years ago.
With the Budget being announced on the 12th of March, financial matters featured strongly in this weeks monitoring report. The Department of Health announced a forecasted surplus of £1.8 billion at the end of this financial year. This comes in stark contrast to the deficit of £547 million for the financial year 2006/7. The Chief Executive of the NHS, David Nicholson, said the report “not only shows that the NHS now has a strong and sustainable financial position, but also, importantly, it shows that we remain on course to deliver against our key pledges.” However, Michael Summers, a Trustee of the Patients’ Association, said: “When wards are closing and hospitals are cutting back on cleaning and nursing staff up and down the country, it is quite astonishing that they are generating such a huge surplus.”
This week the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued their final guidance on the use of Insulin Pumps for patients of the NHS. NICE—the independent organisation responsible for issuing guidance on the use of new and existing medicines, treatments and procedures within the NHS—recommended that the treatment be made available to adults and children over the age of 12 with type 1 diabetes. This news was welcomed by the Medical Technology Group, and will be well received by sufferers of type-one diabetes. However, the treatment was previously recommended by NICE in 2003 yet remained unavailable for many. The remaining challenge will be to make sure that NICE’s guidance is implemented.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was also in the news recently. The governments response to the Health Select Committee’s (HSC) report on NICE—which investigated NICE's evaluation process, whether it potentially disadvantages any particular groups, how quickly NICE publishes its guidance and whether it is implemented on the ground—was published on the 10th January, 2008, and offered a number of recommendations. One of the key recommendations of the report was that NICE should broaden its cost analysis to include the wider benefits of potential treatments in its appraisals. The government described this as having “instinctive appeal”, and committed itself to explore this possibility in liaising with a range of stakeholders including patient representatives and pharmaceutical companies. This comes after criticism of NICE from patients groups, most notably Alzheimer’s UK, who argue that NICE’s criteria have been very narrow and have not considered the wider implications of certain conditions .e.g. the impact of an illness on carers. The government also acknowledged in their response that, due to funding constraints, NICE’s guidance has not always been put in place—meaning that appropriate treatments and medications have not been made available to patients in need of them.
The Week of the 3rd-9th March was Endometriosis National Knowledge Week, launched by the National Library on health. This will be of interest to patients and patient groups concerned with the issue of pelvic pain. Distilling information for busy clinicians, the Knowledge Week aimed to provide up-to-date information on the investigation and management of focusing in particular on the guidelines produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists in 2006 and the European Society for Human Reproduction & Embryology (ESHRE) in 2005.
Two significant appointments in the Department of Health were made recently. Following Sue Roberts retirement, Dr Rowan Hilson was appointed as the new National clinical Director for Diabetes. A new post was also created: Director of Patient and Public Affairs. Joan Saddler will be the first person to serve under this role, and will be expected to work closely with local patient-involvement networks to ensure that local PCTs commission services on behalf of the patients and the public they serve. Hopefully this will help create a healthcare service which is more in tune with and listens to patients’ needs and concerns.
On the 6th March the Patients Association launched their new report, ‘The New Dental Contract – Full of Holes and Causing Pain?’. The report examined the implications of the new Dental Contract of 2006, which aimed to provide better access for patients to dental care. Questionnaires on the Dental Contract were dispatched to officials from 150 primary care trusts (PCTs) in England, 112 of who replied. The responses revealed a widespread confusion for patients about access to dental services in their locality. Furthermore, these services were highly variable and contingent on the particular PCT commissioning the services. This is another glaring example of the NHS postcode lottery. The report also found that Patients are at risk of inadequate care because ‘units of dental activity’ (UDAs)—the new measurement of funding introduced by the 2006 contract—rather than patient need, is being funded. This was found to present serious risks to the detection and prevention of oral health disease. It was also found that the new contract has been accompanied by a rise in dental complaints in PCTs.
Katherine Murphy, Director of Communications for the Patients Association, commenting on the Report said: “Patients are taxed more than ever to provide their health services and so are entitled to the best service for that money. Our survey shows that the new contract is compounding previous dental policy failures, and too many patients are being excluded from continuing dental care.
