Hard copy versions of these publications can be ordered from the NHS Responseline 0541 555 455.
Contents:
NHS interest
1. Health Service Ombudsman for England - Annual Report for 1999-00
2. NICE Guidance on Taxanes
3. MADEL and SIFT Reports
4. Improving the Quality of Cancer Services
5. An Organisation with a Memory
6. The safety of meningitis C vaccine
7. HN2000(05) TrilucentTM Breast Implants: Recommendation to remove
8. UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy and Action Plan
NHS/Social Care Interest
9. Out in the Open - Breaking Down the Barriers for Older People
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NHS interest
1. 15/6/00 Health Service Ombudsman for England - Annual Report for 1999-00
The Health Service Commissioner has included examples of good practice, in particular on communications and handling the complaints process (chapters 2 and 3 refer). NHS trust and health authorities Chief Executives are strongly encouraged to use the report to consider what lessons can be learned within their own organisations. Copies of the report are available from the NHS responseline (on request by Chief Executives, complaints managers or their authorised representative). The annual report can also be found on the Commissioner's website www.ombudsman.org.uk The Commissioner has also published his second six-monthly report covering the period October 1999 to March 2000Part 1 contains summaries of investigations completed in the period covered and Part 2 contains the full anonymised text of the cases in Part 1. Copies of these reports are also on the Commissioner's website.
2. NICE guidance on taxanes
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued its guidance on the use of the taxanes - docetaxel (Taxotere) and paclitaxel (Taxol) - as second-line treatment in advanced breast cancer. Trusts providing cancer services should:
ensure that oncologists and cancer specialists within the trust have access to copies of NICE's guidance. Copies were sent from NICE on Thursday 15 June and should be in clinicians' hands on the Friday;
follow up through clinical governance arrangements to ensure that NICE's guidance is taken fully into account in clinical decision making;
ensure, in consultation with commissioners, that local funding policies allow for prescribing of the taxanes in appropriate cases in line with NICE's guidance;
ensure that arrangements are in place to handle enquiries from patients about the implications of NICE's guidance.
Sufficient resources have been allocated to enable NHS bodies to implement positive recommendations from NICE. The recent allocation of £660m following the Budget is intended in part to ensure this.
The full text of NICE's guidance is available on the NICE website at: www.nice.org.uk/index.htm.
3. 12/6/00 MADEL and SIFT Reports
The Medical and Dental Education Levy (MADEL) and the Service Increment for Teaching (SIFT) Accountability Reports for 1998/99 detail spending from the two medical education levies during the year. The reports will be of interest to Chief Executives of Health Authorities and NHS Trusts and their staff. The reports are now available at the following addresses:
nww.doh.nhsweb.nhs.uk/nhs/hr/pubs.htm or www.doh.gov.uk/medicaltrainingintheuk.
Further copies of either report can be obtained from the Medical Education Unit, Room 2N35A, Quarry House, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UE (Telephone 0113 254 5942).
Ref. 21878 MADEL Report, 21879 SIFT Report.
4. 12/6/00 HSC 2000/021 Improving the Quality of Cancer Services
Improving the quality of our cancer services is a priority in the National Priorities Guidance for 2000/01 to 2002/3. What is the action? This Circular announces consultation on a manual of national standards and performance indicators to provide the framework for assessment of the quality of cancer care with an additional £3 million funding being made available to support regional and local action on cancer. The Circular also publishes information on four further strands of work which will support the NHS at all levels to make the best use of resources and facilities to improve cancer services. An electronic copy of the circular is available.
Ref. HSC 21845, Report 21482, Letter from CNO 21843 . Mailed to NHS Chief Executives, Clinical Directors, Nursing Directors 14/6/00. Hard copies available.
5. An organisation with a memory
Report of an expert group on learning from adverse events in the NHS
Chaired by the Chief Medical Officer
This report, commissioned by Health Ministers from an expert group under the chairmanship of the Chief Medical Officer, sets out to review what we know about the scale and nature of serious failures in NHS health care, to examine the extent to which the NHS has the capacity to learn from such failures when they do occur and to recommend measures which could help to ensure that the likelihood of repeated failures is minimised in the future. The work of the group was informed by evidence and experience from a range of sectors other than health, including industry, aviation and academic research.
http://www.doh.gov.uk/orgmemreport/index.htm
Ref. 21773 . Mailed to NHS Chief Executives, Directors of Public Health and Medical Directors 13/6/00. Further copies available from The Stationery Office, Price £14.50
6. The safety of meningitis C vaccine
CMO's Urgent Communication CEM/CMO/2000/08
Message From Dr Pat Troop, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department Of Health
13 June 2000 Cem/Cmo/2000/8
Concerning newspaper reports that there are safety concerns about the recently introduced Meningitis C vaccine. Parents should be reassured that current evidence is that the vaccine is highly protective and that it is very safe. This message gives you background information on the current position and advice for parents.
http://www.doh.gov.uk/cmo/cmo00_08.htm
7. 6/6/00 HAZARD NOTICE - MDA HN2000(05) TrilucentTM Breast Implants: Recommendation to remove
This Hazard Notice was issued to NHS Trust and Health Authority and Primary Care Trust Chief Executives. As usual, it was also faxed to Trust and Health Authority liaison officers for immediate action and for onward distribution as specified in the Notice. An electronic version of the Hazard Notice can be found at: www.medical-devices.gov.uk/hn2000(05).htm
For further information on the role and nomination of liaison officers e-mail us on:
[log in to unmask] http://www.medical-devices.gov.uk
8. 13/6/00 UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy and Action Plan
The Government's response to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology's report 'Resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents' indicated its intention to take forward a comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance.
It takes into account the recommendations of the Standing Medical Advisory Committee (SMAC), in its report 'The Path of Least Resistance', recommendations from the World Health Organisation's (WHO) former Division of Emerging and Other Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Control, the recommendations of the European Conference on 'The Microbial Threat' in Copenhagen in September 1998, and the World Health Assembly Resolution of May 1998.
The strategy recognises the need for action across a wide range of interests by many organisations and individuals. Siit also recognises the need for the UK to play its part internationally, as well as at local and national levels. An electronic version of the Antimirobial Resistance and Action Plan can be found at: www.doh.gov.uk/arbstrat.htm
Ref. 21834. Hard copies available.
NHS / Social Care interest
9. Out in the Open - Breaking Down the Barriers for Older People
The Public Services Productivity Panel (PSPP) was established in 1998 "to help Departments deliver improvements in productivity, efficiency and the quality of services, not least the targets set out in their Public Service Agreements". Panel members have been working with individual Departments. The Department of Health's link member is Dame Sheila Masters.
The report, Out In The Open, prepared by a Department of Health team under the guidance of Dame Sheila Masters addresses one of the central themes of the Government's modernisation plan: the need for public services to meet the requirements of citizens, not the convenience of service providers. In particular it examines how local councils can improve their commissioning of support services to meet the needs of older people. An electronic version of Out in the Open can be found at::
www.doh.gov.uk/outintheopen/index.htm
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