Audit Commission warns on poor records
The Audit Commission has called on organisations at all levels of the NHS to improve the standard of record keeping and clinical coding. In its second annual analysis of the national clinical coding audit programme that is run as part of the Payment by Results Data Assurance Framework, the spending watchdog says that errors continue […]
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Audit Commission criticises data quality
A report published by the Audit Commission has concluded that data quality is still “often not what it needs to be to meet the demands now being placed upon it.” The report, Figures You Can Trust: Data Quality in the NHS, says that although there have been some improvements since its 2004 report on Data […]
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Procurement blocks innovation: report
The Policy Exchange has attacked the government for not doing enough to drive innovation in the NHS and called for a shake-up of financial incentives and procurement processes to drive new technologies and working practices into the service. The right-leaning think-tank says that as things stand, new drugs, devices and other technologies “inch” their way […]
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Auditors warn of NPfIT risk to southern SHAs
District auditors have warned NHS strategic health authorities in the south of England that the termination of Fujitsu’s contract as local service provider is a key risk for which they need to draw up contingency plans.
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One in ten hospital episodes miscoded
Almost one in ten hospital episodes is incorrectly coded, according to an analysis carried out by the Audit Commission. The spending watchdog’s analysis of more than 50,000 episodes of care, equating to approximately £73m of expenditure under Payment by Results, found an average error rate of 9.4% – with error rates across trusts ranging from […]
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PbR held back by NHS data failures
A new report into the progress of Payment by Results (PbR) has concluded that problems with the quality and timeliness of data remain significant barriers to the policy having more impact on NHS activity and efficiency. The Audit Commission report, The Right Result,singles out the Secondary Uses Service (SUS), developed by NHS Connecting for Health and […]
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NHS Direct on a mission to explain
Matt Tee has been CEO of NHS Direct for the past four months, he told us of his plans for the organisation.
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Problems with SUS hamper commissioning
The Department of Health must resolve problems with the Secondary Uses Service if practice-based commissioning (PBC) is to succeed, according to the Audit Commission. The commission’s report on progress with PBC, Putting Commissioning into Practice, recommends that the DH reviews the adequacy and timeliness of the SUS’s ability to provide activity data for PBC. The […]
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Slow progress on Choose and Book
Uptake of Choose and Book has made slow progress since the beginning of this year, according to latest figures from Connecting for Health. Statistics for the week ending 16 July show that England’s electronic referral and booking system is being used for almost 40% of NHS referrals for first consultant outpatient appointments, two percentage points higher […]
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BMA calls for inquiry into NHS Direct referrals
The British Medical Association has called for an inquiry into the NHS’s information and advice service, NHS Direct, claiming it is ‘putting a strain on the system’. The move has been backed by the NHS Alliance and Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel who feel that call handlers are referring too many patients to GPs or […]
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