Trusts ‘ignore patient safety alerts’
A patient safety charity has alleged that around three quarters of NHS trusts have failed to comply with at least one patient safety alert issued by the National Patient Safety Agency.
News
NHS Direct launches on Freeview for Christmas
NHS Direct is bracing itself for its busiest Christmas period since its launch in 1999, having launched a new channel on Freeview to enable it to reach an extra 6.4 million households. The service is expecting to take over 70,000 calls and have over 50,000 website hits in Christmas week – with most calls expected […]
News
IT workers on strike in NHS Logistics dispute
The NHS Logistics strike today is set to include at least 500 helpdesk staff who are crucial to getting orders sent quickly, UNISON has told E-Health Insider. The government intends to outsource NHS Logistics and part of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency to parcel couriers DHL in a deal worth £3.7 billion a year, […]
News
Unison condemns offshore medical transcription
NHS trusts that outsource the transcription of medical notes to South Africa, the Philippines and India received a sharp rebuke from health union, Unison, yesterday. General secretary, Dave Prentis, speaking at the union’s annual conference this week, condemned the outsourcing as “a very dangerous practice.” The union has accumulated anecdotal evidence of potentially life-threatening mistakes […]
News
Agenda for Change draft job profiles published
Job profiles for NHS health informatics staff, drawn up to meet the requirements of the national Agenda for Change pay structure, have been published for consultation this week. The staff organisations that co-operated on the profiles say they believe the new structure represents health informatics roles fairly, but they add that there will be jobs for […]
News
New employment terms for NHS IT staff to be introduced
The new version of Agenda for Change (AfC), the Department of Health’s new terms for most NHS employees including IM&T staff, has been published, and will be voted on by UNISON members with a recommendation for acceptance. If it is approved then the new system will begin on 1 December, with some protection measures in place for those whom […]
News