Weekly News
Released on 14/12/2009
Events Diary
28 January 2010
IHM Scotland
Annual General Meeting + tour of new Victoria Hospital
4pm, New Victoria Hospital, Glasgow
All IHM members in Scotland are invited to attend. AGM takes place at 4pm followed by a tour of the new Victoria Hospital at 5pm. hilary.iannotti@btinternet.com
2 March 2010
NHS QIS
National Clinical Governance Conference: Tomorrow’s World
Glasgow Hilton
Conference programme will focus on HAIs and patient safety. Registration open January 2010. See flyer at www.nhshealthquality.org/nhsqis/files/Flyer_Conferenceabstract.pdf.
4 March 2010
IHM Scotland
How to increase your power and influence
9.30am-4pm, Dunblane Hydro Hotel
One day workshop aimed at developing the skills and techniques required by
managers in healthcare settings to
increase their power to affect decision making and change. Links directly to the IHM Milestone ‘Role of the Enterprise
Manager’.
This week in Parliament
Thursday
11:40 General Questions
Marilyn Livingstone (Lab, Kirkcaldy) what action is being taken to improve dementia services in Fife, in light of the predicted 100% increase in people in Fife with dementia by 2030; Patricia Ferguson (Lab, Glasgow Maryhill): is the national dietary food standard is being met in relation to the provision of fresh fruit and vegetables to hospital inpatients; Bill Butler (Lab, Glasgow Anniesland): how does the Scottish Government plan to raise awareness among medical professionals of oesophageal cancer.
12:00 First Minister’s Questions
Recent motions
Jim Hume (LibDem, South of Scotland): Community Hospitals in Dumfries and Galloway—That the Parliament notes the contents of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s consultation document, Your NHS - Your Future Care; believes that the preferred option, which would result in the closure of Moffat, Langholm, Kirkcudbright, Lochmaben and Thornhill community hospitals, is widely unpopular with the respective local communities and fundamentally disregards the rural remoteness of parts of the region and the invaluable and high quality of care provided by these facilities; further believes that NHS Dumfries and Galloway must take advantage of opportunities to redevelop hospitals in conjunction with other statutory bodies, private providers and voluntary organisations where necessary, and considers that the Scottish Government should reject NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s preferred option for closures and, instead, require redesign of the proposals to redevelop these vital, locally delivered community NHS services.
Des McNulty (Lab, Clydebank & Milngavie): St Margaret of Scotland Hospice—That the Parliament notes with deep concern the decision of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to remove the funding for 30 continuing care beds from the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank by 2013, which will impact adversely on the service model provided by the hospice’s dedicated staff as well as on the hospice’s finances; notes that this decision came immediately after an inspection by the Care Commission that rated provision at the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice as being excellent on every indicator, and believes that the approach adopted by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in its dealings with the hospice is unacceptable.
NHS financial
performance ‘good’ but ‘significant
pressures’ expected
Audit Scotland’s annual Overview of the NHS in
Scotland’s performance has reported that all NHS Scotland boards achieved financial balance last year, the service as a whole recorded a £4 million
underspend and that 10 out of 13 national targets were met or exceeded. Auditor General for Scotland Robert Black praised NHS boards for continuing to improve their financial performance, while Health
Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that NHS Scotland “will continue to rise to the challenge of providing top
quality healthcare while making best use of public money.”
However, the Auditor General warned that the current financial year, 2009/10, will be the peak year for
public spending for some time to come, with budgets predicted to reduce in real terms over the next five years.
The report argues that the NHS continues to face a number of cost pressures, and in the current financial climate, needs to focus on efficiency and productivity while continuing to provide safe and quality services for patients. It says: “The tighter financial outlook means that the NHS needs to do more to identify
efficiencies, understand and improve levels of
productivity, review how services are delivered and work more effectively with its partners and patients. To continue to meet financial targets and maintain the level and quality of services they provide, NHS bodies need to examine how they deliver services and ensure they make best use of resources. This should be
underpinned by accurate and up-to-date information about activity, costs and quality.”
The report also says that, although people in Scotland are living longer and some key indicators of health are showing improvement, there remain deep-seated health-related problems such as drug and alcohol
misuse and teenage pregnancy, which the NHS cannot deal with these by itself. The report’s conclusions
emphasise the need to work with other parts of the public sector, such as education and social work.
Commenting, the Health Secretary said:
(continued)
"There's no doubt that the entire public
sector faces a challenging climate ahead, but the Scottish Government's draft budget for 2010-11 has protected health spending, which is set to rise to £11.347 billion.
"While we cannot predict the public spending environment beyond the next Spending
Review, NHS Scotland is working hard now to become leaner and more efficient so that we are prepared to deal with whatever lies ahead."
The Scottish Government said that the total amount of efficiency savings achieved by NHS Scotland as a whole - including NHS boards and the Scottish Government Health Directorates - was £297 million in 2008-9, including £203 million achieved by NHS boards. This is higher than the £192 million figure for efficiency savings recorded by
Audit Scotland, which only takes into account the savings which contribute to Efficient
Government targets. A small minority of
savings achieved by boards will not
contribute to these targets, but will
nonetheless be available to reinvest in
frontline services.
The full report can be downloaded at www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/work/health_national.php.
New IHM education programme
IHM Scotland has unveiled its education
programme for the first half of 2010. Events include the Institute’s Annual General
Meeting, which includes the chance to tour Glasgow’s new Victoria Hospital and one day workshops on influencing, leading teams, project management and business continuity planning.
Other professional development and learning opportunities from IHM include e-learning elements, designed to help managers update key professional skills and knowledge areas in their own time, and Milestones accredited learning programmes, which each provide 5 credits at Master level.
Further details and dates for forthcoming events are included in the attached
education programme outline.
