A report by a committee of MSPs said that patients in Scotland had not benefited from a new National Health Service consultants contract.
Source: Implementing the NHS Consultant Contract in Scotland, 6th Report 2006, SP Paper 673, Scottish Parliament Audit Committee, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SP press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Nov
The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court ruling that expert witnesses should be exempt from disciplinary action by their regulatory body. The issue was raised by the case of a paediatrician who was struck off after giving flawed evidence at the trial of a woman accused of the murder of her sons.
Source: General Medical Council v Professor Sir Roy Meadow, Court of Appeal 26 October 2006
Links: Text of judgement | GMC press release | Times report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
The Chief Medical Officer for England published proposals for reforming the delivery of medical expert evidence in family law cases. The key proposal was for the National Health Service to establish a new service - teams of specialist doctors and other professionals in local NHS organizations who would group together to improve the quality of the service by introducing mentoring, supervision, and peer review.
Source: Bearing Good Witness: Proposals for reforming the delivery of medical expert evidence in family law cases, Chief Medical Officer/Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: CMO report | Statistical survey | Consultation document | Hansard | DH press release | OCC press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Times report
Date: 2006-Oct
An organization representing doctors said that the intensity of competition for new specialist training programmes for junior doctors could drive many doctors away from the National Health Service.
Source: Modernising Medical Careers: Reasons for delaying implementation, British Medical Association (020 7387 4499)
Links: Report | BMA press release
Date: 2006-Sep
The government began consultation on proposals to subject family doctors to regular checks to ensure they were fit to work, and to strip the General Medical Council of its powers to adjudicate over complaints against doctors. It also published proposals (for consultation) on the regulation of non-medical healthcare professions.
Source: Good Doctors, Safer Patients: Proposals to strengthen the system to assure and improve the performance of doctors and to protect the safety of patients, Chief Medical Officer/Department of Health (08701 555455) | The Regulation of the Non-medical Healthcare Professions, Department of Health | Healthcare Professional Regulation: Public consultation on proposals for change, Department of Health
Links: Doctors report | Non-medical report | Consultation document | Hansard | DH press release | GMC press release | RCP press release | BMA press release | NHS Employers press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report said that the National Health Service should employ more people who had used mental health services. A more diverse workforce would provide more sensitive services and change the them and us culture.
Source: Patience Seebohm and Bob Grove, Leading by Example: Making the NHS an exemplar employer of people with mental health problems, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
A survey found that National Health Service workers were markedly more disillusioned with their jobs and had less faith in their leaders than their counterparts in other parts of the public sector.
Source: Press release 28 June 2006, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Work Foundation press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Jun
An article questioned the need for the training of more doctors, and said that decisions to increase doctor numbers often reflected political expediency rather than better management of doctor activity in the healthcare system.
Source: Karen Bloor, Vivien Hendry and Alan Maynard, 'Do we need more doctors?', Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 99 Issue 6
Links: Table of contents | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
A report examined the experience of district and community nurses, and their role in contemporary healthcare.
Source: Vision and Values: A call for action on community nursing, Queen's Nursing Institute (020 7490 4227)
Links: QNI press release
Date: 2006-May
A think-tank report said that patients had not benefited from a ?340 million salary boost for National Health Service hospital consultants which was supposed to improve their productivity and quality of service.
Source: Sally Williams and James Buchan, Assessing the New National Health Service Consultant Contract: A something for something deal?, King?s Fund (020 7307 2591)
Links: Report | King's Fund press release | NHS Employers press release | BMA press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A think-tank report said that the logical conclusion of the government s health reform agenda was a significantly smaller and higher-quality National Health Service workforce. The reforms would mean greater emphasis on productivity and flexible working, resulting in the end of national pay bargaining, a reduction in the workforce of at least 10 per cent, and greater investment in staff of all levels.
Source: Nick Bosanquet, Andrew Haldenby, Henry de Zoete and Roger Fox, Staffing and Human Resources in the NHS: Facing up to the reform agenda, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
Over the year from September 2004 to September 2005, the National Health Service workforce increased by 34,301 (32,586 full-time equivalent). This included an extra 5,309 doctors, 6,646 extra nurses, and 2,123 extra allied health professionals.
Source: Press release 24 April 2006, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Apr
An audit report said that a pay agreement for consultants in Scotland had cost the National Health Service almost four times as much as expected, and had failed to produce any clear benefits.
Source: Implementing the National Health Service Consultant Contract in Scotland, Audit Scotland for Accounts Commission and Auditor General (0131 477 1234)
Links: Report | Summary | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
The healthcare inspectorate said that an annual National Health Service staff survey for 2005 showed the first significant sign of a trend towards fewer staff facing physical attacks, bullying, and harassment from patients or patients' relatives.
Source: National Survey of National Health Service Staff 2005: Summary of key findings, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report | CHAI press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A report examined the views of the public and doctors on professional guidance setting out the principles of good practice, and the standards of care, competence and conduct, expected of doctors. There was considerable public tolerance for private misdemeanours, provided they did not compromise professional standards.
Source: Alison Chisholm, Liz Cairncross and Janet Askham, Setting Standards: The views of the public and doctors on the standards of care and practice they expect of doctors, Picker Institute Europe (01865 208100)
Links: Report | Picker Institute press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A survey found that violence against nursing staff was increasing, with 80 per cent of accident and emergency nurses reporting harassment or an assault in the previous year.
Source: Jane Ball, Geoff Pike and Margaret Bradley, At Breaking Point?: A survey of the wellbeing and working lives of nurses in 2005, Royal College of Nursing (020 7409 3333)
Links: Report | NHS Employers press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Feb
A report examined the determinants of annual net income and wages of family doctors in England. The average family doctor in 2008 had an annual net income of £97, 500 and worked 43 hours per week. Net income depended on gender, experience, list size, partnership size, whether or not the family doctor worked in a dispensing practice, whether they were salaried or self-employed, whether they worked in a practice with a nationally or locally negotiated contract, and the characteristics of the local population.
Source: Stephen Morris et al., Determinants of General Practitioners' Wages in England, Research Paper 36, Centre for Housing Policy/University of York (01904 433691)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Jan
