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Dame Fiona Caldicott's report emphasises that patients are at risk if clinicians base decisions on inadequate data Plans to share patient information electronically date back to the Blair government's over-ambitious and now defunct NHS national programme for IT . And despite the coalition's aim that all 6,000-plus GP practices in England must offer patients online access to their records by 2015, so far only 61 are doing so. In her landmark report on patient information in health and social care, Dame Fiona Caldicott puts greater sharing of patient data at the forefront of her 26 recommendations...

At a time when the NHS has to make savings of £20bn, does it really need communications professionals? At a time when the NHS needs to make savings of up to £20bn by 2015, it is understandable that people question the money the NHS spends on public relations. A recent article by the BBC about the NHS in London spending £13m on public relations , further highlighted the issue. Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients' Association , argues that the NHS should be spending less on spin doctors and more on medical doctors, adding that it is the patients who are losing out. But in a time...

With a clearer picture of what people want and what they get, CCGs need to identify gaps and improve care across all services An ageing population, ongoing pressures on public spending, the Francis report and current NHS reforms mean that now is a good time to think about how to refocus care for people who are dying. As the number of people dying and the proportions of those who have multiple morbidities increase, so the need to rethink end of life care becomes more urgent. In rethinking such care, we are now aided by a growing evidence base, which gives us a clear picture of what people want and...

Greater patient involvement in the health service could lead to better quality care and more efficiency savings A truly patient-led NHS has been an aspiration in the health service for well over a decade. The motivation is born out of the realisation that improving patient involvement could lead to better services, higher standards of care and greater efficiency savings. Furthermore, high profile failings, such as those at Mid Staffordshire NHS trust , have highlighted just how bad patient care can be and show what happens when patient experience and engagement is not treated as a priority. The...

The NHS could have a £50bn funding gap by 2022 if it can't deliver unprecedented productivity, says a Nuffield Trust report The NHS in England is almost halfway into its four-year drive to make £20bn of efficiency savings by 2014/15. These savings of 4% a year are needed if the NHS is to meet rising demands and maintain quality, with funding effectively frozen in real terms during the current spending review period. So far, it is on track. However, NHS finance directors believe there is a high risk that the target will not be met, as it becomes increasingly difficult to make additional productivity...

Is the health service meeting the financial targets imposed by the Nicholson challenge? We asked our members for their thoughts – here's what they said Work practices "'Back office' functions such as corporate services like travel tickets and IT support have been outsourced, with predictable results in terms of customer satisfaction." "We've adopted positive changes in working practices, for example, more effective management of work allocation, better management of staff, and more effective interventions. However, we cannot rollout the changes as quickly as the financial...

End-of-life services reduce demand for expensive and distressing hospital admissions – and improve the quality of patient care, as new research from the Nuffield Trust shows Earlier this year, when the Office for National Statistics published the results of the first national Voices survey of bereaved people , one finding stood out. Only 29% of people who died in hospital were said to have had enough choice about where they died, compared to 88% of those who died at home. Annual mortality statistics show that more than half of deaths occur in hospital, but many people's experience of end-of...