Top headlines
Out-of-hours provider forced to rely on one GP for 850,000 patients overnight
Practice managers to carry out GP appraisals, under new NHS scheme
14.25 NHS trusts are forecasting an end-of-year deficit of around £2.3bn, according to the King’s Fund’s latest quarterly survey of NHS finance directors.
The think-tank said the estimate, based on responses from 83 trusts, raised questions about whether the Department of Health would overspend its budget, as this requires trusts to reduce their debt to £1.8bn by the end of the financial year.
More than two thirds of trusts (67%) and nine in ten (89%) acute hospitals are forecasting a deficit, as do 18% of CCGs. The survey revealed that half of trust finance directors (53%) and CCG finance leads (48%) think that the quality of care in their local area has worsened in the past year.
King’s Fund chief economist John Appleby said the findings show it ‘is shaping up to be a make or break year for the NHS’.
12.28 Over a thousand patients have been left without a GP practice after the CQC closed down their practice on Monday following an inspection last week, reports the Nottingham Post.
The St Mary’s Medical Centre’s 1,100 patients in Top Valley were left with a notice in the door of the surgery saying they will receive a letter explaining alternative arrangements, the paper says.
A CQC spokesperson said: ’CQC carried out an inspection at St Mary’s Medical Centre in Harvest Close, Nottingham, on February 10 and found a number of concerns.
’We are working closely with Nottingham CCG and NHS England with regard to the service and have taken action to protect people who use the service.
‘Our legal processes do not allow us to go in to further detail at this time, however we will publish a full report of our findings in due course.’
12.05 The shortage of GPs, fuelled by the national recruitment crisis and rising indemnity costs, forced an out-of-hours provider in Cambridgeshire to run an overnight shift with just one GP covering 850,000 patients last month.
It is now facing CQC scrutiny after former care minister and local MP Norman Lamb raised the alarm. Read the full story on Pulse.
11.03 NHS Clinical Commissioners, the representative body for CCGs, has appointed Dr Graham Jackson as its new co-chair.
The clinical chair of NHS Aylesbury Vale CCG will replace Dr Steve Kell when he steps down at the end of next month to focus on his GP partnership in Bassetlaw.
Dr Jackson, an NHSCC board member since 2014, said: ‘I strongly believe in the difference that clinically-led commissioning can and is making for our patients and local populations, and know first-hand how important it is that CCGs are given the right environment to work in if we are to make the most of the opportunities that it offers.’
09.45 Pulse’s top story focuses on revalidation, and an NHS England initiative for GPs to be appraised by practice managers. GP leaders have slammed plans, saying even if there is a shortage of appraisers revalidation will only be useful to GPs if carried out by a fellow clinician.
09.35 Campaigning parents have gathered over 400,000 signatures in support of a petition for all children to be given the meningitis vaccine, reports the Telegraph and other papers.
The outcry comes after several newspapers opted to publish harrowing pictures of a two-year old toddler dying of the condition. Faye Burdett, from Maidstone, Kent, died on Sunday after fighting the illness for 11 days.
Meningitis B vaccine has been administered by GPs to babies at age two, four and 12 months via the childhood vaccination programme since last September but parents have to pay privately if they want older children vaccinated.
