The Guardian reports today on a warning by the Royal College of Nursing that almost 1,500 jobs are at risk because of the replacement of NHS Direct.
It said that NHS Direct would close 24 of its 30 call centres and it had emerged in a consultation that up to 1,482 ‘wholetime equivalent’ staff could lose their jobs.
Instead the public will be expected to ring the new 111 non-urgent phoneline, which will largely be provided by private firms.
Elsewhere, the BBC reports that the medical director of the NHS in England plans to publish individual surgeons’ results within two years.
Sir Bruce Keogh believes this will force clinicians to focus on their performance and seek help when surgical practice falls below acceptable standards.
He says he wants to roll out publication of individual surgeons’ results in England to help drive clinical outcomes.
‘It forces you, if you know your results are going to be out in the public domain, to concentrate on your own performance and data [and] to seek help from colleagues.
‘It encourages you to really consider whether you are operating on the right patients and doing the right operation at the right time.’
Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph tells readers about a report commissioned by the Department of Health which suggests that on fewer students should be admitted to medical school from next year to avoid a glut of consultants in the NHS that would be a waste of taxpayers’ money and risk losing the best doctors to jobs abroad.
The DH commissioned the Health and Education National Strategic Exchange (HENSE) to make recommendations on the size of the workforce. It has recommended that medical student numbers need to be reduced by two per cent from next year, a reduction of 124 places, the report said in order to prevent an oversupply of consultants once they qualify in 2015.
And finally the Independent says the number of people struck by a debilitating winter vomiting bug has rocketed with more than half a million Britons falling ill this winter.
Medical student numbers need to be reduced by two per cent from next year, a reduction of 124 places, the report said in order to prevent an oversupply of consultants once they qualify in 2015.
