Is The Agency Partnership Programme Working?

Agency Partnership Programme

Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary, appears to be failing to deliver on his promise to devolve responsibility to doctors who were “best placed” to control local health spending, and cut back on high-salaried managers who were out of touch with the needs of patients.

According to a recent analysis, family doctors are being outnumbered by non-medical officials in the Government’s reorganisation of local health spending.  Original pledges put GPs at the forefront of its NHS reforms.

The results show that GP’s make up less than half of the places on new clinical commissioning groups, in some areas accounting for less than 20 per cent of the groups.  The report by medical newspaper, Pulse, suggests that former executives of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities are taking control of the new commissioning bodies that will be responsible for spending £60 billion a year on local health services.

Of the 1300 board positions analysed; GP’s held only 645 and nurses just 65 places.

Peter Carter, the chief executive the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Without the experience of senior, experienced nurses, clinical commissioning groups are missing out on a voice which will help them connect with patients and to represent their best interests.”

Clare Gerada, the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “GP’s are much more interested in providing care to patients than in the commissioning process”.

When asked about the report, the Department for Health said: “Clinical commissioning groups are at the heart of plans to deliver more power to doctors and nurses and reduce costs of bureaucracy.”

NHS Agency Partnership Programme

Nursing Personnel are delighted to be part of the new Agency Partnership Programme launched by NHS Professionals at the NHS Confederation today.

The new agency partnership was piloted by The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. Nursing Personnel agreed to undertake a detailed audit of our recruitment process and compliance in order to become a preferred partner along with a competitive pricing structure. We are delighted to have achieved an excellent score rating.

Nursing Personnel nursing agency are very much please to be part of this success story in achieving a 10% reduction on cost and also providing quality staff that meet the strict NHS recruitment and supply guidelines.

Below is the press joint press release between, NHSP and The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust:

New Agency Partner Programme May Help Trusts Cut Agency Costs By Over 10% Per Year

Trusts may save more than 10 per cent on agency costs by joining a new programme driven by NHS Professionals.

20th June 2012 – Launched at NHS Confederation today, the Agency Partnership Programme aims to bring order and cohesion to the agency management process, while instigating substantial cost savings in agency usage.

The programme responds to a real need in the sector to establish a more open, efficient, cost effective and compliant working relationship, giving both parties increased confidence and structure. Trusts benefit from better rates, service, planning and management and agencies have the potential to gain an increased share of agency fill and possibility of work with other NHS Trusts.

Agencies undertake a rigorous process to demonstrate their governance compliance and “best value” rates. Their processes are calibrated against NHS recruitment standards with successfully selected agencies becoming a programme partner. All successful agencies agree to a code of conduct covering the key areas of recruitment practices, compliance, placement and invoicing.

The Agency Partnership Programme will be made available to the managed service providers’ seventy plus client Trusts or as a standalone service for new Trusts,

It has already been piloted successfully in Trusts such as the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Miriam Palk, Clinical Resourcing Manager, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust comments: “We had a culture of dependency on agency staff and many of our agencies were not on appropriate procurement frameworks, presenting a considerable governance risk for the Trust. Our relationship with some of the agencies had also started to sour. Now we’re in a position where we have fewer agencies to deal with, we have confidence that they are all vetted, and we can benefit from competitive rates. This programme gave us a valuable intermediary who could offer the support and processes we needed to negotiate a better relationship with our agencies. This will ensure we can continue to uphold the best standards in patient safety and significantly reduce the burden of high agency recruitment costs.”

Keith Nash, NHS Professionals’ Director of Human Resources, adds: “While widespread, long-term use of agencies to plug gaps in shift-fill must be avoided, there is growing recognition that for Trusts facing particularly pressing short-term difficulties or specific skill-set shortages, agency use may be both inevitable and appropriate. But some Trusts may be stuck in an historic relationship with their agencies which are not providing good value for money or whose staff are simply not fit for purpose. This programme helps monitor and control the cost and quality of their agency staff and build better partnerships for the future.”

“The collaboration between the pilot Trusts, agency partners and ourselves has helped to shape a true partnership model that can be rolled out to other NHS Trusts and agency partners” he says.

NHS Professionals is the leading provider of managed flexible workforce services to the NHS with approximately 40,000 nurses, doctors, and other healthcare staff, as well as administration and clerical staff signed to its bank.

Worcestershire County Council Award for Nursing Personnel

Nursing Personnel Awarded “Approved Contractor of Domiciliary Care for Children and Young People with Disabilities and Complex Health Needs Aged 0-18 in Worcestershire for Worcestershire County Council.”

Nursing Personnel are delighted to announce the award of “Approved Contractor of Domiciliary Care for Children and Young People with Disabilities and Complex Health Needs Aged 0-18 in Worcester for Worcestershire County Council.”

Worcestershire County Council (WCC) has a duty to provide services for children with disabilities and complex health needs and their parents/carers, and is committed to providing social care and support services for children to enable them to remain at home and live as independently as possible.  In response to the government’s agenda of developing more individually tailored packages of care, WCC has therefore established an approved list of contractors who can provide domiciliary care for children and young people aged 0-18 who live in Worcestershire and who meet the children with disabilities criteria to enable better outcomes to be sought for those children and their parents/carers across the whole of the county.

Nursing Personnel is now recruiting Nurses and Carers for this contract. Contact Nursing personnel on 0845 122 0414

GP’s in the Spotlight

General Practitioners have been ordered by MP’s to reduce the number of patients they refer to hospital. If the family doctors succeed in the lowering of patient numbers they will receive extra cash, sometimes up to £9000 a year to surgeries.

The NHS has been advised to save £20billion over the next three years, leaving health trust managers desperate to find ways to cut costs. Primary care trusts are charged per patient if they receive hospital care.

One doctor who took part in a poll said: “If patients knew how much external pressure we were under to keep them out of hospital, they would mistrust our motives”. Another said the system had made him feel so dismayed that he had decided to retire early. Of the 667 doctors interviewed, over 60 per cent felt they were facing “inappropriate demands” from managers.

In other GP news this week, it has been revealed that one in 500 prescriptions written by doctors contains severe errors.

The General Medical Council study found that more than 45million prescriptions written by family doctors per year contain mistakes. Patients most at risk to harm from these errors are children and the elderly.

One in 20 items prescribed to patients gave cause for concern but most mistakes were classed as mild or moderate. Common errors included missing information on dosage and failing to ensure patients received necessary blood monitoring.

The research recommends a greater role for pharmacists in supporting GP’s, better use of computer systems and extra attention paid to prescribing during training. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society commented that the study highlighted the need for GP’s to give pharmacists bigger roles within their practices.

Perhaps if you want to avoid a prescription, follow the latest advice on food poisoning. Garlic, it appears, is 100 times more powerful at fighting food poisoning than two of the leading antibiotics.

Tests revealed the compound, diallyl sulphide, can easily breach a slimy protective biofilm employed by the Campylobacter bug to make it harder to destroy. It is more powerful than erythromycin and ciprofloxacin, and takes much less time to work.

Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning and symptoms include diarrhoea, cramping, fever, and stomach pain. Most infections of this nature come from eating raw or under-cooked poultry or foods that have been cross-contaminated with dirty utensils or surfaces.

It is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK and was responsible for 88 deaths in 2009.

Right to Die with a Blink

A judge has passed a landmark ruling that a father who has suffered from Motor Neurone disease for the past ten years can die.

The patient, known as XB, has won the right to die by having his breathing machine removed. Mrs Justice Theis ruled the 67 year old who is unable to write or speak because of the effects of his disease, should be allowed to go through with a living will indicated to his wife through blinking that he wished to desist.

In a first for the Court of Protection, a department within the High Court which rules on life-and-death medical decisions, it has approved the contested living will which calls for the death of a medical patient. The judge commented: “I hope the next stage proceeds as well as can be expected.

Living wills, or advance decisions, allow a patient with complex or serious illness to determine at which point they want their treatment to stop so they can pass away. These wills were given legal force by the 2005 Mental Capacity Act which critics claim is controversial and has introduced a form of mercy killing into the UK.

The man’s wife explained to the court that he “wanted to be allowed peacefully to end his life.”

The family’s lawyer further commented: “XB was a proud and intelligent man living in the south of England suffering from the terminal illness motor neurone disease. He fought a long battle against the disease and has now reached a stage where he can no longer communicate his needs. His family are pleased that the court were able to clarify that his wishes were made and set out in a valid advance directive. They would appreciate that their privacy is respected at a time of obvious grief.”

Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer and ‘right-to-die’ campaigner, hailed the ruling as a “victory for humanity because it recognises that irrespective of our disabilities we should still have our rights”. But critics of the Mental Capacity Act argue that the case takes the UK another step towards full acceptance of euthanasia.

Britain currently has an army of unpaid carers who take care of loved ones in similar situations and in a poll carried out by the Carers Trust, approximately a quarter reported suffering mental and physical health issues due to the strain of caring and juggling day-to-day life.
Support groups claim there is a postcode lottery when it comes to assisting carers especially since the economic squeeze has reduced funding in adult social care. Elizabeth Holzhausen, director of policy at Carers UK, said: “We are seeing very worrying signs about the impact of local authority cuts and tightening of eligibility criteria.”

Carers need be supported so that they can provide the best care to those they look after and also look after themselves.