Government
- Proposals to create an "NHS headquarters" or a separate "management executive" within the Department of Health are being developed by David Nicholson, the chief executive of the health service. The move would be the first step towards the creation of a more independent board to run the £90bn business the health service is about to become, reducing the day-to-day involvement of politicians. Gordon Brown, the chancellor, is reported to be considering the idea as one of his early acts in office, assuming he becomes prime minister. The proposals reflect the changing nature of the NHS as it becomes more of a commissioning organisation and less of a direct provider of care. Hospitals are being encouraged to become free- standing businesses as foundation trusts, and the private and independent sectors are being given a bigger role. Staff are also being encouraged to form social enterprises, so that they are no longer employed by the NHS but sell their services. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/75c67444-e7c8-11db-8098-000b5df10621.html
- The Competition Commission's investigation of supermarkets is to hang over the grocery industry for still longer after the inquiry timetable was pushed back for a second time yesterday. The watchdog had planned to issue its provisional findings next month but they will not be published until September, with a final report due next February. It is focusing on local competition in the grocery sector amid fears the big four chains are abusing their power. Some competition experts said they suspected that the Commission had realised that it needed to probe the sector in greater depth if its conclusions were not to face a legal challenge from either supermarkets or suppliers. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/89eabd76-e7c9-11db-8098-000b5df10621.html
- Schools should not "over discipline" persistently unruly pupils for fear of alienating them and should instead hand out praise five times more often than punishments, the Government has said. New guidance on school discipline published yesterday cautions teachers against repeatedly praising only "the same good pupils", suggesting that rewards also be given to persistent miscreants who show an improvement in behaviour, however small. It cites research recommending a "rewards/sanctions ratio of at least 5:1". Rewards might include "good news" postcards sent home, "special privileges" or "prizes". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1637532.ece
- Doctors and nurses are likely to be banned from dating former patients unless the professional contact with them was minimal, according to new guidelines to regulate sexual behaviour between clinicians and patients. The proposals, the first of their kind, will affect all healthcare professionals and are expected to go before ministers for approval in June, according to Nursing Standard magazine. The 22-page report, Clear Sexual Boundaries Between Health Professionals and Patients, was published in draft form last week. It was drawn up by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE), a government body that oversees the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and seven other healthcare regulators. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article1637538.ece
- Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, has defended the Government's decision to siphon off £100 million of lottery money from arts spending to bail out the 2012 London Olympics. She said that the sums were small and suggested that the switch would cause little hardship. Putting herself on a collision course with arts chiefs, she told them to see the issue in a "broader perspective" and said that no cuts in the arts were necessary because they were already well funded by the Government from other sources. The Government last month announced that from 2009 it will switch £675 million from the lottery to help meet the spiralling bill for the London Olympics. Some £100 million of this will come from the arts and £90 million from heritage spending. This will take to £2.2 billion the total amount of cash funnelled off from traditional lottery good causes as the cost of the 2012 games has soared to £9.3 billion. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/11/narts11.xml