By Norma Beavers

One of the big questions facing health unions and professional associations is whether the new Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, will make changes and listen more to experts from within the NHS.

Following research by the British Medical Association (BMA) showing that over half (55 per cent) of junior doctors are likely to leave the UK if their applications for jobs through the criticised Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) are unsuccessful, the BMA requested a meeting with the Health Secretary last month (April).

A project developed to motivate a community to change its lifestyle in South Warwickshire is being given funding from the University of Warwick to roll out across the whole of the UK. A pathfinder Grant from the Department of Health Social Enterprise Unit is being used to develop the Apnee Sehat project, based in Leamington Spa. Warwickshire PCT is involved in the project which will be managed by the University of Warwick.

By Norma Beavers

Luton's Patient and Public Involvement Forum is pushing ahead with plans to re-establish full-time opening hours for its city centre based Luton Walk-in-Centre. As reported last issue (PCT March/April) the Forum has gone head-to-head with Luton Teaching PCT about the centre's scaled back hours. The Walk-in-Centre is open for just four hours a day Monday-Friday with no evening or weekend service. Previously the Walk-in-Centre was open to the public 15 hours a day seven days a week.

By Norma Beavers

Hull Teaching PCT is beginning the process of spinning off its provider services in a move towards achieving its ambition to focus purely on commissioning. The outsourced provider arm is taking shape as an independent company called City Health Care Partnership. As one of a new breed of NHS contractors the community interest company (CIC) is due to go fully live by April 2008. City Health Care Partnership will offer former PCT medical services, health visiting, district nursing, substance misuse, prison healthcare, dental, sexual healthcare and a range of other former PCT-based services.

The Expert Patient Programme is transforming into a community interest company (CIC), better known as a social enterprise organisation. Registered last month, the company is attracting PCT commissioners who are looking to the CIC to run self-management courses for patients with long-term disease states such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and mental illness. PCTs can also commission the CIC to train volunteers to run Expert Patient courses in their local area.

NHS staff say they experience less stress at work and have had fewer work-related injuries finds the 2006 Annual NHS Staff Survey conducted by the Healthcare Commission. The survey asked more than 128,000 staff in 326 trusts to give their views and experiences of working for the NHS in England and it sheds light on the changes that are still needed to improve the quality of workday life.

Advertising feature

A Government programme, 'Fairness in Primary Care Procurement', was launched in March in order to tackle inequalities in access to GP services and to find extra GPs and nurses for areas with the fewest family doctors. The programme is another step towards delivering the Government's pledge made in the White Paper, 'Our Health, Our Care, Our Say', to tackle health inequalities in the most under-doctored areas throughout England.

By Norma Beavers

The Healthcare Commission is to conduct a national audit of how NHS Trusts, GPs and dentists respond to complaints from patients and the public. The audit will investigate what 50 NHS Trusts do when people complain about treatment and what the Trust holds up as 'good practice' in its response. Healthcare Commission inspectors are checking whether NHS Trusts give complaints handling sufficient attention and learn from the issues flagged up. Issues being considered include whether complaints systems are accessible and understood by people using services. Trusts that are found to be below standard will find this affects how they are rated in their annual performance.