ASDA, the supermarket chain backed by US giant shopping chain Wal-Mart, is checking out the benefits of offering out-of-hours surgeries at some of its supermarkets.

North East Essex Primary Care Trust is recruiting the help of patients to plan local health services. Anyone registered with a GP in Colchester or Tendring is invited to attend the workshop at the Princes Theatre, Clacton, on Friday 23 March, starting at 9.30am. The workshop is the second to seek patients' views about healthcare provision in the locality. The first meeting was held last November.

Doncaster PCT has launched a "fast track to care" service for people who have muscle and joint problems. The service can fast track up to 600 new Doncaster patients a month.

By Norma Beavers

The Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forum in Luton is calling on Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewitt for help in winning back full-time opening hours for the Luton Walk-in-Centre. Local people say they have nowhere to go for healthcare services when they cannot get an urgent appointment to see their GP. Josephine MacLean, Chair of the PPI Forum for Luton, says the cutbacks "are not in the interests of local people and are not working for the people of Luton."

In February, thirteen local health areas pledged to meet the Government’s 18-week treatment target a year before the rest of the NHS.

By Norma Beavers - Private sector provision of NHS care is being taken to the limit in the Greater Southampton area where an entire hospital has been contracted to Partnership Health Group, a partly owned subsidiary of Care UK. The contract awarded by the Department of Health, is said to be a step towards meeting the Government's 18 week target. Services are expected to begin in July and will involve capital investment of around £21million.

By Norma Beavers

New guidelines are being developed to regulate how NHS providers will promote their services to patients.

By Norma Beavers - Primary Care Trusts will need to introduce new local incentive schemes to get more GP practices, nurses and other allied health professionals committed to making Practice Based Commissioning a success, says new guidance published by the Department of Health.

A recently published report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) makes the case for specialist hospital centres. Seen as a lifesaver because of their high-tech ability to prevent repeat heart attacks, the specialist centres are home to the type of medical advances that can save up to 500 extra lives every year. If patients are channeled into specialist centres instead of district general hospitals, research suggests 1,000 patients would not find themselves having repeat heart attacks and 250 patients would not have a stroke. Last year, only 1,600 patients received the latest treatment in a specialist hospital unit.