News

Barts and the London NHS Trust is to cut 630 jobs, including 250 nursing posts, making the workforce 10 percent smaller. Job losses are expected to come through 200 compulsory redundancies and the rest through voluntary redundancies and other staffing changes.

A poll of around 2,000 members of the Royal College of General Practitioners has revealed that almost two-thirds oppose NHS reforms. The British Medical Association is going to hold an emergency meeting next month regarding the reforms.

NHS hospitals in England could save around £500m a year if they improve the way they buy everyday supplies, a report says.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today warned that major NHS reforms were unlikely to meet their objectives unless significant changes were introduced to the Health and Social Care Bill.

The Guardian online reports that NHS Employers is to write to HR directors in England about proposed salary and increments freezes. The RCN is quoted as rejecting the latter. NHS Employers has said that they hope the unions will reconsider the proposal.

A nurse-led service which greatly reduced unplanned hospital admissions among older people and saved the NHS more than £400,000 over a nine month period, has beaten 300 nominees to win the Royal College of Nursing’s Frontline First Innovation Award.

A group of 190 nurses, including a number of RCN members, have written a letter to The Times talking about their fears over proposed reforms to the NHS.

The first declarations of mixed-sex accommodation have revealed that there were 11,362 hospital stays in England in December that involved at least some time on a mixed sex ward. It means that for every 1,000 stays in hospital, around eight involved spending time on a mixed sex ward. Hospitals in the North West region involve the highest number of stays. Andrew Lansley yesterday announced that hospitals would be charged £250 per patient who shares a mixed-sex room.

The RCN has received extensive media coverage following the publication of a letter to The Times, signed by the College and other unions, expressing concern over the speed and scale of NHS reforms.

The Independent is reporting on the RCN's rejection of the proposal by NHS Employers to freeze increment pay for staff in return for a 'no compulsory redundancies guarantee' for some staff.