In this edition, Professor Sue Hill talks about the two-day leadership event for healthcare scientists at the end of the month and your final opportunity to provide nominations for the 2012 Healthcare Science Awards.

You’ll also find out more about the 10 cluster Scientific Directors and the projects they are working on to tackle current issues in healthcare science. You can also find out more about the IQIPS accreditation initiative for physiology diagnostic services and the National Laboratory Medicine Catalogue

Read the April edition

The reforms in the new Health and Social Care Act give public health a higher profile role, making the changes that are necessary right across communities, including a new statutory duty shared by the NHS, the Board and the Secretary of State to reduce inequalities in health when they undertake their public health responsibilities in 2013.

Establishing the new public health arrangements in a short timescale is both a challenge and an opportunity for the public health community

Dame Sally is confident the public health community can continue to harness the collective experience, expertise and determination to create a world-class public health system.

Read Professor Dame Sally Davis’ full letter to the public health community

The Department has committed to publishing progress reports every quarter until 2015

Published in December 2011, the  Health visitor implementation progress report set out progress on key areas of the programme during its first year of activity. This is a four year transformational programme linked to public health improvement.  Its key aims are to improve services and health outcomes in the foundation years for children, families and local communities, through expanding and strengthening the health visiting service.

The programme acknowledges that health visitors, working in partnership with GPs, midwives, school nurses, Sure Start Children’s Centres and other local organisations, have a crucial role in ensuring that all young children are able to get best possible start in life and are given the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

The Government made a firm commitment to increase the number of health visitors by 4,200 by 2015. Read the ‘Health Visitor Implementation Plan 2011-15 – A Call to Action, which sets out the Government’s commitments.

Read the Health Visitor Implementation Plan Quarterly Progress Report: April 2012

Download ‘the week’: issue 242, 30 March – 4 April 2012 (RTF, 537KB)

Primary care trusts continue to receive MCA-DOLS resources from the Department of Health to ensure that hospitals have effective safeguards and appropriate training, and that PCTs have independent ‘supervisory body’ functions.

PCTs will work both with commissioning groups and with local authorities to ensure an effective system of safeguards is embedded for the future.

David Flory, Deputy NHS Chief Executive, has written to PCT and NHS chief executives to draw attention to the issues raised in the CQC report.

Read the letter from David Flory
Read the Care Quality Commission report

Newly elected police and crime commissioners will be responsible for cutting crime and improving community safety from 22 November this year.

From April next year, upper tier and unitary local authorities will take on responsibility for commissioning the full range of drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery services.

The 2010 Drug Strategy highlighted the importance of tackling dependence on drugs and alcohol which are key causes of crime, family breakdown and poverty.

Promoting recovery is central to addressing drug use. A key element of government reforms is to give local areas the freedoms and powers necessary to develop a holistic, joined-up recovery system that goes beyond drug treatment and addresses the wider needs of those with dependence on drugs and/or alcohol.

The joint letter on building recovery in local communities was written by David Behan, Director General, Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships at the Department of Health, Stephen Rimmer, Director General, Crime and Policing Group at the Home Office  and Helen Edwards, Director General, Justice Policy Group at the Ministry of Justice.

The Quality Accounts: 2011/12 audit guidance supplements the Quality Accounts toolkit, which provides detailed information about producing a Quality Account. You can download the current Quality Accounts toolkit.

The audit guidance does not apply to foundation trusts authorised before 31 March 2012, which should instead refer to Monitor’s guidance for external assurance on quality reports.

In February 2012, the Department of Health and Monitor wrote to trusts to announce that, building on last year’s dry run, trusts should continue to have their Quality Accounts externally audited.

The vaccine protects against cervical cancer and is offered routinely to girls aged 12 to 13 years (school year 8).

The existing publications will remain in print for those girls who have yet to complete their three-dose courses of Cervarix, even if this means they will need vaccinating next academic year (2012/13) while other girls are starting their courses with Gardasil.

The publications can easily be distinguished as the new leaflet features a black mobile phone on the cover and the existing one a pink phone. The new leaflet also carries the date of the change over.

Strategic health authorities (SHAs) will be running local events and initiatives to ensure organisations are fully compliant with this guidance. Primary care trusts and NHS trusts will fully participate, and foundation (FTs) are encouraged by Monitor to participate in the events and any other local initiatives established by SHAs to manage and resolve NHS differences.

View the Department of Health and Monitor – joint supplementary accounting guidance letter.

If you have any queries about the joint guidance:

• FTs should direct them to Ian Ratcliffe (ian.ratcliffe@monitor-nhsft.gov.uk),
• other NHS bodies should direct them to Colin Forsyth (colin.forsyth@dh.gsi.gov.uk),
• arms length bodies, to Maddie Porter (madeline.porter@dh.gsi.gov.uk).

He explains there are two simple principles at the heart of the Act – that patients should share in every decision about their care and those responsible for patient care should have the ‘freedom and power to lead an NHS that delivers continually improving care’.

In a letter to clinical commissioning group leaders, he reassured them:

‘ … the breadth and scope of competition in the NHS is something you will determine, in the interests of your patients. It will not be imposed upon you from Whitehall.’

He emphasised to chief executives of NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts that:

‘The Government’s ambition is to ensure all providers of NHS-funded care … are genuinely free from political interference to focus on how best to treat their patients … to design their services … and to continuously improve the quality of their services.’

And when writing to the chief executives of local authorities, Mr Lansley highlighted that:

‘The Health and Social Care Act will help ensure you are no longer bystanders in the decisions that affect your local communities.’

Read letters from Health Secretary Andrew Lansley