HEADLINE NEWS
FINANCING LONG TERM ILLNESS IN THE NHS
Available 27 July
This concise guidance is essential reading for finance and service professionals operating within NHS acute, non-acute and primary care trusts.
The guidance examines clinical and policy issues and financial mechanisms for promoting good practice with a number of case studies.
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CIPFA NEWS
CONFERENCES/SEMINARS
Health Conference 2005
This annual event will be held in Bournemouth on the 6 and 7 October. More details will be provided as soon as they become available.
To register and receive more details of events please contact Alexandra Aarons, CIPFA, 3 Robert Street, London, WC2N 6RL (tel 020 7543 5751; e-mail alexandra.aarons@cipfa.org). Further details can also be found on the CIPFA website: www.cipfa.org.uk/shop.
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CIPFA HEALTH ADVISORY NETWORK
Commissioning Developments - setting the right balance of primary and secondary care
Proactive commissioning is central to the success and financial stability of health economies. PCT and practice-based commissioners are expected to make sizeable reductions in acute hospital admissions, and achieve material financial savings, through better management of chronic conditions and greater use of non-acute care. However, creating a primary care led NHS has proved to be more complex in practice than in theory. What is going to be different this time? And what is our vision of the acute hospital of the future?
As well as providing an up to date summary of key commissioning developments, this one day workshop will explore how the NHS can use the tools at its disposal to encourage the successful management of long-term illness. We will assess the financial risks within the Department of Health strategy, and identify some hidden costs. We will also consider apparent contradictions between financial policies (especially payment by results) and building good primary care, and how they can be resolved.
Commissioning developments - setting the right balance between primary and secondary care
28 June, Central London
7 July, Central London
Effective commissioning - minimising risk
Five years ago, the NHS plan gave us a vision for a new health service based on greater patient choice and local involvement. The current programme of NHS reforms is about moving that vision towards reality.
This workshop will mainly focus on Payment by Results, but also take a closer look at some of the other key reforms and their 'joint' impact on financial and overall organisation stability. We will examine and discuss the main causes of financial and other risks that are now being faces by many organisations and how these risks might be minimized.
Effective commissioning - minimising risk
14 July, Central London
21 July, Central London
Developing robust costing in the NHS
With local reference costs now forming the basis of the national tariff, never before has the incentive been greater for organizations to ensure that their provider activity is collected, coded and costed accurately. How can financial stability be predicted if local costs are not accurate?
This workshop will enable participants to gain this crucial awareness. It will look at all aspects of the costing 'lifecycle' from recording the activity all the way through to the production of the national tariff. It will focus on how to improve the overall quality and reliability of local costing and how to utilize the published data to best effect.
Developing robust costing in the NHS
22 September, Leeds
5 October, Manchester
19 October, Exeter
15 November, Leicester
29 November, Newcastle
6 December, London
Attendance on these workshops can count towards CIPFA's CPD Scheme as laid out in CIPFA CPD Guidelines.
If you would like further details about any of the above workshops or would like to find out more about the CIPFA Health Advisory network, please visit our website at www.ipf.co.uk/healthcare or email eve.billings@ipf.co.uk.
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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Strong and effective financial management is key to well-managed and sustainable public services.
The CIPFA Financial Management Model (FM Model) is a web-based self-assessment tool that examines financial management in the public services. It tests how an organisation measures up against 42 good practice statements and places that organisation into a spectrum of three 'styles'- Enabling Transformation, Supporting Performance and Securing Stewardship - to build a picture of how finances are working and identify areas for improvement. A key feature is the ability to survey opinion throughout the organisation.
The FM Model sits on a secure website that lets users score and evidence the good practice statements, revisit, collate and report on their scores and target questions at key people to test views and opinions. It offers organisations the opportunity to:
- Manage strategic risk through self-assessment;
- Identify strengths and areas for improvement;
- Prioritise improvement;
- Be better prepared for inspections and audit;
- Review and track its progress over time;
- Benchmark performance against other comparable organisations
For more information visit www.cipfa.org.uk/shop
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PUBLIC MONEY AND MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (PMPA)
The Public Management and Policy Association (PMPA) is a national membership organisation, managed by CIPFA, dedicated to helping managers, policy makers and academics keep in touch with and understand the wider cross-cutting developments in public policy making that affect the governance, general and financial management of the public services. In addition to excellent networking and personal development opportunities across the public services, the benefits package includes:
- Priority booking for PMPA lectures
- Subscription to Public Money and Management
- Up to three PMPA reports each year
- The PMPA quarterly Review
PMPA lectures in 2005 include:
19 July 2005
Professor John Benington: From Private Choice to Public Value
Chair: Dr Clive Grace. Venue: Robert Street, London
22 September
David Hunter: The Fall and Rise of the NHS
Chair: Michael Clarke. Venue: Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham
8 November 2005
Professor Andrew Gray: Are We Being Served Appropriately? Citizens, Clients and Customers as Service Beneficiaries
Venue: Robert Street, London
8 December 2005
Various Speakers. PMPA Annual Conference
Register your interest with Rikki Ellsmore, email rikki.ellsmore@cipfa.org
Venue: Institute of Public Finance, Queen Anne's Gate, London
Reports
The latest PMPA publication 'The Future of Local Government' authored by Sir Jeremy Beecham- is now available.
New Pmpa Report Available In July
In Association with the British Council, the third edition of The State of Britain: a Guide to the UK Public Sector by Andrew Massy with forward by Rt Hon Lord Kinnock, Chair of the British Council.
Membership
Individual Membership is £80 (£75 for CIPFA and other associate member organisations) and £35 for retired members and full time students. Corporate rates start at £350 for up to five persons registered by their employing organisations to receive the benefits package.
Full details about PMPA events and activities are available on the association's website www.pmpa.co.uk or email Sandra Harper at info.pmpa@cipfa.org asking for an information pack and sample publications.
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PUBLICATIONS
Practice Based Commissioning
The Panel has commissioned guidance on the practical steps to implementation that is due to be published autumn 2005.
Public Money and Management (PMM)
Public Money & Management is owned and managed by CIPFA, and is the official journal of the Public Management and Policy Association which is published on behalf of CIPFA by Blackwell Publishing.
Public Money & Management has a multidisciplinary and international audience. It publishes articles which contribute new knowledge as a basis for policy or management improvements, or which reflect on evidence from public service management and finance in order to suggest topics for research. Readers include: officials in all types of public service organizations; academics; consultants and advisers working with the public services; politicians; journalists; and students on both academic and professional courses.
In response to a steady rise in sales and submissions, Public Money & Management increased its frequency in 2004 from quarterly to five issues per year. The number of pages in the volume was also increased: from 256 pp. a year to 320 pp. Future issues in 2005 will be published in June, August, and October. Articles for consideration by the editors should be sent to micky@mickylavender.com.Public Money & Management has a strong reputation: citations have increased steadily in the UK and abroad and its articles were prominent in submissions by academics to the Research Assessment Exercise of 2001. Blackwell Publishing's recent survey of readers has also strongly endorsed Public Money & Management's position as a bridge of academic and practitioner interests.
For further information on PMM and details on how to subscribe, please see www.cipfa.org.uk/pt/pmm.cfm.
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TIS HEALTH ONLINE
Are you looking for a rewarding way to earn CPD credits? The TIS Health editorial board is currently looking for health finance practitioners to produce information for the website, including the following topics:
- Patient Choice
- Priorities and Planning Framework
- Foundation Trusts
- Information for Scotland
- National programme for IT
- Counter-fraud
- Care Trusts
The website acts as a portal or 'one stop shop' for all NHS finance practitioners to access and share best practice and improve performance. All contributions count towards CPD credits, and meetings offer members an opportunity to meet other health practitioners. Travel and subsistence costs are met by IPF, and members are entitled to complimentary access to www.tisonline.net for the duration of their membership.
If you are interested in contributing, or would like free trial access to the site, please contact Sarah Ellison on 020 7340 1203 or at sarah.ellison@ipf.co.uk.
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OTHER NEWS
ENGLAND
AUDIT COMMISSION
ICT fraud and abuse are still posing major problems to public sector organisations and those who use their services, an in-depth survey shows.
New technologies, like the use of handheld devices (PDAs) and wireless networking, are creating fresh risks that public services are only slowly reacting to. And, despite better ICT security systems, a 'culture of complacency' and a failure to ensure that staff understand the rules is undermining the effectiveness of ICT security arrangements.
The survey, carried out in 2004 by the Audit Commission, is based on the responses of more than 400 public sector organisations, including NHS trusts, local authorities, police and fire authorities. 200 cases of ICT fraud and abuse were identified in the survey. The results are published in the report An Update on ICT Fraud and Abuse 2004.
For more details visit http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/reports
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COUNTER FRAUD SERVICE
As part of a more comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding, the NHS Counter Fraud Service and General Medical Council have agreed to share information relating to fake and fraudulent doctors. The agreement means that the NHS CFS and the GMC will be able to better protect NHS Resources from fraud and ensure that patients are better safeguarded.
For more details visit http://www.cfsms.nhs.uk/files/PR%20-%20MoU%20with%20GMC.pdf
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EFFICIENCY
English local councils intend to make efficiency gains exceeding £1.1 billion this year (2005/6), according to a survey published by IPF, the public services management support arm of CIPFA.
Councils plan to meet the government target for efficiencies this year and appear to be confident that they can carry forward their programme of improvements in the future.
For more details visit http://www.ipf.com/
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FOUNDATION TRUSTS
Monitor has issued a consultation paper on Best Practice in Treasury Management for NHS Foundation Trusts with a closing date for comments of 15 July 2005.
The consultation paper is available at http://www.regulator-nhsft.gov.uk/publications.php?id=640.
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SOCIAL JUSTICE
The government must use progressive taxation to deliver social justice through more generous services for children and older people according to a report, In Social Justice: Building a Fairer Britain, by the Institute for Public Policy Research. The report calls for a 50 per cent top rate of tax to fund universal early years services, more generous tax credits for families and free personal care. The tax would apply to earnings over £100,000.
More information is available from www.ippr.org.
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SCOTLAND
NHS SCOTLAND
Scotland lacks a clear strategy for improving performance and driving large scale reform in the NHS in Scotland, according to a report published by the Parliament's Audit Committee.
The Committee found that, given the increased financial investment in the service, the scale and pace of improvement in key areas is "disappointing".
The inquiry examined whether the significant increased funding for the NHS in Scotland is delivering improvements and providing value for money.
For more details visit http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/nmCentre/news/news-comm-05/cau05-004.htm.
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