The NHS Future Forum recently published its recommendations after evaluating the ‘listening exercise’. The government published their responses to these recommendations on 23 June.
The Bill still stands but a number of amendments are to be made and debated by the Public Bill Committee for the Health and Social Care Bill. The amendments clarify roles better, ensure accountability from the top down and focus on clinical care and patient feedback throughout the NHS system from the bottom up.
The NHS is a complex body with a plethora of stakeholders. The reforms have been evaluated from different viewpoints such as the effect on healthcare staff, voluntary organisations, local authorities and the NHS structure as a whole. The extent of the possible privatisation of services is an issue for many, but so far the impact on companies that sell their products and services to the NHS has not been fully evaluated.
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The WHO/IARC report suggests a possible link between mobile phone usage and cancer
5 billion people use mobile phones globally and the number is constantly increasing, particularly amongst children and young adults. With the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stating that mobile phones are carcinogenic mobile phone users would be forgiven for being scared to use their handsets.
But looking behind the report does help to put things into perspective. The report, published on 31 May 2011, says that there is some cause for concern with regard to mobile phone usage as radiofrequency electromagnetic fields are possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on an increased risk of a malignant type of brain cancer associated with wireless phone use called glioma.
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Google Maps. Most people know this web-mapping application in its traditional form, giving Internet users around the world access to street maps, route planners and, more recently, Street View. But at Brown University, USA, a team of researchers, funded by the National Institutes of Health, have put Google Maps to a very interesting and very unusual use: creating an Internet-based platform to access 2D images of the neural circuitry in the human brain.
Mapping the brain
The human brain is the centre of the nervous system, containing 100 billion neurons, all passing messages to one another via up to 1000 trillion synaptic connections. Brain mapping, a set of neuroscience techniques used to gain a better understanding of all these neurons and connections, sets out to create a spatial representation of the brain by collecting images (neuroimaging) from a number of different sources. These images are then transformed into data and analysed to gain a better understanding of the brain.
A wealth of information is constantly being gathered on the structure, anatomy, physiology, perfusion, function and phenotypes of both healthy and diseased brains, which can be used in a number of different ways. Some researchers and professionals use it to watch what the brain does as it performs certain tasks, e.g. being able to identify an object, or understanding what someone is saying. Others use it to understand the impact of environmental factors on the brain as a whole, for example, the effects of various drugs, aging and learning. This research also contributes to the understanding of the brain when it is affected by illness or disease, for example, autism, clinical depression or schizophrenia.
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Part 2: Opposition and opportunities
Opportunities with GP consortia - Helping GPs run consortia
The British Medical Association (BMA) welcomes greater clinician control, but has concerns about the burden of responsibility on GPs. In a recent BMA members feedback survey, they found that 80% of just under 1000 of their members were ‘mostly unwelcoming’ or ‘very unwelcoming’ of the bill.
One concern is that the money from the new NHS Commissioning board will be provided to GP consortia based on successful outcomes, not volume, hence competition will be a new factor for GPs to contend with . The GPs have voiced concerns over their lack of skills for running the consortias. As a result, there is an opportunity for companies to build new relationships by offering training and management services to help GPs. Companies that manage this will undoubtedly have an impact on the shape of the new commissioning process.
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MackSense is tracking the contentious Health and Social Care Bill (2010-11) which is now at report stage before it goes for a 3rd reading in the House of Commons, or is it?
The most recent ‘listening’ exercise; has seen a raft of responses, which are calling for an overhaul of the bill. The Labour party have now tabled a motion for it to go back to committee stage, which will mean a line by line re-examination of the bill .
The gist of the responses so far is that the proposed roles will most likely remain intact, but the nature of key stakeholders and the responsibilities they hold may be redefined. This will depend, of course, on how much the government is ‘listening’.
The bill is complex because the NHS is a complex body with a plethora of stakeholders. The reforms have been evaluated from different viewpoints such as the effect on healthcare staff, voluntary organisations, local authorities and the NHS structure as a whole. The extent of the possible privatisation of services is an issue for many, but so far the impact on companies that sell their products and services to the NHS has not been fully evaluated.
MackSense monitors the progress of the bill for its clients and readers
MackSense intends to conduct both quantitative and qualitative market research on these reforms. Our research will help pharmaceutical, medical device, private health insurance and healthcare service providers understand this issue and we will deliver insights into the strategy required for continued market access to the NHS.
Sign up for MackSense’s White Paper: The impact of the Health and Social Care bill that is coming out soon by filling out our contact form.
For now we have written a two-part article that provides a cohesive overview of:
- the bill and the stakeholders (part 1)
- the potential impacts for all those involved (part 2)
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Your mobile phone is used for many different things from playing music, downloading apps to amending spread sheets while on the move and now you can leave your wallet at home and pay for your sandwich with your phone.
There has been talk of using alternatives to cash for some time and as credit and debit cards are used more and more often and cheques are being phased out (the last date that cheques can be used has been set at 31st October 2018 ) other options are needed.
The Oyster card paves the way for cashless payment in the UK
The Oyster travelcard is used in London for travelling on public transport. In September 2007 Barclaycard joined forces with Transport for London (TfL) and the TranSys consortium to introduce a 3-in-1 card. The new card was called the Barclaycard One Pulse and combined a credit card, an Oyster card and smartcard radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which allowed users to pay for small items that cost less than £10 using contactless technology.
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