A new piece of work on the use of medicines in this country has concluded that it might be time to advertise prescription-only drugs.The authors suggest that the public – users of medicines – are currently being left out of an important debate about what medicines should be available on prescription, partly at least through restrictions on pharmaceutical companies spreading the word about their wares.
The locations of the first NHS Direct information points have been unveiled. They will be sited to enable people to get advice at handy locations such as supermarkets, airport departure lounges and university campuses.The first 100+ information kiosks of an eventual 500 promised in the NHS Plan are now rolling out, allowing those people who currently don’t have access to the internet to log on to the NHS Direct on-line website.
McIvor R, Humphreys P, Huang GBusiness Process Management Journal, (UK), 2000 Vol 6 No 2
Start page: 120. No of pages: 17
Explores the enabling role of electronic commerce in changing the traditional nature of relationships between customers and their suppliers, showing how it can change the interorganizational processes at the interface between the two parties. Gives an introduction to the features of e-commerce, charting how it is a combination of technologies, applications, processes, business strategies and practices necessary to do business electronically. Presents three case studies outlining how these various e-commerce technologies have been implemented in buyer supplier environments, illustrating the benefits to organizations of effectively implementing technologies such as electronic data interchange and the Internet. Analyses the case studies in relation to: strategic purchasing decisions and their impact on small to medium-sized enterprises; the make or buy decision-making process; and supplier development strategies. Shows how e-commerce is radically changing how organizations trade, how it affects the traditional role of functions involved in the buyer-supplier relationship, how it provides an opportunity for suppliers to add value to their customer’s business, and how it enables suppliers to increase their leverage with customers.
Blanchard K, Carlos J P, Randolph ALooks closely at the three keys to empowerment – sharing information, creating autonomy through boundaries and replacing hierarchy with teams. Employs an easily accessible question and answer format. Outlines the promises and challenges of each step, and provides thought-provoking questions, clear advice and activities that will help the reader create an empowerment culture.
Three pioneering urban regeneration companies have had their progress approved in a new report.The three pilot companies in Liverpool, East Manchester and Sheffield were set up following the call by Lord Rogers’ Urban Task Force for action to rejuvenate urban areas.
Local councils, private contractors and organisations with an interest in local government procurement and commissioning are being invited to put their case to a new taskforce.The Local Government Procurement Taskforce has now begun its review, with the aim of identifying and recommending best practice in what is a fast-changing sector, due to the growth of e-procurement possibilities.
The ‘excellence in the cities’ programme – which helps provide challenge to gifted children in urban areas – is to be extended to almost a third of England’s secondary schoolchildren.The funding is contained in a further 82 million pound package set aside by the Department of Education and Employment to improve secondary education in a similar way to that which has seen improvements in primary schools.
The pioneers of regional government in England have been offered a blank canvas on which to develop what will work best for each area.The guides – or lack of them – arise from some research done for the DETR into what model of regional government would work best.
A survey of eight major sectors of UK business by training consultants TMI for the Institute of Customer Service found that while the importance of complaints was understood intellectually, this was not backed up in practice. This practical undervaluing of complaints has a knock on effect on how they are dealt with. Some 33% of employees surveyed in local government and regulatory bodies said they were less than satisfied with the level of training provided in the handling of customer complaints. A similar number were not satisfied with the recognition they receive for dealing with complaints.None of the sectors surveyed reached world class standards. It was found that many complaint procedures were cumbersome, restrictive and costly. Although complaints are regularly monitored, they are seldom used to educate or improve. Organisations were seen to be paying lip service to customers and their complaints and a lack of customer focus in the design of systems and procedure is in itself a cause for complaint.
Read more on COMPLAINTS VALUED MORE IN THE MIND THAN IN REALITY…
Internet access is expanding rapidly across the UK but while one in two rich families have access the figure for the poorest families is one in twenty. To meet the aim of providing everyone with Internet access by 2005, initiatives have been launched to wire up communities in deprived areas and to make recycled computers available at low cost to low income families.The first pilot of the Wired up Communities initiative goes live early in the new year when some 2000 homes in Liverpool will be brought online. There will be links to the community web with access to government, job, health and education services. Families in these wired-up communities will be offered a range of ways to enhance their lives using new technology. Plans for future pilots will explore the potential for links between schools and the home, including delivery of the National Curriculum, combating absenteeism and keeping track on pupils’ progress.
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