Following the announcement that Leeds University is to provide a leadership programme for 32,000 nurses, midwives and health visitors, Customs and Excise has announced a management development deal with Manchester Business School. 

A pilot version of the National electronic Library for Health is now available at http://www.nhs.uk/nelh  The library, which has been designed primarily for doctors and other professionals, will also be open for patients to read information about medicine and health. It is planned to link the service through the NHS Direct Online website so that more patients can gain easy access.The Cochrane Library and Clinical Evidence database are the main components of the Library. 

Doyle MJournal of Management Development, (UK), 2000 Vol 19 No 7
Start page: 579. No of pages: 21
Explores the extent to which management development is considered as a strategic tool for developing both managers and their organizations. Examines evidence from a number of studies that are critical of management development thinking and practice. Highlights the problems caused by increasingly complex organizational systems and discontinuous change. 

Wheelan S ADescribes how work groups become teams. Includes no jargon, no references - only the author’s research-based experience. Explores how teams in organizations need to be supported through creating expectations of success, setting clear expectations, valuing quality and service, attention to detail and valuing team recommendation and rewarding team performance. 

Leeds City Council has launched a learning network to connect schools, libraries, museums and learning centres to a range of educational resources. It is planned to connect over 400 locations to the network by 2002. This includes some 300 schools and more than 100,000 students. Longer term plans include extending the network to hospitals and nursing homes. 

The success of the five point action plan to revitalise England’s rural areas will depend to a large extent on how well public services meet expectations. The Plan, set out in a White Paper ‘A Fair Deal for Rural England’ was unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.The White Paper, which has taken two years to prepare, contains new initiatives and also pulls together measures and spending plans already announced. 

A new service has been launched to meet the temporary placement market in the public sector. Publictemps (www.publictemps.co.uk) provides a market place for local councils, health trusts and housing associations looking for people with particular skills, to meet people offering themselves for short term contracts. 

The NHS has launched a strategy to develop leadership in the nursing midwifery and health visiting professions as part of the transformation of the health service. The leadership training programme will be expanded and an additional 219 new Nurse Consultant posts will be created. 

A leading council chief executive has been appointed a trouble-shooter to help local councils pull back from the brink of failure.Ted Cantle, who has been chief executive of Nottingham City Council for ten years is to become associate director of the Improvement and Development Agency’s (IDeA) performance support unit from April 2001. 

The government has a new weapon to drive efficiency in the NHS in the shape of National Reference Costs 2000 for each NHS Trust in England.These show latest information on the variation in costs of treatment in different NHS Trusts.
The Government says it will use reference costs as part of its moves to give greater autonomy to NHS Trusts who put funding to best use.