A scheme designed to support National Health Service staff to improve the environment in which patients are treated, is being extended. Under the ‘Enhancing the Healing Environment’ programme, staff at London hospitals have been able to give parts of their hospitals a makeover. Now other areas of the country are to benefit.Under the scheme, nurses and other staff have been able to take advantage of a grant from the King’s Fund to use colour, light and design to brighten up their surroundings and help ditch the dreary image of grey hospital corridors. Projects range from transforming waiting rooms through to commissioning new pieces of art and sculpture.

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Local councils in England are adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude to e-Government according to the latest picture of how billions of pounds of government investment in technology are being put to use.The findings are published today by the public sector research specialists ‘eGov monitor’ and are based on early analysis of detailed e-Government progress reports submitted by every English local authority last Monday. ‘eGov monitor’ says the study presents new insights and concrete evidence of the issues faced by local government IT managers.

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The Audit Commission has come to the conclusion that providing the taxpayer with assurance that public funds have been properly spent should no longer be the primary aim of its existence. The focus of the public sector in the 21st century is improvement and the Commission is responding to this change so it can make a more valuable contribution to better public services. The Strategic Plan sets out ambitions and priorities for its work in local government, health, housing, communities and the environment, criminal justice, and fire and rescue.The Commission is responding to a growing clamour for a change of approach and it believes that to become a more effective driving force in the improvement of public services and a catalyst for continuous improvement, it must change direction. This means no longer viewing those who manage public services as the principal customers for audit and inspection activity, but concentrating on the experiences of people who need and use public services.

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