Archives for April 2004

BIG BUSINESS: THE CORPORATIZATION OF PRIMARY CARE IN THE UK AND USA

Abstracts, PublicNet: 22 April, 2004

By Judith Smith and Kieran Walshe.The corporatization of primary care in the USA and the UK over recent years has transformed the way that these services are managed and delivered. Traditional approaches based around small practices of doctors and their teams as the primary organizational unit have been largely overtaken by new models in which doctors, nurses and other primary care professionals work within much larger organizations. This article explores the experience in the USA and the UK of seeking to organize primary care more corporately, and suggests that a tightly managed organizational model does not work well in primary care. Looser, network-based models are needed in which some of the benefits of corporatization can be achieved while the traditional small-organization virtues of primary care can continue to thrive.

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REORGANIZATION TWO-TIER LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOR REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES

Abstracts, PublicNet: 22 April, 2004

By Michael ChisholmReferenda will be held later in the year in three northern regions of England about the establishment of elected regional assemblies. If these are established, the areas with two-tier local government would be converted to unitary structures. The Government asserts that this would be necessary because the retention of the two tiers would be the retention of one tier too many, but offers no evidence to back up this assertion.

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POLICY RESPONSES TO SOCIAL EXCLUSION

Book News, PublicNet: 21 April, 2004

By Janie Percy-SmithThis timely book examines current policy responses to social exclusion. It begins by asking: what do we mean by social exclusion? What are the dimensions of social exclusion? How is it measured? and What are the common threads that run through contemporary policy? Each contribution assesses a different area of policy, describing the context for the intervention, examining key themes and lessons and assessing the likely effectiveness of policies.

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NHS JOBS ON LINE

Headlines, PublicNet: 21 April, 2004

The NHS online recruitment trial started at the end of last year is now being converted to a full scale national roll out. The trial website has displayed around 500 jobs daily. Some 24,000 job seekers registered with the service and over 3000 have applied for jobs on-line. The service at http://www.nhs.uk/jobs   allows users to search for jobs, find jobs that match their skills, and apply for jobs online. They can also sign up to a daily ‘Jobs by Email’ to receive new vacancies to suit their job search.Already around a hundred NHS organisations across the country have confirmed dates for taking up the service, which offers immediate access to millions of job seekers. The first employers to join the service in April and May are in the North West, West Yorkshire, London and the South East, the South West and Birmingham.

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COALITION CUTS CRIME RATE

Headlines, PublicNet: 21 April, 2004

The crime rate has fallen by nearly 28% in the first wave of areas with neighbourhood wardens. The wardens are a key element of the innovative approach which involves a coalition of stakeholders including local residents, representative steering groups and a range of partnerships. The evaluation of the first 84 areas to get neighbourhood wardens was carried out by Social Development Direct in collaboration with NOP and Crime Concern, on behalf of the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.The findings also show that in the warden areas evaluated there was also a 10 per cent decline in fear of mugging and street robberies and a 6.5 per cent decline in worry about bogus callers. The evaluation also found that neighbourhood wardens play a unique role as the friendly face of regeneration. They forge links between local people and other agencies to tackle the issues that affect quality of life in disadvantaged communities.

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THINK TANK WANTS COUNCILLORS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROCUREMENT

Headlines, PublicNet: 20 April, 2004

Members of local councils should play a greater role in the procurement processes that deliver local services. This will allow them to meet the ‘political priorities’ on which they have been elected. The call comes from Procurement & Partnership: Making it work, Doing it Right – a new collection of essays by key experts and professionals from across the local government procurement field. The document is published by the New Local Government Network, an independent think tank.The argument for councillor involvement is put by Bryony Rudkin, Leader of Suffolk County Council: ” The idea that councillors should be kept away from procurement is frankly quite baffling because we have the skills between us that represent the community. For members, it means full involvement in the development of the procurement strategy, and in larger procurement projects as well. It’s an ability to allocate saving corporately.”

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CALL FOR CULTURAL CHANGE IN DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

Headlines, PublicNet: 20 April, 2004

There needs to be a cultural change in the skills, behaviours, knowledge and training of more than 100 occupations involved in delivering sustainable communities. This is the key message from the Egan Skills Review which was set up to look at skills needed by built environment professionals to deliver the Sustainable Communities Plan. The Task Group, headed by Sir John Egan, included people with backgrounds in housing and commercial development, retail, planning, regional and local government, social housing, environment and process re-engineering,The Task Group found that the current approach was, in many cases, failing to deliver the priorities in the Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan and that systems are falling to provide what people want. In order to turn the situation around a new approach is needed with new skills, and new ways of working. This will involve changing the attitude, behaviour and knowledge of everyone involved. The Group recommends cultural change in professional skills and training. This would involve such innovations as planners interacting with highways engineers, environmental officers teaming up urban designers, and developers engaging with community groups.

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GOAL DIRECTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Book News, PublicNet: 19 April, 2004

By T Haug, K V Grude and E S Andersen.The book sets out a unique methodology that has been developed and refined by the authors over 20 years. During this period it has been adopted as a standard approach by organizations all over the world. It highlights the close relationship between managing change and the key ideas of GDPM. The central focus is to develop an understanding of, and commitment to, managing successful and lasting change. Throughout the text, the authors constantly emphasize the need to develop people’s involvement and commitment to the project. The authors refer to this as ‘PSO’ (people, systems and organization). It gives detailed and practical guidance on how to plan, organize and control these PSO projects effectively by presenting the methods and tools that will increase significantly the probability of success.

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PARTNERSHIPS GET DRAFT GUIDE ON RACE EQUALITY

Headlines, PublicNet: 19 April, 2004

The Commission for Racial Equality has begun consultations on a new guide for partnerships involving public authorities and others on their duty to promote race equality. A draft has been drawn up together with a questionnaire designed to get feedback on what the final guide should contain.’Public authorities and partnerships – a draft guide for consultation’ is being circulated by the CRE, which says it is keen to get comments from a wide range of organisations and individuals. The deadline for comments is May 7th.

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MAGISTRATES SHADOWING SCHEME EXTENDED

Headlines, PublicNet: 19 April, 2004

A scheme designed to give more people from the minority ethnic communities first hand experience of the work of magistrates’ courts is to be tried out in London and eleven other areas after successful pilots in seven other parts of England and Wales.The Magistrates Shadowing Scheme is run jointly by the Department for Constitutional Affairs and Operation Black Vote. The aim is to enable nearly 100 people from black and minority ethnic communities across the country to shadow two mentor magistrates over a six-month period.The participants will observe court proceedings and watch how decisions are made. They will each be expected to spend at least 10 days sitting with their mentors on a broad number of cases, in a programme that has been devised by Operation Black Vote and the Magistrates’ Association.The launch of the London scheme marks the second phase of the Magistrates’ Shadowing Scheme, which will also cover Merseyside, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, Watford and West Hertfordshire, Oxford, Derby & South Derbyshire, Bradford, Walsall, Vale of Glamorgan and Burnley. In each of the regions six to eight people have been selected by OBV and the local Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee. They are from a broad mix of African, Asian, Caribbean, Chinese and other minority ethnic communities. They will each attend a two-day seminar where they will consolidate and put into perspective what they have experienced.

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