Tests to ensure that the public can receive alerts to their mobile phone in the event of an emergency are being launched in Yorkshire, Suffolk and Glasgow.
The government and three mobile phone companies O2, Vodafone and EE, will conduct separate tests later this year to look at a how different technologies work and how the public react when they receive an emergency alert to their phone.
Increasing pressures are resulting in NHS Trusts facing the choice of maintaining a focus on performance or prioritising the quality of patient care.
A survey of finance leads from clinical commissioning groups and trust finance directors by the King’s Fund’s reveals the financial pressures that trusts are facing. The NHS will struggle to meet its target of delivering £20 billion in productivity improvements by 2015. Only 10 per cent of NHS finance directors surveyed rated the chances of meeting the target as better than 50/50. The majority, 56 per cent, identified a high or very high risk that the target will not be met, while a third, 34 per cent, rated the likelihood of success as 50/50.
Read more on NHS FACING THE CHOICE OF PERFORMANCE OR QUALITY…
With teacher unions planning strikes about pay and pensions, a public sector wide survey has shown that financial worries top the list of those approaching retirement.
The research by Teachers Assurance and carried out by research specialist Opinion Matters found that 24 per cent were worried about the financial aspects relating to retirement, while 26 per cent felt they wouldn’t have enough money when they retire.
Read more on FINANCIAL WORRIES TOP CONCERNS OF PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES APPROACHING RETIREMENT…
The dire reports about failures in the flagship welfare reform programme published in Publicnet during the last few months now have the official stamp of approval. The NAO report published today reveals the scale of the disaster and the magnitude of the challenge to redeem the situation.
The radical reform programme, which will roll major benefits into a single payment, is facing a major cultural challenge as it also evolves a complex IT system.
In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Howard Shiplee, a former Olympics executive who was drafted in to direct the scheme, said he is focusing on ensuring that the “cultural elements” of the welfare reform programme are introduced while an “enhanced” IT system is being developed.
The Metropolitan Police should replace out-of-date, ineffective and overly-expensive systems and invest in new technology. The call comes in a report from the London Assembly.
Decades of under investment has left the Met with 750 separate systems, of which 70 per cent are already redundant. This will rise to 90 per cent by 2015. Some 85 per cent of its ICT budget is spent on maintaining old technology, some of which dates back to the 1970s.
Read more on CALL FOR METROPOLITAN POLICE TO REPLACE OLD AND COSTLY IT SYSTEMS…
Too much time in front of screens – including TV and computer games – combined with a sedentary lifestyle is taking its toll on our children’s wellbeing and increasing their anxiety, according to a new Public Health England briefing paper.
Health and social care executives believe that intgegration is the key to meeting the dementia challenge.
With the number of people diagnosed in the UK with dementia expected to double over the next 40 years and the cost of the disease currently standing at £23billion, dementia is perhaps the most taxing health and social care issue. PA Consulting Group asked senior executives from clinical commissioning groups, NHS England, NHS Shared Business Services, local authorities and the voluntary sector if integration is really the solution and if it is, how it can be made a reality.
Read more on INTEGRATING CARE TO MEET THE DEMENTIA CHALLENGE…
As the tourist season reaches its peak, seaside resorts across England are being urged to open up their beaches to disabled people and benefit from the purple pound worth £80bn a year.
Read more on MINISTER CALLS FOR BETTER ACCESS TO TOURIST SITES FOR DISABLED…
The Government estimates that making public services digital could save between £1.7 and £1.8 billion per year. With effective document processes optimization it will be possible to process documents more efficiently, ensuring best-in-class citizen services. But many organizations are not ready for digital transformation because leaders lack the skills to make it happen.
Read more on DIGITISING PUBLIC SERVICES OFFERS WIDESPREAD SAVINGS BUT PROGRESS IS SLOW…
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