Further pressure has been piled on the public sector to improve its electronic accessibility with news of a project to make computers and the Internet accessible to everyone, regardless of income.So far the technology revolution is still limited to those who can afford a PC – and Bill Gates’ dream of one found in every home is still far from being realised.
In a move that parallels efforts to raise standards in the NHS, Health Secretary Alan Milburn is considering creating a new national social care institute of excellence.It would mean that social services, run by local councils, would be subject to the same standard-setting as faced by the NHS with its new National Institute of Clinical Excellence.
Leicestershire and Lincolnshire Health Authorities are connecting 250 doctors’ surgeries and clinics to a network that will link to the national NHSNet. Cable and Wireless was chosen to supply the network because they have two framework contracts with the NHS covering all the services required. The framework contracts allowed them to offer a fast, one month procurement route, compared to the usual twelve months and a one stop shop. By opting for the wall to wall service the Authorities have eliminated the multiple supper cycle of blame which causes extreme problems when things go wrong.The .6m pound project will allow GPs to share patient information , including test results and x-rays and check appointments and budgets with colleagues in hospitals. The aim is to take paperwork out of the system and speed up processes. The time taken to get pathology results back to patients will be halved and because the information will be in an e-mail the handling time spent by the doctor and the receptionist will be reduced. E-mail will also cutthe time now spent in unsuccessful attempts to contact colleagues by telephone. GPs will also have instant access to clinical databases to keep their medical knowledge up to date.
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The NHS has avoided independent scrutiny of its clinical activities since it was founded 50 years ago. It is now falling into line with all other public services with the launch of the Commission for Health Improvement, which has a similar appearance to OFSTED, the schools inspectorate. Chaired by Dame Derdrie Hine and Directed by Peter Homa, former leader of the Hospital Waiting List Task Force, the Commission will examine the quality of care from the patients’ point of view.The initial programme requires that all hospitals, community health trusts, health authorities and primary care groups will be inspected in the next four years. Cancer is a top priority area and a report is due early in 2001.
The health line which gives round the clock advice on 0845 46 47 is joining up with other services. The nurses who give the advice currently suggest to callers that they should take some action themselves, visit the accident and emergency unit or call their GP. A pilot project has been launched in Chelmsford to give advice and support on social welfare issues. The advice will be provided by the Social Services emergency duty team who will be located with the nurse advisors.The joining-up project will be expanded in March 2000 by linking directly to the local community pharmacy service. This will allow NHS Direct nurses to refer callers directly to their local community pharmacy services for further advice on drugs and medicines. The project is being piloted in conjunction with the National Pharmaceutical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
The Department for the Environment Transport and the Regions has called for more joined up thinking by local councils to stem the growth of difficult to let properties. Unpopular housing has grown over the last three years and there are now some 377,000 dwellings that tenants are reluctant to accept. The greatest concentrations are in the north west, north east, Yorkshire and Humberside.Researchers of the Policy Action Team, following up a Social Exclusion Unit report, found that housing policy decisions were taken on a council area basis, despite the fact that the housing market does not recognise the council boundaries. The team found instances where authorities were releasing greenfield site land for housing in excess of the local need. They did not take into account the housing situation in neighbouring areas. The result was that new housing was in direct competition with old housing.
More funds are to be made available from the 250m pound Crime Reduction Programme Budget to tackle burglary blackspots. Some 60 projects have already been launched under the Burglary Reduction Initiative to find innovative ways to defeat burglars.Crime reduction partnerships of police, local councils and voluntary and community bodies are being offered funds to mount a new phase of projects. The amount of funds available will depend on the number of burglaries in the last three years multiplied by 100 pounds. It is planned to fund about 200 projects which will start in March 2000.
In a move to improve the Government’s poor track record in implementing IT, a world-wide search has been launched to find out how others do it better. Recent problems with the implementation of a new IT system for the Passport Office is the latest in a long line of projects to go severely wrong and to cause acute embarrassment. Leaks suggesting that the cost of the debacle will be borne by the public in higher passport charges has brought anger and demands for better project delivery.The search for best practice is being carried out by a team in the Central IT Unit of the Cabinet Office. It is led by Ann Steward, Deputy Director, who is seconded to the Cabinet Office from the Australian Federal Government’s ‘Office of Government Online’.
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Public bodies will now be able to subscribe to Publicnet Briefing through a five year news and information framework contract arranged by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency. The contract brings the benefit of aggregated procurement power to give value for money and government terms and conditions. This is the first time news and information services have been included in a government framework contract.The contract represents a breakthrough in bringing down the barriers between the different areas of the public sector and between different professional groupings. News and views are being increasingly gathered from a wide range of people across the public sector and the opportunity to share knowledge and good practice with a wider audience will support the aim of cross boundary working.
Mystery shoppers, working for the Cabinet Office, who walked into offices of local councils and registrars of births, marriages and deaths, the Benefits Agency, and Job Centres found no signs of joined up government. They also found that the quality of service was generally low. These depressing findings have led to an Action Plan to deliver seamless, simplified and more helpful services.Every year 2.5m households change their address and because there is no joined up working, these changes generate 20m transactions. Currently, e-mail cannot be used to notify a change. The Action Plan envisages, in the long term, that only one notification of a change will be necessary and this will trigger an advice to all other public bodies. The short term target is to set up a Government Gateway by December 1999 and launch a pilot notification system using two departments. This will be extended to a national pilot by 2001.
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