WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
| No one is without ‘economic stress’ in these austere days |
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A new report published by the TUC (Good practice in workplace mental health) says workers have been experiencing a significant increase in stress, which in some cases has led to mental ill health, as a result of the impact of austerity on their work & home lives. Although there is greater public awareness of mental health, the number of workers affected by mental health issues is enormous, says the TUC. Many employers do not deal with mental health issues and this may lead to many people losing their job, and even worse, failing to find new work as a result of the stigma associated with mental health issues. Good practice in workplace mental health is based on a seminar held to share good practice examples from unions in different sectors and the experiences of delegates. It focussed on preventing problems arising as well as solving them positively when they did occur. |
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TUC: Good workplace practices can spot & resolve mental health issues Good practice in workplace mental health CIPD: 1 in 4 of us have an ongoing difficult relationship at work Vince Cable announces successful partners delivering £20m adult skills project to help mental health New action plan to tackle mental health stigma in schools Lowest earners three times more likely to suffer from poor sleep Mental health scheme to help Hull pupils ‘before they fall’ New guidance to treat people who have both a mental health and substance misuse problem in Wales De-Stressing the working environment can pay dividends MEPs are also currently 'suffering work stress' as they face the issue of re-election DWP: Given the right help most people want to support themselves (2nd item) Guardian: New EU rules could mean more jobs for people with mental health problems |
A focus on improving and refining IT Service Management (ITSM) through the adoption and adaption of ITIL® is helping local authorities to meet objectives despite continued financial pressures. A new case study, presented by AXELOS Global Best Practice, outlines how Essex County Council used ITIL to improve services while reducing costs. The use of ITIL over the past four years has helped to improve the council’s ITSM, with the whole IT department now trained to at least ITIL foundation level. Click here to view the full case study. |
| Clawing back some of the ‘excesses’ of these contracts |
| Government's Operational PPP Efficiency Programme surpasses its target having secured £2.1bn in savings - and is now seeking £2bn extra in savings. There are approximately 700 PPP contracts covering local authority schemes such as schools, and larger infrastructure projects including hospitals, roads & waste management projects. Over the past few years, local procuring authorities have reviewed their existing contracts & arrangements with the private sector; securing efficiency savings by changing the parameters of services or finding better use of the assets concerned. |
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HMT: Efficiency drive by government on PPPs nets £2.1bn Operational PPP Efficiency Programme Savings from operational PFI contracts |
| Deficit reduction is not all about raising taxes, reducing services or cutting benefits |
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Ministers are clear town halls no longer have the luxury of procuring waste management equipment in isolation and therefore must work together to deliver a better deal for local taxpayers. A report has found £70m could be saved by town halls every year simply through better procurement and more standardised processes. It said every wheeled bin in England costs an estimated £5 more than it does in Germany, therefore a council splashing out on 50,000 branded bins could be wasting £250,000 of local taxpayer’s money. The report suggested potential savings of up to 10% on refuse trucks and more than a third (35%) on bins could be achieved through clearer specification and procuring in larger volumes with other councils. |
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CLG: Better bin buying would save £70m every year, says report |
| Opening up a world of information |
| A number of departments are now starting to publish in open formats and major software providers are improving their support. The standards set out the document file formats that all government bodies should use. This makes it easier for citizens to access & work with the information that government publishes. It also enables civil servants to work more efficiently through sharing & collaborating on documents. |
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Cabinet Office: Further progress made on open standards Open Formats for more Open Government Joint open data initiative ‘game changer’ for social enterprise industry Eric Pickles champions open government with new wave of town hall transparency EC welcomes Parliament adoption of new EU Open Data rules Ordnance Survey becomes a Principal Member of the Open Geospatial Consortium |
| Government ICT moves from the equivalent of ‘2G to 4G’ by looking up to the clouds |
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GDS Director of Transformation, Mike Beaven, has blogged about the last 400 days of transforming major public services. Although the exemplar programme has now ended, the work they did – and wrote about on the digital transformation blog – was really only the start. The wider digital transformation of government continues. GDS is working with a number of departments to improve & expand more services to meet user needs, build new platforms for use across government, and get better value for money (up to 40% in one example). |
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Government Digital Service (GDS) Blogs: The end of the beginning: looking to the future of digital transformation – (GDS Blogs: Government as a Platform: the next phase of digital transformation GDS: What Cabinet Office technology data tells us Computerworlduk: Cabinet office claims 40% savings as Fujitsu deal expires |
| Joined-up care by law |
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The Health & Social Care (Safety & Quality) Act 2015 that aims to improve safety & quality of care has received Royal Assent. Among the measures introduced by the act is a duty on health & adult social care providers to share information about a person’s care with other health & care professionals. This means that doctors and other professionals providing a person’s care and treatment will have the information they need so they can treat patients more effectively. Relevant health & adult social care bodies will also be required to use a consistent identifier - the NHS Number - when processing and/or sharing information about an individual for their direct care. This will enable better connection of health & care records as people move between services, so relevant information is shared, meaning safer and better aligned care. |
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But are the NHS & LAs flexible enough to make the necessary changes to service delivery? Man with mental health issues dies after failings by two NHS trusts National survey shows ‘encouraging’ improvements in people’s hospital experiences £10m funding for hospital aftercare for the homeless Commitment to enhancing NHS performance Planning & delivering for patients GPs likely to become named clinician for vulnerable older people Continuity of care failing frail older people in hospitals Hunt: NHS must fundamentally change to solve A&E problems ScotGov: Health & social care integration takes step forward |
| Reducing visits to A&E |
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An extra £550M funding for NHS will improve access to GPs, modernise GP surgeries and improve out-of-hospital care. For patients, this will mean:
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DH: GP evening & weekend appointments to increase ScotGov: Review of out-of-hours primary care |
| Why has it taken so long to introduce? |
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Health & social care providers across the country will benefit from £78m this year to invest in technology & help them move from paper-based clinical records to integrated digital care records. £43m of Integrated Digital Care funding will be used by NHS Trusts & LAs to put in place electronic information systems which make sharing information between care settings easier and ensure that patients only tell their story once. Approval has also been granted for the second tranche of the Nursing Technology Fund which makes £35m available to Trusts, health charities & community health providers to spend on digital services that will support nurses, midwives & healthcare assistants (Editor: What about 10,000 plus Health Visitors?) in their work and help them release time to care. |
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| Backlog reduced |
| British citizens living abroad will need to apply to renew their passports online or at local offices as usual, as one of the contingency measures brought in to cope with the exceptional demand last year comes to an end. More than 20,000 customers benefited from the contingency measure, which was brought in to prevent the disruption of travel plans. |
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Home Office: Temporary passport extension stamp ends for British citizens living abroad |
| And about time too many would say |
| The Government is working closely with ports & carriers for the introduction of exit checks at the border from 8 April 2015. Exit checks will improve the government’s understanding of who is leaving the UK and create a much clearer picture of who is staying in the country when they have no right to be here. They will also help the police & security services track the movements of known criminals & terrorists. |
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| ‘Gamekeepers’ arrested for ‘mishandling’ evidence |
| The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined the Serious Fraud Office £180,000 after a witness in a serious fraud, bribery & corruption investigation was mistakenly sent evidence relating to 64 other people involved in the case. |
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| ICO: Serious Fraud Office fined after evidence from BAE Systems ‘bribery’ investigation wrongly disclosed |
| A sign of the next ‘mis-selling scandal’ |
| The ICO has confirmed it has launched an investigation into allegations about firms sharing sensitive personal data, including pension details. A report claimed several companies involved in the cold calling sector appeared to be breaking the law, and the ICO is now making enquiries to establish whether there have been any breaches of the Data Protection Act or Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. |
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ICO launches investigation into firms sharing sensitive data |
| Silence helps ensure political balance |
| In the run up to an election a period called ‘purdah’ applies to government funded organisations, such as the STFC. They have to be very careful not to do or say anything that could be seen in any way to support any political party or candidate. They will not be issuing any press releases and they will only publish essential news during this time. |
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| Connecting to safety |
| A Patient Safety Alert has been issued by NHS England to raise awareness of the introduction of new medical device connectors. The connectors are being introduced to prevent the danger of connecting the wrong types of medical devices together. All NHS providers who use medical devices affected by the change are asked to ensure that staff are aware and that action plans are being developed to minimise risks during the transition to the new connectors. |
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| NHS England: Patient safety alert – Managing risks during the transition period to new ISO connectors for medical devices |
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More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
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PC&PE: Committee calls for a constitutional convention PC&PE: Constitutional reform should be scrutinised by a dedicated committee ScotGov: First Scottish taxes in 300 years WAG: New freedoms for Welsh councils to improve housing and build new homes WAG: Full devolution of Non-domestic rates marks a major first milestone for fiscal devolution |
