WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
ScotGov: Not all government IT projects fail to deliver benefits - New initiatives to further reduce hospital infections were unveiled by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon last week. Improvements to infection control & bed management IT systems are to be rolled out across Scotland, allowing hospitals to better monitor patients with infections, reducing the risk of bugs spreading.
The improvements to IC&BM IT systems have been piloted in 4 health boards areas - Lothian, Fife, Tayside and Grampian. An evaluation of the pilot has demonstrated that upgraded & integrated bed management and infection control IT systems can reduce infections.
A new, more stringent, target for tackling C.difficile is also being introduced. Health boards across Scotland are now being asked to reduce the rates of the infection by at least 50% among over 65s by the end of March 2011. The move follows recent statistics from Health Protection Scotland which show that the vast majority of boards are well on their way towards meeting the previous target of 30% by the end of March 2011.
Press release ~ Most recent MRSA and C.diff statistics ~ Healthcare Associated Infections ~ IT in Support Of Infection Control ~ Health Facilities Scotland ~
NICE: More is less (life) when it comes to salt & fat - Tens of thousands of lives could be saved, and millions of people spared the suffering of living with the effects of heart disease & stroke, simply by producing healthier food says new National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance, which calls for the food industry to further reduce the salt & saturated fats in the food it produces, building on the good work already started.
Trans fats, which have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and are classified as toxic by the World Health Organisation, should be eliminated from the food we eat, say the NICE recommendations. This guidance sets out very clearly what the government & industry can do to make it easier for people to make healthy choices and thus improve the health of the whole nation.
In the UK, nearly 3m women and 3m men are living with the devastating & disabling effects of cardiovascular disease - which includes heart disease & stroke. Over 40,000 people die from premature cardiovascular disease each year. However, cardiovascular disease is a largely preventable condition and it can be effectively tackled by making simple changes to diet, smoking and physical activity.
Press release ~ Prevention of cardiovascular disease ~ BHF: Saturated fat ~ Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) ~ QMS: Reformulated Meat Products ~ FSA: Survival guide to food ~ Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) ~ SACN’s report, Salt and Health (2003) ~ The Times article on salt intake ~ An ‘in-salt’ to science ~ Check the label by phone ~ FSA: Salt ~ FSA: Fats ~ Salt Omnibus Survey: 2009
NSG: Gearing up for Financial Crash Diet - The Sunningdale Institute recently launched its latest report - Beyond Light Bulbs and Pipelines: Leading and Nurturing Innovation in the Public Sector. In an era which demands government to achieve better outcomes with less, leading & nurturing innovation in the public sector has become more important than ever.
The report concludes that innovation is not just about ‘light bulb’ moments of creativity, but requires strategic leadership. It also illustrates that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not suitable for nurturing innovation. It sets out a number of different models for innovation, suggesting where they are most appropriate and offers guidance on how they can be supported.
Press release ~ Beyond Light Bulbs and Pipelines: Leading and Nurturing Innovation in the Public Sector ~ National School of Government ~ The Sunningdale Institute ~ NSG: The relentless unforeseen: the case for strategy in government ~ NSG: Place Based Innovation ~
Newswire – IfG: Straight from the horse’s mouth - The Institute for Government has teamed up with BBC's Today Programme to find best practice in providing better public services for less cost. Listeners, who are public servants, are being asked to submit their real world examples of ways to save money that could deliver savings elsewhere in government. The IfG will then analyse the results.
LLUK: Training is more valuable if it is appropriate - Lifelong Learning UK are carrying out their annual Sector Skills Assessment (SSA) to understand current & future national skills needs and the drivers of skills demand in the lifelong learning sector. The SSA identifies future skills priorities for the UK and each nation, including skills shortages & skills gaps, along with recommendations for addressing these issues.
LLUK would like you to help them with this important study by answering a few questions (by 31 August 2010) about skills issues that you might be facing as an employer in the lifelong learning sector. By participating in the study you are helping to ensure the accuracy & completeness of the data. In turn the research will enable you as an employer to plan & develop strategies to prepare for the challenges ahead.
Press release ~ Please click here to start the survey ~
DWP: Staying healthy enough to reach an affordable retirement - Iain Duncan Smith and Steve Webb last week outlined the steps they plan to take to ‘fundamentally reform and repair Britain’s outdated and inadequate pension system’. This agenda will be driven by:
* Restoring the link between the State Pension & earnings from 2011
* A call for evidence from the public & interested parties on raising the state pension age to 66
* Consulting on how we will quickly phase out the Default Retirement Age
* An independent review of how to make auto-enrolment work
Press release ~ When should the state pension age increase to 66? – A Call for Evidence ~ Details of the automatic enrolment review ~ ESRC: Inequalities in health in an ageing population, patterns, causes and consequences ~ Health, Work and Wellbeing website ~ Carol Black's review ~ Related documents ~
Newswire – 10 DS: Suggestions from the 'coalface' - The Prime Minister & Deputy Prime Minister have written to public sector workers asking for their ideas on how the Government can do more for less. As part of the Spending Review set out in last week’s Budget, the Government is launching a ‘Spending Challenge’ aimed at engaging the country in thinking about public services and how they are provided.
The first phase of the challenge aims to harness the expertise of those working on the front line, including NHS workers, police officers and civil servants and a website has been set up where they can submit their ideas.
Industry News: Giving slow computers the red card - As we emerge from the worst global recession since the Second World War, the public sector is bracing itself for spending cuts designed to reduce the country’s major budget deficit. For many government departments this means finding true efficiencies now, to set themselves up for a lean few years. We hear reports of new purchases delayed, major projects suspended and recruitment and salary freezes in an effort to reduce expenditure. For information on forthcoming public sector events please click HERE to visit the WGPlus Events Calendar.
However, to be able to absorb cutbacks on this unprecedented scale, will require blowing the whistle on many of the hidden expenses involved with running the civil service. The best way to do this is by ensuring your computers are match fit. One little-understood but very costly issue that is common to most organisations is caused by disk fragmentation. Diskeeper has the ability to resolve fragmentation across networks before it even happens. Click here to read more...
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