Author: Andy Cowper

The Darzi review High-quality care for all was launched yesterday, with NHS chief executive David Nicholson promising that by 2010 hospitals will be able to increase their income by up to 3% on the basis of achieving quality thresholds. From 2010, the national tariff for payment will change from being based on the national average cost to that of the most efficient 25% of hospitals: initially, for cateracts, stroke care and hip fracture, but if successful, this will change across the board.

A new checklist is to be introduced in all British hospitals with the aim of reducing errors during surgery. The Safer Surgery Checklist was launched yesterday, and is designed to reinforce the verification of basic precautions prior to, during and after surgical procedures.

Conservative leader David Cameron will today tell the Royal College of Surgeons that by abolishing targets and focusing on survival rates, a future Conservative administration could save up to 100,000 lives a year.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has promised that the Next Stages review of the NHS by Health Minister Lord Darzi will not lead to structural changes. Mr Johnson also told delegates at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Manchester that there would be “no new targets”.

A new survey of GP prescribing has found that despite a 2004 safety warning, powerful psychiatric drugs that can cause strokes are still being prescribed for dementia patients.