Author: Andy Cowper

New figures from the Department of Health show the UK continues to make progress on reducing infant mortality. The latest Mortality Target Monitoring (Infant mortality, inequalities) Update, which includes data for 2007, shows that in 2005-07 there were 9,846 infant deaths overall in England and Wales, giving an overall rate of 4.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. This was a decrease on 5.0 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2004-06.

The DH’s latest figures on the uptake of NHS patient choice show a maintenance or improvement in the figures for people’s understanding and uptake of the option to choose their hospital for treatment.

The Conservative leader David Cameron told a meeting of businessmen that an incoming Conservative government would phase out final salary public sector pensions. The Conservatives would, if elected, move away from the pension based on a percentage of final salary, and towards a ‘defined benefit’ or ‘money purchase’-type scheme where the pension is contingent on the employee’s level of contributions.

A recent spot check survey on hospital infection risks by the Healthcare Commission found only 20% of hospitals surveyed complying with the mandatory hygiene code.

A new report from the influential Kings Fund think-tank warns that GP practice-based commissioning (PBC) is still failing to deliver. The report, Practice-based commissioning – reinvigorate, replace or abandon?, is based on new research, and confirms the findings of previous reports on PBC. PBC is a core DH policy to the development of world-class commissioning (which is basically the iterative analysis of local populations’ health needs, and the redesign of services to meet these needs in the community where possible).