Acute sector productivity dwarfs everything in the search for savings – HSJ
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens this week choose to challenge the nature of relationships held dear by many clinicians.

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CCG hires 10 US physician associates to ease pressure on GPs – GP Online NEWS
A Midlands CCG has recruited 10 physician associates from the US to help tackle the growing GP workforce crisis.

Emergency care to be ‘completely redesigned’ within three years, says Stevens – HSJ
Urgent and emergency care will undergo a “complete redesign” and be in “a very different place by the middle of this Parliament”, the NHS England chief executive has announced.

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Health secretary launches crackdown on NHS executive pay – HSJ
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has ordered an immediate review of executive pay at every NHS hospital in England.

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Use of staffing agencies in the NHS
The Secretary of State for Health has outlined a package of measures to help cut costs while improving frontline care.  The measures focus on the spiralling agency staff bills which cost the NHS £3.3 billion last year. This was more than the cost of all that year’s 22 million A&E admissions combined. Other controls include limiting the use of expensive management consultants.  New rules will be introduced which will: set a maximum hourly rate for agency doctors and nurses; ban the use of agencies that are not on approved frameworks; put a cap on total agency staff spending for each NHS trust in financial difficult and require approval for any consultancy contracts over £50,000.

Stevens interview: Dealing with agency staff is NHS’s ‘biggest operational risk’ – HSJ
NHS trusts will ‘undoubtedly’ struggle to employ the doctors and nurses they need as the service clamps down on the cost of temporary staff from next month, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has told HSJ.

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Stevens promises tougher line on struggling CCGs – HSJ
The responsibilities of severely struggling clinical commissioning groups could be passed to other CCGs, local authorities or “integrated providers”, Simon Stevens has said.

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Health and social care priorities for the Government: 2015–2020
The Nuffield Trust has published Health and social care priorities for the Government: 2015–2020. The briefing outlines ten key health and social care priorities for the new Government which the trust believes the new government should focus upon. The briefing draws on our published and forthcoming research, expert opinion and insights from key figures in the health and social care system.