New core standards for Assistant Practitioners are published today by Skills for Health, the Sector Skills Council for healthcare.
The standards were developed in response to requests from employers and commissioners concerned at variation in the responsibilities, education and training of staff employed in the role.

Government health officials from 13 African countries today launched the first-ever push for accreditation of the continent’s medical laboratories, starting a process that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Government believe will be an historic step to strengthen health systems and lead to better care for patients.

The second national audit of patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has found that many services for patients with IBD have improved; however, there was still wide variation in the provision of care and many services had not improved at all. Success stories include the provision of prophylactic heparin, more designated specialist ward areas and [...]

Today’s (Thursday 16 October 2008) Healthcare Commission report on the state of the NHS in England shows: "significant improvements and is testament to the hard work and dedication of doctors and their health professional colleagues", commented BMA Chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum.

The Healthcare Commission will this week unveil performance ratings for every NHS trust in England, showing whether organisations have improved their quality of services and made better use of their resources over a three year period.