Healthcare Features
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Beachcroft and Davies Arnold Cooper have given the green light to a merger that will create a combined law firm with around 230 partners and a turnover of more than £175m.
The new firm – to be called DAC Beachcroft – will formally launch on 1 November 2011. It will have 2,000 staff spread across eight offices in the UK as well as a number of international locations.
Both firms have a growing reputation for public sector work. Beachcroft in particular has won partner status following procurement exercises by the South West Wales Legal Consortium and the North West Legal Consortium.
“DAC Beachcroft will have market-leading teams working with clients in the insurance, real estate and healthcare sectors,” the firms said in a statement. “The merger will also create significantly enhanced teams advising clients on their corporate, commercial, regulatory, employment and dispute resolution requirements.”
Paul Murray, Managing Partner of Beachcroft, said: "We are very pleased to be creating a firm with such considerable strength across its core markets. Both firms specialise in the insurance sector and the combined firm will provide insurance clients with a distinctive, full-service offering in the UK and internationally. Beachcroft's market-leading health practice will be well complemented by Davies Arnold Cooper's strong presence in the life sciences sector."
Danny Gowan, Senior Partner at Davies Arnold Cooper, added: "In addition to the benefits it provides to our insurance clients, the merger doubles the size of each firm’s existing real estate practice. I am particularly encouraged that both firms have similar cultures which will help ensure a successful merger."
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NHS Trusts in Lincolnshire have combined to launch a procurement exercise for a legal services framework agreement.
The agreement, which will run for 36 months from the award of the contract with an option to extend for a further 12 months, is broken down into six lots:
- NHS governance and public law
- CFT Application support
- Employment law
- Contract and commercial law
- Property law
- Estate, corporate finance and PFI/PPP projects including LIFT schemes.
It is envisaged that a minimum number of five operators and a maximum number of 15 will be invited to tender or to participate.
The procurement exercise is being run by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust on behalf of NHS Trusts in Lincolnshire.
In addition to Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, they include Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Lincolnshire Teaching Primary Care Trust, United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust and any other Trust or organisation formed by the changes to NHS Trusts in Lincolnshire following government publication of the White Paper Equality and Excellence, Liberating the NHS.
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The effective management of contracts is one of three principal areas where large savings in operational PFI contracts can be achieved, a Treasury-run pilot has concluded.
The review of projects at the Queen’s Hospital in Romford and two Ministry of Defence schemes – at Corsham and Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College – suggested that such an approach could save money in a range of ways, including by a reduction in wasteful energy consumption and through the public sector sharing in savings on insurance.
The other two strategies for making savings were through:
- The efficient use of space: “for example, from subletting or mothballing surplus building space”
- Reviews of soft service requirements: “so that the public sector does not buy more than it needs when specifying facilities management such as window cleaning and frequency of decoration.”
The Treasury said the pilot confirmed savings opportunities of around 5% of annual payments. If applied to the 495 operational PFI projects in England, as the government intends, this would deliver an estimated £1.5bn in savings.
The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Sassoon, said the savings could be fully recycled into frontline services by the contracting authority.
A programmed to secure these savings will now be lead by the Efficiency and Reform Group in the Cabinet Office, supported by the Treasury and Local Partnerships.
The Treasury will also publish updated guidance and advice on its website on how savings can be made to support all PFI contract holders.
Lord Sassoon said: “We have identified every opportunity to find savings, tackling wasteful practice and gold plating in PFI contracts. The potential savings will vary from contract to contract, but the results are promising and we will support the wider public sector to find savings in complex contracts.”
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The registered provider that ran the Winterbourne View assessment and treatment centre near Bristol failed to comply with ten essential standards required by law – including the requirement to report serious incidents, the Care Quality Commission has said.
Winterbourne View was shut in June after a Panorama programme exposed serious abuse of patients at the centre.
According to the watchdog, the ten standards failed by Castlebeck Care (Teesdale) Ltd were:
- “The managers did not ensure that major incidents were reported to the Care Quality Commission as required
- Planning and delivery of care did not meet people's individual needs
- They did not have robust systems to assess and monitor the quality of services
- They did not identify, and manage, risks relating to the health, welfare and safety of patients
- They had not responded to or considered complaints and views of people about the service
- Investigations into the conduct of staff were not robust and had not safeguarded people
- They did not take reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent it before it occurred
- They did not respond appropriately to allegations of abuse
- They did not have arrangements in place to protect the people against unlawful or excessive use of restraint
- They did not operate effective recruitment procedures or take appropriate steps in relation to persons who were not fit to work in care settings
- They failed in their responsibilities to provide appropriate training and supervision to staff.”
The report concluded that there was “a systemic failure to protect people or to investigate allegations of abuse”. It said the provider had failed to notify the CQC of serious incidents including injuries to patients or occasions when they had gone missing.
Inspectors decided that the centre’s staff did not appear to understand the needs of the people in their care –adults with learning disabilities, complex needs and challenging behaviour. “People who had no background in care services had been recruited, references were not always checked and staff were not trained or supervised properly,” the Commission said. “Some staff were too ready to use methods of restraint without considering alternatives.”
Amanda Sherlock, the CQC’s Director of Operations, said: “This report is a damning indictment of the regime at Winterbourne View and its systemic failings to protect the vulnerable people in its care.
“It is now clear that the problems at Winterbourne View were far worse than were initially indicated by the whistleblower. He has stated that he was not aware of the level of abuse until he saw the footage from the secret filming.”
Sherlock said the CQC now knew that the provider had effectively misled it by not keeping it informed about incidents as required by the law. “Had we been told about all these things, we could have taken action earlier,” she said. The CQC will now consider whether it is appropriate to take further legal action.
However, Sherlock insisted that it was “incorrect” that the CQC had failed to act on warnings by the whistleblower. “Our internal investigation has confirmed that while we were aware of those concerns, our inspector believed they were being dealt with through the local safeguarding process involving a number of agencies,” she said.
“We should have contacted the whistleblower directly – and this will be one of the issues which will be addressed by the independently-led serious case review. Immediately we were aware of the extent of the problem, we took the action which is detailed in this report. Although Winterbourne View is now closed, we will continue to monitor Castlebeck's other services closely.”
The CQC will publish the outcome of its review of all of Castlebeck Care (Teesdale) Ltd’s 24 locations at the end of July.