Comment archive – Page 320
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CommentMedia Watch: nursing numbers adding up to a 'crisis'
The Royal College of Nursing’s claim that 56,000 NHS posts have been lost or marked “at risk” during the past year featured in most of the Sunday papers.
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CommentMichael White: ministers' fears of a CQC tick box regime
Hurt feelings are easy to detect in the system as the winter nights draw in. Officials at the Care Quality Commission sound hurt at what they feel is unfair media treatment of their efforts to ensure the super-regulator is fit for purpose.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: increased demand is the answer, not the question
In 2009 the UK spent 9.8 per cent of its GDP on healthcare. The equivalent figure for 2008 was 8.8 per cent. Such a year on year increase shows theimpact of continuing investment in the NHS even as the recession took hold.
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CommentA new era for performance management in the North
Last month’s clustering of strategic health authorities ushers in a new era of performance management in the North of England.
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CommentReconfiguration attention turns to acute services in the South East
Just as the dust was settling on the reconfiguration of community services in the South East Coast region, manoeuvring in the acute sector looks set to throw things up in the air once again.
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LeaderMake an ‘impossible job’ easier by following a NICE example
“I don’t mind people thinking I’m incompetent, although I don’t want them to,” Care Quality Commission chief executive Cynthia Bower told HSJ this week.
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LeaderLess haste would have led to less waste
HSJ’s revelation that primary care trusts’ initial calculations of public health spending were about 10 per cent wide of the mark does little to inspire confidence in reform of the area.
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Comment'We have not found an area where improvement has not been possible'
Transforming services is a massive undertaking for any trust, but securing the engagement, encouragement and valuable input from patients and staff is arguably the most important step if patient care is to be improved. Peter Homa outlines what has happened at his trust.
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Comment'It's time for a one year maximum wait'
Problems with waiting times are far from insurmountable - they just require the will to change, argue Rob Findlay and Anthony McKeever.
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CommentMedia Watch: for Lansley, the wait is over
The big story on Monday was the expected announcement by Andrew Lansley of a ban on setting minimum waiting times for certain treatments.
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CommentSally Gainsbury: just how much does the NHS cost?
How much does the NHS cost? It is a surprisingly philosophical question as the answer depends on whether or not you believe foundation and NHS trusts exist.
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CommentProtecting the public from public health professionals
The statutory regulation of public health specialists is a little known and rarely discussed issue, but it needs close scrutiny to improve the protection patients receive against professionals whose practice could cause loss of life, says Lindsey Davies.
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CommentMichael White: private sector concerns going round in circles
Days before the conclusion of Circle Health’s long negotiation to take over the running of Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust I encountered some research about the private sector’s parallel march through Britain’s prison management system. It struck me forcefully.
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CommentEast of England pays close attention to QIPP plans
The East of England is often cited as a vanguard region in the NHS, with its strategic health authority providing the bulk of the leadership - seven of the 11 executives - of the new NHS Midlands and East behemoth.
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CommentPatchy progress on reducing acute activty in the South West
Progress towards achieving the holy grail of acute activity reduction is patchy across the South West, with varying effects on trust finances.
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LeaderMaximum waits matter as much as minimum ones
Reading between the lines of the blustering, disingenuous and politically motivated government announcement banning “minimum waiting times”, a more interesting theme emerges.
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LeaderWinners demonstrate the power of unity
The HSJ Awards – the largest celebration of health service excellence in the UK – is always a cause for cheer. However, this year, its arrival feels particularly positive.
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CommentDevloping new structures for improved service delivery
Now is a golden opportunity to start developing guidelines and principles to inform better healthcare delivery, says Paul Zollinger-Read
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CommentMichael White: let's back the public sector plan B
At the weekend I rang an old trade union friend, a veteran of countless public sector negotiations, disputes and occasional strikes, to hear him contradict my own excessively rational view (“don’t do it, comrades”) of the pensions dispute which threatens NHS services this month.
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LeaderLegal challenges threaten service redesign
Royal Brompton and Harefield Foundation Trust’s successful judicial review of the national consultation into the reconfiguration of paediatric cardiac services will send a shiver down the backbones of those charged with reshaping the English NHS.