Comment archive – Page 338
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CommentMichael White: Lansley's cloudy vision blurs the clear NHS reality
Watching the drama of health reform debate week after week, I sometimes think of a clever young Tory think tanker called Danny Kruger. Remember him?In 2005 Danny was forced to stand down as his party’s candidate to fight Tony Blair in Sedgefield because he had been heard promising “a period ...
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CommentSouth east coast PCTs face uncertain financial futures
Heading towards the end of the 2010-11, the financial situation for primary care trusts in the South East Coast differs markedly across the region.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: feeling the squeeze
Dupuytren’s contracture is a condition that causes fingers to bend towards the palm. Named after the French surgeon who first described the condition in 1834, it mainly affects men - a reported one in five men aged over 60 - and is most prevalent among people of northern European descent.
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CommentMidlands issues may be localised, but they have wide implications
It has been less than a month since the launch of HSJ Local but it has already attracted attention.
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LeaderRegulating managers will not resolve the issues they face
Is the regulation of health service managers a good idea? The man who watches the watchers - Harry Cayton, chief executive of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence - does not think so.
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LeaderMPs could teach GPs a lesson in prudence
“It sounds like an MPs’ expenses type thing and that’s what we’ve got to avoid.” The words of Clare Gerada, Royal College of GPs chair, may prove to be prophetic.
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CommentCan value-based drug pricing deliver a 'postcode lottery' alternative?
Value-based drug pricing is meant to reduce the postcode lottery but could end up achieving the opposite.
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CommentAndrew Dillon: the new mission for NICE
The white paper Liberating the NHS and the Health Bill currently going through Parliament describe a radically new architecture for the NHS together with a new, outcomes based approach to driving improvements in care.
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CommentTransparency in London reveals hive of activity
Are the GPs in south-west London the most proactive in the capital?
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CommentYour Humble Servant: A twit tweets
Separating the tweet from the chafe around the blogosphere, a twit begins to tweet.
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CommentMedia Watch: letters from David Cameron
Not satisfied with the “see it from space” scale of the current NHS reorganisation, the Daily Telegraph warned another change of “seismic” proportions is heading the public sector’s way.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: trapped in PFI purgatory
Of the 16 pages of last week’s Managing the Transition letter from Richmond House, the provider side of the NHS occupies a mere three paragraphs. One about the foundation trust “pipeline”, one on separating primary care trusts from their former provider arms and one on encouraging the independent sector.
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CommentTargets in sharp focus for the North West
The Department of Health might appear to hate targets these days, but you could be forgiven for thinking the news has not travelled north.
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Comment
Michael White: 'Price competition has never been the policy... Yeah, right.'
To be frank with you, I’d never heard of David Bennett before he was unexpectedly promoted to become the new chair of Monitor, as it evolves into the economic regulator to the entire NHS. Truly this is a real-life version of Eric Carle’s children’s story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Guess ...
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LeaderSquaring the price competition and efficiency circle
“Where would you like your vasectomy, sir?” is not a phrase you’re likely to hear in the NHS as many primary care trusts have ruled out paying for the procedure anywhere other than in GP practices.
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LeaderAlcohol harm is causing a nasty headache
The impact of alcohol on the nation’s health is beginning to shade from a worry into a crisis. Dr Foster Intelligence’s exclusive analysis for HSJ shows that 7 per cent of hospital admissions are related to alcohol.
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CommentCompetition can work, but only with the right tactics
“Competition in health care should be tactical not ideological”. This was the main message from the “Competition versus integration in the NHS” debate organised by the Cambridge Health Network and the King’s Fund
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CommentBill Moyes: the reform agenda presents a massive opportunity
The government’s reform agenda for the NHS isn’t the beginning of the end of a primarily tax funded healthcare system. The reforms are probably the best way to preserve that for another generation or more. So, instead of focusing on the risks, let’s give more attention to the opportunities.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: the true cost of training
In a transparent, rules based funding system like payment by results, how can we ensure a steady flow of financial goodies to the deserving rich in the London teaching hospitals?
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CommentMichael White: away from NHS reforms, healthcare problems - and solutions - still sound familiar
Let’s try even harder to cheer ourselves up this week by averting our gaze from NHS reforms and looking at a near neighbour with more pressing healthcare dilemmas. Not to mention deeper budget gloom. No prizes for guessing I was in Dublin recently.