Comment archive – Page 340
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CommentMichael White: like a civil war, the Health Bill has divided political families
Reading in last week’s HSJ how Andrew Lansley’s Health Bill will combine NHS decentralisation with powerful regulation from Whitehall, I was reminded of the label once attached to the Chinese communist party’s controlled introduction of capitalism: “market Stalinism”.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: the prospective pinch on pensions
The government is doing all it can to reduce the value - or, in Treasury-speak, the “burden” - of public sector pensions.
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CommentMedia Watch: health bill reaction reiterates 'chorus of concern'
Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the national media’s coverage of the Health Bill was its apparent reluctance to really analyse the detail and instead focus on the responses from the various detractors among the unions and interested parties.
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Comment
The NHS Commissioning Board: biggest of the big spenders
The NHS Commissioning Board’s greatest influence on quality will be through how it splashes its cash
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LeaderThe NHS might be being rewired, but its electricity runs to much the same effect
The Health Bill has set a new record as the largest piece of NHS legislation ever tabled. Health secretary Andrew Lansley described it as “evolutionary” – the mind boggles at what he would consider “revolutionary”.
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CommentAn open letter from David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS
‘We will be showcasing what is brightest and best about the NHS and healthcare in the UK’
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CommentWhat happens if the health reforms work?
Anyone looking at the future of the government’s reforms is always interested in the question: “What happens if this doesn’t really work the way the government wants it to?”
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Comment'Accountability in the NHS is a mess'
Ministers in Whitehall have excessive powers to interfere and meddle in local operational issues, with primary care trusts controlled by strategic health authorities and SHAs by Whitehall.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: SHAs need to decide their priorities, and soon
One of the more dramatic parts of the 2011-12 operating framework is the withholding, by strategic health authorities, of 2 per cent of primary care trust funding.
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Comment'We all know what’s wrong with the NHS'
There are too many hospitals swallowing up too much money for too little return. Which is fine until you try to close or downsize one, and all hell breaks loose.
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Leader‘Brave’ Sir David stresses freedoms and delivery
As the NHS drowns in reform, the danger of distraction grows.
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Comment'Time to scrap GP exception reporting'
We must now scrap exception reporting by GPs in the quality and outcomes framework.
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CommentMichael White: ministers are puzzled by the BMA’s hostility
It remains a guiding principle of this column that any policy opposed by the British Medical Association can’t be all bad.
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LeaderPrivate sector takeover not as imminent as some may have it
The week began with a media feeding frenzy around the government’s NHS reforms created by the imminent publication of the health bill. Dire warnings were ten a penny, while the PM adopted a Thatcherite “no alternative” stance.
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Comment'People expect public servants to preserve the public good'
The public sector is commonly perceived to be stuffed with overstaffed bureaucracies and far too many tiers of administration, and therefore it is usually concluded by external commentators that private companies produce far better leaders.
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Leader'Conspiracy of silence hides true extent of poor GP performance'
Andrew Lansley claims primary care trusts had to be abolished because they failed to commission effectively - an arguable accusation.
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Leader'Now with 25pc more reason to believe'
“Hope is a key differentiator between those NHS organisations that succeed and those that don’t,” says the NHS Institute’s Helen Bevan. She adds, “the driving force of hope is belief” - belief that things can be improved.
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Comment
'Is the long stay trim a haircut too far?'
With payment by results, the devil is sometimes in the detail.
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Comment‘Dentists are making their own high pitched whine about the Care Quality Commission’
I saw Michael Gove declaring himself “an enthusiast” for Andrew Lansley’s healthcare reforms, which says more for the education secretary’s collegiate loyalty than his attention to the small print.
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CommentMedia Watch: 'Patients should do more than lounge around in their pyjamas'
The acute sector was the early focus of the media this week, with local papers across the country running stories on hospitals affected by flu and national coverage of two reports written by doctors.