Comment archive – Page 347
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CommentBlair watch
The most disappointing aspect of Tony Blair’s autobiography A Journey is not the lack of punctuation or fresh sex scandal, but that it pretty much confirms most of what you already knew.
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CommentMichael White on Blair's diary
Don’t be put off by some of the savage reviews of Tony Blair’s memoirs. As books of this kind go, and I have read a few, it is unusually frank in all sorts of ways, not least about his growing alcohol dependency - a very New Labour concern.
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CommentChris J Hawkey: A new opening for transparency
Clinicians must put away self-interest if they are to earn the new powers set out in the white paper
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CommentNoel Plumridge on axes and accountability
A useful little word the French have borrowed from English in recent times is un tilt. Derived from pinball, a primitive pre-Super Mario form of entertainment now virtually extinct, it denotes in French a sudden, unforeseen and complete disruption of previous plans. Game over.
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CommentHow to leave your job
If you are due to leave your job, whether for a new role or retirement, voluntary or compulsory redundancy, it’s essential to deal well with the practical, professional and personal issues around your departure.
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Comment'A couple of unproductive consultants can turn a viable specialty into a loss maker'
Trust income could be given a boost by rebalancing older consultants’ roles between surgery and management
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LeaderThe health community remains doubtful of Cameron’s big idea
Does the “big society” have any relevance to the future of the NHS?
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Comment'Primary care trusts? Send in the marines'
So this is what it feels like. I’m managing along, minding my own business, when along comes Andrew D Lansley (Dudya to his mates), who liberates me.
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Comment'Charities need to provide much more for the NHS'
No one in healthcare doubts that the public debt crisis has initiated a period of radical change across the NHS. The essential challenge is to become more efficient and flexible.
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CommentThe battle for NHS Direct
Party politics has resumed after the summer break, and former senior Labour ministers have headed straight for the NHS.
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Comment'Lansley is saying it's not about saving cash or sacking nurses'
I have this persistent weakness, doctor. I keep feeling sorry for politicians. I know they are all volunteers and do foolish things. But people are so unkind to them, even when they mean well.
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LeaderNHS spending debate focuses on the wrong type of consultant
Why is health secretary Andrew Lansley still acting like an opposition politician? That is the question raised by the government’s haranguing of primary care trusts for their use of management consultants.
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LeaderThe accountability of overspending GPs
The British Medical Association has declared GP consortia must be “democratically accountable” to practices. And they “should act with integrity and leadership when considering the accountability of practices”.
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Comment'Remove the barriers to healthcare innovation'
We need new players in healthcare because they, not the incumbents, are the innovators
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CommentCoping with NHS reorganisation and redundancy
If you are managing organisational change for the first time or you are faced with little alternative but to make redundancies within your team, be mindful there is a process proven to help engage all employees.
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CommentConsultant spending under fire
The media reported en masse government figures revealing the NHS spent more than £300m on management consultants last year, though not all pointed out that it represented less than half of 1 per cent of the service’s budget.
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CommentNHS efficiency does not automatically equal value
There was an undignified spat on BBC radio on Monday between Evan Davis of the Today programme and Bob Neill, the pugnacious local government minister, over the price of bagels charged to the public purse.
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CommentNHS reorganisation: don't leave the patients behind
It could be the language that seals the deal. New Labour’s mission got lost in a technocratic haze, so a white paper more comfortable with the vernacular of the voluntary sector is helping patient groups swallow the pill of another reorganisation while showing genuine enthusiasm for the changes ahead.
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LeaderAlarm bells sound as financial scrutiny falls victim to the cuts
Amid the sound and fury surrounding the abolition of the Audit Commission there was little comment on how it would affect the NHS.
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Comment'We all know NHS change will keep coming - the trick is to adapt'
In the immediate wake of the white paper it would be churlish to ignore what are potentially the most significant changes in the history of the health service.