Comment archive – Page 355
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CommentMichael White: Darling's Budget
The Budget joke I liked best was not the one about the tax haven deal with Lord Ashcroft’s Belize. It was that Alistair Darling had offered money to fill potholes in our roads after the long, hard winter, but not the black holes in the public finances after the even ...
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CommentDavid Kerr: health policy just got personal
An architect of Labour’s NHS reforms explains why he has decided to take a role as health adviser to the Conservatives
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CommentAndy Jones on defining NHS quality
The health consumer gets it, Lord Darzi gets it and framed an entire review around it, Sir Bruce Keogh certainly got it during his time as president of the Cardiothoracic Society, and the outgoing chief medical officer has dedicated a working lifetime to it.
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CommentSheila Williams on the ageing process
Getting older has never concerned me much, other than avoiding the shaving mirrors found in hotel bathrooms that reveal, in high definition, the creases and crinkles I have earned over the years. However, three incidents have given me pause for thought.
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CommentDavid Nicholson on NHS incentives and ideology
My job as NHS chief executive is to help transform the healthcare system from a rigid top-down monopoly to a service that is much more focused on the individual needs of patients.
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CommentAndy McKeon: why money could not unravel the NHS red tape
Whoever wins the forthcoming election will have some unfinished business on health policy to attend to, even if it is possible to declare victory over waiting lists.
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CommentChris Ham on urgency for healthcare innovation
Labour’s tenure has seen massive progress in areas including access to services and cardiac and cancer care. But the greatest changes must now follow fast - things can only get different
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LeaderSteve Bundred is stepping up at a pivotal time
The appointment of Steve Bundred as chair of Monitor is a shrewd choice.
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LeaderIt may not have been pretty, but Labour gave new life to the NHS
This week leading commentators give their verdict on Labour’s 13 year stewardship of the NHS.
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CommentNicky Spencer on facing NHS changes
Unprecedented levels of change and uncertainty are facing us all. Whatever the scale, political or economic, sector or service, organisational or personal, everyone is awaiting or experiencing unrest.
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CommentMedia Watch: CQC registration and the staff survey
Obama and Jade Goody topped the pre-Budget headlines this week, but last week ended with two stories of interest to NHS managers: the first trusts to register with the Care Quality Commission and the NHS staff survey.
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CommentMichael White: good news for health
As we all braced ourselves to disentangle what Alistair Darling’s last Budget will mean for the NHS I took the conscious decision to write an upbeat column to ease the circling gloom.
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CommentYour Humble Servant: lights, camera, casualty
‘The crying was spot on. As you talked with humility about the demise of Mrs Smith, the tears that began rolling down your cheeks captured the emotion and sincerity of our apology perfectly’
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CommentRoger Taylor on the NHS safety debate
The public needs all the facts to enable them to fully engage in the debate on healthcare safety
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LeaderHeed Liam Donaldson’s frosty warning on winter pressures
The chief medical officer’s call for a plan to reduce the number of deaths in winter was welcomed by the health service but the responses from different parts of the sector smacked of buck passing.
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LeaderDH must help make integration seamless
Progress on Transforming Community Services indicates more integration is coming our way. “Vertical integration” is the method of the moment, and HSJ understands some primary care trusts feel under considerable pressure to head in that direction.
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CommentMedia Watch: maternity pledges
If the forthcoming election really will be all about capturing the female vote, Gordon Brown went out all guns blazing with an online chat on the Netmums website, on Mother’s Day.
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CommentMichael White: NHS policy pronouncements
Is the pace of policy pronouncements speeding up or am I just slowing down? Or is it the imminence of that election and the all too understandable desire of elected politicians to cover all their bases?
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CommentAndrew Haldenby on hospital closures and competition
The gloom surrounding the UK’s public finances is darkening as the general election approaches.
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CommentPete Mason on NHS teamwork
Exceptional teamwork doesn’t just happen, it develops. The secret of truly exceptional teams is that they know how to develop in order to achieve outstanding performance and extraordinary results.