Comment archive – Page 360
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LeaderTransparency offers a chink of light in a dark week for reform
You should not mistake Professor Roger Boyle’s outspoken criticism of the health reforms as the demob happy words of a man about to retire.
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CommentInvestment alone is not enough to solve the social care crisis
It is now well established that there is a crisis in social care and that we urgently need more money in the system. But we must also reform the way care services are organised and delivered: a priority that has been absent from recent debate, says IPPR researcher Laura Bradley.
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CommentNigel Edwards: NHS reform is nothing new, but it's about time leadership delivered
When I was asked by HSJ to reflect on what I have learnt about in my 12 years at the NHS Confederation, I thought I would specifically reflect on the constant process of reform including at least two which were billed as a once in a generation chance to change ...
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CommentMedia Watch: health reform fatigue sets
After the headlines generated by the NHS Future Forum report and the government’s response to it, the 181 amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill, published on 23 June, received more muted coverage.
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CommentMichael White: Cameron takes Labour to task in Wales
Have you noticed in all the excitement over reform of the NHS in England that David Cameron has taken to poking the NHS in Labour-dominated Wales for cuts being factored into the health budget in Cardiff?
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CommentSupport for children's heart unit intensifies in the South
Nothing mobilises a community quite like a hospital reconfiguration. Especially, it turns out, when the service threatened with possible closure is a children’s heart unit.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: time for primary care to shoulder its share of the savings burden
Around 20 per cent of the entire NHS budget is currently spent on primary care.
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CommentNorth divide to be united under NCB plans
NHS North East and North West are to be united – along with NHS Yorkshire and the Humber – HSJ understands.
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Leader
High trust, robust challenge and a firm grip are key to success
Failing NHS organisations get much more attention than successful ones, despite the fact that the latter far outnumber the former.
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Leader
Save now, pay later: the pension cuts folly
Not for nothing was public service pensions commission chair Lord Hutton placed at number 28 in HSJ’s list of the people with the most influence on the NHS last year.
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CommentJon Restell: it's time to get behind the defenders of pensions
When you hear the word “pension”, do you bury your head in the sand? If so, I’ve got bad news.
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CommentSally Gainsbury: sitting duck surpluses
When the going gets tough, the tough hide their surpluses from the grasping claws of the strategic health authority.
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CommentMichael White: the noisy ghosts of health ministers past
Why are former health ministers being so noisy in these turbulent times? No, I do not mean Frank Dobson’s spat with ministers who want to eject better-off people from council flats like the one opposite the British Museum which he has occupied for decades.
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Comment'We have to tackle government disagreement head on'
With management levels cut dangerously low in the health service, the NHS Confederation’s chief executive Mike Farrar tells HSJ’s Charlotte Santry the days of biting tongues when dealing with those in power are definitely over.
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CommentMedia Watch: printing the unprintable on hospital closure
The papers have been jostling to say the previously unsayable this week and break the political taboo that some hospitals must close if the NHS is to remain clinically safe and financially viable.
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CommentThe right-to-request primary care trust: one year on
A year ago, City Health Care Partnership became the first social enterprise to ‘go live’ through the right-to-request scheme. On its first anniversary, chief executive Andrew Burnell reports on how they are getting on.
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CommentLondon trusts encouraged by delayed 'drop dead' date for FT status
So what does the slackening off of the pressure behind the foundation trust pipeline mean for London, the most stubborn of regions in resisting an all-FT health service?
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CommentA daunting savings picture emerges in North West
As heavy as it is, there is little doubt that the burden of delivering the NHS’s £20bn savings target rests more heavily on the shoulders of some than others. Specifically, it rests heaviest on London and Manchester.
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LeaderNicholson’s power is unrivalled – so is his responsibility to lead
This week is expected to see the publication of the revised Health and Social Care Bill. Health secretary Andrew Lansley has written that it will contain more than 150 amendments. It would be only mildly surprising to find one of them enshrining in law Sir David Nicholson’s position as NHS ...