Comment archive – Page 368
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CommentMichael White: disquiet over accountability grows in the health war
The most startling political utterance I heard during another lively week in the health war fell not from the lips of Andrew Lansley, nor even from militant (“Back to the 1930s”) medics, but from mild mannered Stephen Dorrell.
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Comment'GPs run the risk of alienating themselves from their colleagues'
As the BMA gears up for a crisis meeting to debate the Health Bill, the chair of its consultant and specialists committee voices his fears of a huge split between members - and a ‘seething cauldron’ of competing providers in the future.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: when it comes to GP income, how long is a piece of string?
Just how much does a GP earn? The NHS Information Centre estimates average GP income in 2008-09 (the latest figures available) as £105,300. But any average conceals variations.
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LeaderIs Andrew Lansley 'screaming inside'?
A commissioning consortium in the west country declares it “does not believe in the purchaser-provider split”, the Foundation Trust Network warns of “serious financial stress” and the membership of the British Medical Association warms up to declare outright opposition to the Health Bill.
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Comment'There are no winners while there is 'them and us' tribalism in the NHS'
“Them and us”. All too often an off-hand remark and the death knell of a beautiful conversation, usually with the word “tariff” thrown in.
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CommentEffective regulation needs the right touch, at the right time
The chief executive of a troubled NHS trust recently remarked to me: “The problem was, we thought we worked for the regulators, not for our patients.”
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CommentMedia Watch: abortion, obesity and homosexuality proivde perfect storm
The Sunday Telegraph found something of a perfect storm in its story about gay NHS managers being sent on a “luxury junket”.
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Comment'Without a firm battle plan, consortia might find themselves neither here nor there'
The grand old health secretary risks getting the new consortia stuck on the hill, unless a change in strategy to push them higher up the slope of success is attempted.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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?