Comment archive – Page 373
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LeaderPatient reported outcome measures raise questions of how need for operations is decided
HSJ’s revelation this week that tens of millions of pounds are being spent on treatments that arguably do not improve patients’ lives serves to focus minds.
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LeaderStrategic health authority chiefs bring a new flavour to the NHS
After many months, we once again have a full complement of strategic health authority chief executives, even if one of them has been given the honour of being made temporary flu czar (news, page 7).
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CommentStephen Eames on the quest for quality
At a recent meeting, a colleague likened the current welter of initiatives on quality to being “tied down like Gulliver”. It’s not that I argue with the importance of providing safe, high quality care - far from it - but I have some sympathy with the view that there is ...
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CommentYour Humble Servant on appropriate attire
It can be hard to decide how to dress for a dress-down, informal bonding session with colleagues, as ours gamely proved.
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CommentMichael White on integrity and whistleblowing
Amid the uproar over the MPs’ expenses scandal three prime ministers addressed health issues this past week. I refer, of course, to Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Alan Johnson, who is also now tipped (improbably) to succeed Alistair Darling in Number 11.
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CommentSteve Preston on NHS career values
Your values are the things which you hold dear, but inevitably they will change over time. However, few people audit them, which can be unhelpful to future jobs and career prospects.
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CommentNHS clinical leaders: take a leaf from the military's book
As a military medical officer working in the NHS and a Health Foundation Leadership Fellow, my professional development has been different from that of most clinicians in the UK, writes Ed Nicol
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CommentAngela Greatley on health in the criminal justice system
Lord Bradley’s review of mental health and learning disabilities in the criminal justice system was published last month. Fourteen months in the making, the report that emerged did not disappoint.
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CommentMichael White on swine flu and leadership
This column’s established policy is not to panic over either swine flu or Labour leadership flu. Outbreaks of both occur from time to time and are easily spread by modern life, notably by air travel and 24-hour TV news channels. The authorities do their best.
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CommentCally Bann on the swine flu outbreak
An acute trust chief executive, “Cally Bann”, casts a jaundiced eye over the swine flu outbreak…
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LeaderNHS quality improvement needs patient choice data
One year after the introduction of free choice, early analysis suggests some patients are using their right to choose the hospital at which they are treated.
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LeaderMid Staffordshire: improvement must be routine, not just the result of a scandal
In his report into the lessons to be learned from the failures at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust, national primary care director David Colin-Thomé concluded that responsibility lies firmly with the management board and staff.
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CommentNoel Plumridge on expenses and exploitation
It was a cheap Chinese restaurant, just near the bus terminal in a quiet Northern town. Now, I’m partial to Chinese food when away on business, not least because the single male traveller can usually eat a plate of chow mien or special fried rice without feeling awkward and without ...
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Comment
Media Watch: Alan Johnson for prime minister
“How Johnson became the model Labour candidate for the top job,” was The Independent on Sunday’s headline on coverage of the party’s most recent leadership dilemmas.
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Comment
Matthew Winn on community health providers
The Darzi review brings community providers the policies they have long called for but the new austerity means they must prove their worth with cost-effective innovations
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CommentMark Goldman on clinical leadership's tipping point
Many years ago, I was advised by an eminent professor that if enough people all wanted something to happen at the same time it always happened. As far as the events of men rather than nature are concerned, this has proved to be a truth.
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CommentKen Jarrold on the NHS and the credit crunch
These are dangerous times for public servants. The recession is having a devastating impact on the lives and life chances of many employed in the private sector. In contrast, relatively few public servants are losing their jobs.
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LeaderNHS boards ignorant of brewing danger and scandal
If a major problem is brewing in your hospital, don’t bank on the board spotting it before it becomes a scandal.
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LeaderRose Gibb case underlines cost of failure for NHS managers
The judgement against Rose Gibb in her claim for breach of contract reinforces the accountability of senior managers for service failures, and slashes the chances of pay-offs.
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CommentPaul Corrigan on NHS cultures
My problem with a single powerful culture comes from growing up in the 1950s. English culture was pleased with itself. Its rejection of difference threatened that the cost of being different would be high. You would be on your own.