Comment archive – Page 377
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CommentNHS training must start with values
The news that the number of places on the National Management Training Scheme is to be reduced is not surprising given the reduction in management jobs expected in the next few years.
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CommentA missed opportunity to improve care for long-term conditions
Senior fellow at The King’s Fund Nick Goodwin on on the role of GPs in managing long-term conditions.
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LeaderConflicting messages from the top hint at growing resistance
Have the tone of messages from the NHS chief executive and health secretary ever been as different as those emerging from Sir David Nicholson and Andrew Lansley? At last week’s health questions in the House of Commons, ministers got stuck into “pen pushers”. Contrast this language with Sir David’s latest ...
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CommentJon Restell on why managers are worth it
“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” But words can hurt - words can burn like acid.
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CommentWhy many hands make IT work
New Zealand’s shared learning model offers lessons on implementing the electronic patient record system
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CommentMedia Watch: When is a U-turn not a U-turn?
When is a U-turn not a U-turn? When the policy being revised belongs to the previous government, argues Tory health minister Simon Burns, not without reason.
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CommentMichael White: Is the summer silly season over?
MPs are back at Westminster early this year. Does it mean the summer silly season is definitely over? Not quite. I read during the week that Andy Burnham, our erstwhile health secretary and Labour leadership contender, is a descendant of Britain’s first Tudor monarch, King Henry VII.
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CommentAnticipating the spending review
Richard Humphries on the importance of considering health and social care as a whole when considering spending cuts
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LeaderIt’s not just commissioning – who will fill the PCT vacuum?
Margaret Angier had news for the readers of the Sheffield Telegraph. The chair of a local mental health group, Ms Angier wrote to the paper about the government’s health reforms.
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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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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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CommentThe battle for NHS Direct
Party politics has resumed after the summer break, and former senior Labour ministers have headed straight for the NHS.