Comment archive – Page 393
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Comment
Keith Pearson on the NHS constitution
The constitution is an opportunity to put to bed the tired old arguments dogging the NHS and will underpin the values and principles at its core. Non-executive directors are the ideal champions for this cause
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Leader
Carbon emmissions need central steering
When it comes to reducing carbon emissions, it is difficult to conceive of an industry that faces a more complex challenge than the health service.
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Leader
Young promises new regime will deliver speed and independence
The language used by the chair of the Care Quality Commission in her interview with HSJ was typically clear, robust and ambitious.
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Comment
Your Humble Servant on Chinese whispers
To: Don Wise, chief executiveFrom: Paul ServantRe: Chinese whispers
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Comment
Media Watch: rats in hospitals
It was no great surprise that the papers went wild for the Tories' freedom of information 'revelation' that our hospitals are overrun with 'vermin'.
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Comment
Michael White on relatonships with the media
A grizzled ex-minister, just back from an evidently refreshing holiday, was muttering the other day about what he calls the 'BBC mindset', by which he means all of us in the inky-fingered media trades.
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Comment
Tim Benson and Justin Whatling on measuring outcomes
The only way to find out if your healthcare strategies are working is through reliable measurement.
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Comment
David Amos on staff engagement
The people of Hounslow, west London, have been impressed by a street cleaner who dances like Michael Jackson. This is either the council chief executive on a back to the floor initiative thinking about how much his contract is worth, or an extremely engaged employee.
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Comment
Hilary Thomas on healthy competition
The right sort of competition in healthcare is a prescription for huge gains in quality and efficiency. But while this can be encouraged partly through attractive incentives, have we been too lenient in pursuing more punitive measures?
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Comment
Linda Havard on unlocking clinical leadership
Lord Darzi's next stage review focuses on the importance of healthcare delivery, but at the expense of the details. Are local authorities up to the challenge of meeting the review's grand vision?
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Comment
Angela Greatley on worrying welfare reforms
Late last month, the government published its latest plans for welfare reform. Many of the proposals in the green paper, No One Written Off, are likely to be very significant for sick and disabled people.
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Leader
Management must do more to ensure the NHS is free of racism
Apart from legal and moral obligations to its own staff, there is an even more powerful reason why the NHS needs to be sure it is free of discrimination.
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Comment
Media Watch: Is Johnson leaving the DH?
Alan Johnson's days at the Department of Health may be numbered. The Labour leadership crisis sparked by David Miliband and bored lobby correspondents has led to speculation the health secretary will be elevated either to the top job or deputy prime minister.
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Comment
Michael White on feminism
I couldn't help noticing in recent days how feminism kept popping up. As part of the wider debate about equality affecting class and poverty, gender, race, disability, it never goes away.
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Comment
Sue Ashmore on breastfeeding and public health
To convey the public health benefits of breastfeeding, authors sometimes ask readers to imagine a miracle drug that prevents numerous childhood illnesses, has continued benefits into adulthood, is free to manufacture and readily available.
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Comment
Jim Wardrope on emergency medicine myths
Lord Darzi's review of the NHS has yielded some good results for emergency medicine. However, there are a number of persistent myths about emergency care that could undermine the good work that has been done so far.
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Comment
Sandy Watson on the need for community engagement
Community engagement is a fundamental part of community planning. We must listen to what the public has to say about levels of service and then take action to improve performance.
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Comment
Simon Bird on whether clinicians are always the best leaders
It seems rather counter-cultural right now to question the drive for clinicians to take up leadership positions. However, the assumptions behind the drive, while compelling and applicable to some, should not be extrapolated across whole professions.
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Comment
Steve Onyett on medical leadership
The Darzi review has shed new light on the challenge of letting go of central control. The idea that staff can be clinicians, partners and leaders is an engaging way of conveying that leadership needs to be widely dispersed.
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Comment
Neil Goodwin on leadership lessons from David Lloyd George
I was delighted to see David Lloyd George listed as one of the most influential people in the history of the NHS - we can learn a lot from his leadership experience.