Comment archive – Page 430
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Comment
1997 and all that: Blair remembered
The NHS has transformed remarkably since Tony Blair entered Number 10 in May 1997, reinvigorating a struggling monolith with record investment.
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Comment
Media Watch
'Don't play god' The Sun protested last week as it quoted campaigners warning that abortions 'will soar' if parents are allowed to use a 'revolutionary' home test that can reveal the sex of their baby at six weeks.
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Comment
David Nicholson on service transformation
'We can only deliver genuine transformation of health care services if our staff understand what we are trying to do'
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Comment
David Peat on Life on Mars (NHS-style)
'Much has been achieved in medicine and health, yet we have major issues surrounding obesity, alcohol abuse, sexual behaviour and drugs. We can't moralise, but some of the difficulties of 1970s society have morphed into new and sometimes exaggerated forms'
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Comment
David Moon on resource efficiency in construction projects
Over the past few years, trusts have placed growing pressure on contractors to improve their sustainability credentials and significant progress towards setting minimum requirements for recycled content in the health sector has already been made.
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Comment
Nick Summerton and colleagues on what topics should NICE consider
Last September NICE took over the topic suggestion and selection process from the Department of Health. Six months on it is clear that the new processes are working: topics are being collected, sifted, and prioritised speedily.
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Comment
Report ignores Queen Mary's progress
I object to the description of Queen Mary's Sidcup trust as a 'struggling' organisation. In fact, we are an example of a hugely successful turnaround
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Comment
'Top up' fees not 'equitable' funding system
The Doctors for Reform study published yesterday argues - through the use of only 20 case studies - that more patients are paying 'top-up' fees and that 'the fundamental NHS principle - that care should be universally and equitably available ' no longer applies'.
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Comment
Mortality rate calculations are 'highly inappropriate and contentious'
Anyone picking up last week's Daily Telegraph will have seen the shock-horror headline on hospital mortality rates. This was typical media hype that did nothing to assist the discussion about encouraging improvement in the NHS, nor how we reduce inequalities across the country.
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Comment
The figures are standardised, but the care certainly is not
Research published by Dr Foster this week shows unequivocally that addressing the problem of variation in quality is one of the biggest priorities facing the service this year (see news, page 7).
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Comment
PCTs already share local service knowledge
I was saddened on reading your article 'PCTs criticised for lacking local service knowledge', (News, p13, 26 April) as it makes no mention at all of PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Services).
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Comment
In defence of Whipps Cross trust
I take issue with the accuracy and comment made in your article on the DoH 'hit-list' of trusts that cannot survive under payment by results (news, page 5, 19 April).
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Comment
Responsibility for tackling violence lies with all of us
I found your article on violence in the NHS (16 April) excellent and refreshing. I work as a local security management specialist in Dorset and agree that tackling violence and crime in the NHS is a multi-agency task.
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Comment
Patient safety: err on the side of caution
I wish to add a mental health service perspective to the debate prompted by Frank Burns' insightful article 'Name of the game is not no blame' and his challenging assertions (opinion, p16, 12 April)..
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Social marketing: a view from the front
Social marketing seems to be a confusing term that actually means both understanding people and keeping their needs at the fulcrum of all organisational activity.
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Comment
It's up to executive teams to champion productive wards
Do ward staff need the encouragement and support of their executive team to get on and make changes to improve everyday processes?
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Comment
Time to draw a line under Granger era
The national programme for IT is reeling from its most damning verdict yet - this week's report from the Commons public accounts committee that condemns uncertainty over the schedule of implementation and value for money (see news, page 9).