Comment archive – Page 431
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Comment
Dr Nick Griffin on clinical input in the development of HRG4
In 2002, the Department of Health developed a policy to fund healthcare by a national tariff applied to patient level activity. This policy, payment by results, required a new currency for the grouping of activity.
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Comment
Andrew Jones on independence day
'The conundrum is simply how to devolve day-to-day responsibility to an independent board with the benefits of efficient delivery, local decisions and avoidance of political interference'
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Comment
Commissioning: Practices may need a fairy godmother to make PBC work
Practice-based commissioning is the 'Cinderella' policy reform of the NHS.
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Comment
Back innovation and good judgement in primary care
Primary care trusts.are bound to weigh proposals fairly, but they cannot be compelled by entrepreneurs to make reckless decisions.
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Comment
David Woodhead on the qualities of commissioners
'Driving change in numerous organisations demands particular skills. We no longer spoke of what people needed to know, or what their qualifications might be, but of the qualities they had and how they approached their work'
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Comment
The NHS is far from 'saved'
I am astonished to see your comment piece claiming current policies have 'saved the NHS'. It certainly doesn't seem like it to me or any of my colleagues, and I wonder which planet the author has been on.
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Comment
Bed-blocking does not tell the full story
I read the article on bed-blocking with interest as my mother has been a patient in a foundation trust in the North West for nearly six months following a severe stoke.
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Comment
PBC needs to look at the big picture
In response to Simon Stevens' article on practice-based commissioning (opinion, page 17, 3 May), PBC has to be for all practices. If nothing else, PBC is about raising the eyes of GPs and practice management to understand the wider commissioning impact of their actions.
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Comment
Louis Appleby on reaching out to BME communities
'The term Positive Steps is an important one. The words and the actions coming from services must be positive. There is only so long that we can talk about the problem before talking about it gets in the way of tackling it.'
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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'.