Comment archive – Page 440
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Ministers should heed warnings over accountability
Wrangling over the precise remit of the forthcoming Care Quality Commission continues apace.
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Clegg throws down mental health gauntlet
Mental health is not an issue that politicians generally choose to make a splash on. But newly elected Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg had more to say about mental health in his inaugural speech on public policy than he did about the rest of the NHS.
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Simon Stevens on Brown's first health speech
Until last week, Gordon Brown had been surprisingly - even painfully - quiet on where he thought the NHS should be headed. But last Monday he finally showed some leg, in the form of his first major health pronunciamento since moving into Number 10.
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Frank Burns on politicians, short cuts and dead ends
Those of us interested in the genesis of high-profile national policy will have enjoyed the revelation, on Radio 4's Wiring the NHS programme, that in 2002 Sir John Pattison, then responsible Director for NHS IT, was given all of 10 minutes to make a pitch to the then prime minister ...
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Weird world health
All hail the Darwin Awards, the annual celebration of those 'who improve the species by accidentally removing themselves from it.' Winners of the 2007 awards include a Texan man who died after giving himself an enema made up of two 1.5 litre bottles of sherry and a young couple fromSouth ...
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James Kennedy on rethinking out-of-hours care
Forcing GPs to provide out-of-hours care may not be the best way to rebuild public confidence in these services. Instead, the government should look to other providers to fill the gap
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Hilary Thomas on new perspectives on caring
Looking back, 2007 was an odd year for me. Making a career change has been inspiring and invigorating. The fact that it coincided with moving back to London, putting a year of treatment behind me and the clunky dawn of my sense of mortality and ordinariness has added to my ...
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Sophia Christie on managing cultures in the health service
Naturally an optimist, I always like to start the new year reflecting on emerging opportunities. Primary care trusts had a lot to get excited about in the last few months of 2007 with the development and launch of world class commissioning. The experience has been reminiscent of the publication last ...
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Media Watch: winter bugs
The message this week was that if you are a patient with an infection, stay well clear of the NHS.
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Michael White on health in the new year
All right, so the Royal Marsden Hospital nearly burned down last week and around 100 wards in 44 hospitals were closed as norovirus swept the country. But it's the start of another year - happy new year - so let's be cheerful.
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Emma Dent on the year ahead
A happy new year to you all, readers, and I trust 2008 finds you in good health and not in the grip of the grim-sounding norovirus that ruined the festive season for several of my acquaintances.
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Comment
Preventive care rhetoric could become reality
Gordon Brown's keynote health speech was not just a crucial moment in the bid to relaunch his premiership (for more details, click here). As the NHS heads towards its 60th anniversary, his government's ability to deliver these reforms will have a profound impact on the service's long-term future.
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All Our Yesterdays
Public Assistance Journal and Health & Hospital Review, January 16, 1948On the care of premature infants: “Manchester Health Committee points out that such special provision for infants born prematurely is urgently necessary at Withington Hospital.”The accommodation was intended to include such facilities as a crockery steriliser in the kitchen, installation ...
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Comment
Weird world health
A reader pointed out last week that the Kremlin picture from a recent issue of HSJ (page 16, December 20) actually used pictures of St Basil’s Cathedral. Yet this move may have been serendipity, as a quick internet search in an idle moment reveals that St Basil is the patron ...
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: the operating framework
I checked every envelope and couldn't find David Nicholson's personal Christmas card to you. But I did find the operating framework for the NHS in England 2008-09 in your e-mail.
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James Woodward on the patient care crisis
We are proud of the NHS and its values. It is rooted in a philosophy of care for all. It aspires to mend and heal. It inspires great public service from energetic practitioners.However, there is a crisis deep within our culture. It is a crisis of care - the way ...
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Neil Goodwin on developing NHS leaders
The new leadership framework provides a coherent national approach to senior managerial development across the English NHS.
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Gerry Robinson was never about saving the NHS
Sir Gerry Robinson's latest programme confirms that he is not and never was about 'saving the NHS', argues Paul Knutson
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Comment
Calls for clarity on GP contracts
I read with some interest your article about the government's proposals to consult on extending GP opening hours, particularly as there are no minimum opening hours - or more crucially - consultation hours in general medical services or most personal medical services contracts, writes Jonathan Weaver
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Comment
This week's looky likey
More on David Cameron (see Weird Health, this week), this time, in the form of a looky likey suggested by reader Lisa Langton, who suggests that Mr Cameron and NHS North West chief executive Mike Farrar look rather alike. Ms Langton says: "This has got to be a better match ...