All Comment articles – Page 290
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Comment
Infection control: we are here for the patients, not targets
The Healthcare Commission's damning investigation into outbreaks of Clostridium difficile at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust drives home the message of its report last week on the lack of engagement of some acute trust boards with what is happening on their wards.
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Darzi report message is clear: reform faster
Lord Darzi's interim report for his review of the NHS clears the way for private sector providers to break the logjam over GP access.
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Michael White on Brown's bottler government
What a political week! The NHS may have ended up with a better-than-expected settlement from Alistair Darling’s comprehensive spending review, but voters will not be grateful to ‘Bottler Brown’ and his mates for a while.
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Noel Plumridge on what the spending review means for health
In an hsj.co.uk exclusive, Noel Plumridge explains how the government's spending round will affect the health sector
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Jon Allen on lessons from private equity
NHS organisations can learn a lot from the ways private equity operators turn tight cash control to effect, says Jon Allen
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Looky likey
Halloween is approaching, which led out thoughts to this week's looky likey. For who does BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum bear a strong resemblance to? It’s actor Christopher Lee. Perhaps best known to younger readers as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels and Saruman of Lord of the Rings ...
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Comment
All Our Yesterdays
October 16, 1936, Public Assistance Journal and Health & Hospital ReviewA sad tale in this week’s Queries and Replies column that these days would probably make it onto the Jeremy Kyle Show. A reader writes to ask about maintenance payments for a child. A clause in the separation agreement of ...
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Comment
Alan Johnson's discs
We wager that on a Sunday morning the gentle sounds of the introduction music to Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, to say nothing of presenter Kirsty Young's dulcet tones, sooth many a reader. So how did you feel to hear health secretary Alan Johnson on the programme recently? Was your ...
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David Woodhead on healthcare for heartbreak
The health impact of personal distress on service users as well as staff can be heavy and is a real public health challenge, says David Woodhead
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David Praill on access to pain relief
According to our report Access to Pain Relief – an essential human right, published this week to mark World Hospice and Palliative Care Day on 6 October, 80 per cent of the world’s cancer sufferers have no access to pain relief. This means 7 per cent of the world's population ...
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Comment
Michael White on the shadow health secretary
Now that Gordon Brown has started to open up in public and chancellor Alistair Darling has put a couple of jokes into his conference speech, there is no stopping the confessional flood in politics. Even Andrew Lansley has been affected.
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Comment
Hygiene: staff won't follow where they are not led
After the years of media scrutiny, policy statements, regulations, inspections and public outcry - not to mention the avoidable deaths and illnesses - it is hard to comprehend why many acute trust boards are failing to make hygiene standards a priority.
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Comment
Emma Dent gets diagnosed
A kind reader recently commented that this column reads as though I have spent hours on it. At least, I think they were being kind.
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Comment
Media Watch: GP contracts and doctored photos
As the party conference season drew to a close, the Conservatives this week came out fighting, with leader David Cameron pledging to rewrite the GP contract.
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Tories struggle to make their own room in the centre ground
This week in Blackpool the Conservative Party conference promised to scrap top-down targets - and end the postcode lottery.
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Malcolm Lowe-Lauri on connecting with the boss
What is the best way to manage a less than perfect leader? Here, Malcolm Lowe-Lauri offers some suggestions
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Marian Carroll on the breastfeeding dilemma
Women must be given full support, regardless of whether they choose to breastfeed their babies or not, writes Marian Carroll.Any discussion around infant feeding evokes strong reactions in people who seem to take a 'for or against' approach to breastfeeding.
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Comment
All Our Yesterdays
October 9, 1936, Public Assistance Journal and Health & Hospital ReviewAs the Midwives Act of 1936 came into force ‘The Future of the Midwifery Service’ was discussed this week. The Act required local areas to secure full time employment of enough midwives to be able to attend women in their ...
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Comment
Occupational therapists play a key role in Star Wards
In response to the article Star Quality, the College of Occupational Therapists believes Star Wards has been an excellent vehicle to encourage all ward staff to engage in therapeutic, leisure and creative activities, providing structure and meaning to a service user’s inpatient experience, writes Julia Scott
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Lisa Rodrigues on intoxicating publicity
It was impossible to miss the publication of the Alastair Campbell diaries - the newspaper serialisation and TV programme meant people were talking about them everywhere. While some may have diagnosed a serious case of work-related stress, I just thought he showed great timing, and he got me thinking about ...