All Comment articles – Page 298
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Comment
Independent treatment centre move redefines choice
'The DoH appears to be considering pushing PCTs to use independent sector treatment centres.- even to the extent of trying to steer patient choice'
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Bear the burden of getting care just right
As patients demand more, it is vital to control variation while preserving truly personalised delivery, argue Geraint Lewis and Phyllis Shelton
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The role of individual responsibility
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has stressed.that joint working should be the first, not the last, option considered by local authorities and primary care trusts.
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Comment
David Peat on fitness for purpose
'Fitness for purpose has given us intelligence, new understandings and insights into the changing role of being a fully fledged commissioner in the new NHS. It has.helped us respond to the new realities and changes that have taken place in our relationships in and outside the NHS'
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: future imperfect
‘MRSA is discovered to have hidden properties which eliminate the H5N1 avian flu virus and patients now choose hospitals with high bacteraemia rates’
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Comment
Ofcare: 'Ambitions and metrics' mark launch of a new regulatory era
'Ofcare's performance framework commences with mea culpa, admitting what healthcare professionals have been telling the Department of Health for years - top-down targets undermine innovation, motivation and accountability to communities'
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Neil Goodwin on public service reform
'If there is one lesson to be learnt.from the past 10 years, it is to pay much more attention to implementing change. Far better to implement half-a-dozen change strategies effectively than to fire off a dozen in a scattergun way, hoping some will hit the mark'
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Comment
Emma Dent's Malawi diary
When HSJ senior features writer Emma Dent was asked to join an Oxfam and Unison delegation to poverty-stricken Malawi, she got a lot more than she bargained. Read her day-by-day account of the trip here.
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Comment
Mike Cooke on succession planning
'I came back with gusto, lungs full, laptop (and pencil) poised and with best away-visit intentions started with my job. I am delighted to say we did fill my job with a great internal candidate'
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Deborah O'Dea on coping with change
'Change is no less difficult when our intentions are absolutely right and serving patients' best interests.'.
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Micheal White on Maggie's handbag and other stories
Thirty years after filing his first column, HSJ political commentator Michael White looks back at how the landscape has changed
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: dead man walking
‘It’s difficult to know who to ingratiate yourself with, which policies might survive and which we should backpedal on.’
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CommentBrown finally begins to reveal his blueprint for health reform
As the surreal spectacle of Gordon Brown campaigning for victory in a contest he has already won continues, his interviews and speeches are finally shedding light on his health policies.
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Comment
Delayed discharge brought back in focus
Bed blocking is back and, at least in mental health, it is joint working with social care teams where the most effort needs to be applied.
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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
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
Commissioning: Practices may need a fairy godmother to make PBC work
Practice-based commissioning is the 'Cinderella' policy reform of the NHS.