External contributors
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CommentBlaming individuals for care failures is sometimes the right response
The Great Ormond Street scandal exposes a growing imbalance in NHS patient safety policy. In moving away from blame, the system has also lost sight of individual competence, leadership responsibility, and the non-negotiables needed to prevent serious harm
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CommentNone of the government’s ‘three shifts’ will reduce the cost of healthcare
Andi Orlowski argues why the NHS needs to stop chasing savings and start making explicit value choices
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CommentThe National Cancer Plan contains many unanswered questions
The National Cancer Plan is a welcome response to the facts: England lags behind on cancer outcomes, and rising incidence will challenge systems even further. But, says Cancer Research UK, with the right focus on evidence and delivery, the plan could yield results
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CommentThe biggest drivers of healthcare demand are not what you think
Rising healthcare demand is usually blamed on an ageing, less healthy population. But new analysis suggests this is incorrect
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CommentIs your performance dashboard revealing what you need to know?
Digital decision-support tools are widespread in the NHS, but their impact remains limited. Digitisation has focused on generating insights without creating the organisational architecture needed to act on them
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CommentThe plan to regulate managers is well-intentioned but dangerous
Chief nurses are not opposed to accountability for managers and leaders – but they think the government has designed the wrong system
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CommentPatients with dementia are spending too long in hospital
Better dementia care could significantly ease winter pressures on the NHS, but the system is not set up for current needs, let alone future demands
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CommentYou have until Monday to help influence the NHS's use of AI
NHS leaders are being asked to help shape how AI tools are tested, deployed and governed as the MHRA’s national commission seeks to balance innovation with patient safety
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CommentNorway provides safer AND cheaper healthcare than the UK – we need to find out why
Jeremy Hunt argues that closing the UK’s patient safety gap must become a core national priority, with new data showing tens of thousands of deaths could be prevented by matching the performance of leading health systems
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CommentCompassionate leadership is not just about ‘being nice’
Compassionate leadership isn’t the problem for the NHS; practising it superficially is. Real compassion already includes clarity, boundaries, and action
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CommentHospice care faces a ‘cliff edge’ this spring
Hospices are facing more serious challenges than ever before: costs are rising, demand is growing due to an ageing population, and insufficient funding means at least two in five hospices are planning cuts
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CommentReaching the 'vaccine ambivalent'
As flu strains NHS services, Gloucestershire’s experience shows that local delivery, targeted outreach and convenient access can significantly improve flu vaccination uptake
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CommentAs a trust CEO I found it hard to keep the focus on improvement
For more than two decades, the NHS has invested heavily in improvement. There have been new operating models, structures, and performance frameworks, as well as repeated waves of leadership development. Yet across much of the service, improvement remains episodic. Gains are made, often at pace – and then lost
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CommentProfessional regulators make it too hard for patients to complain
Employers and regulators should support patients and colleagues who give evidence against registered professionals and embed lessons learnt, writes Emerita Professor Louise Wallace and Dr Annie Sorbie
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CommentThe AI risks that NHS boards are missing
The risk for boards is not that AI will fail loudly, but that it will work efficiently while quietly missing harm. Governance that cannot see false negatives is not governance at all
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CommentWhy so many acute oncology services are unsafe by design
Despite their central role in cancer care, Acute Oncology Services remain underdesigned and overreliant on professional goodwill. Workforce redesign, not resilience, is now the critical safety issue
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CommentThe real cause of NHS leadership burnout
Pressure is visible; disorientation is not. Until the NHS names the quiet drift pulling leaders off course, burnout will continue to be misread and mismanaged
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CommentNHS reform is having a disproportionate impact on female staff
NHS reform is accelerating. How leaders support and retain diverse women during change will determine delivery, capacity, and long-term success
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CommentThe launch of ‘ChatGPT for health’ is both a threat and an opportunity
OpenAI’s entry into consumer health is not speculative innovation but a response to behaviour already happening at scale. For the NHS, it exposes a long-ignored gap in law, interoperability and patient agency that policy can no longer sidestep
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CommentWaiting list falls but still not fast enough
The longest waiting specialties made the biggest improvements in waiting times in November, says Rob Findlay