External contributors – Page 235
-
Comment'We all know NHS change will keep coming - the trick is to adapt'
In the immediate wake of the white paper it would be churlish to ignore what are potentially the most significant changes in the history of the health service.
-
CommentUnderstanding how patients behave could help cut NHS waste
How the new science of social influence can save the NHS money
-
Comment'As silly season stories go, Milburn's appointment was at least a genuine fact'
So, our reformist ex-health secretary Alan Milburn is to advise the coalition government on social mobility. The predictable cry of “traitor” goes up from within the Labour ranks.
-
CommentOvercoming fears about the NHS's future
I am increasingly concerned by the tone of some responses to the government’s NHS policy.
-
Comment'How is the state going to conscript GPs?'
In seeking to diminish the role of the state, the government has established a policy that attacks NHS bosses as the cause of most problems and abolishes state run primary care trusts and strategic health authorities. Instead, it proposes GP led consortia to do commissioning.
-
CommentGP governance: handle with care
How will GP consortia be held accountable for their commissioning activities?
-
Comment'La la Lansley has abolished the people who monitor us'
‘There is £80bn out there to be carved up between ourselves and the GPs. Well, surely that makes everyone a winner now?’
-
CommentSteve Field on public health and milky u-turns
His members have been given the key to NHS commissioning, and now Royal College of GPs chair Steve Field has weighed in on the country’s public health.
-
CommentMilton’s would-be milk snatch
As the overblown furore over school milk came and, almost as quickly, went after David Cameron stepped in, I was left feeling a bit sorry for Anne Milton, the coalition’s Conservative public health minister.
-
CommentJenny Rogers on insulting the boss
The scene, several decades ago, is a BBC production department meeting and I am a timid recruit, already unnerved by the savage humour of my new colleagues.
-
CommentIs this the end of the road for PCTs?
The winding down of PCTs must be handled with kid gloves if disruption to services - and loss of talent - is to be avoided
-
CommentA nervous kind of NHS reorganisation
It’s only a reorganisation, right? Anyone who’s worked in the NHS for a few years has been through reorganisations before.
-
CommentCally Bann: the white paper
So the end of term madness has fully descended, with fuel added to the annual pre-vacation fire by the wind of change blowing from the bottom of the white paper.
-
CommentMedia Watch: NHS trusts may soon be courting oligarchs
A front page on the financial arrangements of foundation trusts? Well it wasn’t likely to be The Sun.
-
CommentMichael White: the working time directive
Oh dear, I see the Royal College of Surgeons is up in arms again over the European working time directive as its 48 hour week rule affects staffing, management and even the safety of our hospitals.
-
CommentSheila Williams on positive communication
Recently I observed a team meeting on ideas for service improvements. A pattern emerged. For every idea offered, one particular person criticised it or gave reasons why it wouldn’t work.
-
CommentThe new healthcare revolution
Does the white paper outline a great leap forward or a just a step backwards?
-
CommentMark Goldman on fatal mistakes in the NHS
We relive dramatic moments in the media on action replay. Something terrible happens; a missed penalty, a putt hanging on the edge of the hole or a tyre bursting on the final lap.
-
CommentMedia Watch: lazy and unproductive?
Many NHS staff won’t be getting a pay rise and fear for their jobs, but they are lazy and unproductive too, newspaper reports suggest.
-
CommentMichael White: Lansley's five priorities for the NHS
It was cheering to spot Andrew Lansley’s five priorities for the NHS, public health and social care on the department’s website the other day. We need reassurance that he does have a coherent overview.