External contributors – Page 240
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CommentSophia Christie on a crumbling model of healthcare
Much health policy is about achieving a balance. A common tension is that between the popularity of “local” and the necessity of “strategic”.
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CommentZimmer frames in the snow and sinister swine flu
Ten days ago it looked as though we would get nothing but blanket coverage of the snow - in both senses - for days on end.
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CommentMichael White on the cost of alcohol
Commons health select committee chair Kevin Barron was enjoying a Sunday night glass of Shiraz when I rang to discuss his report on how to tackle Britain’s costly upsurge in alcoholism.
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CommentSheila Williams on communication and metaphors
Over the past few weeks, I ran into a brick wall with a project, burned the candle at both ends and then saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
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CommentMichael White on the Conservatives' election campaign
Why did my heart sink watching David Cameron launching what amounts to the Conservatives’ general election campaign on Monday, complete with well trailed health pledges and a wholesome poster proclaiming “I’ll cut the deficit. Not the NHS”?
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CommentJohn Deffenbaugh asks what next for foundation trusts
How would a Tory government bring up Labour’s young provider model?
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CommentAndrew Jones on healthcare Darwinism
What is the most important book ever written? Most clinicians will refer you to On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.
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CommentCally Bann: bah humbug
Now I’m no Scrooge, and the words bah and humbug have never once crossed my lips, if you ignore that time in 1986 when I got caught under the A&E mistletoe by a lothario of the Superbrew. But - looking back in the cold light of January - never again ...
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CommentPublic sector pay scrutiny
It may be a new decade, but it is a familiar story facing NHS managers returning to their desks after the Christmas holidays.
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CommentKen Jarrold: what is the future of NHS regulation?
The row about regulation did not come at a good time for the NHS and it raises some profound questions. Just how likely is it that self assessment will be objective? How many of us have the capacity to see ourselves, our performance and the world around us as it ...
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CommentNHS Top Leaders: cream of the crop rises to the top
The Top Leaders programme is nearly ready to finish identifying the leaders it believes have the greatest potential to make an impact on care in the NHS
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CommentJon Restell: could the NHS ever be like this?
People tell me I am good at predictions, so here is my month by month forecast for 2010.
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CommentMedia Watch: Good to Great, generic drugs and swine flu
Not of a lot of festive cheer in evidence just yet: the health secretary’s latest strategy for the NHS, intended to take it from “good to great”, was met with a determined lack of enthusiasm from The Daily Telegraph, Independent and Financial Times. They all took the view that it ...
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CommentMichael White on public spending
There was a cynical chuckle in the Commons during the pre-Budget Report when Alistair Darling told MPs “we take these decisions from a position of strength”. What decisions? Why, cuts in the public spending deficit, of course.
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CommentPaul Corrigan: health and social care marriage
When health secretary Andy Burnham announced his new policy last week, HSJ suggested he was interested in a “marriage” between social care and health commissioning. In Parliament, Mr Burnham added: “We should also be less precious about spending health resources on equipment and telecare to help people live in their ...
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CommentPete Mason on multiple leadership styles
What makes a good leader? There are several schools of thought. Should a leader be reserved like Gordon Brown, or gregarious like Tony Blair; quietly dignified like Bobby Moore, or in your face like John Terry; boisterous like Alan Sugar, or overfamiliar like David Brent?
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CommentYour Humble Servant: regulation...
‘What’s important is that if you’re crap you own up and if you’re fabulous you live to fail another day’
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Comment'You don't have to be insensitive to work here, but it helps'
New Horizons, launched on Monday, got a pleasing amount of coverage for a mental health story.
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CommentMichael White on NHS regulation
Is there enough real news to fill all those newspapers and dedicated TV news channels? In most years there are only two or three serious news items, ones that will be remembered, I sometimes joke.
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CommentStephen Eames on quality vs cost
One thing I have learnt over the years is the propensity of strategic development, planning and associated processes to dominate and consume inordinate amounts of time, often with limited output.