External contributors – Page 249
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CommentJenny Rogers on tendering
The person on the telephone sounds very young. I am stifling incredulity at her request. “You mean you want me to tender for this?” I ask.
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CommentSurvey: How do you think the NHS is coping with swine flu?
Health Service Journal and Nursing Times would like to hear about the experience of swine flu by NHS staff so we can share with you, via our magazines and websites, how nurses and managers are feeling and what support they are getting.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: the optimism bias uplift
The crowd from the finance department were relaxing in the Rat and Weasel musing on life’s three inevitables: death, taxes… and the private finance initiative.
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CommentMedia Watch: is Burnham the new Pants Man?
As swine flu takes increasing hold it will be interesting to see how the national papers’ coverage of the pandemic begins to diverge.
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CommentMichael White on swine flu and infectious attitudes
There comes a time when even a “keep calm” column has to acknowledge that Britain seems to be edging towards a swine flu pandemic. Alas, there is no antiviral to protect more vulnerable groups like politicians from exhibiting alarming symptoms.
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CommentClare Chapman: on being ready for the NHS constitution
How ready are we for the NHS constitution? Subject to the Health Bill being passed, all providers of NHS services will be under a legal duty to have regard to the new contract. Legal duties already in law will have to be fulfilled too and we will need to work ...
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CommentYour Humble Servant on private lessons
We are all still reeling from the shock news of Mark Britnell’s sudden departure for pastures more remunerative. Thankfully he has left us with a commissioning sector which no one else in the world can match… and oddly none has sought to do so.
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CommentKen Jarrold: Five ways to give feedback
Feedback is one of the most valuable gifts our colleagues can give us. To find someone who has the tact, courage and skill to tell you honestly how you are doing is a very rare thing indeed. In 36 years of full time work I had seven good appraisals.
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CommentThe social care green paper: What's in it for the NHS?
NHS managers could be forgiven for asking why they should be interested in the government’s long-awaited Green Paper on adult social care. The prospect of swine flu, shifting political priorities and impending fiscal gloom might seem enough to worry about.
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CommentSimon Stevens: on lifestyles and living beyond 100
If all goes well, next month my wife’s grandma will turn 100. That is a birthday only around one in 5,000 of her peers will be around to celebrate. Not bad for a woman who, like millions of others, emigrated between the two world wars from eastern Europe to New ...
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CommentMichael White: on patient safety and savvy spending
I had an odd experience at the weekend. Reading the Commons health select committee’s depressing report on patient safety, I kept thinking of the more visible drama now being played out over public expenditure and pay.
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CommentMediawatch: swine flu... it could be you
We’ve all got guilty pleasures that are bad for our health and this week there is another one to add to the list.
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CommentAndy McKeon: saving £15bn-£20bn will be no summer holiday
This summer senior NHS managers have been set a problem they will still be studying for months ahead - how to save £15bn-£20bn over three years from 2011.
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CommentSheila Williams on to coach or not to coach
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s 2008 survey of learning and development reported an increase in the use of coaching - not just for senior managers and directors, but for all employees.
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CommentDoes my daughter have swine flu?
It’s been a tough month for my 12-year-old; she dislocated an elbow on an activity trip, was involved in a car accident, and then, last Friday, went down with suspected swine flu.
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CommentHelping GPs help patients: NICE's role
There’s more NICE can do to help doctors help patients, writes Simon Fradd
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CommentClinicians and managers - shedding some light on the dark side
What is it really like for clinicians who become managers in the NHS? Mark Johnston and Yasmin Ahmed-Little take a closer look
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CommentJon Restell: how to cope
The ever rolling aftermath of the credit crunch – a new angle every day – makes horizon scanning a full time job. For those who only have time for a quick look up from the grindstone, I list the main trouble spots, as I see them, and some suggestions on ...
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CommentPaul Corrigan: the future of foundation trusts
The biggest clash between NHS culture and strategy continues to be found around foundation trusts.
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CommentMichael Jackson brings out the celebrity in all of us
In these digital times, it was interesting to watch the way the news of Michael Jackson’s death broke online and then spread through the more traditional news media.