External contributors – Page 261
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John Coakley on NHS targets
Most clinicians hate targets and view them as something that obstructs clinical care. However, it seems they have worked.
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Benjamin Ellis on clinician-manager rivalries
A few years ago, a doctor friend told me of a revelation she had had after attending a lecture on clinical nutrition. 'You see,' she said, 'I'd never really thought of calories as something you needed in order to survive - I'd spent my whole life trying to avoid them.'
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Ken Jarrold on the patient experience
There is nothing like being a patient to bring you face to face with the realities of working lives. Fortunately for me, my recent experience was entirely positive.
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Maggie Rae on NHS core competencies
Am I competent? We must all have asked ourselves this question. In the build-up to world class commissioning assessment, it is interesting to ponder what competency we have and whether we have any weak links.
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Michael White on NHS bad news
Some politicians suspected Alan Johnson deliberately chose to make his announcement on top-ups on the same day as Barack Obama's election to the US presidency in the hope that he could 'bury bad news.'
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Sir Ian Kennedy on the future of the annual health check
The Act of Parliament that established the Healthcare Commission required us to assess on an annual basis the performance of every NHS organisation, taking account of the standards issued by the Department of Health. Out of this requirement grew the annual health check.
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John Coulthard on delivering Darzi
At our annual NHS summit this year, we looked at the challenges facing chief information officers and clinicians in delivering Lord Darzi's vision for the NHS.
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Norman Niven on wasted medicine
The more I read about the NHS's troubles, the more I wonder whether dramatic headlines about bed shortages, waiting lists and superbugs serve to obscure a problem that is far less attention grabbing but potentially more damaging to UK healthcare.
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Mike Hobbs on clinical leadership and mental health
Mental health strategy has historically been seen as separate from mainstream health strategy and planning.
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David Peat on lean times for the NHS
Without sounding overly biblical, but with the credit crunch in mind, is the NHS facing lean times after years of fat expenditure?
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Jenny Rogers on enoughism
It is probably a bit eccentric, but I began a recent holiday by spending three days with a modest and talented genius called Chris Wing, who comes and sorts out your messy home.
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David Lee on delayed transfers of care
If you have mentioned delayed transfers of care in an unguarded manner to a mental health foundation trust director recently, you might have been struck by a sudden and sharp temperature drop in the room.
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Taiwo Ajayi on electronic health records
Ten years after plans were first laid for electronic healthcare records in the NHS, a clinician explores how the technology has changed the service
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Naomi Chambers on NHS boards and organisational performance
As the Healthcare Commission's annual health check comes to a close, after congratulatory notes are received, press releases carefully crafted, protests lodged, or wounds licked in private, how often do boards ask themselves: what part have we played in our organisation's performance this year?
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Media Watch: food terror
We're all doomed. From the day our mothers sipped their third cup of coffee while pregnant (Daily Mail) to the time we ignored the best before date on that pate at the back of the fridge (The Observer) to the decision to ditch the bran flakes for one of those ...
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Michael White on IT in the NHS
You were probably far too busy to notice Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg urging Gordon Brown the other day to 'distinguish between good public spending and bad public spending… By not wasting £13bn on an NHS computer system that doesn't work'.
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Sophia Christie on the NHS and the credit crunch
We seem to be officially heading into recession. Even if it is shallow and short, this will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.
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Charles Kaye and Michael Howlett on mental health in the slow lane
A number of high-profile news items about mental health have hit the headlines recently.
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Achieving 18 weeks: engaging with NHS managers and clinicians
As the NHS hits the government's 18-week referral to treatment target early, national implementation director Philippa Robinson, a trained nurse, explains the important role clinical leadership has played in the achievement
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Hilary Thomas on NHS top-ups
I approach the subject of NHS top-ups with some trepidation. The issue is complex and there are no easy answers. Considering it from the cancer perspective, I will attempt to throw light into some dark corners of the debate.