External contributors – Page 264
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Protecting patients' mealtimes
Around 28 per cent of patients in hospital are considered at risk of malnutrition, and the risk is most pronounced in elderly patients with declining mental function. Kathie Paling explains how a Royal College of Nursing leadership programme helped her improve the nutritional status of patients on her ward
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David Amos on aiming for NHS perfection
The 2008 Olympics reaffirmed the proposition that it is possible to keep improving on excellence and perfection in sport.
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Lisa Rodrigues on the financial crisis and the NHS
We live in strange and worrying times. As I write, another building society has been nationalised.
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Helen Bevan on large-scale change in the health service
A sea change is happening in the way we approach large-scale change in the health service.
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Media Watch: binge drinking
Unlike so much else in the past seven days, the value of a drink is on the way up. The Department of Health's next attempt to reduce binge drinking will include curbs on free samples and happy hours, according to press reports.
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Michael White on the financial crisis
The deepening financial crisis is changing how we look at everything now. For instance, aren't NHS finance directors glad they didn't have surpluses to invest unwisely during the years when Patricia Hewitt's stiletto was on their necks?
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Stephen Eames on managing by fear
Up here in the North East the community is still reeling from the collapse of Northern Rock and is now watching with horror the ongoing farcical spectacle that is Newcastle United Football Club.
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Your Humble Servant on party conferences
To: Don Wise, chief executiveFrom: Paul Servant, assistant chief executiveRe: His-Tory lesson
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NHS spending - what does the future hold?
As the economic picture worsens, Carl Emmerson and Gemma Tetlow examine the possible implications for the NHS budget
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Ciaran Devane on surviving cancer
The latest buzzword in cancer care is 'survivorship' - a word that has caused a bit of controversy since it was first used in the cancer reform strategy to describe the rapidly growing number of people living with or beyond cancer.
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David Allen on letting the public shape the NHS
The government has published another NHS white paper in which politicians tell the public what sort of health service we must receive. It is time this changed.
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Steve Feast on GPs as community leaders
When I was a GP, I was always amazed by the degree to which people remembered and acted on my advice. Frequently, the advice sought was not obviously related to any of my medical training or education.
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Andrew Jones on NHS leadership and creativity
I have just thrown yet another leadership conference leaflet in the bin. Thinking back over the past year, quite a few similar fliers have followed the same trajectory.
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Steve Onyett on NHS interdependence
It is not unusual to find teams and their managers entangled in a cruel bind. Senior management conveys the absolute requirement to increase caseload sizes to meet an activity target.
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Maggie Rae on giving blood and glory
Yes, it is my fault - I think I am to blame for our terrible weather over the summer. I supported the introduction of the national system to monitor the effects of excessive heat over the summer months.
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Mental health volunteering scheme has global ambitions
This World Mental Health Day, South London and Maudsley foundation trust is supporting a new initiative to encourage volunteering with VSO.
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Keith Pearson on releasing time to care for patients
The best health organisations in the world put patients at the heart of what they do. This is why the Releasing Time to Care programme is so important.
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Jon Restell on party conferences
The party conference season heralds the least productive element of my job. Attending them means - roughly - receptions, speaking at fringes, talking to anyone who will listen and eating too much and too richly.
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Media Watch: public health Jamie Oliver style
When a celebrity ventures into the inhospitable terrain of public health, the results tend to be predictably cringe-inducing.
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Michael White on the NHS and political miscalculations
With the global banking network near meltdown, we're all on a sharp learning curve. So here's a tip for David Cameron: don't use the distress of NHS patients such as the late Elizabeth Woods to make party-political points.