External contributors – Page 266
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Preparing for a pandemic in the NHS
We live in a climate where the threat of bio-terrorism is significant enough to warrant serious preparation for a biological attack.This, together with the possibility of global outbreaks of infectious disease, such as avian influenza or SARS, increases the need to prepare for a pandemic.
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Stephen Ramsden on prioritising patient safety
Can anything be more important than the safety of our patients? This summer the National Patient Safety Campaign will begin. It aims to make safety the NHS's highest priority.
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Ali Mohammed on staff empowerment
The other day I was asked the rather ambiguous question, 'How many inches have you got?' I was taken aback until I realised the question was about my TV.
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Lisa Rodrigues on appointing a new chair
Managers should be aware of the unintended consequences their actions can bring about
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Your Humble Servant at the FT
To: Don Wise, chief executiveFrom: Paul Servant, assistant chief executiveRe: FT fantastic
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Media Watch: polyclinic row
The polyclinic row stepped up a gear this week as the Tories launched a 'campaign to save the family doctor', warning more than 1,700 GP surgeries could close.
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Jo Davis on leading a foundation trust board
As chair of Birmingham Children's Hospital foundation trust, I had a unique role in our bid for FT status. It was my job to develop the board and guide it through the rigorous application process.
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Michael White on disease politics
I was reading a book about politicians and their illnesses when news broke that John Prescott has suffered from bulimia, what some newspapers were unkind enough to call a girl's illness.
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Malcolm Lowe-Lauri on acute trust challenges
The financial year just gone has not been the easiest for acute services, with tough targets, population changes and possible structural shifts all putting pressure on trusts.
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This week's All Our Yesterdays
Public Assistance Journal and Health and Hospital Review, 30 April 1948From a study of old age, carried out by the Nuffield Foundation Survey Committee on people in Wolverhampton."In the great majority of instances the old people enjoy their food and eat ordinary food. Among women, however, a larger proportion ...
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Another coat of arms suggestion for Sir Robert Naylor
David Poynton, chair of consultancy Public Sector Consultants (formerly Robert's finance director at Heartlands trust for 10 years - we are still on speaking terms, he says) writes to suggest a coat of arms for Robert Naylor (End Game, passim). He explains it thus: "The heraldic meaning is as follows; ...
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'Lunatic' goings-on in Welsh government
From our kind friends on the news desk comes the following intriguing tale of a Conservative MP who seems to have developed the power of second sight.First minister ofWales, Labour’s Rhodri Morgan launched a stinging attack against a Conservative assembly member for his “farcical” and “lunatic” attempt to discredit the ...
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Awards preview
Managing long term care sponsored by Sanofi AventisThe growing number of community matrons working across and covering just about every GP practice in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care trust patch – there are now 39 – is just one indicator of the success of the county’s ...
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Bedside manna - a new ethos of care
Martin Winbolt-Lewis advocates moving away from mechanistic approaches to patient care and embracing an empathetic, holistic approach to caring for people who are ill or injured
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Deep clean - a patient's view
What did service users make of the government's deep-clean initiative? We asked one woman to tell us what happened when the cleaners arrived on her ward
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Raj Persaud on the art of seduction
Giacomo Casanova is perhaps the most famous seducer in history who, it is said, lured well over 100 women into bed. Although this Italian-born libertine lived several centuries ago, his techniques of seduction could hold a valuable lesson for the NHS.
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Helen Bevan on workload liberation
Over the last decade, I have made many attempts (some documented in this column) to improve my personal work systems and processes but struggled to sustain them under the burden of a growing workload.
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Andrew Jones on the next big shift in healthcare
I often wonder what will drive the next quantum shift in healthcare. If we ran a poll today, world class commissioning or the Darzi review would probably top the list. These ideas are fine, but it seems to me that they represent an incremental nudge rather than a quantum shift.
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Sophia Christie on tackling the digital divide
Economic growth is increasingly driven by the skill of the local workforce and more specifically confidence and competence in using digital technologies.
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Media Watch: health service jargon
Most would agree health service jargon is a pain but it appears it can also be dangerous.