External contributors – Page 290
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Comment
Ringfencing is only a short-term cash fix
'Local flexibility is a principle that needs defending. Ringfencing is only convenient so long as the political wind is blowing in your direction'
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Comment
Richard Morgan and Allison Thorpe on social marketing
'Social marketing recognises that, all things being equal, people will choose behaviours that keep them in good health. But all things are rarely equal; most people have to make choices and compromises'
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Comment
David Peat on letting go
'As soon as the SS Rest and Relaxation draws near another port, you can see groups of slightly anxious-looking passengers veering to the landward side of the vessel and proclaiming: 'Houston, we have a signal!''
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Comment
Join a study on cancer and insurance
Have you recovered from cancer but still have trouble getting travel insurance? Were you quoted an excessive premium or treated insensitively? If so, we would like to invite you to take part in our research.
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Comment
Lisa Rodrigues on managing change
'Some people think the quiet revolution in mental health, with the closure of the asylums and the introduction of community care alternatives, is a model for the rest of the NHS. But I am the first to admit that we did not.always get it right'
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Comment
Paul Cooper on emergency ward nine and a half
'Our local doctor is as good as anyone else's, I suppose, although I don't really know that as I have little choice'
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: rave with Dave
‘It must be what the Baghdad Green Zone is like, hermetically sealed and full of the commentariat issuing orders devoid of any sense of reality’
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Comment
Johnson leads Brown's charm team as ministers start to listen
'Sir Ara keeping one foot in the operating theatre should encourage clinicians to have confidence that their views are listened to'
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Comment
David Lock on making sense of insurance claims
'When the pressure comes on from the 'care co-ordinator' employed by the insurers to provide the patient with a grade seven nurse, 24-hour care for incontinence and horse riding lessons as part of the overall package, PCTs can dig their heels in and refuse'
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Comment
Volunteering and mental health
Separate independent research adds to the mounting evidence that volunteering has important health benefits. Preliminary studies indicate that volunteering can have positive outcomes for 85 per cent.of mental health service users who participate. (see 'The health benefits of volunteering').
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Comment
Andrew Jones on getting the NHS recipe right
'We have a centrally run, demand-driven, hospital-orientated system for an ageing, consumer society with untreated long-term conditions. This recipe will be unsustainable.if the 2007-08 spending round produces a big squeeze'
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Comment
Frank message in Whitehall report card: must try harder
'That three people signed off the DoH's response to a report highlighting poor leadership has caused much merriment in Whitehall'
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Comment
Pandering to protests won't find answers
'The system Mr Cameron is proposing would produce a health service reflecting local wants, not needs'
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Comment
LINks must ensure vulnerable people are protected
Regarding your article.'LINks scrutiny system to bar patient networks from access to key services', patient networks have access to the establishments described. These are the very places where high-profile problems sometimes arise with vulnerable people. It cannot be too difficult to ensure people are checked. There must be some deep-seated ...
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Comment
Chris Ham on integrating to compete in the NHS
'Instead of separating the roles of buyers and sellers in the NHS, the government needs to encourage closer integration between hospitals and GPs'
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Comment
David Woodhead on gathering evidence
'Science might come up with some interesting ideas, but ultimately the likelihood of adopting evidence is driven by our values. Mass sterilisation of young men might be an effective method of reducing teenage pregnancies, although for good reasons it would not be considered practical'
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: the Confed conference
'The highlight will of course be Nigel and Gill doing the I'm More Important Than You foxtrot'