Finance and efficiency – Page 129
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LeaderA weak private sector is bad news for the NHS
The future for the private hospital sector is not a pretty one, as our exclusive analysis of Laing and Buisson’s authoritative annual market review reveals, and this conclusion prompts two questions.
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LeaderThe complexity of competition rules creates confusion and risk
Those who worry about the commercialisation of services for NHS patients often point to problems created by privatised utilities or the unholy mess that is the West’s banking sector.
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LeaderAn unflinching framework in the face of relentless pressure
Today’s autumn statement painted a gloomy picture of the economy in 2012. By the time the Chancellor rose, NHS leaders had already begun to come to terms with an operating framework that sent a similarly grim message.
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LeaderPension squeeze is another victim of inept NHS reform
“I’m not touching that, it’s a quagmire,” said the health minister fleeing from HSJ’s question at last week’s Conservative Party conference.
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LeaderDH chases up service changes with an undisguised urgency
The Department of Health’s report on the NHS’s record in the months April to June presents an impressive list of achievements and the NHS staff responsible for them should rightly feel proud. But look closer and a less reassuring picture emerges.
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LeaderSquaring the price competition and efficiency circle
“Where would you like your vasectomy, sir?” is not a phrase you’re likely to hear in the NHS as many primary care trusts have ruled out paying for the procedure anywhere other than in GP practices.
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LeaderPrivate sector takeover not as imminent as some may have it
The week began with a media feeding frenzy around the government’s NHS reforms created by the imminent publication of the health bill. Dire warnings were ten a penny, while the PM adopted a Thatcherite “no alternative” stance.
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Leader'Conspiracy of silence hides true extent of poor GP performance'
Andrew Lansley claims primary care trusts had to be abolished because they failed to commission effectively - an arguable accusation.
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LeaderCircle’s success at Hinchingbrooke is more likely to be cultural than commercial
What will we learn from private provider Circle’s success in becoming the preferred and only bidder for the contract to manage Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust?
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LeaderNHS management challenge stays much the same, rich or poor
On 25 April 2002 HSJ gave its verdict on Gordon Brown’s decision to lavish unprecedented riches on the NHS.
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LeaderHSJ Finance: helping you achieve NHS efficiency
This week HSJ introduces a new section in the magazine. HSJ Finance has two goals: to explore how increasing financial pressures are impacting on the NHS, and to plot the developing relationship between the service and the private sector.
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LeaderWe need NHS managers to tackle the first financial crisis since 1987
Today the government’s spending review will be announced and the implications for the NHS will start to become clear.
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LeaderYour idea could redefine the health service
What is the big idea that will guide and inform the development of the NHS throughout the next decade?
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LeaderThe NHS has too many hospitals - something’s got to give
Bristol, Alder Hey, Mid Staffordshire; some hospital trusts are forever synonymous with failures which shone a light on problems found throughout the NHS. Could South London Healthcare Trust and Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Foundation Trust be about to join them?
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NewsPace of public spending cuts 'not set in stone'
The pace and scale of public spending cuts is not set in stone and could be changed if the policy fails to rescue the economy, a Liberal Democrat cabinet minister has said.
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LeaderThe health community remains doubtful of Cameron’s big idea
Does the “big society” have any relevance to the future of the NHS?
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LeaderNHS spending debate focuses on the wrong type of consultant
Why is health secretary Andrew Lansley still acting like an opposition politician? That is the question raised by the government’s haranguing of primary care trusts for their use of management consultants.
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LeaderThe accountability of overspending GPs
The British Medical Association has declared GP consortia must be “democratically accountable” to practices. And they “should act with integrity and leadership when considering the accountability of practices”.
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LeaderAlarm bells sound as financial scrutiny falls victim to the cuts
Amid the sound and fury surrounding the abolition of the Audit Commission there was little comment on how it would affect the NHS.
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LeaderClinical engagement is about more than GPs
At last week’s NHS Confederation conference, health secretary Andrew Lansley stressed the need for managers to engage with GPs, while batting away the question of how Treasury officials feel about giving them control of the commissioning purse strings - a question that is not going to go away.