Latest news – Page 2885

  • News

    Walls come tumbling down

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    There were always doubts about the Chinese wall erected by the architects of the NHS Confederation to divide its health authority and trust arms. The idea that ultimate power could reside in two places simultaneously always seemed unlikely to succeed.

  • News

    WHEN THE PATIENTS JUST DON'T WANT TO KNOW

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    We were interested to see that the study by Hilary Arksey and colleagues ('Tell it like it is', pages 32-33, 22 January) bears out the findings of a similar study we undertook into the needs of cancer patients' carers in Hillingdon in 1993.1 Their information needs were again identified as ...

  • News

    WHEN SIZE MATTERS... BUT MUST BE RECONCILED WITH A LOCAL APPROACH

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Matt Muijen asks interesting questions about mental health services in The New NHS (Community Spirit, 22 January).

  • News

    THE BEAR NECESSITIES OF LIFE WHEN YOU'RE SICK

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest your short item on the 'intensive care bears' being used in the intensive treatment unit of Derriford Hospital, Plymouth (News, page 8, 11 December).

  • News

    BAR-CODES ON PRECRIPTIONS WOULD HELP US ALL

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Most GP prescriptions are now done on accredited GP computers. It would be a simple matter to make the computer not only print out the prescriptions, but also a bar-code giving the full details of the prescription, including drug name and dosage, patient details and details of the prescribing GP.

  • News

    PROBLEMS NEED SOLVING

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Further to Lee Whitehead's response (Letters, 15 January) to Michael Howlett (Letters, 27 November), I endorse the view that the 'care continuum' of supported housing should be available in every locality. I also suggest that today's solution is tomorrow's problem: once the housing needs of people suffering mental ill health ...

  • News

    MERGING MANAGEMENT WOULD REDUCE WASTE

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    As another ex-nurse, I write in response to N Brown's letter (22 January) about the amount of money spent on chief executives.

  • News

    NONE OF OUR QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Our article ('Time to strip the beds,' pages 30-33, 27 November) sought to show a range of issues which were not properly dealt with by University Hospital Birmingham trust's consultation.

  • News

    HERETIC

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Wouldn't taxis be less taxing?

  • News

    THE GREEN IDEA I'VE SEEN SOMEWHERE BEFORE

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    I wonder if other readers have noticed the uncanny resemblance between the draft green paper, Our Healthier Nation (News, page 5, News Focus, pages 12-13, and Comment, 22 January), and The Health of the Nation white paper published in 1992 by the Conservative government.

  • News

    How Dowager Ginny gave poor Frank a headache BY MICHAEL WHITE

    1998-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Quite the liveliest health question time of the year (actually it was the first) the other day. Fearless Frank tore into the BBC for misreporting a '65-hours on a ward-trolley' atrocity in Surrey. Everyone said 'Happy 40th birthday' to Minister Milburn, and Paul Boateng got rapped on the knuckles by ...

  • News

    Wired for sound

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    If the headlines are correct, NHS Direct, a nurse-led 24-hour advice and information helpline to be set up across the country by the year 2000, will transform access to healthcare in the UK. The New NHS white paper hailed NHS Direct as a key element in the modernisation of the ...

  • News

    Key Points

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    There is some evidence that the British public would like to see an expansion of telephone advice lines.

  • News

    View finders

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Involving users in decisions about rationing drug treatments can bring a qualitative perspective to approving new drugs.

  • News

    In the clear

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Giving patients clear and comprehensible information is crucial. Jane Beenstock and colleagues explain how their hospital has gone about ensuring the information they provide is jargon-free and written in plain English

  • News

    REFERENCES

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    1 Law J, Lyall J. A touch of glasnost in the NHS. Health Service J 1988; 98(5091): 272-73.

  • News

    Box 2. Contents of literature assessment

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Writing style: questions about the way the information is written - for example, print size and layout.

  • News

    VOL 108 NO 5589 THURSDAY 29 JANUARY 1998

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT ONLY

  • News

    Wet ting the whistle

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    NHS employees who 'go public' on wrongdoing and malpractice are to get legal protection. Patrick Butler reports on the 'whistleblowers bill'

  • News

    Half a league onward

    1998-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Not everyone welcomes government plans to compare hospitals' performance. Lyn Whitfield reports