Leader – Page 25
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LeaderNHS pay: will you dare to lead by example?
Will the post-election period bring radical pay reductions and pension reform to the public sector similar to those being experienced in Ireland?
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LeaderFoundation trusts: new approach needed to unblock the pipeline
The financial discipline that comes with foundation status is alone an argument for moving all NHS trusts in that direction. A powerful secondary reason is the greater clarity given to the accountability of board directors.
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LeaderNHS medics must face the issue of productivity
Trusts are taking tentative steps into the landmine riddled territory of their consultants’ productivity.
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LeaderAlternative providers: a good idea is a good idea, whoever had it
After three years editing HSJ I am still struck by the NHS’s antediluvian attitudes to the private and voluntary sectors. It does not want this mirror held in front of it.
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LeaderFlimsy electoral one-liners must make way for realistic policies
Now the general election has been called, the NHS can finally start crossing off the days until some honesty returns to the debate about the future of healthcare.
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LeaderAfter two decades of wandering, commissioning has a destination
The report on commissioning from the Commons health select committee is both insightful and flawed.
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LeaderWe need to face up to tough choices on social care – fast
The social care white paper unveiled on Tuesday is an important step on the way to getting politicians and voters to face difficult choices.
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LeaderSteve Bundred is stepping up at a pivotal time
The appointment of Steve Bundred as chair of Monitor is a shrewd choice.
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LeaderIt may not have been pretty, but Labour gave new life to the NHS
This week leading commentators give their verdict on Labour’s 13 year stewardship of the NHS.
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LeaderHeed Liam Donaldson’s frosty warning on winter pressures
The chief medical officer’s call for a plan to reduce the number of deaths in winter was welcomed by the health service but the responses from different parts of the sector smacked of buck passing.
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LeaderDH must help make integration seamless
Progress on Transforming Community Services indicates more integration is coming our way. “Vertical integration” is the method of the moment, and HSJ understands some primary care trusts feel under considerable pressure to head in that direction.
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LeaderPreferred provider policy: unions jilted, Burnham jolted, competition wins the day
Andy Burnham’s “preferred provider” policy is now in its death throes. What began as a speech aimed at ingratiating the health secretary with the unions ended in a put-down from the prime minister.
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LeaderAt last – your chance to write a manifesto
Have you ever felt so frustrated with the political parties’ health policies that you wished you could write your own? Now your chance has come.
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LeaderGordon Brown’s knee-jerk reaction to Mid Staffs is doomed to failure
Gordon Brown wants the power to strike you off.
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LeaderDream of taking on ailing trusts founders on rocks of Good Hope
With just five weeks to go before non-foundation trusts have to outline their plans for joining the elite, there are severe doubts about the government’s aspiration for foundation trusts to rescue weaker hospitals.
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LeaderFoundation independence is on a knife edge
Foundation trusts are undermining their autonomy through poor governance and accountability.
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LeaderBurying the NHS mortality row will clear the way for quality push
The Department of Health is trying to get a grip on the toxic issue of hospital standardised mortality ratios.
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LeaderRoyal Surrey has some explaining to do
HSJ’s revelation that Royal Surrey County Hospital was the foundation trust selling millions of pounds of drugs on the export market requires some answers from its board.
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LeaderSenior NHS ranks have proved their value, how can they maintain it?
HSJ this week reveals that NHS trusts with the greatest increases in the number of managers are often those that are providing the best quality services.
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LeaderPatients shortchanged in local trade-off
It is ominous when the health secretary won’t deny that a political ideal has been a “damp squib” in practice. And so to foundation trusts’ local accountability, which Andy Burnham spoke to HSJ about in an exclusive interview this week.