All Policy articles – Page 230

  • News

    DH backs down on care record consent

    2008-06-19T09:00:00Z

    The Department of Health is considering making it easier for patients to opt out of the electronic care record service, officials told a Commons committee this week.

  • News

    Confed appeals for mental health champion

    2008-06-19T09:00:00Z

    The government should appoint a ministerial champion for mental health and well-being to sit in the cabinet, the NHS Confederation is urging.

  • Comment

    Noel Plumridge on community tariff appeal

    2008-06-19T09:00:00Z

    'The biggest black box in the NHS' was how my fellow columnist Simon Stevens last month described the £10bn or more spent by English PCTs on district nursing, therapies and other mainstream community healthcare.

  • News

    Annual health check: PCTs let standards fall

    2008-06-19T09:00:00Z

    Less than a quarter of primary care trusts believe their services have met all government quality standards.

  • News

    Don't alienate private sector, warns panel

    2008-06-19T09:00:00Z

    Ministers must spell out the future direction of NHS reform or risk losing the interest of the private sector, an influential panel has warned.

  • News

    BMA delivers anti-polyclinic petition to No 10

    2008-06-19T09:00:00Z

    The British Medical Association stepped up its opposition to polyclinics last week, when GPs delivered a 1.2-million-signature petition to 10 Downing Street and passed a series of no-confidence votes in the government and health minister Lord Darzi.

  • News

    £12m to combat heart disease in Northern Ireland

    2008-06-18T11:26:00Z

    Northern Ireland is to invest £12m over the next three years in the treatment and prevention of heart disease.

  • News

    DH evades Treasury cap on central budgets

    2008-06-13T14:56:03Z

    The Department of Health will use part of its own internal underspend to release itself from Treasury-imposed cut backs in administrative spending. As part of the comprehensive spending review the Treasury imposed a two per cent (£5m) reduction each year to the DH’s central budget of£225m. But in its business ...

  • News

    London PCTs back Darzi vision

    2008-06-13T12:07:00Z

    London's 31 primary care trusts have endorsed health minister Lord Darzi's Healthcare for London proposals and agreed to move ahead with a network of polyclinics and specialist hospitals.The move follows a six-month consultation on the plans. NHS London stressed it is a 'framework and not about specific services'. However, the ...

  • Comment

    Simon Jones on NHS governance

    2008-06-13T09:00:00Z

    Not too long ago, the Welsh Assembly completed a governance review of all the trusts and local health boards in Wales. Initial reactions were, as ever, 'oh no, not another review'.

  • Comment

    Angela Greatley on what Darzi can do for mental health

    2008-06-13T09:00:00Z

    Introducing the latest proposals for the next stage review last month, Lord Darzi said: 'The nature of healthcare means services will always need to change, and sometimes that means reorganising how services are provided.'

  • News

    Over a million sign BMA polyclinic petition

    2008-06-12T11:04:00Z

    More than 1.1 million people have signed a British Medical Association petition calling on the government to halt the development of polyclinics.

  • News

    Failed, fired but not yet fixed: the new realities

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    Shape up or we'll find someone else to do your job - that's the new, tough message from the Department of Health. But how attractive will the 'someone else' role prove to be, asks Charlotte Santry

  • News

    Labour's NHS vision let down by reforms

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    New Labour's reforms have failed to deliver its vision to transform the health service, a major report has concluded.The joint Audit Commission and Healthcare Commission report finds the overhaul of the health service under the 2000 NHS Plan has, in many areas, fallen well short of expectations.

  • Comment

    Michael White on dealing with the Treasury

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    Right, enough of this gloom. All together now, we are going to say 'let's stay cheerful for the rest of this column, whatever happens'.

  • News

    Workforce contracts under fire

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    NHS workforce contracts represent a 'missed opportunity' for change, today's joint report from the Healthcare Commission and Audit Commission concludes.

  • News

    Confed warns of globalisation risks

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    The long-term sustainability of the NHS faces multiple threats from globalisation, the NHS Confederation has warned.

  • Comment

    Simon Stevens on on China's plans for healthcare

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    In Beijing a few weeks ago, discussing alternative health reform models with Chinese government officials, I was struck by the fact that at about the time the NHS Plan was being formulated in 2000, China was embarking on a similar 10-year health plan.

  • News

    GP incentives are not needed, 'inverse care' doctor tells MPs

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    The GP who developed the 'inverse care law' - which says those most in need of healthcare are least likely to receive it - has told MPs he objects to giving family doctors financial incentives to do their job.

  • Leader

    Sacking managers may attract headlines but won't fix problems

    2008-06-12T09:00:00Z

    After 11 years of public service reform, the government's record is still dogged by poor performance. The failure regime unveiled last week shows ministers are running out of patience.