All Policy articles – Page 242

  • News

    GPs urge PCTs to remain flexible

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts will have to negotiate with family doctors over how to implement extended hours locally after the overwhelming majority of GPs voted to accept the government’s proposed deal.

  • News

    Lib Dems plan PCT tax-raising power

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    The Liberal Democrats would turn primary care trusts into elected bodies that would eventually enjoy tax-raising powers, the party decided at its spring conference in Liverpool.

  • News

    Noel Plumridge on Darling's discipline

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    Yesterday's Budget announcement held few surprises for the NHS. As expected. Nowadays, the important public finance figures are published in the autumn, and it would have been disappointing indeed if chancellor Alistair Darling had revisited the NHS assumptions in last October's spending review.

  • News

    DH under fire over clinical trials

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley has accused the Department of Health of inconsistency after it argued both for and against compelling drug companies to provide more information about clinical trials in a single day.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Partnership working: taking targets a la carte

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    The 198 national indicators will tear up the 'set menu' of national targets, so local partnerships can tailor priorities to local needs. But regulation of the system will need a rethink

  • Comment

    Michael White on Darling's budget

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    By the time you read this, Alistair Darling's first Budget will have reinforced Gordon Brown's latest promise to make our great public services more competitive and accountable to their customers. They are all Blairites now.

  • News

    Britnell moots PCT rebrand

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts could change their names over the next year to boost the public’s understanding of their role.

  • News

    PCTs pressured to lose provider arm

    2008-03-13T09:00:00Z

    Strategic health authorities are forcing primary care trusts to divest themselves of their provider functions, PCT chiefs have claimed.

  • News

    NHS is 'sick man of Europe', claims report

    2008-03-12T11:09:00Z

    The NHS is 'the sick man of Europe' and should learn from other countries, according to a new report published by think tank Civitas.It claims NHS performance has 'flailed badly over the past 10 years' and highlights the Dutch healthcare system as a model to follow.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    New immigration rules restrict access to medical training

    2008-03-12T09:00:00Z

    The Home Office has announced changes to immigration rules that will restrict new international medical graduates' access to UK post-graduate medical training.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    High-impact changes in health and social care

    2008-03-11T09:00:00Z

    In the green paper Independence, Well-Being and Choice and the white paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, the government focused on seven positive outcomes for people using health and social care services.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    High-impact changes for health and social care: dignity and respect

    2008-03-11T09:00:00Z

    This high-impact change sets out to improve the skills, confidence and capability of staff to develop personalised plans with service users and their carers.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    High-impact changes for health and social care: personalised services

    2008-03-11T09:00:00Z

    This high-impact change sets out to put service users at the centre of service design and delivery, to give people control over their care, and to provide the framework in which people can direct their own support.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    High-impact changes for health and social care: effective commissioning

    2008-03-11T09:00:00Z

    This high-impact change sets out to promote commissioning services that are flexible and responsive to people's needs and wishes.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Doctor-manager relationships: the big fight

    2008-03-10T09:00:00Z

    NHS hospital power has long been in the hands of two sets of people: managers and clinicians, and tension has occasionally spilled out of the ring. In the latest article in our series on 60 years of the NHS, Daloni Carlisle looks at the dynamics

  • Comment

    Andrew Jones on extending primary care

    2008-03-10T09:00:00Z

    As I opened the envelope from the British Medical Association, I found myself reflecting on a tumultuous few months. The envelope in question contained a justification of the GPs' committee's negotiating stance on extended hours and a form for voting on enhanced payments options.

  • News

    Prescription costs to rise

    2008-03-07T13:38:00Z

    Prescription charges will increase by 25p from 1 April, public health minister Dawn Primarolo has announced.The increase, which the department stressed is below the rate of inflation, will take the cost of a single prescription item to £7.10.

  • News

    Posts left open as national locum shortage takes hold

    2008-03-06T09:00:00Z

    Leaked Department of Health documents reveal a national shortage of locum hospital doctors, with some trusts reporting they are 'lucky if applicants attend for interview'.HSJ first highlighted the issue last year and the DH insisted as recently as 14 February this year that there was no evidence of a widespread ...

  • Comment

    Juggling GP hours

    2008-03-06T09:00:00Z

    In response to the article by NHS Employers' Alastair Henderson, 'GPs must see sense on hours', My colleagues and I do not have a problem particularly with working extended hours, writes Dr ARJ Boggis

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Home-grown change will reshape the NHS

    2008-03-06T09:00:00Z

    The number of primary care trusts needs to reduce further, but another top-down reorganisation should be avoided - this time world class commissioning will drive a natural, bottom-up change