All Health Service Journal articles in 11 June 2009
View all stories from this issue.
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HSJ KnowledgeGP phone-line jams create more hospital admissions
Few things are more frustrating than an automated message saying your phone call is in a queue and will be answered shortly -or just getting the engaged tone. When you are ill, it can be rather more than just one of life’s little irritations, writes Kaye McIntosh.
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NewsBest primary care trusts to get franchise on rest
Top primary care trusts will be able to take over poor performing PCTs as franchises under sweeping changes set to boost commissioning performance.
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CommentMedia Watch: Hello (again) Andy Burnham
It’s farewell to Alan Johnson and hello (again) to Andy Burnham, previously a health minister, who’s made it back to the top job in Richmond House via what the press dubbed a “shotgun” reshuffle, forced by the unexpected resignation of work and pensions secretary James Purnell.
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CommunityVexatious verbosity
Doctors and patients are perplexed by the lack of plain English used in NHS documents, according to delegates at a British Medical Association conference last week.
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SupplementsSkills for Health: The Honourable Guild of NHS Staff
There has been a great deal of good news for supporters of training across the health sector over the last 18 months. Over 30,000 new training interventions have been funded through the Joint Investment Framework. More than 3,000 14-year-olds started the new diploma in society, health and development in 2008, ...
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CommunityStoate's gloat
Despite bravely picking up the gauntlet from Monitor to ride to the rescue of scandal hit Mid Staffordshire foundation trust, interim chief executive Eric Morton was never going to get an easy ride in front of the Commons health committee last week.
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NewsPCTs find there are no shortcuts to freedom
Pursuing the rewards for world class commissioning unveiled by the Department of Health this week looks likely to prove a test of every PCT’s whole operational strategy. Helen Crump reports
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CommunityFood fight
Picture the scene: NHS Ayrshire and Arran is putting together a press release about its healthy catering service. The cafe has won the “coveted” Healthyliving Award Plus with a menu that uses less salt, more fibre and healthier types of oil, scribble the communications officers.
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NewsFoundation trusts fear ministers may undercut Monitor role
The government has been warned not to undermine Monitor after revealing it may claw back powers from foundation trusts in response to the Mid Staffordshire scandal.
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NewsMonitor urged to take a stand on race equality
The foundation trust watchdog Monitor is facing calls to speak out on race equality instead of allowing finances to dominate its attentions.
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NewsCouncils fight for deeper ties in response to PCT merger threat
Councils in London are seeking to strengthen links with primary care trusts in response to the threat of more sector level commissioning.
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CommentPaul Corrigan on holding out for a heroic NHS leader
NHS culture isn’t just self protective. Like most cultures its internal obsession and expectations can harm the people inside it as much as it rejects those outside.
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CommentJenny Rogers on the irritating whine of the complainant
My friend B has been dismayed by the poor standard of treatment her husband has received at their local acute trust.
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LeaderTime is short but the chance to make a difference is real
New health secretary Andy Burnham’s second stint in the Department of Health is, like the first, defined by financial crisis.
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NewsConcerns NHS could be challenged under EU competition law
NHS contracts with private providers could fall foul of EU competition rules if they allow excessive profits, a briefing paper from the NHS Confederation warns.
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CommentNoel Plumridge on caveats for consolidating mental health spending
A question for commissioners: what is the “right” proportion of your annual funding to spend on mental health?
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CommunityCapitalist pigs
Labour may not have met all its manifesto pledges but thanks to swine flu, at least the party has achieved one long held, if unofficial, objective - the closure of Eton College.
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CommentDerek Campbell: There can be no progress without prevention
The impending financial squeeze makes it more important than ever to invest in preventing ill health in communities, rather than simply spending more on treatment
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NewsPCTs call for tariff and GP contract reforms
Radical reworking of the payment by results tariff and the GP contract is needed to make the savings required in the financial downturn, the NHS Confederation has warned.
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NewsNHS survival may depend on a ‘series of big changes’
The NHS may not survive unless dramatic action is taken to manage investment cuts, the NHS Confederation has warned.