Health Service Journal
13 March 2008
View all stories from this issue.
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1948: creation of a new workforce
In 1948 the NHS opened its collective doors to be faced not only with an inherited waiting list of around half a million patients and a clamour for spectacles and false teeth, but also an almost immediate staff shortage. -
AIDS: getting the word out to diverse communities
Educating immigrant groups about the AIDS epidemic in the UK must be treated as a key public health priority, as Hazel Barrett explains -
Andrew Jones on extending primary care
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. -
Britnell moots PCT rebrand
Primary care trusts could change their names over the next year to boost the public’s understanding of their role. -
Can senior managers really make a difference?
Do successful NHS managers have skill or luck to thank? Blair McPherson takes a closer look at what really determines which organisations sink and which swim -
Central control 'hits reform'
Market-based reform in the NHS is being crushed by central direction. The answer is to put money in the hands of patients and to empower clinicians, says a new report. -
Change of view: improving primary care
GPs in Essex were stimulated by the arrival of an alternative provider contract in their patch, say Hilary Ayerst and Paul Corrigan -
David Woodhead and Valerie James on tackling decommissioning
Government is stepping away from setting central targets and relinquishing direct control over delivery. Locally identified needs and priorities will take their place. Directors of public health and commissioning will be at the vanguard of service reform in the health service and local councils. -
DH under fire over clinical trials
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. -
Doubts over super-regulator
You do not mention an important question for the new super-regulator, writes Don Redding. Will it exist to serve patients and service users, and if so, how will it engage with them? -
Ex-BBC man offers vision for health service charter
The former head of policy at the BBC has claimed the NHS could learn from the broadcaster as it strives to improve accountability and patient involvement. -
FESC is thrown open without Treasury probe
The Department of Health has extended its commissioning support programme without carrying out an expected value-for-money assessment of the scheme, HSJ has learned.Health secretary Alan Johnson announced last week that the framework for procuring external support for commissioners, FESC, is now open to all primary care trusts to buy in external support from the list of 14 approved private providers. -
Gill Morgan's great legacy
When we appointed Gill Morgan as chief executive of the NHS Confederation, we knew we were recruiting a very competent person - but we had no idea how widely valued and supremely effective she would become, writes Dianne Jeff -
GP hours - what a mess
Well, well, well. What a shock the National Audit Office has stated that GPs earn lots more money for working fewer hours. This is something that has been widely known for some time, writes Les Collister -
GPs fail to help with appointments audit
Primary care trusts have been unable to complete an audit of the number of GP appointments provided by practices because GPs have refused to hand over the information, following British Medical Association advice. -
GPs urge PCTs to remain flexible
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. -
Guarantees are vital to ISTC success
Your piece on independent sector treatment centres, 'ISTC contract guarantees will saddle NHS with £187m bill', misses some fundamental points, writes David Worskett -
Healthcare jobs dropped from shortage occupation list
The Border and Immigration Agency has said it will be removing 38 healthcare occupations from the national shortage occupation list. -
High-impact changes for health and social care: dignity and respect
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. -
High-impact changes for health and social care: effective commissioning
This high-impact change sets out to promote commissioning services that are flexible and responsive to people's needs and wishes. -
High-impact changes for health and social care: personalised services
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. -
High-impact changes in health and social care
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. -
How to pick a prescription
Prescribing advisers help curb the national drugs spend and GPs value them too. Daloni Carlisle looks at their developing role -
IT programme saved £208m
The national programme for IT saved the NHS £208m in 2006-07, a report on the benefits of the programme is expected to say. -
Kate Silvester on lean or just mean
Managing a system where all patients get their first definitive treatment within 18 weeks of GP referral will sort the mean from the lean thinkers. -
Ken Jarrold on taking a look in the mirror
Understanding ourselves and other people is one of the most important management skills and is very useful in building and sustaining a productive and satisfying working life. Some people have natural self-awareness and empathy; most of us have to work at it. -
Lib Dems plan PCT tax-raising power
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. -
London healthcare overhaul could worsen inequalities
Plans for a major overhaul of healthcare in London could make inequalities worse if they do not target those who currently miss out, says a groundbreaking assessment. -
Malcolm Lowe-Lauri on the role of FT governors
Foundation trust governors can and should exercise their influence in the wider community to benefit service users -
Media Watch: drug maker under scrutiny
Being accused of 'cheating the NHS' is enough to give anyone heartburn. So bosses at Reckitt Benckiser, makers of indigestion treatment Gaviscon, may well have sought comfort with a taste of their own medicine this week. -
Michael White on Darling's budget
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. -
New deal for healthcare staff working unsocial hours
Negotiators for NHS Employers and the NHS trade unions have recently reached a significant milestone. After many months of discussion, proposals have been agreed for a new system of pay enhancements for Agenda for Change staff whose standard working week includes work in the evenings, early in the morning, at weekends, on bank holidays or at night. -
New immigration rules restrict access to medical training
The Home Office has announced changes to immigration rules that will restrict new international medical graduates' access to UK post-graduate medical training. -
New patient safety head pleads for display of passion
The newly appointed director of the national Patient Safety Campaign has said it is crucial that the drive is embraced by managers. -
New public involvement forums raise chorus of doubts
Local involvement networks are due to go live in April but not all will be ready. Critics point to a rushed transition and a glaring lack of detail about how they will work. By Daloni Carlisle -
NHS continuing care: a new batch of claims?
Compensation claims from patients who were denied continuing healthcare on the NHS are beginning to hit finance directors' desks. David Lock explains how to respond to them -
NHS Employers rejects CV falsification reports
NHS Employers has responded to reports of CV falsification in the NHS, saying that the NHS conducts rigorous employment checks and patients can have confidence that the staff who treat them are who they say they are and that they have the appropriate qualifications. -
Noel Plumridge on Darling's discipline
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. -
Partnership working: taking targets a la carte
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 -
Patients demand 'creativity' in dental commissioning
Primary care trusts successful at commissioning dental services should be able to take over from those that are failing, says the Patients Association. -
PCT rebrand will help end identity crisis
Public sector rebranding exercises are often seen as a costly and pointless distraction. But the proposal to rebrand primary care trusts - so Oldham PCT would become NHS Oldham, for example - makes a great deal of sense and d -
PCTs may be subject to people power
Primary care trusts and other healthcare providers could face increased pressure to respond to local people's concerns under a new 'community empowerment' white paper. -
PCTs pressured to lose provider arm
Strategic health authorities are forcing primary care trusts to divest themselves of their provider functions, PCT chiefs have claimed. -
Poet's play gets to bottom of prostate cancer
A new play by the popular poet Benjamin Zephaniah is helping to spread the word about cancer screening, particularly among African-Caribbean men -
Political opening hours
As a medical student, I sat in on GP clinics and recall whole mornings with patients seeing their charming GP, chatting, then leaving the room reassured but without a new diagnosis or treatment, writes Jake Low-Beer -
Sustainable healthcare construction
Healthcare construction contributes huge amounts of waste to landfills every year, but some organisations are working hard to change this. Here, we take a closer look at what they have achieved -
Tackling violence
Despite the lack of a national standardised training scheme for dealing with violent patients, there are developments taking place in managing violence, writes Rob Grant -
Treasury puts off plan to move PFI schemes on balance sheet
The Treasury has given the NHS a year's stay of execution over changes to accountancy rules with major implications for private finance initiative schemes. The move to international financial reporting standards was due to be implemented across the public sector from this April. -
TV chaplains skew reality
A recent episode of Holby City showed a chaplain - described as a 'lay reader' from the so-called Holby Christian Fellowship - visiting a patient. -
Use it or lose it: freedom from Whitehall is a two-way street
At last week's Primary Care Trust Network conference, the discussion with NHS chief executive David Nicholson revealed how hard it is for the centre to let go - especially when local health services won't relea -
Web sees fall in calls to NHS Direct
NHS Direct has experienced a significant and consistent drop in calls to its national 0845 number since 2006, HSJ can reveal. -
Your Humble Servant: carry on nurses
To: Don Wise, chief executiveFrom: Paul Servant, assistant chief executiveRe: Ooh you are awful, but I like you
