Health Service Journal
16 April 2009
View all stories from this issue.
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£30m boost for Welsh hospital redevelopment
Welsh health minister Edwina Hart has earmarked £30m for the redevelopment of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, she announced today. -
Acute overspending raises questions over PCT plans
Primary care trusts have overspent against acute contracts by hundreds of millions of pounds, raising questions over the success of efforts to deliver care more cheaply in the community. -
An April Fool made flesh
A year or two back HSJ ran a news story outlining how all NHS health professionals would be asked to practise what they preach and embark on weight management and exercise programmes so they could be a picture of health for their patients. The story sparked outrage among readers who didn’t notice that the story had run in a 1 April edition. Yes, it was an April Fool. -
Andy McKeon: 'Prepare to step back to the 80s'
The Budget will be the prelude to another prolonged cycle of recession and recovery for the NHS, but one positive is that lean years mean productivity takes an upturn -
Book Review: Good to Great
In Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, Jim Collins sets out to answer the question: can a good company become a great company and if so, how? Many of these findings will startle and inspire, says Leonie Schell -
Care is still a long way from the community
This week’s HSJ revelation of the huge scale of primary care trusts’ overspend on acute care exposes the distance between the desire to move more care into the community and delivering it. -
Clinical mistakes: how to respond
A new approach to handling NHS complaints has been introduced. Joan Saddler, director of patient and public affairs at the Department of Health, explains what it means for clinicians and managers -
Competition panel launches inquiry into consultants' private work
The NHS co-operation and competition panel is expected to launch its first inquiry this week into NHS consultants working for hospitals other than their main employer during their spare time. -
David and Hilary Woodhead on combining NHS efforts with local social care
A recent family lunch led to discussions about new jobs and the challenges of work, punctuated by the demands of restless kids and attentive waiters. Despite interruptions, the adults persevered. -
DH seeks views on new mental health strategy
A series of “listening events” is being held to gather views on the Department of Health’s new mental health strategy. -
Emma Dent says farewell
Well readers, it has been about four years since my then editor asked me to write a column for this page. He talked me into writing it “for six months or so”. And I’m still here. -
Ex-BBC boss joins national leadership council
Former BBC director general Greg Dyke has been named alongside an eclectic list of figures on the national leadership council for the NHS. -
Ex-SHA chair admits email was a mistake
The strategic health authority chair who revealed details of a private meeting with health secretary Alan Johnson admitted his actions were “inappropriate at best” in correspondence seen by HSJ. -
Foundation trusts warn competition could fragment NHS
Foundation trusts have warned that NHS services risk being destabilised and fragmented under new competition rules. -
Government charges 'loan shark' interest rates on hospital loans
The Liberal Democrats have accused the government of “ripping off hospitals” by charging interest rates of up to 5.6 per cent on loans. -
GP quality bonuses do not reflect patient satisfaction
Despite uniformly high scores in the quality and outcomes framework bonus scheme, GPs in some areas are receiving 63 per cent more complaints from patients than others. -
GP quality: the final frontier for inspectors
So far general practice has remained impervious to the expanding remit of the inspectors. This week the King’s Fund revealed proposals for a new GP quality inquiry that has even won backing from the profession. Helen Mooney reports -
Green Party calls for better dentistry services
Access to NHS dentistry is down to “geographical accident”, the Green Party has claimed. -
HSJ Intelligence: Patients get connected
Welcome to the latest issue of Intelligence, the quarterly HSJ supplement dedicated to innovation, information and technology. In this issue, we look at the difference a new online recruitment system has made to junior doctors applying for specialist training posts. -
Improving patient care through the Clinical Leaders Network
The NHS Clinical Leaders Network has the potential to improve patient care in the North East, says Dr Simon Eaton -
Ken Jarrold on getting the best from staff
If the NHS is to improve public health and provide high quality services to patients, it must look after its staff, including chief executives and senior managers. -
Media Watch: 'Forget the smears, this one was old fashioned political spin'
Easter: for many the chance to enjoy a relaxing four day break. For health secretary Alan Johnson and his shadow Andrew Lansley, seemingly the ideal time to don political boxing gloves and engage in a little sparring. A warm-up when fewer people than usual are paying attention, perhaps? -
Michael Marmot on why health inequalities matter
The Department of Health’s anti-obesity Change4Life scheme may work wonders. I hope it does. -
Michael White: 'You rarely read about the kindness'
Unlucky Alan Johnson popped up in the prime time 8.10 spot during the bank holiday Monday edition of the Today programme to protest Number 10’s inherent decency in the wake of Damian “email” McBride’s resignation. -
Mid Staffordshire redundancies under scrutiny
Mid Staffordshire hospital trust paid out £1.3m in redundancy payments between 2006 and 2009, figures disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed. -
Minor injuries unit closes through lack of use
A weekend minor injuries clinic intended to reduce admissions at an under-pressure accident and emergency department has shut because too few patients used it. -
Monitor reports 'lack of appetite' for foundation trust status
An “apparent lack of appetite” for foundation status is more of an obstacle to authorising all trusts than the recession, Monitor has said. -
NHS complaints: how to give dissatisfied patients a happy ending
Big changes in the way service quality is overseen mean NHS trusts now carry a greater onus to resolve complaints themselves, says Ingrid Torjesen -
NHS hospitals still failing to protect patient mealtimes
Almost a fifth of hospitals in England and Wales are not halting work at mealtimes to help patients eat, five years after the launch of NHS Estates’ protected mealtimes initiative. -
NHS Institute - INVITATION TO TENDER
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement -
NHS maternity care focuses on safer births
Maternity services in the NHS are under pressure to improve safety and have new standards to meet. Daloni Carlisle reports -
NHS turns to marketing to change public health attitudes
Taking lessons from commercial advertising, PCTs can use social marketing to help get health messages across effectively to their local populations. By Daloni Carlisle -
PCTs win reconfiguration legal battle
A planned judicial review into the reconfiguration of maternity services at Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals trust has been rejected by a High Court judge. -
Primary care trust seeks to team up with social services
Blackburn with Darwen primary care trust has launched a bid to join forces with its local council. -
Prospect of serious competition rattles foundation trusts
As the era of competition starts to take hold in the NHS, foundation trusts are getting jittery. -
Robina Shah on developing diversity in the NHS
The recent Healthcare Commission report on race equality once again found NHS trusts to be wanting. -
Staff pay comes under scrutiny to save costs
The expected squeeze on NHS funding growth means organisations will need to consider cutting jobs and pay, a leading management consultancy has claimed. -
'The Three Metric-eers'
Last week HSJ had a story on how the poor Information Centre and DH received just 299 responses to a no doubt fascinating survey about which metrics should be used to measure quality of care. -
Word up
Readers may recall we recently exposed how far the DH is prepared to go to ensure that the word spread about world class commissioning is the rightly worded word. As we reported, many primary care trusts took the DH’s instructions for press releases literally, repeating them almost exactly. But surely online PCTs would adapt them for their own populations?
