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Health Service Journal
20 March 2008

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  • 13 minutes to answer the phone? Life in the DH press office.

    The Department of Health press office was mysteriously not answering the phones the day the BMA revealed that 92 per cent of GPs had voted in favour of the directed enhanced service on extended hours. It took HSJ journalists a bind boggling 13 minutes to get through. Perhaps they were busy toasting a victory over the medical profession. We know Hampshire PCT is the biggest in the country, but does it really take its press office over a week to

  • All Our Yesterdays

    March 19, 1948, Public Assistance Journal and Health & Hospital ReviewJobs advertised this week: A resident nurse (female), who should be aged about 45 to 50, was required in an almshouse for men at Trinity Hospital, Greenwich. Applicants should have experience in home nursing and be used to treating elderly people.Cornwall County Council advertised a number of appointments at the 111 bed Institution for Mental Defectives at St Columb Major. A deputy matron, two ward sisters (on

  • An eye on Monitor

    May I clarify my comment in your article about Monitor's decision to consult on private patient income.

  • Auditors concerned over Hinchingbrooke's £38.7m deficit

    Auditors for Hinchingbrooke Health Care trust have raised 'serious concerns' over its projected £38.7m deficit for 2007-08, as the trust's savings plans are not sufficient to cover it.

  • Bad practice online

    Having recently had reason to email all 409 trusts and strategic health authorities in the English NHS as part of a survey, I discovered two common, very surprising, examples of bad practice, writes Mike Simpson

  • Black calls on NHS to fight employee absence

    The national director for health and work has presented plans for the NHS to take on a wider role in promoting health and well-being at work.

  • Can fluoridation help the poorest?

    The health secretary's promise of £14m a year over the next three years for water fluoridation schemes has reignited the debate. Strategic health authorities and primary care trusts must persuade local communities to agree to it, but opponents protest that fluoridation is mass medication to benefit the few and point to negative effects such as teeth discoloration (fluorosis).

  • Care Quality Commission salary is 'ridiculously low'

    The Department of Health is under pressure to increase the salary for the first chair of the new health and social care regulator after it was branded 'ridiculously low'. The job was advertised at £60,780 a year for up to three days a week, considerably less than comparable posts.

  • Care Quality Commission: open your wallet and pay for real talent

    For a department renowned for its largesse when it comes to remuneration, it is difficult to understand why the Department of Health is being so parsimonious when it comes to the salary for the chair of th

  • Career Path: working in mental health

    Not many managers in mental health nursing can claim to have worked in the Royal Engineers and as a healthcare assistant. For Andy Johnston, however, it was those early experiences that led him to start nurse training in 1988. He is now a hospital manager. Here, he charts his career's trajectory

  • Census shows wide variation in numbers of clinical staff

    The government's boast that the NHS has been swelled by thousands of extra clinical staff masks wide regional variations and a flattening in the number of nurses and GPs.

  • Darzi's national blueprint must leave room for local innovation

    The King's Fund's response to the consultation on reforming London's healthcare following Lord Darzi's landmark report is a scene-setter for the debate that will follow the publication of his national strategy in Jul

  • Department stays silent on Connecting for Health savings

    The Department of Health will not use the £208m saved by the national programme for IT last year to estimate the total potential savings of NHS-wide implementation.

  • DH admits target on health inequalities is hard to meet

    The Department of Health has admitted that it will be 'difficult' to meet its target to reduce health inequalities.

  • DH response to Monitor under wraps

    The Department of Health has refused to release correspondence to Monitor regarding its legal dispute over the cap on income from private patients.

  • Emma Dent calls for green spaces without the public urinating

    One of the things I like best about London is that despite being big, dirty, crowded and at times downright chaotic, its allocation of green spaces is among the most generous for any capital city in the world.

  • Employment dispute rules to be changed

    The proposed repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures was welcomed by many people involved in human resources and employment law. But an employer or employee still risks substantial financial penalties if they drop their guard before 2009, when the new legislation comes into force. Jean Sapeta explains

  • Faith in food: how the world's religions have flavoured our cuisine

    Many of our favourite tastes and traditions have spiritual as well as culinary importance

  • Foundation trusts query accounting changes

    Foundation trusts have raised concerns that forthcoming changes to accounting rules could undermine efforts to get hospitals to focus on where they make and lose money.

  • Fresh thinking on problem drinking

    Gillian Gale, Oliver Hill and Lucio Cicolecchia explain a twin strategy that aims to relieve some of the major pressures caused by alcohol abuse

  • Good environment for chaplains

    Your article on chaplaincy presents an impression of the service which many will struggle to recognise, write Graeme Hancocks and Christopher Swift

  • Guidance omits time limit on inquiries into patient killings

    Concerns over time it takes for health organisations to investigate fatal attacks by mental health patients have not been addressed in the first detailed guidance on the subject.

  • Healthcare chaplaincy debate

    Your article 'A spirited row' is misleading about the work of healthcare chaplaincy in the NHS in a number of respects, writes Carol English

  • Healthcare Commission to probe Mid Staffs deaths

    The Healthcare Commission has launched an investigation into apparently high mortality rates among emergency admissions at the Mid Staffordshire foundation trust.

  • HSJ better buildings supplement

    ProCure21, a procurement method for NHS capital schemes, offers clients access to expertise, true partnership with contractors - and cost certainty

  • Ian Watson and Adrian Newland on the role of healthcare scientists

    Junior health minister Lord Darzi's interim report promotes a radical patient-centred view most would endorse. The concept of local treatment centres where most examinations can be carried out is an attractive one. But such services must not be offered in isolation, remote from high-quality diagnostic services.

  • King's Fund urges caution on polyclinics

    There is little evidence to back a wholesale shift to polyclinics in London, the King’s Fund has warned.

  • Let's cut NHS waste

    As a clinician with an interest in management, the waste in the NHS astounds me. There are huge variations in drugs that do practically the same thing, such as statins, and numerous different types of joint replacement and procedural systems that work efficiently in one hospital but are unworkable in the next, particularly with respect to day-case work, writes Michael Davies

  • Lift-off for air ambulances as government comes calling

    The NHS is suddenly showing a lot of interest in buying into air ambulances. So are these charity services ready to do business? Alison Moore reports

  • London's neediest areas are worst off

    London primary care trusts facing the biggest health challenges are saddled with the greatest funding shortfalls, a new coalition of private and voluntary organisations has warned.

  • Médecins Sans Frontières?

    There are conflicting approaches to providing NHS care to those not entitled to it, and the charity Médecins du Monde is at the front line of the battle. Mark Gould reports

  • Managers should lend a listening ear to patients

    Patients need to be heard in the boardroom, not complaining in the media. But good patient and public involvement doesn't just happen - it needs a healthy investment of time, money and training

  • Media Watch: Olympic health worries

    'I would rather be in music than in politics,' said health secretary Alan Johnson in an interview with The Observer's Music Monthly magazine.

  • Michael White: budget politics

    No point in spending too much time on this year's Budget, I think, which wasn't much of an NHS event anyway. I'm all for optimism about the future, but Alistair Darling's low-key confidence a week ago has already been overtaken by the gathering financial storm in the Atlantic. Fasten seatbelts.

  • More recipes for success from Race for Health

    Why not click through and cook the latest fantastic meal from Race for Health? It's the NHS's flagship programme for supporting better health in black and minority ethnic communities.

  • NHS London focuses on Brent financial crisis

    A report into the financial crisis at Brent primary care trust has highlighted 'grave failings' in leadership.

  • NHS service providers can advertise under new code

    NHS trusts and independent providers of NHS services have the freedom from today to advertise direct to patients - but must abide by a new code of conduct.

  • One man's vision for the future

    Former junior health minister David Lammy, now skills minister, tells HSJ about his plans for a more skilled healthcare workforce

  • PCTs may call for foundation style freedoms

    Primary care trusts could push for freedom to determine senior managers' pay as a reward for becoming world class commissioners.

  • PCTs pledge to tackle race inequality

    More than 20 primary care trusts have pledged to tackle inequality in healthcare

  • Prison drugs care 'below 'standard'

    A think tank has criticised prison drug services for falling short of 'even minimum standards' and called on the government to take action.

  • Proud of diversity

    Charlotte Santry's commentary on the scarcity of black managers in the health community was welcome, writes Tom Sandford ('The same old faces')

  • Putting life into NHS teaching

    Adopting new approaches to training in the NHS could benefit staff and patients, argues Nick Napper

  • Raj Persaud on getting blood out of a stone

    Management is all too often about persuasion; powerful managers are better at persuading those in the workplace to pursue helpful change, while less competent managers are not so effective at overcoming resistance.

  • Richard Granger – an apology

    Our recent article headlined “Informatics policy finally gets direction after years of drift”(HSJ 7 February 2008) included a report of statements, made during a conference by Mr Tom Denwood, who is managing the Department of Health on-going review of its NHS informatics strategy.

  • Role of pharmacy

    Your news analysis on regulation focused on the creation of the new Care Quality Commission. Government plans for changes in health and social care regulation are wide-ranging and will have very significant imp

  • Sophia Christie on fighting change

    Besieged by change, senior managers in the NHS are adept at resisting it while apparently leading it.

  • Stephen Ramsden on stability in leadership

    This month I celebrate 10 years as chief executive of Luton and Dunstable Hospital. For the first few years, I concentrated on building an environment of trust and respect between managers and doctors.

  • The case for integrated care systems

    John Deffenbaugh's article on commissioning is a majestic triumph of hope over experience and evidence.

  • Unlawful killing: how trusts can prepare for an inquiry

    With new corporate manslaughter laws soon coming into force, trusts need to ensure they know how to prepare for an inquest. Laura Hale outlines the essentials

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