Health Service Journal
2001-03-01
View all stories from this issue.
-
A feature on research and training provoked protests that the authors had lost the plot on primary care. Here they reply to their critics
LETTERS -
Abolition of HAs casts doubt on LHG status
The abolition of health authorities in Wales has thrown the future of local health groups - the Welsh primary care organisations - into doubt. -
All aboard?
HSJ rode the Clapham omnibus to find out what people thought of New Labour's track-record on the health service. It found many of them less than enthusiastic. Our man with the notepad and travelcard: Mark Gould -
Bleak days behind us?
Community care and the law Second edition By Luke Clements Legal Action Group 530 pages £30 Before the year is out, a new set of laws governing community care services will have been approved by Parliament. These changes - concerning charges for nursing care, the creation of care trusts and the exercise of NHS and local authority partnerships - will join the huge and complex body of law that already exists. -
Clubbing is all the rage as Milburn steps up consultant negotiations
The headline 'Milburn offers big bribe to doctors to stay in NHS' (Independent) rapidly gave way to 'Consultants fight seven-year ban on private work' (Daily Telegraph) after the secretary of state had published details of his plans to provide what The Guardian called 'golden NHS handcuffs' for the heirs of Sir Lancelot Spratt. -
Combined health and social care role may inspire other PCTs
THIS WEEK -
Consultants' contract talks grind on
The British Medical Association and the Department of Health are expected to start negotiations soon on the final shape of the new consultants' contract. -
Days like this
HSJ 28February 1991 - NHS Executive shake-up. . . Caines gets Guy's key job. . . Fundholding rethink. . . Cash curb on GPs in hospitals. . . Emergencies clampdown -
Decisions due on top job vacancies
THIS WEEK -
Doctors still 'call the shots'despite Labour rhetoric on patient focus
Despite rhetoric about developing a patient-focused and primary careled NHS, little has changed under New Labour from the typical patient's point of view, according to a report from the King's Fund. -
DoH moves to extend role of private sector to pathology
The government is poised to extend the role of the private sector to clinical services from this summer, with a series of publicprivate partnerships in pathology services piloted across the country. -
Drugs price drop gives health authorities unspendable surplus
Health authorities are struggling to deal with an unexpected budget surplus which could amount to hundreds of millions of pounds, thanks to last year's cut in the cost of drugs. -
Events
Items are entered free for public sector, voluntary and professional organisations, but we need at least six weeks'notice of your event. Please send details to Uli Jaeger, HSJ, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London, NW1 7EJ. Fax:020-7874 0254. -
Ex-manager gets £105k for 'nerves'
A former manager in the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service who suffered two nervous breakdowns in the course of his job has been awarded £105,000 in damages. -
Fast-track re-think on privatisation
COMMENT: A second term may see a fresh approach to NHS management as we know it -
Funds for cleanliness only scratch the surface - a more flexible approach is also required
LETTERS -
Giving the vulnerable stigma-free advice
LETTERS -
Health and Social Care Bill means the arbitrary and wide-ranging restriction of information
LETTERS -
HR practitioners have had nothing to lose but their chains
LETTERS -
HUMAN RESOURCES - MATRONS
'Meticulous in details on which the life of a patient depends' 'In general, matrons are over-conscientious and not good at delegating. They have not been trained in management and their training as nurses - meticulous in details on which the life of a patient depends - leads in a contrary direction. Because they can do things better than their subordinates, they may retain duties which ought to be delegated. -
Hunt: 'Care trusts are partnership of equals'
THIS WEEK -
IN BRIEF
Dr John Chisholm, chair of the British Medical Association's general practitioners'committee, has written an open letter to GPs reiterating that the profession is in crisis due to increased workload, poor morale and inadequate pay. -
In for a quickie
Will fast-track surgery centres change the way we think about the general hospital - or are they just politically expedient? Ann McGauran reports -
in person
Jon Crockett has taken up the post of chief executive of Wolverhampton health authority, having previously been director of finance and deputy chief executive. -
Key trusts fail targets though others do well
Trusts in some parts of England are failing to meet targets on the number of patients waiting more than 12 months for surgery, though the best performers are progressing at a much faster rate than that demanded by their regional offices. -
Lean on me
High absence rates prompted a trust to make a new appointment so staff could vent their worries and resolve their conflicts. Charlotte Allen reports on its success -
monitor
'Sex. It is dirty. It is wrong. It is immoral. It is a no-go zone. ' Monitor was the first to applaud when this press release dropped through the letterbox. It captures in an instant the message we need to send out to young generations hungry to explore hormonal urges. Over the years, Monitor has despaired as governments come and go, each one failing to grasp this particular nettle. But it was particularly refreshing to see who is finally leading the way. The press release came from Brook - t -
'Nothing' is ruled out as PFI-style fast-track units are pondered
THIS WEEK -
Odds against the living
LETTERS -
Passing the hat round
Imperial College medical student Sam Keech, based at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, joined other students, doctors and managers in modelling at a fundraising event in aid of Macmilllan Cancer Relief. The event, at the university's new Sir Norman Foster-designed building, coincided with London Fashion Week. -
Patient Information
With the emphasis squarely on patient involvement, the challenge now is to produce good-quality information and training for medical staff. -
PFI site bed shortage for non-A&E patients
Six patients at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary, the first private finance initiative-funded hospital, spent the night on trolleys last week after the trust found itself with no spare beds. -
Pound of flesh
The huge cost of obesity to the health service is increasingly well known - but is the NHS partly at fault in failing to provide the level and type of services needed? Alison Moore reports -
Quick quick, slow
Early evaluations of everything from primary care groups to personal medical services are being ignored in the rush to press on with the next wave regardless, writes Brenda Leese -
Shadow boxing
The Conservative opposition is so unlikely to land a hit on health during the election campaign that it has taken to producing only what looks like a policy. Lynn Eaton reports -
SHORTCUTS: Grim figures on life expectancy for deprived Scots
Life expectancy is 10 years lower in the most deprived areas of Scotland than in the more affluent areas of South-East England, according to the latest report from National Statistics. The report of life expectancy by local authority for 199597 showed that the highest male life expectancy in Glasgow City was 10 years lower than Chiltern, Buckinghamshire. -
SHORTCUTS: Mental health forum to shake up communication
Views of mental health service users for the National User Forum will see meetings taking a back seat, the forum's first gathering decided. Professor Louis Appleby, national director for mental health, said: 'It ought to be possible to contribute to the forum in different ways, through correspondence and we are looking at setting up a website noticeboard as well as having meetings on a particular issue to which only a small number would come. 'Issues for the coming months include how user voi -
SHORTCUTS: Nursing pack aims to benchmark care standards
New standards of care that nurses and other staff are expected to provide for patients, to ensure such things as privacy, dignity and providing food of good nutritional value, have been announced by health minister John Denham. The Essence of Care pack sets out what staff need to do, best practice and the steps to go through to meet the benchmark. -
SHORTCUTS: Opponent of acute services shake-up to stand as MP
Campaigners who opposed a major acute services shake-up in Kidderminster are to stand a candidate in the general election. Health Concern - the group that currently holds 18 of the 42 seats on Wyre Forest district council - is to stand Dr Richard Taylor against sitting Labour MP David Lock in the Wyre Forest consituency. Dr Taylor, a former consultant, led the long campaign against the bitterly contested closure of accident and emergency and acute inpatient services at Kidderminster General H -
SHORTCUTS: Pensioner claims human rights violation over move
An 89-year-old woman is claiming her local council has violated the Human Rights Act by trying to transfer the old people's home she lives in to a private trust. Flossie Hands, who lives in Birmingham city council's Florence Hammond Elderly Home, has served a writ on the council, backed by the Residents Action Group for the Elderly (RAGE). The writ says such privatisation amounts to a breach of human rights. The group is fighting the transfer of 30 homes to a trust. If the writ is granted, an -
SHORTCUTS: Tayside kept waiting in discussions on £8m deficit
Tayside health board will have to wait until April to have further discussion on how to reduce a projected £8m deficit, after the financial information it had requested from trusts was not provided to its meeting last week. The board's £8m deficit is attributable to Tayside University Hospitals trust, which provided a preliminary report saying it believed it would have this level of deficit after achieving £6. 8m in savings. The trust will be looking for £8. 7m of cuts in -
Soft changes, hard work
OPINION: WALKING TALL -
Switched on
Germ Lights, by design group Proof Multiples, features in an exhibition of biomedical images enhanced by contemporary artists. The free exhibition, entitled Growth and Form, runs until 4 May at the Two10 Gallery, The Wellcome Trust,210 Euston Road, London. For enquiries call 020-7611 7211. -
That'll teach them
The amount of time and money dedicated to training staff can vary as much as five times between trusts. Claire Laurent looks at the many factors behind the variations -
THE PERSUADERS
Our weekly guide to healthcare's most influential people -
The same or worse - public and academe agree
COMMENT: New Labour's NHS reform so far is mostly spin and cosmetic change -
Thoroughly modern matron
She's making a comeback - but how will the new-look matron differ from her former incarnation, and how loved and respected was she really first time round, asks Janet Snell -
Trust goes on defensive over 'damning' report
Stockport trust has defended itself against criticism from local MP Andrew Stunell following a Mental Health Act Commission report, which he described as 'damning, to say the least'. -
Trust to strike PFI deal for x-ray equipment
THIS WEEK -
Two hours to clinical focus
Clinical effectiveness A practical guide for the community nurse By Cheryll Adams Community Practitioners'& Health Visitors'Association 84 pages £7. 50 to members of CPHVA, £10 to non-members This practical guide booklet is a wonderfully easy-tofollow text, managing to combine practical procedures or steps with clear explanations of the underlying theoretical concepts of how to achieve clinical effectiveness. -
What happens when systems fail
What's gone wrong with health care? -
What's cooking
THIS WEEK
