All Health Service Journal articles in 21 May 2009
View all stories from this issue.
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Community
Political prudes
A general election is looming, in case you have not noticed, and Whitehall press officers have already started to use their civil service rule book as an excuse to not answer difficult questions - lest their response be interpreted as somehow “political”.
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NewsNHS trusts owed millions by private patients
NHS hospitals could be significantly overstating their private patient income because a substantial proportion of it is either never paid or paid late.
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NewsMedics warned: train or lose pay
Clinicians at a trust facing a £20m fine for missing infection targets have received an email threatening to suspend them without pay unless they prove they can follow hygiene policies.
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CommentMichael White: a search for good news in the NHS
With the expenses scandal delivering the most humiliating week for Westminster politics that I can remember in 30 years this column is committed to finding something more cheerful to write about MPs today.
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CommentMedia Watch: expenses and NHS prescriptions for sunshine
With MPs’ expenses dominating the news this week, there was less room than usual for NHS manager bashing, miracle cures or the rest of the usual health-related fare.
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CommunityLookey-likey: Nigel Edwards and Mark Williams
A reader has spotted the similarity between NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards and actor Mark Williams from the “Suits you sir” Fast Show sketch.
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NewsMPs to debate health reforms
MPs are set to consider reforms including the NHS constitution, quality accounts and personal health budget pilots following the Health Bill’s passage through the House of Lords.
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NewsA third of NHS hospitals could miss EWTD deadline
Up to 28 per cent of hospital rotas risk missing August’s deadline for complying with the European working time directive, strategic health authorities are predicting.
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NewsDavid Nicholson puts innovation on NHS to-do list
The power of having a “nationally integrated healthcare system” should be exploited to embed innovation across the health service, NHS chief executive David Nicholson has said.
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NewsWales puts health council mergers idea on ice
The Welsh Assembly government has backed down from its proposal to restructure patient involvement groups.
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CommentPaul Corrigan: Darwin's theory on the NHS
The greatest truth in Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is that to survive in a rapidly changing environment, species must adapt. And for a species to be adaptable it needs to love diversity.
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NewsRole of competition panel under review
The Department of Health will carry out a “major review” of its principles of co-operation and competition in the summer.
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CommentSophia Christie on NHS crisis and opportunity
An emerging policy consensus looks to innovation to save the NHS. The context is an emerging “perfect storm” of financial crisis, global warming, obesity, longer lives with greater dependency and fewer working age people to pay taxes.
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News‘Weak’ chiefs keep London NHS hospitals in stasis
Hospital chief executives in denial and weak primary care trusts have been blamed for major problems in north London’s hospital sector.
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NewsMaidstone inspection finds change was slow
Some measures to improve hygiene at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust after infection outbreaks between 2004 and 2006 were not implemented until March this year, HSJ has learned.
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LeaderNHS should not be out of pocket when doctors trouser extra cash
HSJ’s revelation that the NHS is spending in the region of £2m a year subsidising private patients raises serious questions about how some trusts manage them.
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News
NHS cash subsidises private patient care
Private patients are getting hundreds of thousands of pounds of treatment subsidised by the NHS each year, an HSJ investigation reveals.
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HSJ KnowledgeFacilities: Implementing the NHS carbon reduction strategy
The Climate Change Act has set some tough targets for cleaning up the environment. The NHS carbon reduction strategy should help trusts to achieve it. Stuart Shepherd explains
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News
Quality and safety can't 'solve' NHS funding crisis
The NHS should not look to quality and safety improvements to solve its impending funding problems, leaders in the field have warned.