All Health Service Journal articles in 6 August 2009
View all stories from this issue.
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NewsKieran Brett to be Andy Burnham's adviser
A former adviser to Tony Blair is expected to begin as health secretary Andy Burnham’s policy special adviser within the next two weeks, HSJ can reveal. Kieran Brett, who has recently been working as a consultant to the NHS, was Mr Blair’s special adviser on home affairs.
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LeaderNHS workforce: is your senior manager a psychopath?
Are you a psychopath? Warning signs include being manipulative, bullying your staff, spreading rumours about colleagues, believing rules are for others, feeling the end justifies the means and being turned on by risk.
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CommunityLookey-likey: swine flu and the Girl Guides
The swine flu logo used by junior doctors’ pressure group Remedy UK would not be out of place on the front cover of a Stephen King novel.
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CommentMichael White on swine flu and summer holidays
August has arrived so I delved into my health archive looking for a holiday subject. Straight away I stumbled on the House of Lords science and technology committee, chaired by the redoubtable Stewart Sutherland.
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NewsFirst NICE quality standards will include stroke
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is to create its first quality standards on stroke, dementia, neonatal care and venous thromboembolism.
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Leader
Panicky response to Mid Staffs scandal could erode FT freedoms
The government is threatening the independence of foundation trusts.
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Community
Chlamydia cinema
After NHS Hull controversially bought a yacht as part of a youth development scheme, it appears other primary care trusts have come up with equally innovative approaches to improving public health. Or, as the Daily Mail put it, they have taken the opportunity “to blow taxpayers’ money in more imaginative ...
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CommunityClimate change confusion
Civil servants are notorious sticklers for detail, but one glaring blooper somehow made it past Whitehall quality control.
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NewsQuality and outcomes framework: GP incentives harm care quality
The quality of care provided by GPs has decreased for some conditions where they do not receive performance related pay, a study has found.
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NewsNHS calls on retired staff to help win swine flu fight
The NHS is calling on thousands of retired doctors, nurses and other staff to work if the swine flu pandemic gets worse.
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NewsBill Moyes blames MPs over FT de-authorisation row
Bill Moyes, outgoing head of the foundation trust regulator Monitor, has blamed MPs’ ignorance for the recent fall-out between foundations and the Department of Health.
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NewsDH data shows no link between NHS spending and patient outcomes
There is no clear relationship between primary care trust spending on killer diseases and outcomes for patients, the latest data from the Department of Health suggests.
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NewsDH scraps deadline for PCT provider arm strategies
The Department of Health has scrapped its centrally set deadline for primary care trusts to create provider arm strategies. It comes amid fears of PCTs obsessed by organisational structure making poor decisions.
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CommentYour Humble Servant attends an NHS disciplinary appeal hearing
‘Between them they will have conspired to identify an incompetent who needs to be dispatched, and then utterly fail to put together a case, identify relevant evidence, or present it in a way that can land a caress, let alone a punch, on the miscreant’s credibility’
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NewsAmbulance services: urgent attention for non-emergency care
Complex forces at work in urgent care mean too many costly ambulance trips are being taken by non-emergency patients. Dave West analyses the figures and looks at the explanations
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CommentAlan Maryon-Davis on NHS carbon cutting
Chill winds in the funding forecast are no excuse to let go of the NHS’s energy saving and waste reduction targets - they just add to the urgency to act now
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CommentJon Restell on achieving race equality in the NHS
A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary about the Motown tour of the UK in 1965.
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CommentMedia Watch: GP access and swine flu panic
Proof that the Department of Health’s drive to improve GP access was working arrived from an unlikely source this week.
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NewsMatching best PCT performers could cut NHS costs by 20pc
The NHS could make savings of up to 20 per cent if all primary care trusts spent as efficiently as the best, analysis by HSJ reveals.
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News‘Unprecedented’ review by PCT finds progress after Mid Staffs scandal
South Staffordshire primary care trust has published what it calls an “unprecedented” review of care at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust, after installing its own staff to check on standards.