Health Service Journal
6 March 2008
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£80.4m cost of 8,000 staff hurt at work
Just over 8,000 NHS staff were seriously injured at work last year, figures published in Parliament show. -
Alan Maynard on hard questions for NICE
Everyone accepts that resources are scarce and that rationing in the NHS is ubiquitous. Rationing involves depriving patients of care from which they might benefit and would like to have. The most explicit instrument for rationing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. -
All Our Yesterdays
March 5, 1948, Public Assistance Journal and Health & Hospital Review Within preparations underway for the coming into effect of the National Hospital Service, a number of reports were printed this week on the decisions or provisional arrangements being made as to the allocation of institutions between county and county borough councils and regional hospital boards.InDurham, for instance, the "wh -
Andrew Castle on innovations in patient safety
Standardising clinical practice can go a long way towards improving patient safety, as one innovative programme in the US has shown. Andrew Castle explains -
Building organisational trust in the health service
Even the best managers might find that their staff's sense of trust is dictated by factors outside their control, says Blair McPherson -
Capping private patient income
As the debate over the private patient income cap governing foundation trusts intensifies, Oliver Pritchard takes a closer look at the legal background of the issue -
Chief medic warns safety standards not high enough
The core standards used to measure trusts' performance in annual assessments are 'not strong enough' on patient safety, the chief medical officer has told HSJ. -
Credit crunch puts Kent PFI under threat
Plans by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust for a new private finance initiative hospital were dealt a blow this week when the bonds intended to finance the deal were downgraded. -
David Peat on community spirit
It occurred to me the other day that just as TV soap devotees have Coronation Street, in East Lancashire we have Howard Street. But instead of the Rovers Return being the centre of everything that moves, we have Howard Street's community health centre. -
Doctors 'battered with targets' as pockets 'lined with gold'
Tony Blair's former chief adviser on public service reform has accused the government of 'battering' doctors with targets and 'lining their pockets with gold'. -
Electronic consultation cuts hospital referrals in Bradford by half
Clinicians in Bradford, West Yorkshire, are piloting a scheme to cut referrals to secondary care and improve the care pathway for chronic kidney disease. The scheme relies on an 'e-consultation' tool that allows primary and secondary care clinicians to communicate electronically. -
Emma Dent on having a drink
As I believe I have written here before, I have thought for some time that I would make a lousy alcoholic because I get terrible hangovers. Just thinking about my top five worst-ever mornings-after of all time makes me feel queasy. -
England's waiting times no better than Wales
Statistics on waiting times in England and Wales have led to questions over the value for money of initiatives to reduce waiting times in England. -
Free parking in Wales will cost trusts £5.4m
Hospital trusts in Wales will lose up to £5.4m per year because the Welsh Assembly government has told them they must stop raising income from car parking. -
Funding the work of clinician scientists
Health Foundation fellowships offer clinician scientists the chance to carry out long-term studies into major areas of importance. We look at one project -
Health Foundation welcomes Brown's self-management pledge
The Health Foundation has welcomed prime minister Gordon Brown's emphasis on increasing support for patient self-management in his recent speech on the NHS. -
Home-grown change will reshape the NHS
The number of primary care trusts needs to reduce further, but another top-down reorganisation should be avoided - this time world class commissioning will drive a natural, bottom-up change -
How to close the readmission revolving door
New software takes the guesswork out of assessing readmission risk, helping services to target resources. Louise Hunt reports -
How to upskill your workforce
Upskilling the existing healthcare workforce is a way to improve services and enhance career progression, writes Tess Green -
HSJ intelligence supplement: password future
Welcome to the latest issue of Intelligence, the quarterly HSJ supplement dedicated to innovation, information and technology. -
Intelligence - news in brief
Mobile monitoring system keeps closer eye on mistakesSpecialists in e-working at Coventry University have developed a programme that uses mobile technology to allow staff to report mistakes immediately. The researchers at Coventry got together with health software providers Savant to develop a personal digital assistant system to help improve safety and increase reporting rates, by capturing vital information on mistakes on the spot in critical care areas. The software t -
ISTC contract guarantees will saddle NHS with a £187m bill
Deals with private contractors have left the NHS facing a hidden £187m bill to buy back some of the controversial independent sector treatment centres, HSJ has learned. -
ISTC contract guarantees will saddle NHS with a £187m bill
Deals with private contractors have left the NHS facing a hidden 187m bill to buy back some of the controversial independent sector treatment centres, HSJ has learned. -
Jenny Rogers on embarrassing emails
About 25 years ago on a management development course I was taken to visit Hewlett Packard. -
Juggling GP hours
In response to the article by NHS Employers' Alastair Henderson, 'GPs must see sense on hours', My colleagues and I do not have a problem particularly with working extended hours, writes Dr ARJ Boggis -
Looking for the latest leaders for change
Applications for round six of the Health Foundation's Leaders for Change programme are open. -
Lyn Whitfield on being over 30
I attended an IT conference recently at which the keynote speaker told me I could never be a 'digital native' because I was over 30 and hadn't grown up texting. -
Media Watch: nurses under attack
It seems it's fine to rant about lazy, greedy doctors, but dare to criticise nurses and all hell breaks loose. -
Michael White on health budgets
Opposition spokesmen as energetic as Andrew Lansley tend to respond to breaking news rather than to make it. It's the curse of opposition. When they're in the headlines it's usually bad news. The Tory health spokesman has been making headlines. -
New basic skills programme launched
NHS Connecting for Health is to drop the European Computer Driving Licence service in favour of a new Essential IT Skills Programme. -
NHS chaplaincy: a spirited row
Chaplaincy is making its case to become a commissioned NHS service. Daloni Carlisle reports -
NHS pyramid scheme remains unchanged
This week's report by HSJ shows that progress on driving up the lamentable levels of black and minority ethnic representation in NHS management ranks has stalled. -
No probes into London mental health killings
NHS managers who failed to investigate nearly half of the murders and manslaughters carried out by London mental health patients over a four-year period will not be held to account. -
Noel Plumridge on topping up NHS care
It is a long time since NHS care was unequivocally free. Over half a century ago, in the final days of a post-war Labour government that was proud to nationalise not just healthcare but the 'commanding heights' of the British economy - coal, steel, the railways - a certain outspoken Yorkshire politician resigned from prime minister Clement Attlee's cabinet on a point of principle. The introduction of NHS charges, he felt, was one compromise too far. -
Notes on a scandal: electronic records
The row over summary care records rages on, but what do patients in pioneer areas think about them and do they fear invasion of privacy? Lyn Whitfield visits Bolton to find out -
Occupational health doctors get people back to work
The British Medical Association is right to say that GPs alone cannot reduce employee absence due to ill health (news, page 8, 21 February). Occupational health doctors are specialists trained to work with employees and employers, to rehabilitate people back into work, writes Gordon Parker -
Only one in 20 ambulance managers is from minority
Ambulance trusts have emerged as having the lowest proportion of ethnic minority managers of any NHS sector in England, figures obtained by HSJ reveal. -
Outcry forces former C diff chief to resign
Ruth Harrison, the former chief executive of C difficile-hit Stoke Mandeville Hospital, has stepped down from an NHS consultancy post in the wake of public outcry. -
Pass on your skills
With a worrying number of health and social care professionals fearing future skills shortages, two new courses could help to plug the gaps -
Patient affairs lead is 'not a new czar'
The Department of Health has appointed a new diabetes czar and a director of patient and public affairs. -
Paul Robinson on the waiting times initiative
The NHS is often used as a generic term, but in reality it consists of four different services in four countries. In my last column, I examined surprising differences in the growth of emergency admissions in the four countries. This time we will look at an issue that has had the highest focus in England: waiting times. -
PCTs cut continuing care packages
More than a quarter of primary care trusts have cut the number of adults they give NHS 'continuing care', despite guidance intended to boost provision.Figures published by the Department of Health show 44 PCTs reduced the number of people to whom they give the care package between April and December 2007. -
Posts left open as national locum shortage takes hold
Leaked Department of Health documents reveal a national shortage of locum hospital doctors, with some trusts reporting they are 'lucky if applicants attend for interview'.HSJ first highlighted the issue last year -
Premises buy-back is yet more ammo for anti-private brigade
Our revelation this week that the government made deals with the providers of the independent sector treatment centres to buy back their premises is another blow to a controversial policy. According to a document unearthed in the Hous -
Readmission is not simply correlated to length of stay
Over the past few years, length of stay has gone down while readmissions have gone up. It is tempting to see these two facts as related, but the truth is more complicated. -
Reports that took three days - now done in five minutes
Although it is known for its high standards of quality, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals trust has struggled to meet the new demands for fast, accurate information, particularly to support payment by results. -
Richard Gleave on healthcare wholesalers
Mastering the latest management jargon is as much of a skill in the US as it is in the NHS. Even after several months, I am still a novice and get especially confused by the sporting analogies: it is easy to guess what is meant by a 'play book', but I am still struggling with a 'full court press'. -
'Robust' arthritis guidelines ignored
It came as little surprise that National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines for the care and treatment of osteoarthritis in adults were published to a fanfare of deafening silence from the press, writes Neil Betteridge -
Sizing up the national child measurement programme
Forcing primary care trusts to measure all four and 11 year olds in their schools will not help tackle childhood obesity, argues Catherine Gleeson -
Stimulating positive media coverage of the NHS
Staff in the NHS might be sick of seeing negative stories in the media, but the onus is on them to redress the balance, argues Stephen Pattison -
Stroke data
Michael White was kind to call our report NHS reform: national mantra, not local reality 'coherent' and 'intelligent'. I suspect we will have to agree to disagree about the benefits of reform, writes Helen Rainbow -
Surgeons are safe
I am extremely disappointed that HSJ chose to print the accusation regarding patient safety and the certification of doctors for the specialist register, writes Paul Streets -
Surplus forecast by HSJ still on course
The NHS is still on track to make a £1.8bn surplus at the end of this financial year, as first revealed by HSJ. -
The information highway
Two doctors are transforming the way in which the NHS collects and uses data, says Daloni Carlisle -
This week's lookey likey
Timothy Spall is a first class actor and national treasure. But now there is another string to his bow - Professor Wellard of internet site www.wellards.co.uk suggests that he also looks somewhat like NHS Confederation director of policy and HSJ favourite Nigel Edwards. -
Thousands now book to see GPs on web
More than 56,000 people booked appointments on-line at their GP practice last month with one in seven practices now able to offer the service. -
Tooke calls for urgent action on doctors' role
In January the Tooke report on medical careers was well received. But pressure groups have accused the government of using delaying tactics in its response, reports Ann McGauran -
Union warns over offensive email activity
NHS organisations need policies in place to deal with staff accessing offensive material on work computers, NHS Employers has said. -
Weird world health
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West Kent patient safety
Contrary to the comments made by shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, West Kent primary care trust came into being in October 2006, some six months after the start of the outbreak of C difficile -
Why are there so few BME managers?
With the vast majority of senior NHS managers classed as white, why are there still so few from black and minority ethnic backgrounds? Charlotte Santry reports -
Work experience in the NHS
Opening its doors to students interested in NHS careers must be a fundamental element of a trust's long-term workforce strategy, says Foluke Ajayi
