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Health Service Journal
6 November 2008

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  • Academic health science centres

    Ann McGauran's article on supertrusts describes the development of academic health science centres (exclusively in London) in terms of strategic alliances leading to global competitiveness.

  • Achieving 18 weeks: engaging with NHS managers and clinicians

    As the NHS hits the government's 18-week referral to treatment target early, national implementation director Philippa Robinson, a trained nurse, explains the important role clinical leadership has played in the achievement

  • Alastair Henderson on the NHS staff survey

    The largest of its kind, the NHS staff survey last year captured the feelings of 156,000 employees from all 391 trusts in England.

  • Ambulance trust plans lower target for rural call-outs

    An ambulance trust is proposing to reach a smaller proportion of life-threatening emergencies within eight minutes in rural areas than in urban.

  • Breast cancer sufferers need better support - Breast Cancer Care

    Patients with secondary breast cancer have poor access to healthcare support, a survey has found.

  • Charles Kaye and Michael Howlett on mental health in the slow lane

    A number of high-profile news items about mental health have hit the headlines recently.

  • Christine Beasley on how staff can revolutionise the NHS

    I have been involved with the Productive Ward, designed by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, from the very beginning of its development, and personally launched the initiative at the Royal College of Nursing conference in 2007. Since then, I have kept a close interest in its progress.

  • Clare Chapman: happiness is a warm NHS workplace

    The NHS has loyal staff and their development must rank high among employers' own local commitments, says the Department of Health's director general of workforce

  • Concerns over delays to mental health advocacy service

    The government is failing to put in place mental health advocates to provide important support and protection to patients, charity Mind has warned.

  • Congratulations to all NHS staff

    I would like to congratulate all the NHS staff who have worked so hard to implement the changes that have energised the workplace and helped to smash targets for reducing waiting times for hospital treatment and to increase hospital safety through reducing infection rates.

  • Conservatives promise to speed up drug access

    The Conservative Party has announced plans for changes to drug access and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

  • Deprivation of liberty - know the law

    Primary care trusts need to be aware of new safeguards designed to protect patients being deprived of their liberty. Stephen Evans explains PCTs' duties

  • DH launches cardiac death database

    A database to identify the incidence and causes of sudden cardiac death has been launched by the Department of Health.

  • DH to enforce proportion of BME managers in the NHS

    Managers will be given a target on the proportion of trust board members coming from black and minority ethnic backgrounds under plans being drawn up by the Department of Health.

  • Emma Dent on smoking

    Readers may be unsurprised to learn that I have a number of pet hates.

  • End of life care consultation begins

    A consultation on end of life care has been launched by the Department of Health.

  • Ethnic minority board quotas are off target

    HSJ's nationwide survey on the experiences of black and minority ethnic staff in the NHS shows the service has a long way to go to make its worthy platitudes on equality and diversity a reality.

  • Exploring experience-based service design

    The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement has developed a new approach to improving the patient experience - experience-based design. Tony Butterworth and Lynne Maher explain how it works

  • Far and wide

    The principles of Productive Ward are now being applied in community hospitals and mental health wards. But will the programme succeed outside its original context, asks Ingrid Torjesen

  • Gordon Brown: press ahead with health equality drive

    The prime minister has said the credit crunch is no reason to postpone plans to reduce health inequalities.Speaking at a World Health Organisation conference in London yesterday, Gordon Brown said 'there could be no worse time than this to turn back'.

  • GP commissioning: the road less travelled

    Performance is patchy in practice based commissioning, but involving clinicians is crucial to the world class programme

  • GP pay to reflect outcomes

    The GP bonus scheme will be reformed to better link GP earnings to outcomes for patients under proposals outlined by the Department of Health.

  • Health committee gets cooking with Jamie Oliver

    Celebrity chef gives evidence to the parliamentary health committee's inequalities inquiry

  • Health service staff security

    All NHS staff deserve to work without fear of violence or abuse. New security specialists are helping to provide vital local support

  • Helen Bevan on the six lessons of success

    This is my 11th year as a national improvement leader in the NHS. During this time, I have led or supported more than 70 major national improvement initiatives, in priority areas such as quality, emergency care, waiting times, cancer services, leadership and care closer to home. Yet I have never experienced a phenomenon like the Productive Ward. It has spread more quickly, made a difference to more staff and patients and created more energy for change than anything I had experienced previousl

  • Hilary Thomas on NHS top-ups

    I approach the subject of NHS top-ups with some trepidation. The issue is complex and there are no easy answers. Considering it from the cancer perspective, I will attempt to throw light into some dark corners of the debate.

  • HSJ survey shows 'racism alive in NHS'

    The bleak plight of black and minority ethnic staff across the NHS has been exposed in an exclusive HSJ analysis of recruitment rates, employment relations and workforce figures.

  • Lingering questions over GP access

    In answer to questions from my last blog, yes, dear lady from Kingston, I am saying that people go back for a second appointment because GPs 'do such a poor job of putting them off' as you so caringly put it.

  • Making time fly

    Emails, meetings, sorting out that pile of paper: Jennifer Taylor looks at how the Productive Leader programme helps you cut tasks down to size

  • Managers warn NHS top-up review risks inequalities

    Health managers have given a cautious welcome to cancer czar Mike Richards' landmark review of co-payments but warned that the plans could make the NHS less 'equal'.

  • Mark Britnell on world class commissioning so far

    Morituri te salutamus, as the gladiators said in Roman amphitheatres: We who are about to die salute you.

  • Media Watch: food terror

    We're all doomed. From the day our mothers sipped their third cup of coffee while pregnant (Daily Mail) to the time we ignored the best before date on that pate at the back of the fridge (The Observer) to the decision to ditch the bran flakes for one of those nice upwardly mobile pastries on sale in posh coffee shops (The Daily Telegraph), we've all had it.

  • Mental well-being drive

    The report published by think tank Foresight on the need to build mental capital and well-being is essential reading for all policy makers and service providers.

  • Michael White on IT in the NHS

    You were probably far too busy to notice Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg urging Gordon Brown the other day to 'distinguish between good public spending and bad public spending… By not wasting £13bn on an NHS computer system that doesn't work'.

  • Monitor attempts to keep DH 'at bay'

    Monitor and the Department of Health could be heading for another tussle over central direction versus local freedoms.

  • MP challenges foundation trust board secrecy

    An MP has challenged the tendency of foundation trusts to hold their board meetings in secret and withhold documents from publication.

  • Naomi Chambers on NHS boards and organisational performance

    As the Healthcare Commission's annual health check comes to a close, after congratulatory notes are received, press releases carefully crafted, protests lodged, or wounds licked in private, how often do boards ask themselves: what part have we played in our organisation's performance this year?

  • NHS Better Care, Better Value indicators

    The NHS Better Care, Better Value indicators are published each quarter for all primary care, acute hospital and foundation trusts by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

  • NHS constitution debate

    Your leader claims the NHS Confederation and NHS Employers 'appear to' say that the NHS constitution is over-prescriptive. This is a misrepresentation.

  • NHS Direct drops foundation trust plans

    NHS Direct has dropped its plans to become a foundation trust following government reluctance to free the national service from central control.

  • NHS Direct shelves foundation trust plans

    NHS Direct has put its plans to become a foundation trust on ice. The decision follows government reluctance to free the national service from central control.The Department of Health feels it needs to be able to call on NHS Direct as an emergency hotline in the event of a terrorist attack or other national incident.

  • NHS governance: all aboard

    Boards will play a significant role in taking PCTs to the next level with the help of a DH development framework

  • NHS managers support top-up payments, HSJ poll reveals

    NHS managers support the decision to allow top-up payments but believe it will make the NHS less equal and doubt it will work as a long-term solution.

  • NHS marketing - who needs it?

    I am currently working through the marketing strategy module. It is early days and the textbook is certainly the largest and heaviest handed out.

  • NHS must reflect local populations

    NHS bodies are largely representative of the communities they serve but some are drastically failing to reflect local populations, HSJ's figures show.

  • NHS next stage review: the whole package

    World class commissioning will be a major driver in improving healthcare quality, by embedding it in the DNA of services

  • NHS staff engagement

    Involving the whole NHS workforce in improvement means asking their opinion and responding to feedback. Alastair Henderson puts the business case for staff inclusion

  • NHS staff numbers expected to rise despite downturn

    NHS workforce directors believe their staff numbers will rise in the next year despite the economic downturn, according to an NHS Employers survey.

  • NHS top-up review results announced

    Primary care trusts will be expected to collaborate on commissioning decisions as a result of national clinical director for cancer Mike Richards' reforms to rules on topping up NHS care.

  • NHS top-ups policy to be unveiled today

    Health secretary Alan Johnson is set to unveil the government's new policy on NHS top-ups and co-payments later today.The expected announcement to MPs follows a wide-ranging review of the issue conducted by national clinical director for cancer Mike Richards.

  • NHS trusts may face charges for 'never events'

    Politicians have urged health officials to make hospital trusts bear the full cost of so-called 'never events' to help redress the imbalance between weak commissioners and strong providers.

  • NHS Wales chief to step down to focus on 26-week target

    The chief executive of NHS Wales is to stand down and focus on the country's 26-week referral to treatment target, which organisations are struggling to meet.

  • NHS's irrational pay constraints are derailing the drive for quality

    There is one aspect of competition the Department of Health has yet to grasp - the competition for management talent.

  • NICE may change drug rules for end of life

    The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence wants to apply different rules when deciding whether to recommend expensive drugs for terminally ill patients with rare conditions.

  • North East Ambulance Service reform plans 'can go ahead'

    The Independent Reconfiguration Panel has thrown out an attempt by Tees Valley councillors to halt plans to reform the North East Ambulance Service.

  • Older people's charity calls on services to forge links for elderly

    The chair of a new 'super charity' has called on managers to forge closer links with social services to ensure older people stay in hospital for the right length of time.

  • Organ donor reforms speed delivery of gift of life

    Organ transplant services say they have had to succeed in spite of the structures around them. Under bold new plans local managers will play a pivotal role in increasing donations. Stuart Shepherd reports

  • Paramedics prepare for terrorism threat

    Primary care trusts will for the first time have to fund ambulance services to be prepared for terrorist attacks and other major emergencies from next year.

  • PCTs outsource provider arms to foundation trust

    Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees teaching primary care trusts have outsourced their entire provider arms to a local foundation trust.

  • PCTs to share £3m to tackle alcohol misuse

    The Department of Health has announced which 20 primary care trusts in the most deprived areas will receive a share of a £3m pot to tackle alcohol misuse.

  • Pharmacy chain to offer cervical cancer vaccine

    Ten branches of Boots in London have begun piloting a private cervical cancer vaccination service.

  • Providing healthcare on a small island

    Some islanders 'would rather be crippled than go to the mainland for an operation'. Alison Moore reports on the goldfish-bowl world of remote island healthcare

  • Queen Mary's chief resigns as trust plans three-way merger

    The chief executive of Queen Mary's Hospital trust in Sidcup has resigned in the week her board signed off plans to merge with two other trusts.

  • Reapplying for NHS management jobs

    Poor Richard Beeken, I feel for him, being so angry and upset by Liberal Democrat deputy leader Vince Cable's suggestion that people such as himself should reapply for their own jobs and take pay and conditions cuts.

  • Rise in assaults on NHS staff

    More than 55,000 physical assaults were reported against NHS staff in England last year.

  • Roll out, roll out

    With services in the community going 'productive' in summer 2009, Nigel Hopps looks forward both to the opportunities and the challenges this presents

  • Safeguarding personal data in the NHS

    NHS data security is a sensitive topic that requires strict protocols to be followed. Iftikhar Din explains the experiences of Kensington and Chelsea primary care trust

  • Safeguarding vulnerable adults is inconsistent, says watchdog

    Disabled and older people who experience abuse get a varied level of support due to the uneven progress of local authorities and care services in developing safeguarding measures, a report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection has said.

  • Smooth operators

    A programme targeted at surgeons and anaesthetists aims to ensure consistently excellent practice in operating theatres, says Jennifer Taylor

  • Sophia Christie on the NHS and the credit crunch

    We seem to be officially heading into recession. Even if it is shallow and short, this will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.

  • Stephen Ramsden on patient safety's missing link

    I remain vexed by the question ‘how can we engage junior doctors in patient safety?’

  • Steve Barnett on world class NHS leaders

    It is not hard to think of bad leaders. A recent poll named figures from Stalin to Vlad the Impaler who score badly in the popularity stakes, while Steve McClaren, 'the wally with the brolly', springs to my mind.

  • Teen pregnancy 'linked to sexual content on TV'

    Teenagers who watch a lot of television programmes with a high sexual content are twice as likely to become involved in a pregnancy, research by the Rand Corporation has claimed.

  • 'This is a phenomenon'

    The NHS has seen countless initiatives but the Productive Ward seems different - in the sheer enthusiasm it provokes, the refreshing lack of jargon and the way it was developed from the bottom up. Stuart Shepherd explains

  • Time and motion: a programme for NHS efficiency

    Welcome to the special HSJ supplement on the Productive series.

  • Trust withdraws job offer from chief convicted of drink-driving

    A hospital trust has withdrawn the offer of a job from its new chief executive - two weeks after publicly announcing she was to take up the post.Jane Perrin had been due to take over at Trafford Healthcare trust towards the end of the year and had already met some staff.

  • Trusts manipulating pay rules to hang on to talent

    Dozens of primary care and ambulance trusts are 'fudging' official rules on directors' pay as they struggle to attract and hold on to good managers.

  • Using the health service - best and worst

    I've just been ill and used the service. Now that's what I call a roller coaster ride.

  • Whole lotta shake-up

    They have succeeded on individual wards, but are trusts in Nottingham and Manchester up to the bigger challenge of transforming whole hospitals, asks Stuart Shepherd

  • Winds of change

    An exciting new role is beginning to take shape: people and organisations that can exemplify productive practice and guide others

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