Health Service Journal
8 May 2008
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Health inequalities: action points for NHS boards
Equality in healthcare is firmly on the agenda for trusts around the UK and has been for some time. But non-executive directors must go beyond the rhetoric and create local realities. -
A case for integrated mental healthcare
A patient's experience is not fragmented, discontinuous and segregated so why is their treatment? Samantha Allen and Heather Hurford argue for integrated care -
Aleix Bacardit on palliative care and place of death
The publication of the cancer reform strategy is a sign of the government's commitment to developing world class cancer services, but questions remain over using place of death to inform management decisions. -
Barbara Young to chair Care Quality Commission
The proposed chair of the new super-regulator has been welcomed as an 'inspirational' leader. Baroness Barbara Young, currently the Environment Agency chief executive, has been named as the Department of Health's preferred candidate to chair the shadow Care Quality Commission. -
Census shows rise in NHS clinical staff
More doctors and nurses are working for the NHS, but the number of support staff has fallen, a workforce census by the Information Centre for health and social care has shown. -
Channing Wheeler's plans for market end rumours of commercial break
Reports of the demise of private sector involvement in the NHS last year were premature, as Department of Health commercial director Channing Wheeler is developing the tools to allow local managers to turn the service into a market. He talks to Sally Gainsbury -
Child obesity worst in deprived areas
Concerns about childhood obesity led to the introduction of the national child measurement programme in England two years ago. The programme is now starting to yield important insights. -
Community foundation trust challenges
As your article on the NHS Confederation report on aspirant community foundation trusts acknowledges, the move towards this status is challenging, writes David Stout -
Community services tariff opens way to private provision
The Department of Health is to develop a tariff for community services - paving the way for foundation trusts and the private sector to offer services until now provided by primary care trusts. -
Creating a smoke-free working environment
Chris Phillips outlines the steps NHS employers should take to implement a successful smoking ban and explains how to deal with possible dissent from patients, visitors and staff -
Darzi polyclinic proposals branded 'pie in the sky'
Lord Darzi’s London blueprint has been described as ‘pie in the sky’ after a three-month consultation. -
Darzi review kicks central control out of the frame
Tomorrow junior health minister Lord Darzi releases another part of his next stage review. It demonstrates some deft political footwork. -
Darzi review: PCTs told reforms must save lives
Junior health minister Lord Darzi is to tell primary care trusts they can reconfigure local services only where they can prove it will save lives or improve health outcomes. -
David Amos on workforce planning
A clip on YouTube called Shifthappens broadcasts statistical evidence to demonstrate that the human race is experiencing a world of exponential growth. NHS workforce planners should take note. -
David Cameron's praise for joined-up GPs
It was reassuring to hear a politician praise the work of GPs and acknowledge the core values of general practice: the unique relationship between GP and patient; integrated, continuous care and lifelong care, wri -
David Lee on mental health heroes
As every good HSJ reader knows, good management is not about heroics or donning a Superman costume. Good management in mental health is about supporting local innovation and frontline service improvements. -
Dealing with a public relations crisis
In the wake of the missing Revenue and Customs data, Sefton PCT found itself at the centre of a data security scandal. Ingrid Torjesen finds out how to handle a crisis -
DH toughens line on GP exception reporting
Primary care trusts must ensure they have a strategy in place on GP exception reporting, a health inequalities official has warned. -
Focus on GP hours is too narrow says PCT Network
The government has been warned to broaden its approach to improving primary care services beyond a focus on extended hours. -
Foundation trust directors earning up to 25 per cent more
Foundation trust finance directors are earning 16 per cent more than their non-foundation trust counterparts, according to a survey that adds to evidence of a growing 'pay gap'. -
Foundation trusts must improve on MRSA
Monitor has warned four foundation trusts it will intervene if they fail to improve performance on MRSA. Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals, Calderdale and Huddersfield, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and Poole Hospital were told they had breached their terms of authorisation. -
Getting to grips with intellectual property rights
What is intellectual property and what should NHS organisations do to protect their financial interests? Claire Reynolds explains the finer points -
Health managers seek clarity on PCT assets
Health managers are calling for clarity on how primary care trusts should manage their assets when separating commissioner and provider functions. -
Independent sector sceptics must be won over
This week's interview with Channing Wheeler, commercial director general at the Department of Health, highlights the complexity of the relationship between the NHS and the independent sector. -
Information Centre report looks at GP pay
The Information Centre for health and social care has published figures that look at the changes in family doctors' pay over time, as well as how pay varies according to factors such as a GP's age and the number of partners in a practice. -
Information Centre takes over NHS central register
Responsibility for the NHS central register, which contains nearly 150 million patient registration records, transferred from the Office of National Statistics to the Information Centre for health and social care on 1 April, further establishing the Information Centre as England's primary resource for authoritative health and social care information. -
Media Watch: election time
Most of the weekend was spent dissecting implications of the local elections, which hinted that the next government would be blue. -
Mental health history: taking over the asylum
In our latest feature marking the NHS’s 60th anniversary, Mark Gould charts the journey from Victorian asylums to the national service framework and recent backward steps -
Michael White on NICE decisions
Did you hear Ian Gibson, left wing MP for Norwich North, giving Gordon Brown a piece of his mind in the wake of Labour's disastrous performance in the local elections? -
Monitor plans for foundation trust failures
Foundation trust regulator Monitor is anticipating that some 47 acute and mental health trusts will not make it to foundation trust status by 2010. -
Neil Goodwin on academic health science centres
A quiet revolution due to take place across university hospitals will fundamentally change the relationship between doctors and managers in the NHS. -
No faith in evidence-based medicine
Daragh Fahey’s childlike faith in evidence-based medicine should not go unchallenged, writes Norma Butler -
Norman Lamb critical of 'opaque' DH leadership
The Liberal Democrats' health spokesman has criticised the 'complete lack of transparency' around Department of Health decisions. -
Olympics sport medicine centre may not be built
A national sports medicine centre at the heart of plans for a lasting health legacy from the 2012 Olympics may never be built, HSJ has learned. -
Perfect union: why partnerships must seek local public opinion
The health service has a long history of joint working. To build on this, it must recognise local need as a bigger priority than targets and keep decision makers close to communities -
Polyclinics are wrong for London
So provided what happens in London is good news for strategic health authorities and ministers - fine. And we naively thought the goal was a patient centred service, writes Roger Goss -
Ros Levenson on recruiting non-executives
After 10 years as a non-executive director of my local NHS trust, including six years as deputy chair, I felt tuned-in to what local people wanted from their hospital. But looking back on the experience, it is interesting to reflect that if I were applying now, rather than a decade ago, it is extremely unlikely that I would be appointed. -
Simon Stevens on value for money in the NHS
What is the biggest black box in the NHS? By which I mean, where is the worst ratio of cash to clarity about what taxpayers are getting for their money? -
Stress-busting techniques for NHS staff
It is sadly ironic that, for many, the NHS is a source of stress. I am not talking about patients - that is another article - but about the service's staff. -
This week's All Our Yesterdays
Public Assistance Journal and Health and Hospital Review, May 7 1948“There are now only two months left before the appointed day [when the National Assistance Bill would become law]. Much has now been done in the way of preparation since the introduction of the National Assistance Bill, but there are still some decisions on vital points which remain to be taken. Some of these concern the administrative arrangements of the local authorities for the discharge of their anticipated duties -
Tips for managers on supporting staff
Managers who are engaged with their staff create well-being and better care. Margaret Bradley and Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe explain how to achieve this -
Transforming urology services
Changes to the urology service at Guy's and St Thomas' foundation trust have eliminated long outpatient waiting lists. New patients are seen within 10 days of referral, while patients with established diseases are seen in disease-specific, nurse-led clinics. -
Your Humble Servant on getting to grips with nurses
To: Don Wise, chief executiveFrom: Paul Servant, assistant chief executiveRE: Go with the Flo
