Ginette CAMPS- WALSH
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Comments (7)
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Comment on: Royal Pharmaceutical Society warns on drug stock levels
The shortage of these medicines is due to some pharmacists making money for themselves by exporting less expense UK medicines to other countries where they are more expensive. One solution would be to change the way medicines are bought, so that the NHS purchases mediines direct from the pharmaceutical companies and pharmacists are given only a dispensing fee. At present pharmacists purchase medicines and then claim money back from the NHS and can thus export them.
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Comment on: Tories 'planning NHS cutbacks'
Is there actually any basis for this headline? Andrew Lansley has already said that the NHS budgets are sacrosanct under a future Conservative Government, and would match the present Labour Government budgets, so what is the story here? Patient choice is restricted at the moment and it shouldn't be. With my patient group hat on - FEmISA, I know that women are still not being given alternative options to hysterectomy, which are less costly to them, their families and the NHS - this in part due to the lack of tariffs. Cutting down on bureacracry and pointless numerous targets would free up managers to manage. NHS surplus reported in HSJ £1.7 Billion for the last 2 years. We need to spend this on improving outcomes, so we are at least on a par with other leading economic countries.
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Comment on: NHS news blog: Alan Johnson launches new rules on patient involvement
The people who really know there is a problem are those involved and nearest to the problem - the staff, patients and their families. Yet the answer from Alan Johnson is yet more bureacracy at high levels, ignoring the grass roots and people who know. This actually increases the problem, and doesn't address it. There should be easily accessible mechanisms for staff to raise their clinical concerns both through internal channels and through their professional bodies, who should support them to maintain clinical standards. It should be made much easier for patients and their families to complain. Health outcomes should be measured and compared. Above all the culture of blame, which eminates from the very top should be replaced by one of better communication, collaboration and constant improvement, or is this too much to ask from the Government spin machine?
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Comment on: NHS news blog: DH refrains from standardising patient experience
The merit and value of measuring immediate patient experience data is highly questionnable. Staff should be asking patients how they feel and what they want, not leaving this to electronic gadgets and there is a danger that it could diminish personal communication with patients. It is doubtful whether patients feeling ill, vulnerable and not in control would feel brave enough to say if there was anything wrong, especially if this were fed back to those involved. The questions tend to be predetermined yes/no questions when in fact to improve quality and service one would like to know - what do you value; what did we do well; what could be improved; is there anything else we could have done to help you? not was your food hot enough etc. If patient input is to improve NHS quality this is not the way to do it. Continuous patient satisfaction questionnaires with lots of room for comment and rating services would be a much more useful management tools and would help to improve quality and services and monitor improvements over time.
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Comment on: Rising patient choice fails to improve NHS quality standards
In order to have 'choice' customers - patients need information. They do not yet have this in the NHS. In many cases they are still not aware of all the treatments available, health outcomes, quality of treatment, expertise of clinicians etc. The traffic light ratings from HCC are insuffficient. Most Trusts have not yet developed patient centred service delivery and patients still have to fit into the NHS process. I would also challenge how many patients have actually been given 'free choice' of any clinician anywhere in the country? Customers switch electricity providers because they know what they are getting. Trusts have the opportunity to attract more patients if they inform patients of the benefits of their treatments, the choices and their quality and design services delivery around patient i.e.strategic marketing!
