Health Service Journal
MARK CRAIL
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Modern times
14-Dec-2000
It was a year of grand plans and private gestures. Mark Crail on how the millennium bugged the NHS -
WEB WATCH
14-Dec-2000
This is the very last Webwatch.When the column started in September 1996, Internet access was a rarity. Few people had seen the worldwide web, let alone used it for work. Most of us had trouble seeing its relevance. Now we are promised wired fridges that order the groceries and let you read e-mail over breakfast. -
WEB WATCH
7-Dec-2000
If your nest egg is tied up in the NHS Pensions Agency, you may not be happy to discover that it managed a 5.6 per cent cut in the efficiency with which it used its resources last year, and that it is still only half way through reviewing the cases of people who may be entitled to rejoin after being mis-sold private pensions. -
WEB WATCH
30-Nov-2000
Medical school heads are having kittens at the idea that doctors could be churned through their august institutions in four years rather than five.So imagine how they would react to the suggestion that you could learn it all in 24 hours - and without having to get your hands all bloody. -
WEB WATCH
23-Nov-2000
'Fog everywhere.Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. . . Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pile of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little 'prentice ... -
WEB WATCH
16-Nov-2000
Where do the media get all those clinical research stories from - and why do so many medical breakthroughs occur on a Friday? -
WEB WATCH
9-Nov-2000
As paramedics cut away the remains of the wrecked vehicle, a voice-over intones: 'The nearest hospital is 20 minutes away - and she only has 10 minutes to live.' The picture pans across to take in a descending helicopter. 'The air ambulance will have her there in five.' -
WEB WATCH
2-Nov-2000
Should you ever be in Minneapolis, you could do worse than while away a few hours at the Museum of Questionable Devices. Happily, those of us unlikely ever to cross its threshold can examine the Battle Creek vibratory chair, McGregor rejuvenator and much more besides from the comfort of our own desks. -
WEB WATCH
26-Oct-2000
Poring over reports and attending hospital meetings doesn't sound like fun? You'd be surprised. . . Those are the words of trust nonexecutive Pauline Mistry. She goes on to explain how her role at Oxford's Radcliffe Hospitals trust involves 'sorting out the cock-ups' and 'disagreeing with some of the things that are going on' at the hospital. -
WEB WATCH
12-Oct-2000
Prepare to be deluged with formulaic and yet terribly well organised campaigns. This month's good cause is breast cancer, November's will be bowel cancer. And who could take exception to campaigns for more and better services? -
WEB WATCH
5-Oct-2000
We all love protocols and guidelines. They're so New NHS, and they provide the perfect defence when something goes wrong. Now, thanks to the publishers of those old treeware-based Guidelines and Guidelines in Practice, you can consult them without ever having to visit the hospital library. -
WEB WATCH
28-Sep-2000
Are you one of the 200 or so website editors working for NHS organisations that the Department of Health believes to be out there somewhere? If so, you may have mixed feelings about the sudden interest the centre has developed in your activities. -
WEB WATCH
21-Sep-2000
Though firmly under the umbrella of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, and largely funded by it, the National Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths is, in fact, an independent charity backed by a range of royal colleges and other organisations. -
WEB WATCH
14-Sep-2000
Anyone who has ever had a hand in writing a book will know of the frustratingly long lead-in times and tortuous editorial processes involved in that particular arm of publishing. -
WEB WATCH
7-Sep-2000
You may think that the advent of care trusts commissioning and managing both health and social care will herald an NHS take-over of all those funny social services people. -
WEB WATCH
31-Aug-2000
For an organisation which tends to attract managers at an early age and keep them for life, the NHS has never been that good at maintaining a collective memory. Its tendency to look for scapegoats when things go wrong and willingness to sacrifice whole generations of managers to organisational change have not helped. -
WEB WATCH
24-Aug-2000
There is no particular healthcare management angle to Webwatch this week, but some free services are just so useful that it would be a shame not to mention them.We all need to travel at some time or another, most of us want to know what the weather holds, and a bit of advice on where to get a decent pint would be handy. -
WEB WATCH
17-Aug-2000
The recent discovery that the mosquito-borne West Nile virus that plunged New York into panic last summer had survived the winter and was working its way up the US west coast sent a frisson of excitement through the broadsheet press on both sides of the Atlantic . -
WEB WATCH
10-Aug-2000
Three years ago, fewer than a million people in this country made use of the Internet - around 2 per cent of the population. Since then, growth has been dramatic: one estimate suggests nearly 20 million people are now online, and National Statistics says 6.5 million households in the UK have access. -
WEB WATCH
3-Aug-2000
Mad Pride did not adopt its name without a bit of soul searching. -
WEB WATCH
20-Jul-2000
If you want to know whether the porters at Huddersfield trust have been trained in safe ways to lift and handle patients or equipment (they have), or whether Royal West Sussex trust can claim that its discharge care planning documents are an integral part of its clinical records (not yet they're not), where do you go? -
WEB WATCH
6-Jul-2000
One of the advantages of signing up as a Roman legionary was access to a better quality of medical care than was generally available to those in civilian life. fter all, there was not much point having the most fearsome armies in the ancient world if your troops were too decrepit to wield a short sword. -
WEB WATCH
29-Jun-2000
So you think your job is tough. How would you cope if you were thrown in at the deep end as chief executive of a trust facing a £10m deficit, stroppy doctors who will have you thrown out the door if you interfere in their restrictive practices, and staff who threaten to down tools if you cut the budget? -
WEB WATCH
22-Jun-2000
Remember Alasdair Liddell? He jacked in his job as planning director at the NHS Executive to go off and work for a dot. com. If you're wondering what he's up to these days, he's a director of iMPOWER, 'the provider of choice for online solutions to enable the citizen, entrepreneur and government to get the most out of the Internet revolution'. -
WEB WATCH
15-Jun-2000
A researcher posing as a middle-aged man who was already taking drugs for a heart condition found few difficulties in obtaining Viagra from one UK-based company as part of a recent Health Which? investigation into online medical sites. -
WEB WATCH
1-Jun-2000
You will be pleased to hear that the European Commission has clinical trials in its sites. Among other things, it wants to ensure that people involved in multi-centre trials are not subject to disproportionate risk, and that their treatment is properly assessed by an ethics committee before it gets the go-ahead. -
WEB WATCH
25-May-2000
Do police surgeons go on those murder mystery weekends they have at country house hotels? -
WEB WATCH
18-May-2000
What a bunch of clever clogs they are down at the Department of Health.NHSnet fell over, companies worldwide had to close down their computer systems, and even the US National Security Agency suffered a security breach.But apparently the DoH had no problems at all with the 'love bug'. -
WEB WATCH
11-May-2000
How would you like to die? Comedian Stephen Fry came up with the definitive answer in one of those Q&A columns that litter the Sunday papers: -
WEB WATCH
4-May-2000
Cast your mind back to those early months of the new year when the early dawn brought with it a crisp coldness that misted the breath. Across the stillness of the lake, two boats are approaching. -
WEB WATCH
27-Apr-2000
Given the pressure to publish, under which people in higher education labour these days, it is surprising how long it has taken most university departments to see their own websites as a means of disseminating the vast quantities of research and policy work they churn out. -
WEB WATCH
20-Apr-2000
Number 1604 has straight black hair and brown eyes. A student nurse, he claims to be outgoing and, at times, funny. -
WEB WATCH
13-Apr-2000
After one of the particularly entertaining scandals which afflicted the NHS in the early 1990s, the police were keen to talk over a few things with one former senior regional health authority manager. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more difficult than they had first thought. -
WEB WATCH
6-Apr-2000
If you've delivered on waiting lists, brought your organisation back into financial balance and generally not managed to mislay too many patients on the way, you may feel that in this new golden era of NHS funding your job is secure. -
WEB WATCH
30-Mar-2000
Now that medical science can add 12 months to life expectancy every year and sustain that rate of progress, the potential for immortality arrives. It is an intriguing, if unlikely, prospect - the stuff of science fiction.But could it ever happen? -
WEB WATCH
23-Mar-2000
What do doctors get up to when no-one's looking? What do they wear beneath their trousers? It is in fearless search of the answers to these questions and more that Webwatch sets off this week for the darkest regions of Doctors.net.uk - a closed community for those initiated into the mysteries of the medical profession. -
WEB WATCH
16-Mar-2000
'It's the biggest job in London. You choose who gets it, ' run the huge advertisements cluttering up the capital's billboards and bus stops. It is the job of the metropolis' first directly elected mayor - and, with due apologies to the vast majority of readers living outside the circle of the M25 motorway - what an entertaining spectacle the London mayoral contest has become. -
WEB WATCH
9-Mar-2000
Whether the money to fund it comes from the inform, educate or entertain aspect of the television licence fee may be a matter for debate, but the BBC this week launched its largest health-related campaign to date - urging all you smokers, drinkers, gluttons and downright drug abusers to 'kick the habit'. -
WEB WATCH
2-Mar-2000
Five years have passed since the then Conservative government asked the Clinical Standards Advisory Group to review services for children with cleft lip and palate, and two years have gone by since it reported back. But progress to date on putting its sweeping proposals for consolidation and reform into practice has been slow. -
WEBWATCH
24-Feb-2000
Are you a leader or just a manager - and how do you know? The people who publish the Harvard Business Review may have the answer, thanks to their interactive 'test your management IQ' questionnaire. -
WEB WATCH
17-Feb-2000
The most comprehensive and authoritative guide to prescription medicines in use in this country began to offer open access to the public as well as healthcare professionals recently, with a pharmaceutical database listing 2,500 medicines and the 15,000 changes made every year to drug licences. -
WEBWATCH
10-Feb-2000
Do you sometimes sit in meetings wondering what your colleagues are droning on about? Do you ever wonder what on earth you're talking about? 'The SAFF, JIPs and PCIPs are interdependent elements in the planning process and are an integral part of producing the HImP.' In all honesty, does that phrase, drawn verbatim from a recent Department of Health circular, make any sense at all? -
WEBWATCH
3-Feb-2000
Few healthcare organisations in this country have managed to create the sort of virtual professional communities to which the Internet seems so well suited. It will come - but first people have to conquer the reticence that leaves so many discussion forums with enough significant silences to fill a Harold Pinter play. -
WEB WATCH
20-Jan-2000
Ever wondered precisely what it is pathologists do with dead bodies, but couldn't bring yourself to look too closely? Let Dr Ed Friedlander fill you in with the sort of detail that could come in handy when you write that blockbuster crime novel. -
WEB WATCH
13-Jan-2000
Staff appraisal, proclaimed management guru Tom Peters some time back in the last century, is the number one management problem in the US. 'It takes the average employee (manager or non-manager) six months to recover from it.' Anyone think that doesn't apply to the UK or to what we've seen of the 21st century so far? -
WEB WATCH
6-Jan-2000
Tarantino slumped in his steel and smoked-glass chair and sighed. -
WEB WATCH
9-Dec-1999
In an era replete with New Age quacks and frauds who assert the curative and health-enhancing benefits of anything from gemstones to the laying on of hands, not to mention their innate superiority over 'western' medicine, it is worthwhile recalling the long, hard slog of intellectual effort which laid the foundations for modern science. -
WEB WATCH
2-Dec-1999
'I've heard that it is dangerous to take Prozac, and smoke marijuana, or take other illegal drugs. Does anyone know if that is true?' asks Sara. According to RxList, which bills itself as 'the internet drug index', the anti-depressant is the fifth most commonly prescribed drug in the US - and, Viagra notwithstanding, must be the most discussed. -
WEB WATCH
25-Nov-1999
Hola! And welcome to Bandolera, 'version en espanol de Bandolier'. -
WEB WATCH
18-Nov-1999
Law Commission proposals earlier this month to allow the NHS to recover the cost of treating patients who are injured by someone else's negligence or wrongdoing may prove something of a mixed blessing for the health service. But they are certainly good news for lawyers. -
WEB WATCH
11-Nov-1999
With brand new medical schools springing up at Keele, Warwick and Durham, the Open University hammering on the door to demand admission and promises of thousands of new doctors, these are exciting times for medical education. If only those who run it could be bothered to communicate some of that excitement. So pay a visit to the Council of Heads of Medical Schools and what do you find? Well, aside from a set of links to all medical school websites, not a lot. Nothing apparently has ... -
Trusts' improved note handling 'good news'
4-Nov-1999
Fewer than half of all trusts start outpatient clinics with a set of casenotes for every patient, according to an Audit Commission report published today. -
WEB WATCH
4-Nov-1999
Two out of three people now retire before the age of 60, and four out of 10 go before they hit 55, according to a report produced by Income Data Services. -
WEB WATCH
28-Oct-1999
Thousands of nurses abandoned the wards last week and joined picket lines in a national strike over pay and conditions. Hospitals left with just emergency cover immediately cancelled many of their planned admissions and clinics, while some patients were sent home as pressure built up. -
Super Cooper
21-Oct-1999
A rising star, with a political CV to kill for and a very New Labour marriage, Yvette Cooper has the perfect background for Blair's ministerial team. But the public health remit may not be easy, writes Mark Crail -
WEB WATCH
21-Oct-1999
So you want to undertake a systematic review of discharge planning to find out what really works. But how do you know someone else isn't already doing the same thing? In fact, they are: details are on the National Research Register along with information about 42,000 other research projects of interest to the health service. -
Crash, bang, wallop
14-Oct-1999
The NHS Primary Care Group Alliance has smashed through the credibility barrier and is now prepared to push its weight around. Mark Crail braved its conference -
Slow start for PCT take-up
14-Oct-1999
The first wave of primary care trusts, due to go live next April, may amount to just one 'demonstration site' in each of the eight English regions, according to HSJ sources. -
WEB WATCH
14-Oct-1999
A tax on the poor, a tax on stupidity - the National Lottery has been called many things, lots of them uncomplimentary, and particularly so a few minutes after 8pm each Saturday. But with the New Opportunities Fund handing out used fivers by the wheelbarrow-load, could some in the NHS be changing their minds? -
WEB WATCH
7-Oct-1999
Are health action zones really at the cutting edge of public health as ministers intend? Or have they, as a leading Blairite think-tanker recently suggested, degenerated into test-beds for daft ideas dreamed up by civil servants and imposed on local people with the aid of endless central directives, rules and regulations? -
Hard labour
30-Sep-1999
news focus -
WEB WATCH
30-Sep-1999
'For many years all that could be seen of the new British Library was the building site through a hole in the boards thoughtfully created by the builders, knowing how fascinating most of us find the creation of a large building,' writes the development team for the new National Electronic Library for Health. -
Constructive thinking
23-Sep-1999
news focus: -
WEB WATCH
23-Sep-1999
How far would you go to boost your flagging showbiz career? Bare your soul to the world? Bare your body, perhaps? What about having bits of it chopped off in public? -
Move over, darling
16-Sep-1999
news focus: -
Weighing up the odds
16-Sep-1999
news focus: -
Constructive thinking
9-Sep-1999
news focus: -
WEB WATCH
9-Sep-1999
How far would you go to boost your flagging showbiz career? Bare your soul to the world? Bare your body, perhaps? What about having bits of it chopped off in public? -
The dying game
2-Sep-1999
The chilling case of a man with paranoid schizophrenia on death row highlights how the US judicial system is failing mentally ill people, writes Mark Crail -
WEB WATCH
2-Sep-1999
Wisconsin is not exactly the Wild West by any stretch of the imagination. Its firearm mortality rate puts it 37th among 50 US states. But at 5.4 deaths per 100,000 people, that is still getting on for 10 times the rate for England and Wales. According to Home Office crime figures, 1997 saw just 59 gun deaths. -
WEB WATCH
26-Aug-1999
When health secretary Frank Dobson issued the National Institute for Clinical Excellence with its first two years' work programme recently, the list of drugs to be reviewed included a number which have yet to see the inside of an NHS doctor's surgery. -
Nigh mayor scenario
19-Aug-1999
News focus: -
WEB WATCH
19-Aug-1999
Fun things to do when you're at the psychiatrist: take random objects in his office and glue them to the floor; refuse to co-operate unless he trades his trousers; try to talk him into sitting on the floor; after everything he says, ask, 'And how does that make you feel?' -
Wish you were here?
5-Aug-1999
news focus: -
Shutting up shop
29-Jul-1999
The government's mission to head off private walk-in clinics with its own NHS version is being accomplished most efficiently, writes Mark Crail -
Mind the gap
22-Jul-1999
Fluoridation campaigners believe they have won the argument, but the detail remains to be resolved. Mark Crail reports -
Watching expiry dates
15-Jul-1999
The public health white paper sets out ambitious targets for reducing deaths by 2010. Mark Crail canvassed responses to it and found widespread scepticism that it would reduce health inequalities -
Outside in
8-Jul-1999
news focus: -
What we really, really want
8-Jul-1999
news focus: -
Brothers grim
1-Jul-1999
news focus: -
WEB WATCH
1-Jul-1999
The French physician FJV Broussais bestrode Parisian medicine at the turn of the 19th century just as the new medicine of the Napoleonic capital, with its vast public hospitals and salaried hospital doctors, dominated scientific medicine then and for many years to come. And what a bleeder he was. -
WEB WATCH
17-Jun-1999
You might think choosing a new dentist is something of a lottery. So does the British Dental Association, which is promising the imminent launch of a web-based 'find a dentist' service, complete with 'icons like lottery balls' which will give more information about the services offered at each local surgery. -
WEB WATCH
10-Jun-1999
On a May afternoon in 1997, five elderly African-American men, the oldest aged 110, sat in the East Room of the White House to hear the US president offer an apology for their mistreatment by the public health system. 'What the US government did was shameful, and I am sorry,' Bill Clinton told them. -
WEB WATCH
3-Jun-1999
opinion -
Confederate flagging
27-May-1999
news focus -
So that's agreed, then?
20-May-1999
The Treasury has plans to extend public service agreements to health authorities and trusts, and the targets it sets may get tougher. Mark Crail reports -
All Right now The new reforms would be unthinkable without the Thatcher years, says Professor Alain Enthoven, architect of the internal market. Mark Crail reports
6-May-1999
'Despite the rhetoric, and I can understand that every political party wants to distance itself from the other one, I do see that a lot of what is happening is building on the reforms of the early 1990s,' says Professor Alain Enthoven. -
Take it from the top The New Health Network is impeccably connected, but is it a political front organisation? Not at all, say its organisers. Mark Crail reports
6-May-1999
When prime minister Tony Blair sends a specially recorded video urging people to join your cause and health secretary Frank Dobson rolls up in person to underline the plea, you know you have high-level backing. -
Not a bumper year at the top
25-Mar-1999
news focus -
Charter fights
11-Mar-1999
news focus -
Experiencing turbulence
25-Feb-1999
They may not be under the same do-or-die pressure as their airline counterparts, but health service chief executives are finding their millennium headaches far from over, writes Mark Crail -
Recovery positions
25-Feb-1999
Scotland's public health white paper goes much further than its green paper, writes Mark Crail -
Which doctors?
25-Feb-1999
Who will make a good doctor, and how can you tell? With 6,000 extra medical school places opening between now and 2005, selection procedures are under the spotlight. Mark Crail reports -
WEB WATCH
18-Feb-1999
Prison is not exactly the most health-promoting environment you might hope for. It can act as a breeding ground for communicable diseases, introduce prisoners to unhealthy practices such as drug use and unsafe sex, and can seriously worsen their mental health. -
Lighting up time
11-Feb-1999
How will NICE work? And whatever happened to 'beacon' hospitals? Baroness Hayman has the answers. Mark Crail reports -
Schism at the IHSM
4-Feb-1999
Karen Caines says her successor as IHSM director should be someone who 'doesn't mind being slagged off '. But what measures should be used to assess their performance if membership and money are ruled out? Mark Crail reports -
WEB WATCH
4-Feb-1999
'We are seeking a smoke-free facilitator (smoking cessation in NHS settings). The postholder will play a key part in piloting a practical tool kit to enable the delivery of effective smoking cessation interventions in the NHS.' -
Caines quits IHSM to study for PhD
28-Jan-1999
Karen Caines is to stand down as director of the Institute of Health Services Management after almost three years at the head of the financially troubled organisation. -
WEB WATCH
28-Jan-1999
When New York University chemistry professor Nadrian Seeman announced earlier this month that he had come up with a way to make a 'gene machine' out of DNA, his discovery conjured up images from the film Fantastic Voyage in which a miniaturised submarine was injected into a human body. -
WEB WATCH
21-Jan-1999
Do you ever feel you were robbed of the opportunity to develop UK foreign policy towards Tashkent or to draft white papers on white fish quotas - and all because you got such bad careers advice at school? -
WEB WATCH
17-Dec-1998
Kim Dang went under the surgeon's knife last Wednesday. It was a routine cosmetic procedure. And it was broadcast in real time on the Internet. -
WEB WATCH
12-Dec-1998
As chair of the BSE Inquiry, Sir Nicholas Phillips has an illuminating final question he asks every official witness: 'As a result of what you have learned about BSE or CJD,' he inquires, 'have you stopped eating beef?' It may say something about former health ministers that so far none has said yes. -
Private hospital use could affect HA money, says Acheson report
3-Dec-1998
Health authority cash allocations could be adjusted to take account of the use people make of private hospitals, according to the most far- reaching report on health inequalities for a generation. -
WEB WATCH
3-Dec-1998
Just six years after the economist, Thomas Robert Malthus, published his 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population, the number of people in the world passed 1 billion. -
Crossing the flaw
15-Oct-1998
Department of Health-commissioned analysis shows that the Conservatives' Health of the Nation strategy was flawed and had minimal impact. Mark Crail examines how its little publicised findings will inform Labour policy -
WEB WATCH
15-Oct-1998
The Russian economy collapsed into chaos years ago; its political system has been in near-permanent paroxysms since any key event in the country's history you care to choose as your starting point. -
No happy returns
8-Oct-1998
Health minister Alan Milburn wants to encourage trained nursing staff who no longer work in the NHS to return. But is the number of would-be returners really as many as he would like to believe? Mark Crail reports -
WEB WATCH
8-Oct-1998
Rumour and speculation are rife during times of change, says Manchester health authority chief executive Neil Goodwin. And the best way to counter them, of course, is to provide access to reliable and comprehensive information - which is just what the HA is doing with its new website. -
Mental health groups
1-Oct-1998
Mental health groups have moved to distance themselves from junior health minister Paul Boateng's announcement that a review of the Mental Health Act will mean forced medical treatment in the community. -
Scots managers reassured over jobs, but boards face clear-out
10-Sep-1998
Health service managers have been given an assurance that there will be no redundancies and few early retirements as a result of a decision to cut the number of Scottish trusts from 46 to 28. -
No pay rise for many private sector staff
20-Aug-1998
Thousands of private sector healthcare staff will get no pay rise this year, even though employers are finding it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies, according to a survey of more than 300 care and nursing homes. -
Calls to put managers on to staff pay system
13-Aug-1998
Health service unions and managers' groups this week joined forces to call for the inclusion of senior managers in a new pay determination system covering all NHS staff. -
Pledged change to mental health law held up until general election
13-Aug-1998
Plans to overhaul the 1983 Mental Health Act may not be realised until after the next general election, key mental health groups say. -
900 a session for surgeons in last-ditch bid to clear lists
30-Jul-1998
Trusts are paying surgeons up to 900 for a half-day's work in a bid to clear waiting lists, it emerged this week. -
Price of new doctors may be change in role
30-Jul-1998
Doctors may be forced to cede professional ground to nurses and other groups of staff as part of the price of a 20 per cent expansion in medical student numbers, the government has hinted. -
WEB WATCH
23-Jul-1998
How long before all those nhs-scot.uk website addresses lose their final two letters? As the development of Scottish Health on the Web goes on, so the gap between the NHS north and south of the border becomes ever more apparent. And that's before anyone starts to think about the Scottish parliament. -
WEB WATCH
16-Jul-1998
Few diseases and conditions have quite as much attention directed at them as HIV and AIDS. A quick Alta Vista search on the two sets of initials throws up an immediate 32 categories and 1,066 sites. No doubt further thought on the search terms would uncover many others. -
WEB WATCH
9-Jul-1998
Cor stroof, Mary Poppins. Even Tony Blair speaks Esturine these days, albeit about as convincingly as a latter-day Dick Van Dyke. -
WEB WATCH
2-Jul-1998
'Call me, call me any time, call me...' Well, if NHS Direct has to have a theme tune, Blondie's obviously your band. And that is probably a better, or at least more aspirational, choice of tune than Hanging on the Telephone. -
'Tories failed to tackle POA bully-boy tactics'
18-Jun-1998
Conservative health ministers showed 'political weakness' in failing to tackle the Prison Officers Association head-on over its role in the special hospitals, claim two former top managers. -
IHSM losses mount as turnover plummets
11-Jun-1998
The Institute of Health Services Management crashed to a pounds180,000 operating loss last year as turnover dropped below pounds2m for the first time in six years and membership continued its slow downward spiral. -
Primary concerns
21-May-1998
Academics are warning that the shift to primary care groups is fraught with dangers. Mark Crail reports -
The human factor
21-May-1998
Trusts and HAs may not have the capacity to cope with the new human resources strategy. Mark Crail reports -
In denial
7-May-1998
Cock-up or conspiracy? Mental health organisations spent two days at an official DoH policy summit, and they still were not told of ministers' plans. Mark Crail reports -
Failure to thrive
30-Apr-1998
The Journal has seen the government's long awaited new mental health policy. Mark Crail reports -
Called to account
23-Apr-1998
The Audit Commission is due for a review of its work over the past five years. Mark Crail reports -
Ministers 'delayed food safety plans'
23-Apr-1998
Measures to prevent food poisoning outbreaks of the sort which claimed 20 lives in Scotland in 1996 were held up for a year by infighting between ministers and their departments, a top public health expert has claimed. -
Values-added attack
23-Apr-1998
Managers have to make moral choices, the NHS's high-flying trainees were told at their conference. Mark Crail reports -
Past and failed
16-Apr-1998
How have the eager young would-be medics we saw on TV in 1984 fared? Mark Crail reports -
You've been framed
16-Apr-1998
Proposals for the new performance framework have won the confidence of the NHS - with some reservations. Mark Crail reports -
What goes up. . .
9-Apr-1998
MPs' inability to hold the NHS to account may be more of a problem than the 'democratic deficit'. Mark Crail reports -
Power of London
2-Apr-1998
If Londoners vote 'yes' to a mayor, the capital's NHS may be finally united. Mark Crail reports -
Sick and tired of the NHS
2-Apr-1998
Stress and rising workloads are blamed for above-average sickness absence in the NHS's own workforce. Mark Crail looks at who needs time off and why -
The nuclear option
26-Mar-1998
Is 'contestability' any better than competition at improving patient care? Mark Crail reports -
The unequal struggle
26-Mar-1998
Tessa Jowell still has doubts about setting targets on health inequalities, as she told a Manchester conference. Mark Crail joined her on a trip to the North-West frontier
