Leaders and clinicians call for a change in attitude towards NHS managers, during the run-up to the general election, plus the rest of the day’s news and comment

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4.59pm A few more messages of support for the #respect4managers campaign. Here’s one from Bassetlaw CCG chief officer, Phil Mettam:

4.45pm Andy Burnham wrote to Jeremy Hunt yesterday claiming that the health secretary had “led the NHS to believe it is getting more money than you can guarantee”.

Labour claims that the government’s pledge to give £2bn more to the NHS involved “recycled” money from within the Department of Health and is “crisis cash allocated at the last minute as a sticking plaster”.

The General Medical Council database will also track fitness to practise decisions levelled against doctors during their careers and there no opt out will be available.

Establishing this database is one of the main recommendations in a report by the Medical Schools Council called Selecting for Excellence, which is due to be published next week.

A study by the Association of British Neurologists found that one in three district general hospitals were only able to offer a consultant review for acute neurological patients on two or fewer days a week.

It also found more than four out of five DGHs were unable to provide round the clock MRI scans throughout the week, and a similar number offered no acute neurology clinics.

2.06pm Channel 4’s health and social care correspondent Victoria Macdonald has just tweeted:

“At the #mip14 conference I asked @andyburnhammp & @drdanpoulter if they wd pledge #respect4managers. They both agreed”

1.50pm Monitor has launched investigations into both Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals and Norfolk and Suffolk foundation trusts, it has been announced this morning.

The investigation into Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals follows the trust missing a number of key national waiting time targets for accident and emergency, cancer care and ensuring most patients wait less than 18 weeks for operations.

Norfolk and Suffolk meanwhile reported an unplanned financial deficit of £1.7m and the watchdog said a recent external review has identified concerns about the way the trust is run.

Monitor said it does not believe the issues at the two trusts are related to each other, despite their overlapping catchment areas.

1.36pm A mental health hospital in Sussex has stopped accepting new routine patients following concerns raised by the Care Quality Commission during a recent inspection.

In October the CQC held an unannounced inspection of Langley Green Hospital, which is run by Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust.

A report of the inspection team’s findings is due to be published next week.

12.37pm There’s been a massive national response to our #respect4managers campaign. Approximately 120 local newspapers and radio stations have reported it, including the Yorkshire Post, Salisbury Journal and the Blackpool Citizen.

12.30pm Karen Partington, chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, has called for NHS managers to be treated for respect beyond the 2015 general election:

12.28pm NHS Clinical Commissioners co-chair, Steve Kell, has supported the campaign:

11.29am The King’s Fund have linked our #respect4managers campaign to the No More Heroes report they published in 2011 on NHS leadership.

10.54am Here’s Stephen Dalton, chief executive of the Mental Health Network at the NHS Confederation:

10.43am The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, has also commented on our campaign. Here’s what he had to say:

10.17am Former chief executive of NHS England, David Nicholson, has also shown his support for the campaign on twitter.

10.14am The Daily Mail has covered our campaign for NHS managers to be treated with respect.

The paper reports: “A number of prominent clinicians and two former health secretaries have added their names to a letter which demands more respect for NHS managers.

“It urges politicians not to resort to needless criticism of health managers as the campaign to win next year’s general election heats up.”

9.58am Here’s NHS Confederation chief executive, Rob Webster:

9.50am There’s already been lots of reaction on Twitter to our respect for managers campaign. We’ll show you some of what’s been tweeted throughout the morning. We’ll start with the chief executive of the year at the 2014 HSJ Awards, Samantha Jones of West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust:

9.20am Today HSJ has launched a campaign calling for respect for NHS managers during the election campaign.

In his leader column editor Alastair McLellan writes that “ill informed allegations” and “lazy stereotypes” tend to peak at a time of increased public interest in the NHS – such as the period before a general election.

“Of course the quality of management varies across the service, but such variation is seen in all professional groups in health and care. There is no justification for singling out managers.”

6.00am Good morning and welcome to HSJ Live. Leading clinicians and patient campaigners have joined two former health secretaries to call for a change in attitude towards NHS managers, during the run-up to the general election.

In a letter due to be published in The Times today, the coalition of leading clinicians and patient campaigners – brought together by HSJ and the Managers in Partnership union – call for an end to “unfair criticism” of NHS managers that they say is “damaging to the interests of patients”.