Health Service Journal
Nick Edwards

Nick Edwards is editor of Construction News.

DH sued over scrapped £921m PFI project

4-Nov-2009
A Laing O’Rourke-led consortium has this week launched a £20m lawsuit against the Department of Health and University Hospitals of Leicester Trust over a cancelled £921m hospital project, Construction News has reported.
Happiness is... getting to grips with the intangible

10-May-2007
As the NHS has become sophisticated about the need to measure outcomes, it inevitably raises questions about what is actually measured, and therefore what matters. By necessity, the focus in the early years of this government has been on the utterly tangible - mortality rates, waiting lists and so on.
Blair warns against independence

3-May-2007
Prime minister Tony Blair has warned against creating an independent NHS. He said it would slow down decision-making and be in danger of becoming distracted by special interest groups.
It was a difficult journey, but under Blair the NHS was saved

3-May-2007
Ten years ago this week, Tony Blair told the country that it had 24 hours to save the NHS. Now that the remainder of his premiership can be measured in days, what can be concluded on whether he delivered on that bold claim?
Blair warns against NHS independence

30-Apr-2007
Prime minister Tony Blair has warned against creating an independent NHS, saying it would stymie decision-making and be in danger of being hampered by the demands of special interest groups.
It's up to executive teams to champion productive wards

19-Apr-2007
Do ward staff need the encouragement and support of their executive team to get on and make changes to improve everyday processes?
Time to draw a line under Granger era

19-Apr-2007
The national programme for IT is reeling from its most damning verdict yet - this week's report from the Commons public accounts committee that condemns uncertainty over the schedule of implementation and value for money (see news, page 9).
Patient safety: Avoiding blame will not remove danger

12-Apr-2007
Is the desire to establish a 'no blame' culture around patient safety becoming dangerously close to being seen as an end in itself rather than as a necessary aid to progress?
Why the talking cure can help ease the reconfiguration blues

12-Apr-2007
A list is circulating - despite Department of Health denials - of 18 trusts that have been deemed unviable in their present form and on which strategic health authorities will be acting. There will probably be few surprises in the names and no surprise that major restructuring of acute services is coming - the government has been flagging it up for the best part of a year.
Whitehall shake-out rumbles more change

5-Apr-2007
'The DoH will not comment on whether posts such as director-general of commissioning will disappear rather than be filled, but is it likely that much of the spate of high-profile leavers, so far and to come, is part of a coming restructuring.'
Pioneers race on but progress is measured by the backmarkers

5-Apr-2007
'It is notable that not one of the 13 early achiever sites comes from NHS London or NHS East of England'
RAB axed as Hewitt defends year of pain

29-Mar-2007
Has the NHS finally emerged from its financial quagmire? Patricia Hewitt argues the new post-RAB system has never been more fair and open. Nick Edwards talks to a buoyant health secretary
Healthcare Commission must 'remodel' work following 17 per cent funding cut

29-Mar-2007
The Healthcare Commission will have its budget cut by 17 per cent in 2008-09 because of the government's decision to delay the creation of a combined regulator by a year until April 2009.
Primary care: what will improve discharge summaries?

29-Mar-2007
GPs are complaining this week that they are 'plagued by delays' and errors in the quality of discharge summaries many of them are sent by hospitals (see news story). According to an NHS Alliance survey, almost 60 per cent say clinical care has been compromised as a result and almost 40 per cent say patient safety has been affected.
A 'fixed' financial system will bring a legacy of control

29-Mar-2007
One of the worst-kept secrets of the last few months has been that the much-despised resource accounting and budgeting system, which penalised trusts twice for their deficits, would be scrapped at the end of the financial year.
Asset-sharing will limit the scope for dispute between the NHS and local government

22-Mar-2007
'The commissioning process must have an injection of public involvement at every stage but particularly at the very beginning when need is assessed'
Consistency and agreement are needed to spread success

22-Mar-2007
'The MPs' committee calls for lessons learned from the turnaround programme to be shared. But evidence for its effectiveness is opaque'.
Decade of mental healthcare defined by unproductive debate

15-Mar-2007
Mental health trust chief executives give their views of ten years under New Labour
The importance of manager-doctor relationships

15-Mar-2007
Training row emphasises the importance of collaboration
Restoring confidence requires an end to financial fudges

8-Mar-2007
.'With the NHS moving .towards a more transparent. market, top-down decisions. on the distribution of funds. must not become the norm.'.
Disaffection rules as chiefs mourn Alan Milburn's vision

1-Mar-2007
Alan Milburn is the most popular New Labour health secretary, according to HSJ's survey of trust chief executives - not surprising when the same survey reveals the light that still burns brightly in people's hearts for the NHS plan.
Breaking even must not mean trusts losing focus on money

22-Feb-2007
The NHS should manage to hit its forecast position of a small surplus at the end of this year, according to this week's Department of Health figures. Not that it will be thanked or even believed. Within a few hours of the report being released on Tuesday, the protests began - basically that it was a dodgy figure achieved by slash and burn tactics.
Top thinkers hail power of imagination

22-Feb-2007
If clinicians are the likely generators of the ideas that will transform NHS performance, managers need the confidence to create the space for them to blossom. Our main feature this week looks at a group of very different ideas with the potential to make a huge difference locally and nationally.
Criticism of Dr Foster JV masks the real story about poor data

8-Feb-2007
The National Audit Office report on the Department of Health joint venture with health information provider Dr Foster does little to combat the notion that government is still feeling its way when doing deals with private companies.
Time to break the circle of negativity

8-Feb-2007
There's no row like a family row and the NHS family is not an exception. It has long been recognised that the NHS's own staff can often be the worst ambassadors for what is happening in the service, nationally and locally.
DoH plans mark rewriting of relationship with professions

4-Jan-2007
If one image of the dole queue helped finish off Labour in 1979, just imagine what might happen if the jobless wore white coats. The prospect of making large numbers of consultant posts redundant is one rarely articulated in public. That changes this week with HSJrevealing the Department of Health's draft long-term workforce strategy.
HR managers must forge new staff model

4-Jan-2007
The pay and workforce draft strategy documents seen by HSJpaint a picture of just how demanding 2007 will be for the human resources profession.
Autonomy is key to applying lessons from private sector

1-Jan-2007
'Do NHS managers really believe the 'myth' that public sector values are at odds with what Tony Blair called 'proper business management techniques'?'
Blair is urged to support foundations

1-Jan-2007
Foundation trusts should be given the political backing for widespread joint ventures, mergers, 'acquisitions' with other trusts, the Foundation Trust Network has urged the prime minister.
Carruthers hit the right note; now follow up with clarity

1-Jan-2007
'What managers need is clarity on what is expected of them and what they can expect from the centre'
Cliff Prior profile: 'The only thing you can't predict is where it will go'

1-Jan-2007
In his new job heading a group of not-for-profit organisations, former Rethink chief executive Cliff Prior will have a key role in reshaping community services. But first he has to explain what it is all about
Don't leave unhappy medics to stew

1-Jan-2007
'And there will be more points of conflict to come, such as the issue of where doctors work as opposed to where they are needed.'
Efficiency drive lies at the heart of PM's uncompromising message

1-Jan-2007
The prime minister's interview with HSJ this week poses important questions for health service managers. Among the familiar - the NHS is important, managers do a good job - are some more subtle but pointed messages.
Healthcare inspection comes under scrutiny of its own

1-Jan-2007
'Numbers do not impart wisdom in themselves, you have to learn how to select and use them'
Healthcheck ratings: tougher test means story must be retold

1-Jan-2007
The Healthcare Commission said it would be a tougher test - and so it has proved. In the first national healthcheck ratings only two dozen organisations were rated excellent for service quality, and even fewer for their use of resources. Only half of NHS organisations met all the core standards, which clearly shows they are far from core for the NHS as a whole. Primary care trusts fared particularly badly.
How overview and scrutiny committees can help, or hinder, NHS service redesign

1-Jan-2007
Nick Edwards reports on a survey of OSC chairs about their attitudes towards NHS managers
Kaiser beacons shine light on NHS practice

1-Jan-2007
A little like 'golden generation' of English footballers', the phrase Kaiser Permanente has all but disappeared from the health policy lexicon as a byword for innovation.
Local authority role will mark out networks as a new voice

1-Jan-2007
It makes more sense for elected representatives to concern themselves with how health services are planned than how they are provided
London bombs: team NHS deserves better on comms

1-Jan-2007
'Adversity fuels learning faster than most other things'
Maternity services are everyone's baby

1-Jan-2007
Labour's most recent election manifesto promised that by 2009 all women would have choice on where and how they have their baby.
Much-needed campaign brought cheer in the midst of gloom

1-Jan-2007
'Andy Burnham makes some thoughtful points about how managers can improve their own publicity'
News analysis: Sir Ian says intervene early and take tough decisions

1-Jan-2007
So the deficit is smaller than the critics suggested, but NHS acting chief executive Sir Ian Carruthers admits the service is not where he wants it to be. And he tells Nick Edwards that the longer trusts leave it to get back on track financially, the harder it will be
NHS managers have a key role in local politics

1-Jan-2007
'The NHS too often guards its plans for too long and too fiercely'
Petitions can a play role in local engagement

1-Jan-2007
EM Forster famously gave democracy two cheers; the NHS seems rather less enthused.
Silence can mean fear, not support

1-Jan-2007
'One can understand why anxiety, uncertainty and fear rule'
Sir Ian warns against complacency after 'creditable' recovery

1-Jan-2007
Cutting the NHS's net deficit to £512m was a 'creditable' performance ' but cannot be used an excuse for complacency, acting chief executive Sir Ian Carruthers told HSJ.
Statutory control on decisions is not enough to allay fears

1-Jan-2007
All over the country, primary care trust chief executives are sitting hot and sweaty in their best suits, fighting for their future careers.
Surgical spirit soars in defence of the clinician

1-Jan-2007
Royal College of Surgeons president Bernie Ribeiro is on a mission to stand up for education and to set up a national audit of clinical outcomes to convince commissioners of ISTCS' shortcomings
Tariff system will reshape specialist trust landscape

1-Jan-2007
'If the Michael Porter view won converts in this country it would mark a major and highly controversial change in the specialist infrastructure.'
Ten leaders who could put reform progress back on track

1-Jan-2007
What do we know of the chief executives who will be running the new strategic health authorities from next week?
The maths behind real case management

1-Jan-2007
It seems a deceptively simple plan - if you can identify the relatively small number of patients likely to use acute services intensively, you can concentrate on simpler, cheaper and more effective preventative care. It was a promise first held out in work by Kaiser Pemanente in the US and then imported by international healthcare companies such as UnitedHealth Europe.
Tough decisions still need to make a case

1-Jan-2007
Managers attempting to restructure services across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority may feel they have at last got friends in the right places.
Will it be Independence Day 5 July 2008?

1-Jan-2007
You cannot expect to get the politician off your back while keeping the consumer at arm's length
Operating framework: updated principles put new emphasis on dignity

14-Dec-2006
The Department of Health is consulting on a set of 10 principles to which all NHS organisations and contractors must sign up.
Christmas comes early, so must planning

14-Dec-2006
Last year most primary care trust chief executives polled by HSJthought their local delivery plans were badly flawed by an operating framework delivered late and with significant errors in the tariff.
RAB is on its last legs, but trusts must look to a future in surplus

14-Dec-2006
Resource accounting and budgeting has no friends left and its days are numbered; we just do not know what that number is yet.
Comment: National directors sign up to reform

7-Dec-2006
No-one ever argues with the case that clinicians at every level are integral to successful service reform. But it is a truth observed more in the intention than the action. It is therefore welcome, although a little late in the day, for the government to wheel out two national clinical directors to make the case for reconfiguration.
Comment: Why a US management guru has vital questions for the NHS

7-Dec-2006
'Michael Porter's book has caught the imagination of many of the most influential voices in NHS reform and has been occupying minds at the highest level throughout this year.'
Rights and responsibilities is the issue on the Cabinet table

9-Nov-2006
The government believes it has to reassert its power to make policy in response to the Brown-Blair faction-fighting of the autumn. Public services is one of six policy areas under debate (the others include the role of the state, crime and security) and the first to arrive on the Cabinet table last week. We understand that key themes are already emerging.
Burden of unbundling the tariff falls on quality of local data

2-Nov-2006
This week's 'road testing' of the payment by results tariff for 2007-08 will, the Department of Health hopes, result in considerably less noise than the late and broken one released in January. The DoH says it is not looking for any comment or complaint about what the tariff should or should not be; it wants the service to restrict its attention to whether it works correctly or not.
Minister puts onus on trusts to negotiate unbundled tariff

2-Nov-2006
Primary care and acute trusts need to negotiate their own ways to unbundle the payment by results tariff, health minister Lord Warner said as he launched the 'road test' of next year's tariff.
An online service tailored to your needs

25-Oct-2006
This week, HSJgets personal. Today we have launched a new online service free to registered users of the website, designed to bring you the most relevant content direct to your desktop.
Efficiency indicators do not tell the story behind the numbers

25-Oct-2006
The comprehensive spending review is no longer the distant event it once seemed - the coming financial squeeze makes a numbers game out of the next 18 months or so.
Nicholson calls for 'headroom'

19-Oct-2006
Creating 'financial headroom' this fiscal year is essential in coping with the risk of increased costs as healthcare shifts from hospitals to primary care, NHS chief executive David Nicholson told a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday.
Nicholson: mixed reviews but the right idea

19-Oct-2006
Six weeks into the job, NHS chief executive David Nicholson has had a few days in which he will have felt the full force of the pressure he must withstand in his role at the centre of the increasingly heated debate about the future of the NHS.
Outspoken Wanless returns to judge a dream deferred

19-Oct-2006
It comes as no surprise that Sir Derek Wanless believes that the promise laid out in his seminal 2002 report is becoming a dream deferred.
Cameron speech: Tories elbow their way to the front on independence agenda

12-Oct-2006
'Strategic health authorities will be less happy with the inference that they will become a local arm of the Department of Health, much reduced in power.'
Burnham: come to table with councils

28-Sep-2006
The future regulation of healthcare needs a closer relationship between the NHS and local government and a system that is 'less institutionally driven', health minister Andy Burnham told a fringe meeting on Monday.
Burnham: three quarters of trusts coast on patient safety

28-Sep-2006
Three quarters of trusts are 'coasting' on healthcare-acquired infections and will require marked improvements in performance or risk an improvement notice from the Healthcare Commission, health minister Andy Burnham told a Health Hotel fringe meeting.
Comment: Boards and charters are not simple politics-free fixes

28-Sep-2006
'Without a link to elected people, the board would feel adrift and vulnerable.'
Lewis wants national advocacy service

28-Sep-2006
Patients need a national advocacy service to extend the benefits of choice to poor or excluded people, a minister has claimed.
Milburn calls for PCT elections and patient entitlements in law

28-Sep-2006
Former health secretary Alan Milburn broke a three-year conference silence on health by calling for the election of primary care trust boards and the setting down in law of patient entitlements to healthcare.
Comment: Referrals must soar for ITCs to fulfill intended role

21-Sep-2006
'Concerns will be increased by the fact that the second wave of ITCs will not, as previously indicated, be risk-free to commissioners.'
McKinsey bid: controversy but no scandal

21-Sep-2006
'The suspicion will be that the people who shaped the market will profit from its creation'
Comment: New NHS chief executive lays plans for funding revolution

14-Sep-2006
'Mr Nicholson wants to look at how funding can be released so trusts have to rely less on a system which is in effect designed to produce a deficit.'
Comment: the HSJ50, an index of ideas and influence

14-Sep-2006
'This is very deliberately a snapshot of influence, and already the sands are shifting'
DoH moots roll-out of central funds to local organisations

14-Sep-2006
NHS chief exec planning radical shift in how central budgets are held
New NHS chief expects 'most or all' SHA areas to use independent sector

14-Sep-2006
Strategic health authorities will be expected to take 'full advantage' of the Department of Health drive to introduce the private sector in commissioning primary care, according to new NHS chief executive David Nicholson.
Comment: Confidence in achievement shines through from HSJ awards

7-Sep-2006
'There is sometimes concern that being seen to celebrate success is akin to bad taste when there are so many pressures in the system and on individuals'
Comment: Greater Manchester's health inequality woes resonate widely

7-Sep-2006
'The Audit Commission report makes clear that reconfiguration 'is damaging the potential for more successful joint developments,' creating rifts and instability.'
Comment: Anger as fitness for purpose programme fails on fairness

24-Aug-2006
'Rather than PCTs being helped to consider and work on weaknesses in a supported way, they are in effect invited to merely record what they already know.'
Comment: Responsibility and beliefs key to next stage of choice

24-Aug-2006
'The government believes the 'where' of care resonates with the public at least as much as the 'how?'.'
Comment: Hopes for surplus pinned on turnaround in forecasting

17-Aug-2006
It would be a bold stroke to pull off - delivering even a small surplus at the end of this financial year given the situation that NHS acting chief executive Sir Ian Carruthers inherited in March.
Comment: managing demand without the command

10-Aug-2006
'It is not disagreeing but dissembling that really annoys doctors.'
Comment: PCT recruitment cannot afford to pay tribute to the old regime

10-Aug-2006
'To what extent is the success of current primary care trust chief executives in winning the top jobs in the new organisations a verdict on the success of the whole sector?'
Comment: muddle on primary care pilot delays

3-Aug-2006
'There seems to be a distinct waning of enthusiasm on both sides, with private providers complaining about inflexibility and complexity and primary care trusts feeling financial pressures.'
Blair interview: 'A pound wasted is one not spent on NHS values'

15-Jun-2006
System reform and good management are the only ways to deliver the NHS's values in the modern world, the prime minister tells Nick Edwards in an exclusive interview
RCN seeks judicial review

3-Nov-2005
PCT PROVISION Nurses criticise lack of consultation on key policy
Monitor stakes claim for bigger role

20-Oct-2005
REGULATION Chair sets out expanded part in a system that depoliticises NHS management
One year on

2-Jun-2005
EDITOR'S COMMENT
INSIDE TRACK: HUMAN RESOURCES

14-Apr-2005
What's on managers' minds this week
Staff battle on, but do they lack support from managers?

24-Mar-2005
STAFF SURVEY
Knowledge is power

24-Feb-2005
PUBLIC HEALTH
All change

9-Dec-2004
A WORD FROM THE SUPPLEMENT EDITOR
BURNS FIRED UP

9-Dec-2004
ON THE RECORD
What's on managers' minds this week

2-Dec-2004
INSIDE TRACK: HR
inside track . . . human resources

28-Oct-2004
What's on managers'minds this week
Shipshape - Bristol fashion

28-Oct-2004
Published: 28/10/2004, Volume II4, No. 5929 Page 28 29 30
Meet the new model army

7-Oct-2004
Published: 07/10/2004, Volume II4, No. 5926 Page 32 33 34 35
Backing the rank outsider

30-Sep-2004
Published: 30/09/2004, Volume II4, No. 5925 Page 21
Incredible journey

30-Sep-2004
my brilliant career - human resources director
Cycle of recovery

16-Sep-2004
my brilliant career - mental health services director
Capital interest

2-Sep-2004
the hsj interview: Neale Coleman
The big cheese

22-Jul-2004
the hsj interview: Sylvia Jay
Centre stage

10-Jun-2004
my brilliant career - health informatics
Goal to halt the increase in childhood obesity raises hopes for ban on junk food advertising

10-Jun-2004
Published: 10/06/2004, Volume II4, No. 5909 Page 5
Marginal points

3-Jun-2004
the hsj interview: Victor Adebowale
What's on managers'minds this week

3-Jun-2004
inside track . . . human resources managers
United he stands

27-May-2004
Published: 27/05/2004, Volume II4, No. 5907 Page 24 25
Finger on the pulse

14-May-2004
Published: 13/05/2004, Volume II4, No. 5905 Page 18
Royal Devon thinks local as foundation freedom is realised

6-May-2004
Published: 06/05/2004, Volume II4, No. 5904 Page 12 13
Drive time

15-Apr-2004
the hsj interview: Paul Streets
Take no prisoners

25-Mar-2004
Published: 25/03/2004, Volume II4, No. 5898 Page 28 29
The HSJ panel discussion

25-Mar-2004
Published: 25/03/2004, Volume II4, No. 5898 Page 20 21 22 23
In the public domain

18-Mar-2004
my brilliant career - public health
The reform club

18-Mar-2004
performance points
Hard graft

26-Feb-2004
Published: 26/02/2004, Volume II2, No. 5894 Page 38 39
The King's and I

19-Feb-2004
the hsj interview: Niall Dickson
Call for Cabinet action on obesity

12-Feb-2004
Published: 12/02/2004, Volume II4, No. Page 5892 9
Public health is next on reform ag genda

5-Feb-2004
Published: 05/02/2004, Volume II4, No. 5891 Page 4 5
The young at heart

5-Feb-2004
the hsj interview: Margaret Hodge
Warner disputes funding complaint

11-Dec-2003
Published: 11/12/2003, Volume II3, No. 5885 Page 9
Shifting the balance

27-Nov-2003
older people
Empower of good

13-Nov-2003
the hsj interview: Sarah Mullally
Poll position

30-Oct-2003
Published: 30/10/2003, Volume II3, No. 5879 Page 1
At full throttle

28-Aug-2003
my brilliant career - finance
Peace work

7-Aug-2003
the hsj interview: Dr Peter Barrett
speak out

31-Jul-2003
A survey of the HSJ 100 reader panel reveals widespread support for the concept of star-ratings - but with reservations.Nick Edwards reports
Beat the clock

10-Jul-2003
Published: 10/07/2003, Volume II3, No. 5862 Page 24, 25
Walls have ears

10-Jul-2003
Clear lines of communication are essential when building large-scale projects on the doorstep of an existing hospital. Nick Edwards reports
Fall from grace

5-Jun-2003
news focus
Just the ticket

29-May-2003
the hsj interview: Professor Sir Ara Darzi
Life at a gallop

29-May-2003
my brilliant career - human resources
Vote of confidence

29-May-2003
Published:29/05/2003, Volume II3, No. 5857 Page 23
Private investigation

24-Apr-2003
my brilliant career - nurse management
Onthe Boyle

6-Mar-2003
the hsj interview: Dr Roger Boyle
A brush with politics

20-Feb-2003
the hsj interview: Dr Liam Fox
Mind games

20-Feb-2003
Published: 20/02/2001, Volume II3, No. 5843 Page 29
Power to act

20-Feb-2003
Published: 20/02/2001, Volume II3, No. 5843 Page 27
Ajob with prospects

30-Jan-2003
the hsj interview: Professor Sir George Alberti
Critical condition

23-Jan-2003
the hsj interview: David Hinchliffe

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