Health Service Journal
Paul Robinson
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Referrals between NHS consultants are up
12-Feb-2009
The issue of consultant to consultant referrals is a source of dispute between commissioners and acute care providers. -
Why end of life care should be recorded
11-Dec-2008
Our work in end of life care suggests coding is being significantly under-recorded. This impacts on risk-adjusted mortality rates and issues relating to length of stay, which in turn has implications for organisations that compile data. -
Same-day care sees admissions level off
13-Nov-2008
This article examines what has been happening over the last five years with emergency admissions to acute hospitals - probably the biggest driver of all healthcare spend. -
Comparing UK maternity services
15-Sep-2008
Recently, HSJ looked at spending and productivity in England and Scotland. This article investigates differences in the maternity services across three countries (England, Northern Ireland and Wales - reliable data for Scotland was not found for the whole period). -
Assessing the opportunity for ambulatory care
21-Aug-2008
The next stage review has again highlighted the opportunities for providing elements of urgent and chronic care outside the acute inpatient setting. -
Wider engagement in joint assessment
26-Jun-2008
The starting point for improving health services and reducing heath inequalities is data. To identify areas for improvement, exactly the same data must be collected in the same way. -
Why clinical coding is crucial
17-Apr-2008
In the first of a series on the importance of data, Paul Robinson looks at the issues surrounding clinical coding -
Prevention shows benefits across UK
3-Apr-2008
Over the last few years, more and more emphasis has been placed on early intervention and/or prevention for long-term conditions. Has this started to show any impact on the number of hospital admissions? -
Paul Robinson on the waiting times initiative
11-Feb-2008
The NHS is often used as a generic term, but in reality it consists of four different services in four countries. In my last column, I examined surprising differences in the growth of emergency admissions in the four countries. This time we will look at an issue that has had the highest focus in England: waiting times. -
Patient reports are simple and useful
7-Feb-2008
Despite all the data flowing around the NHS, the question of whether the patient feels better after a procedure is an extremely difficult one to answer. Some clinicians keep their own records, but more often than not they are interested only in whether what they did was successful from their perspective, not what benefit the patient perceived. -
Four-hour waiting target fuels admissions
18-Oct-2007
How have targets changed the way we organise emergency workloads and what has the impact been of the four-hour waiting target in accident and emergency? Paul Robinson explains -
Paul Robinson on double standards
3-Sep-2007
'Both the independent sector and the NHS collect data - but different items for different purposes, making direct comparisons virtually impossible' -
Data briefing: patients opting for care closer to home
1-Jan-2007
Has there been a change in referral patterns since the start of patient choice? -
For what it's worth
21-Sep-2000
A trust's system to give all staff annual statements on their pension entitlements has been taken up nationally. Mike Colman and Paul Robinson report
