Health Service Journal
18 March 2010
View all stories from this issue.
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Pete Mason on NHS teamwork
Exceptional teamwork doesn’t just happen, it develops. The secret of truly exceptional teams is that they know how to develop in order to achieve outstanding performance and extraordinary results. -
£8.4bn funding for Scottish NHS
Funding for the NHS in Scotland will rise to a record £8.4bn, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said. -
2010 Multi-site clinical audit funding announced
HQIP -
Achieving Equality in NHS Service Delivery
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Achieving Equality in NHS Service Delivery conference -
Achieving Equality in NHS Service Delivery - conference sessions
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Achieving Equality in NHS Service Delivery conference -
Alistair Darling rules out Budget spending cuts
Alistair Darling has made it clear that next week’s Budget will not spell out any new spending cuts. -
Andrew Haldenby on hospital closures and competition
The gloom surrounding the UK’s public finances is darkening as the general election approaches. -
Assault reporting scheme rolled out
A surveillance scheme has been launched that uses NHS hospital data to provide a snapshot of the number of assaults taking place each year in Scotland. -
Bill Moyes teams with Paul Corrigan in policy talks
Two heavyweights of Labour’s health policy have teamed up with a think tank close to the Conservatives to argue for a curtailing of the Department of Health’s power and remit. -
BMA calls for NHS IT programme review
Doctors’ leaders have written to the government calling for parts of the NHS IT programme to be suspended. -
BMA unconvinced by SNP waiting time plan
Doctors’ leaders have said they were “not convinced” by SNP plans to enshrine guaranteed waiting times in law. -
Book Review: The Speed of Trust
Get tips on making yourself more trustworthy, says Stefan Cantore -
Budget set for 24 March
The next Budget will be announced in two weeks’ time, on 24 March, chancellor Alistair Darling has confirmed. -
Business group warns on public finances
Repairing the public finances will require tax rises or spending cuts of up to £15bn a year, a business group has warned. -
Call to close beds
Think tank Reform has called on the NHS to close tens of thousands of hospital beds. -
Chief exec swaps Norfolk for Channel Islands
The chief executive of NHS Norfolk has announced she is to step down in order to take up a post in the Channel Islands. -
Child health: getting services right for children and adolescents
The NHS is not very good at focusing on children and young people. The question is why? While we have stopped seeing children as small adults, we have yet to properly recognise the needs of adolescents and people in early adulthood. There is a lot to do to improve outcomes. -
Close hospital beds to save money, says report
Some regions of the country should close more than a quarter of their hospital beds to save on running costs and improve care for individual patients, a think tank has said. -
CMO's report: national plan needed to cut winter death toll
A national cold weather plan should be developed to help reduce England’s annual winter death toll, chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has said in his final annual report. -
CQC completes non-executive board line up
The Care Quality Commission has appointed John Harwood as its sixth non-executive board member. -
CQC plans ‘live’ ratings system
The Care Quality Commission will publish six traffic light ratings for each health provider later this year, chief executive Cynthia Bower has revealed. -
Dementia funding being diverted
Health trusts are spending money intended for dementia on other things, an MPs’ report has said. -
DH action needed to fill gaps in NHS data
Filling huge gaps in primary care data is vital if commissioning is to become more effective, public health experts have warned. -
DH advocacy of integration ‘not credible’
The Department of Health is rarely a “credible advocate” for the integration of health and social care services because its policies are often contradictory, say senior NHS managers with dual local authority roles. -
DH ignores own advice on digital engagement
The Department of Health was advised to merge NHS Choices, NHS Direct and HealthSpace into a single agency a year ago by research it commissioned itself then did not publish. -
DH lead warns against ‘results only’ pathology
A “results only” pathology service could lead to a “dumbing down” of the workforce and inappropriate diagnostic testing, the national clinical director for pathology has warned. -
DH must help make integration seamless
Progress on Transforming Community Services indicates more integration is coming our way. “Vertical integration” is the method of the moment, and HSJ understands some primary care trusts feel under considerable pressure to head in that direction. -
DH spent £2m on first class travel
The Department of Health spent more than £2m on first class travel in the last 12 months, official figures show. -
Heed Liam Donaldson’s frosty warning on winter pressures
The chief medical officer’s call for a plan to reduce the number of deaths in winter was welcomed by the health service but the responses from different parts of the sector smacked of buck passing. -
King's Fund sets out social care funding proposals
Elderly people who need social care should foot part of the bill so current standards can be maintained as costs soar over the next 15 years, according to a new study. -
Learn from leaders in innovation
Register now for free webchats on innovation, hosted by HSJ and the DH. -
'Major changes' after avoidable hospital deaths
A hospital has introduced “major changes” to its nursing care after a coroner said a catalogue of failings had led to the deaths of two patients, its chief nurse said today. -
Media Watch: maternity pledges
If the forthcoming election really will be all about capturing the female vote, Gordon Brown went out all guns blazing with an online chat on the Netmums website, on Mother’s Day. -
Merron Watch: romantic notions
It’s time for Merron Watch - your weekly update on how everyone’s favourite public health minister is tackling the pressing issues of the day. -
Michael White: NHS policy pronouncements
Is the pace of policy pronouncements speeding up or am I just slowing down? Or is it the imminence of that election and the all too understandable desire of elected politicians to cover all their bases? -
NHS boards should welcome disability
Increasing the representation of the disabled community on trust boards is being hindered by a lack of understanding and guidance, writes Daloni Carlisle -
NHS is yet to capture the wealth of the net
Texting appointment reminders is a good start but the health service lags far behind leading industries in exploiting the rich potential of the digital revolution, reports Dave West -
NHS IT milestone ‘on track’ to meet target date
A milestone in the national programme for IT is “on track” to be met, one of the software suppliers announced this week. -
NHS Leadership Spring Debates: Patient and staff experience
Should leaders be held to account for the delivery of improvements in staff experience or should patient outcomes be the most important measure of performance? -
NHS reconfiguration: lend an ear to your service users
With any major service change, consultation, engagement and communication are critical, says Clive Caseley -
NHS Scotland meeting cancer targets
NHS patients in Scotland wait five weeks on average for cancer treatment from the time the illness is first suspected, official statistics have shown. -
NHS staff need training to deal with domestic violence
All NHS staff should have and apply a clear understanding of the risk factors for violence and abuse when interacting with patients, according to a report from the government’s task force on the health aspects of violence against women and children. -
Nick Clegg warns against 'ramming through cuts'
Britain could face massive political and social unrest on a scale similar to Greece if the next government cannot rally the public behind plans to cut the £178bn deficit, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will warn today. -
Patient groups back closure of hospitals
Dozens of patient organisations are backing plans to close hospital services in coming years, but fear they will be let down by bad public engagement. -
PCTs bend pay rules to fill senior jobs
Primary care trusts are being forced to bend official pay rules to fill board level posts at a time when recruitment problems are predicted to deepen. -
PCTs' spending on carers under scrutiny
Primary care trusts will have to prove they are spending enough on supporting carers, care services minister Phil Hope has said. -
Political football
Don’t be fooled, this is not a picture of health secretary Andy Burnham and mayor of Wigan Mark Aldred auditioning to become the next Jedward. -
Poor hospital communication criticised in coroner's report
Communication between doctors and nurses treating a 21 month old boy who later died was “poor”, a coroner’s report says. -
Public sector budget cut warning
Councils and public sector workers should prepare themselves for “considerable pain” as funding cuts of £500m begin to take hold from next year, the Welsh spending watchdog has warned. -
Questions over national cold weather plan
Calls for the creation of a national “cold weather plan” have sparked concerns over who should deliver it among health and social care, and primary and acute care. -
Race inequality on the rise
Black and minority ethnic people are experiencing declining health and poorer NHS and social care provision, according to a report from charity the Afiya Trust. -
Rape victims 'need more NHS support'
Every victim of rape should be offered a choice of a male or female doctor on the NHS, a landmark review has recommended. -
Research points to huge out of hours spending variations
The Patients Association has criticised primary care trusts over significant variations in out of hours spending. -
Roger Taylor on the NHS safety debate
The public needs all the facts to enable them to fully engage in the debate on healthcare safety -
Royal Surrey sold millions of pounds of NHS drugs in 'unacceptable' export trading
HSJ has uncovered the NHS hospital that sold millions of pounds’ worth of hospital drugs intended for NHS use onto the export market, despite government warnings the behaviour was “unacceptable”. -
Senior NHS managers' pay to be frozen
Thousands of top-earning public sector workers are facing a pay freeze following today’s report by the independent salary review body. -
SHAs pressurising PCTs into vertical integration
Primary care trusts in at least four regions are under pressure from their strategic health authorities to vertically integrate their provider arms with acute or mental health trusts, HSJ has learned. -
Social care integration drive
Joint commissioning of social care by primary care trusts and local authorities is likely to be made mandatory. -
Sussex chief to step down without notice
The chief executive of a Sussex acute trust is to leave at the end of the month without working out her notice. -
Test EU doctors' English competency, GMC urges
An urgent change in the law is needed to ensure overseas doctors can be checked for competency in English, a medical regulator said today. -
Title fight
Some clear water emerged between the main parties at a recent social care roundtable discussion, hosted by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. -
Trust 'named and shamed' over plans to cut beds
Health minister Mike O’Brien has carried out his threat to “name and shame” trusts that cut services and blame the economy - using a parliamentary debate to highlight the case of a trust planning 200 bed cuts. -
Tuberculosis care funding criticised
London health authorities have so far failed to provide funding for a mobile unit that treats tuberculosis among homeless people and prisoners, a health minister said today. -
UK health policy differences hamper services
Policy differences between England and Wales are hampering the provision of health, transport and higher education services, according to MPs. -
Urgent and Emergency Care
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Urgent and Emergency Care conference -
Urgent and Emergency Care - conference sessions
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Urgent and Emergency Care conference -
Viewpoint: 'Don't focus on staff engagement as an end in itself'
We need to be cautious before accepting that there is a simple choice between believing that managers should be assessed either on the quality of staff experience or on patient outcomes and experience. -
Viewpoint: 'The lived experience of service users should be the guiding principle'
Quantum mechanics may not be bedtime reading for many NHS leaders: but there are important lessons for the service in one of its fundamental principles. -
World class commissioning scores to top charts
The Department of Health is expecting the best primary care trusts to receive the highest score available under world class commissioning this year for the first time. -
Yes, health minister
One of the great questions for any ambitious health leader is how to get a particular pet project approved by the Department of Health. -
Your Humble Servant: lights, camera, casualty
‘The crying was spot on. As you talked with humility about the demise of Mrs Smith, the tears that began rolling down your cheeks captured the emotion and sincerity of our apology perfectly’
