Health Service Journal
2 December 2010
View all stories from this issue.
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Alan Maryon-Davis is dreaming of a white paper
There’s plenty of Christmas cheer in the public health white paper. Warming words about the importance of protecting and improving health. -
Ali Parsa: the NHS must learn to put quality ahead of price
Under a new approach to procurement, value for money rather than price will determine who is awarded contracts -
Ashford achieves foundation status, as Royal Free starts application
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Trust has been authorised to become a foundation. -
Blackpool deficit hints at tough era for foundations
Monitor has found significant financial and governance problems at Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals Foundation Trust. -
Book Review: What Colour is your Parachute?
James Potter welcomes useful tips for making a safe landing in a new job -
Bruce Keogh and Ian Dalton on death rates
Comparing death rates for heart surgery is difficult enough even when you look at just a single procedure and use well-honed algorithms. When it involves an institutional aggregate of many procedures and diagnoses, it becomes much more difficult. -
Call to link executive pay to staff levels
A review of fair pay in the public sector has suggested top executives should no longer be paid more than 20 times the wages of other staff. -
Circle wins battle to run hospital
Private provider Circle is set to run Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust in Cambridgeshire for 10 years under an operating franchise. -
Circle’s success at Hinchingbrooke is more likely to be cultural than commercial
What will we learn from private provider Circle’s success in becoming the preferred and only bidder for the contract to manage Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust? -
Department of Health maps end of PCTs and SHAs
The Department of Health will publish a “road map” for the abolition of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities before Christmas, NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has said. He warned there will be no “slow down” in the process. -
DH backs plan to award 5.3 per cent pay rises
The Department of Health has written a detailed analysis in support of plans to award lower paid staff pay rises of up to 5.3 per cent, amid growing concern that the NHS paybill is unsustainable. -
Don't lose sight of productivity during winter, warns Nicholson
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has warned managers they need to “maintain a strong grip” on productivity and performance during the coming winter pressures. -
Exclusive: Hinchingbrooke winner critiques NHS procurement
Ali Parsa, managing partner of Circle - the private business that has just secured the contract to run Hinchingbrooke Hospital - believes the NHS must reform the way it buys services. -
Ex-RCGP chair to head new health inclusion board
Former chair of the Royal College of GPs Steve Field is to head a new “health inclusion board” with goals outlined in the public health white paper. -
Extending choice to end of life care
Identifying dying patients’ preferences can prevent many spending their last days in hospital, says Claire Henry -
Few surprises in public health white paper
Andrew Lansley has unveiled the public health white paper saying it goes further and faster in tackling causes of premature death and illness and reducing health inequalities. -
Finance special report: No time like the present
HSJ examines the financial demands on NHS managers, including shared decision making to deliver higher quality services, successful service design, the emergence of commissioning consortia and the opportunities for outsourced expertise. -
Finance: No Time Like the Present
HSJ examines why financial skills will be in high demand in the coming years -
FTs make pre-emptive defence against Hospital Guide findings
Two large foundation trusts have questioned the methods and findings of the Dr Foster Hospital Guide, ahead of its publication this weekend. -
Government 'tinkering' with alcohol tax criticised
The government has been accused of “tinkering at the edges” over plans to tackle problem drinking by driving up taxes on super-strength beer and lager. -
Government to target teenage smoking
The coalition government is planning “radical” action to curb teenage smoking, ban cheap alcohol and to encourage mothers to breastfeed at work, Health secretary Andrew Lansley has said. -
High impact actions for preventing pressure ulcers
Caroline Dowsett and Richard Shorney explain how the High Impact Actions save money in pressure ulcer prevention -
How to improve operational effectiveness in hospitals
Neil Griffiths and colleagues introduce a series of articles and an online hub on improving operational effectiveness -
HSJ Award 2010 winners announced
In the toughest year for the NHS for over a decade, the HSJ Awards have proven once again that the service remains a centre of excellence. -
HSJ Awards 2010
The NHS remains an inspiration for health systems across the world. In the toughest year for the NHS for over a decade, the HSJ Awards prove once again that the service remains a centre of excellence. -
HSJ Awards 2010 Best Practice Report
These detailed examinations of HSJ Awards entries explore what our finalists set out to achieve and the methods they choose to deliver those benefits. -
Increase in assaults on NHS workers
There was an increase in physical assaults on NHS staff last year, with almost 57,000 incidents taking place, latest figures show. -
Lack of clarity on GP role in public health
The public white paper lacks clarity on several crucial issues, both the NHS Confederation and the BMA have said. -
Latest Dr Foster guide reveals hospital trusts with high death rates
Death rates at 19 hospital trusts in England were alarmingly high last year, according to the latest Dr Foster Hospital Guide. -
Learn to love learning and development
When we have to tighten our belts and our budgets begin to wilt, one of the early casualties is often learning and development. -
London to fund development pot for pathfinders
NHS London is to pay pathfinder commissioning consortia £1.66 per registered patient to support their development. -
Lung cancer rates for women soar
Rates of lung cancer in women have soared in a sign that efforts to persuade them to quit smoking have failed, research reveals. -
Maternity units may close, despite pre election pledges
The controversial closure of three maternity units in Greater Manchester looks set to go ahead – in spite of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s personal intervention in the case in the run up to the general election. -
Media Watch: Shame on you
The Observer bagged the tenth Dr Foster Hospital Guide exclusive, leading with an exposé of the trusts it said “shame the NHS”. -
Medics’ needs may dominate training
The training needs of nurses and allied professionals could be undermined if the government merges the three main clinical education advisory bodies. -
Mental health moves in public health white paper welcomed
Measures in the public health white paper to promote mental well-being have been welcomed by leading psychiatrists. -
Mental healthcare requires 'radical' overhaul
There must be “radical” changes to how mental health services are organised with less “unnecessary use” of hospital beds, an expert has said. -
Mid Staffs chief exec confirms departure next year
The chief executive of Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust has confirmed he is to leave the trust when his contract expires next year. -
Monitor flags finance problems at hospital foundation trust
The foundation trust regulator Monitor has highlighted significant financial problems at Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals Foundation Trust. -
NHS Haringey and Great Ormond Street end contract
NHS Haringey, one of the organisations at the centre of the Baby P case, has said it needs a new provider of children’s community health services after Great Ormond Street Hospital opted not to renew its contract with the primary care trust. -
NHS Partners in row over ‘cosy’ deal
The carve-up of primary care trust provider arms has seen mental health and acute trusts pick up the greatest amount of work while the private sector will secure the least. -
NHS 'too reliant' on junior doctors
Patients are being left in the hands of junior doctors because there is no adequate consultant cover on weekends, according to a new report. -
Noel Plumridge: Must no deficit mean saying no to delivery?
According to the recently published Department of Health report on the first quarter of 2010-11, no primary care trusts are forecasting a deficit this financial year. -
Passive smoking linked to 1% of deaths
Passive smoking claims more than 600,000 lives each year around the world - an estimated 1% of all deaths, a major study has found. -
Payment by Results
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Payment by Results conference. -
Payment by Results - conference sessions
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Payment by Results conference. -
PCT chief execs leave for national roles
Three primary care trust chief executives have left their organisations for full time roles developing the new commissioning infrastructure. -
PCT grip on local priorities being 'eroded'
The PCT Network has called on the Department of Health to reduce the “central direction” of primary care trusts to a minimum in the operating framework. -
PCT stroke spending at odds with outcomes
London primary care trusts that spend similar amounts on stroke achieve vastly differing outcomes, data analysis shows. -
PCTs restrict many treatments as overspend looms
Treatment restrictions such as bans on “low priority” procedures or tough referral thresholds are now common across the NHS, HSJ has established. -
Prepare now for divesting provider arms
PCTs have just months to the deadline for divesting their provider arms. Clarity now will prevent nasty issues later, say John Chapman and Tracy Saunby -
Public health drive starts with NHS staff
NHS Employers has pledged to continue to work in improving the health of the NHS workforce as outlined by the public health white paper. -
Public health faculty in resource warning
New public health services must be properly resourced and staffed if the white paper is to achieve its aims, a leading expert has said. -
Public health white paper stalls on handover to councils
The government has confirmed that public health funding is likely to be around £4bn, but has delayed shifting responsibility for local public health spending to councils until at least April 2013. -
Read this week's issue
Due to the severe weather this week, delivery of your print copy of Health Service Journal may be delayed. To make sure you do not miss out, we have made the issue available online, exclusively for subscribers. -
Sainsbury's 'to give GPs free room for surgeries'
Sainsbury’s is to give GPs free room to set up in-store surgeries and will market the service to shoppers. -
Speech therapy saves NHS £13.3m a year
Every £1 invested in speech and language therapy for stroke patients with swallowing problems – dysphagia – generates £2.3 in savings through avoided chest infections, a report shows. -
'Stalinist Whitehall controls will be needed'
I felt a bit sorry for Phil Morley, chief executive of the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust, getting roughed up on the radio after Dr Foster’s sleuths named his patch as the place where patients are most likely to die of complications after routine operations. -
Temperature linked to sharp rises in admissions
Plummeting temperatures increase the number of adults admitted to hospital suffering serious injury, according to the largest study of its kind. -
'The new era will require major structural changes'
This week we launch The Hospital Landscape, an online hub providing best practice support to hospitals in the changing environment. -
Treasury 'Icy cold wind' may end GP independence, says NHS medical director
Taking on commissioning budgets may force GPs to give up their historic independence and potentially integrate with secondary care, the NHS medical director has suggested. -
White paper let down by speedy schedule
The public health white paper is something of a an anticlimax. Government plans for improving the country’s wellbeing may well prove to be significant, but we will have to wait until well into 2011 to find out. -
Winter deaths fall despite cold weather
The coldest winter in 14 years did not drive an increase in deaths during the December 2009 to March 2010 period.
