Health Service Journal
3 December 2009
View all stories from this issue.
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Action urged over cancer death rates
A cancer charity has called for action after it was revealed cancer sufferers in some parts of the country have significantly less chance of survival than those living elsewhere. -
Andy Burnham defends NHS targets
The health secretary has defended the government’s targets for the NHS in the wake of failings at several hospitals. -
Are death rates fair? You decide
Drip, drip, drip. No, not the sound of a hospital “deep clean” in action, but the horror-on-horror, day-by-day reporting in the run-up to and wake of the publication of Dr Foster’s annual Hospital Guide. -
Basildon responds to CQC report
The Essex foundation trust at the centre of the latest round of criticism over care failings says it has already begun to tackle the problems uncovered by Care Quality Commission inspectors. -
Beyond practice based commissioning
Practice based commissioning may not quite be a “corpse not for resuscitation” but it’s pretty clear the policy has had limited success in engaging clinicians in decisions about how NHS money is spent across the country. -
Birmingham takes top prize at HSJ Awards
The team from Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust collect the secretary of state’s award for excellence in healthcare management at this week’s HSJ Awards. -
Book Review: Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins
Storytelling is a tool with many uses in the workplace, finds Iain Lang -
Build a virtual polyclinic
Streamlined care cannot be delivered unless clinicians are able to share information easily. Mark Caulfield describes how Tower Hamlets solved the problem with integrated IT -
Call for increased HIV support
Despite progress in combating the spread of the HIV epidemic in England over the past 20 years, more work is needed to improve prevention and address the changing needs of the HIV positive population, a report says. -
Call to overhaul primary cancer care
Up to 10,000 people die of cancer every year because their condition is diagnosed too late, research from the government’s cancer services chief has revealed. -
Cally Bann: the 'finance committee'
Some may call it the finance committee. I call it a three hour filibuster on how to avoid being named and shamed by Spiky Mikey O’Brien, with perhaps 10 minutes on our plans to take 7 per cent out of the cost base. -
Commons to debate personal care bill
Older people could benefit from free personal home care if Department of Health proposals are passed by Parliament. -
Community wound scheme yields savings
A Merseyside trust has significantly reduced its costs for treating complex wounds by developing a new discharge pathway with local primary care trusts. -
CQC 'sees no need to intervene'
The Care Quality Commission has said it sees no need to intervene in more hospitals despite new research suggesting 12 acute trusts are significantly underperforming. -
Cynthia Bower defends CQC in mortality furore
Care Quality Commission chief executive Cynthia Bower has defended NHS regulation after a string of events threatened to shatter public confidence in the safety of services. -
Dental Access Programme
West Midlands Strategic Health Authority -
Do you have the traits of a trailblazer?
Productivity, optimism and innovation are all qualities that will fire up your teams to overcome obstacles. How do you measure up, asks Georgia McHardy -
Eyes on the prize
A revered statesman has been taking time out from hand-shaking duties to shamelessly flirt with one of our health ministers. The minister - who also remains anonymous - was overheard discussing an encounter in which the international star seemed a little distracted. -
Focus funding plans on people – not processes
Councils and the NHS are being urged to make service user experience the starting point for constructing their joint financial arrangements. Helen Mooney explains -
FT chief to take up strategic health authority post
The chief executive of a foundation trust has left to take up a senior post with his local strategic health authority. -
Hob-nobbing
The latest list of meetings between ministers and outside interest groups is seen by some as an indicator of who’s flavour of the month. -
Hospitals given nuisance powers
Causing a nuisance or disturbance at an NHS hospital and refusing to leave is now a criminal offence for anyone not seeking medical advice, treatment or care. -
HSJ Awards 2009
The HSJ Awards celebrate healthcare at its best. The winners have proved themselves in a rigorous judging process and have triumphed from more than 1,000 entries. They demonstrate the innovation, inspiration and dedication of health service staff. -
HSJ Awards 2009 in pictures
The winners of the HSJ Awards 2009 were recognised at a dinner at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel last night -
HSJ Awards 2009 recognise the best in healthcare
The winners of the HSJ Awards 2009 were recognised at a dinner at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel last night -
HSJ exclusive: Barbara Young quits Care Quality Commission
Baroness Barbara Young has quit her position as Care Quality Commission chair, HSJ has learned. -
Ian Dalton's swine flu update - a whole-system approach
In his weekly update for HSJ and Nursing Times, national director for NHS flu resilience Ian Dalton discusses the latest developments in UK swine flu preparations -
Independent provider arms 'nonsense', David Nicholson says
NHS chief executive David Nicholson has described the idea of many primary care trust provider arms becoming independent as “nonsense”. -
Invitation to provide Leadership Development support and interventions for the Midwifery workforce in the East of England
NHS East of England -
John Lewis checked out in NHS productivity drive
Politicians of all hues are talking about public services being owned by staff - like John Lewis - to increase productivity. Alison Moore examines how this might work and, where staff cannot hold shares, whether just a sense of ownership is enough -
King’s Fund names chief executive
Birmingham University professor of health policy and management Chris Ham is to succeed Niall Dickson as chief executive of the King’s Fund. -
Lincolnshire to reward cheaper GP prescribing
GPs in Lincolnshire are being offered incentives worth up to £2 per head of practice population to cut antibiotic prescribing and increase use of generic drugs. -
Michael White: shamed FTs, Dr Foster, cancer care
Where to start this week? Named and shamed foundation trusts, many of which deny alarming allegations levelled by Dr Foster? Or the news from cancer tsar Mike Richards that late diagnosis kills twice as many Britons as we thought? -
Mike O'Brien defends Care Quality Commission
The government has defended the Care Quality Commission after a report found a raft of underperforming hospitals and high death rates. -
Ministers unsure over free homecare cost
The government has revealed the calculations behind its offer of free personal care at home - and admitted it does not know whether the benefits of the policy outweigh the costs. -
Monitor sacks Colchester chair
The chair of Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust has been sacked by Monitor. -
New bid to reduce A&E admissions
NHS managers in Scotland have been given until 2010-11 to reduce the number patients attending accident and emergency. -
NHS 'must boost use of technology'
The NHS is falling behind other European health services in the uptake of life-saving technologies, according to a report by the Medical Technology Group, a coalition of UK industry groups and patient charities. -
NICE highlights guidance to save NHS money
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has collected together evidence it believes could save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds. -
No Bury and Salford PCT merger, states chief
The joint chief executive of Bury and Salford primary care trusts has ruled out a merger of the two, saying they are “culturally very distinct”. -
Noel Plumridge on cutting the NHS cost base
The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines displacement activity as “the performance by an animal of an act inappropriate for the stimulus or stimuli that evoked it. -
PCT commissioners should exploit ‘soft data’
PCTs should use more “soft” data, such as information supplied by mystery shoppers, to assess the quality of services they commission, the Primary Care Trust Network has said. -
Public sector waste 'costs £60bn'
Waste in public services, including the NHS, is costing the taxpayer £60bn a year, shadow Treasury minister Philip Hammond is to tell the Policy Exchange think tank. -
Question time
Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee appeared a little muddled while chairing a panel debate at last week’s Managers in Partnership conference. Turning to health minister Mike O’Brien, she demanded to know how he was going to cut NHS administration costs by a third. -
Report calls for urgent action at Essex trust
A damning report on the state of care at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Foundation Trust has prompted the Care Quality Commission to seek urgent remedial action. -
Safety outcry is ‘mandate’ for NHS quality
Public outcry about apparently unsafe hospitals gives the health service a mandate to put quality ahead of finance in planning and providing services, the NHS medical director has said. -
Secure service referrals surge as prisons overfill
Commissioners are under significant financial pressure from a surge in referrals to secure mental health services fuelled by the recession and crowded prisons. -
SHAs sit tight as the recession looms large
Nearly half of strategic health authorities have not evaluated the possible impact of the economic downturn on their 10 year regional plans. -
Stephen Ramsden to leave Luton and Dunstable
Stephen Ramsden, chief executive of Luton and Dunstable Hospital Foundation Trust, has announced he will be leaving the trust in the spring of 2010 after 12 years in the post. -
Steve Preston on understanding your skills
Skills are a key part of everyday life, not just of the workplace. With the constantly changing NHS if you are looking to move up the career ladder, or reposition your career, it pays to have a good understanding of your skills so that you can market yourself more effectively. -
Successful trusts must not let their stories be overshadowed
The past week has seen the NHS endure its worst reputational battering since the Mid Staffordshire scandal in March. -
Swine flu virus may have infected a third of children
Experts say the swine flu virus may have hit thousands of children without them even knowing it - with as many as a third of school-age youngsters contracting it in parts of England. -
Swine flu: updated guidance for mental health services
This is updated guidance for Mental Health services and partners on planning and responding to the Swine Flu H1N1 pandemic. -
Talking bull
The Department of Health learnt a lesson about partnership working last week, when it turned its hand to climate change policy. -
Target inequalities, beat cancer
The government must act now to stamp out staggering inequalities in cancer care. Its first steps should be a one year survival target and changing how NICE works, writes John Baron -
Tender Opportunity to provide up to three packages of care for three children with complex healthcare needs in their home and school in NHS Lothian
Lothian University Hospitals Division -
The national standard for intermediate care
A successful pilot audit of standards in intermediate services is expected to be rolled out on a national scale, writes Lynne Greenwood -
Tories pledge maternity support
Funding for innovative NHS maternity services is to be proposed by the Conservatives in recognition of the additional pressures that higher birth rates have created. -
Treasury prepares cutback plans
Next week’s pre-Budget report will be published alongside a paper from the chief secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne outlining how billions of pounds will be saved through public sector efficiencies. -
Trusts told to focus on ambulance handovers
The government has instructed strategic health authorities to ensure trusts focus on reducing ambulance to hospital handover waits as part of planning for winter pressures. -
Trusts 'want better VTE management'
Most NHS trusts think the government should set minimum targets for venous thromboembolism prevention and management, according to the parliamentary thrombosis group. -
Twitter lesson
Social networking site Twitter is enjoying a huge profile thanks to campaigns against public figures who criticise national institutions such as the NHS and Stephen Gately. -
Which leaders inspire you?
Following on from HSJ’s prestigious annual leadership forum, held today in London, we would like to find out who your leadership role models are.
