Comment archive – Page 346
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CommentThe right-to-request primary care trust: one year on
A year ago, City Health Care Partnership became the first social enterprise to ‘go live’ through the right-to-request scheme. On its first anniversary, chief executive Andrew Burnell reports on how they are getting on.
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CommentLondon trusts encouraged by delayed 'drop dead' date for FT status
So what does the slackening off of the pressure behind the foundation trust pipeline mean for London, the most stubborn of regions in resisting an all-FT health service?
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CommentA daunting savings picture emerges in North West
As heavy as it is, there is little doubt that the burden of delivering the NHS’s £20bn savings target rests more heavily on the shoulders of some than others. Specifically, it rests heaviest on London and Manchester.
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LeaderNicholson’s power is unrivalled – so is his responsibility to lead
This week is expected to see the publication of the revised Health and Social Care Bill. Health secretary Andrew Lansley has written that it will contain more than 150 amendments. It would be only mildly surprising to find one of them enshrining in law Sir David Nicholson’s position as NHS ...
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CommentProvider trouble brewing in the East
A number of concerns were raised in a report from the East of England provider development board last month.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: breaking up is hard to do
Hanging on to the title deeds of the community estate must have seemed such a neat idea last year, as primary care trusts pondered the future of their soon to be departing provider arms.
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CommentLondon's commissioner-provider relationships set on edge
Which bit of London has the worst commissioner/provider relationships?
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CommentThe government shouldn't simply leave the past behind
The government is in a tough spot at the moment, but it can be eased if it heeds the lessons of the NHS Plan era, argues House of Lords independent member Nigel Crisp.
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CommentMedia Watch: a Lib Dem battle victory in reform war
Never mind that the “pause” was supposed to be about allaying the concerns of clinicians, apparently the amendments to the Health Bill are in fact a Liberal Democrat victory.
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CommentClinical services should do their bit for efficiency, as well as productivity
Although lower than other public sector departments, the NHS still has massive efficiency savings targets to meet. A good start would be to address value for money in clinical procedures, write Christopher Peters and Stephen Chadwick.
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CommentMichael White: reform concessions do little to soften Tory image
It would be an exaggeration to suggest that Nick Clegg hired Wembley Stadium to celebrate his party’s triumph in helping rewrite Andrew Lansley’s Health Bill and “saving the NHS.” But Lib Dem boasting caused resentment among Conservative MPs of all stripes.
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CommentImproving end of life care: how IT processes can help comply with final wishes
Many terminally ill patients have strong views on where they would like to die and IT is offering healthcare professions a method of responding, says HSJ’s Alison Moore
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LeaderThe government’s changes will only delay the tough decisions
One overarching conclusion can be reached from the changes to the government’s reforms: there will be a continuation of the planning blight that has afflicted the health service since the decision to scrap primary care trusts without thinking through the implications.
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CommentMichael White: Southern Cross is a victim of financial engineering
Things may finally be changing but, until the GMB union and Ed Miliband got stuck in this week, I have been repeatedly astonished by the failure to link the care homes crisis to the fate of Andrew Lansley’s bill.
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CommentThe government's failure to justify reform has left the public short of options
Huge strides have been taken to offer NHS patients a choice of different providers, but there is now a real chance of a backwards step under the coalition government, says management consultant Paul Corrigan.
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CommentMedia Watch: elderly care abuse revelations dominate discussion
The Daily Telegraph started the weekend with a rare morsel of good news for Andrew Lansley.
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Comment'The independent sector has a track record of serving patients extremely well'
The hostile opposition towards private involvement in NHS provision is growing ever louder. But politics is getting in the way of policy, and the private sector is not the villain in NHS reform, argues NHS Partners Network director David Worskett.
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CommentA collaborative spirit between trusts and local government in the South West
NHS organisations in the South West appear to be embracing the drive for closer working between the health service and local authorities.
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CommentEast Midlands trusts aiming to clamp down on A&E underperformance
Scrapping the national target to keep accident and emergency waits below four hours has failed to ease the pressure on trusts and commissioners in the East Midlands.
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CommentSally Gainsbury: wistful thinking on PFI
Ask an NHS finance director what they hope will come out of the McKinsey review of 22 trusts with tricky private finance initiatives and they talk wistfully about a revised market forces factor – the calculation that determines any top-up paid for delivering services in a particular area.