Comment archive – Page 356
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Comment'Accountability in the NHS is a mess'
Ministers in Whitehall have excessive powers to interfere and meddle in local operational issues, with primary care trusts controlled by strategic health authorities and SHAs by Whitehall.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: SHAs need to decide their priorities, and soon
One of the more dramatic parts of the 2011-12 operating framework is the withholding, by strategic health authorities, of 2 per cent of primary care trust funding.
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Comment'We all know what’s wrong with the NHS'
There are too many hospitals swallowing up too much money for too little return. Which is fine until you try to close or downsize one, and all hell breaks loose.
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Leader‘Brave’ Sir David stresses freedoms and delivery
As the NHS drowns in reform, the danger of distraction grows.
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Comment'Time to scrap GP exception reporting'
We must now scrap exception reporting by GPs in the quality and outcomes framework.
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CommentMichael White: ministers are puzzled by the BMA’s hostility
It remains a guiding principle of this column that any policy opposed by the British Medical Association can’t be all bad.
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LeaderPrivate sector takeover not as imminent as some may have it
The week began with a media feeding frenzy around the government’s NHS reforms created by the imminent publication of the health bill. Dire warnings were ten a penny, while the PM adopted a Thatcherite “no alternative” stance.
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Comment'People expect public servants to preserve the public good'
The public sector is commonly perceived to be stuffed with overstaffed bureaucracies and far too many tiers of administration, and therefore it is usually concluded by external commentators that private companies produce far better leaders.
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Leader'Conspiracy of silence hides true extent of poor GP performance'
Andrew Lansley claims primary care trusts had to be abolished because they failed to commission effectively - an arguable accusation.
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Leader'Now with 25pc more reason to believe'
“Hope is a key differentiator between those NHS organisations that succeed and those that don’t,” says the NHS Institute’s Helen Bevan. She adds, “the driving force of hope is belief” - belief that things can be improved.
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CommentMedia Watch: 'Patients should do more than lounge around in their pyjamas'
The acute sector was the early focus of the media this week, with local papers across the country running stories on hospitals affected by flu and national coverage of two reports written by doctors.
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CommentHelen Bevan: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
NHS managers live in fear, which saps creativity and productivity. The antidote is hope
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Comment'Management conspiracy requires management intelligence, and I'm not talking data'
So as we enter 2011, chief operating officer Lansley continues to command the full support of the board and old-Etonian co-owners Cameron and Letwin, a level of support comparable to that enjoyed by a Hodgson-Grant-Ancelotti-Houllier hydra.
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Comment
'Is the long stay trim a haircut too far?'
With payment by results, the devil is sometimes in the detail.
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Comment‘Dentists are making their own high pitched whine about the Care Quality Commission’
I saw Michael Gove declaring himself “an enthusiast” for Andrew Lansley’s healthcare reforms, which says more for the education secretary’s collegiate loyalty than his attention to the small print.
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CommentNick Bosanquet: Five steps to security
The pre-Christmas snow shower of documents did little to gather momentum towards better services. Rather, it added to the risk of planning blight for new organisations which have to find personnel and trial their powers and budgets. These are my five steps to rescue the change programme:
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Comment
Michael White: It could have been worse
The danger for ministers over the festive break is to be drawn into the news vacuum that develops when the world goes on holiday. How well did Andrew Lansley survive his first Yuletide vacuum in the health hot seat?
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CommentMedia Watch: Managers under fire
The New Year may have only just begun but NHS managers are already in the firing line.
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Comment'The NHS is every health secretary's trainset'
The NHS, always in danger of becoming every health secretary’s trainset, faces yet another major reorganisation. The idea is that GPs will lead the quality and safety and value for money charge that will be needed over the next five, perhaps 10, years.
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CommentGPs will walk a tightrope between making or buying
Giving GPs freedom to innovate while protecting patients will be a difficult balance