Comment archive – Page 357
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CommentMedia Watch: malnutrition nourishes the Mail
A mixed bag of health media coverage this week from the nationals, with the Daily Mail especially prolific.
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Comment‘Inert’ or improving: the state of medical regulation
Alan Maynard argues the GMC’s ‘feeble’ regulation of doctors does little to benefit the NHS, but chief executive Niall Dickson says a new approach will protect patients.
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CommentMichael White: avoiding the thing called IT
A new report in the Harvard Business Review suggests that big IT projects are spiralling out of control, at considerable cost to taxpayers, shareholders and customers. Naturally it made me think again of the NHS’s own national programme for IT drama, running expensively since 2003.
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CommentSally Gainsbury: PROMs prove McKinsey right - nearly
The latest crop of patient reported outcome measures confirm huge numbers of patients do not feel any better after undergoing one of four measuredprocedures, and quite a few report feeling worse.
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CommentGrounds for optimism at last over London reconfiguration
It appears the NHS in London might get its wish on downgrading two hospitals.
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CommentTransforming trust aims high in the East of England
Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust’s ambitious aim to “become one of the best local hospitals in the country” is revealed in a “transformation programme” report in its most recent board papers.
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CommentCally Bann: is the healthcare landscape a thriller, a tragedy or a farce?
So as the summer breezes blows through the ever-greying tresses of the post-pause ministerial locks, what does the landscape around us foretell ofthe autumn and winter to come?
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LeaderRival factions fight for influence in Future Forum’s second coming
Why continue with the NHS reform listening exercise? The NHS is already changing with a momentum no report is likely to affect.
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CommentCarving out a path for clinically led commissioning
The big question nervously whispered in the shadows of the corridors of power is: “what will be different about clinically led commissioning?”. Many have sought the answer - few have found it. Paul Zollinger-Read sheds some light on the direction clinically led commissioning might take.
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CommentMedia Watch: riots ensure a quiet week for the NHS
The aftermath of the riots continued to dominate the national media at the expense of everything else, including health, but then August is traditionally a quiet month for the NHS.
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Comment'The focus now for those who manage healthcare should be value'
Now that the dust has settled somewhat on the furore surrounding the Health Bill, I find myself thinking about the domestic and truly international health agenda.
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CommentMichael White: the riots could change the outlook for health priorities
As we all picked our way through the debris of what I’m tempted to call the “Foot Locker Riots” in search of deeper explanations than the urgent need for new trainers, I found myself thinking several times of Sir Michael Marmot, the man HSJ likes to call “the guru of ...
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CommentA new opportunity to protect and improve patient advocacy
The reforms present an opportunity to do more for patient advocacy, while learning how to handle complaints better, says advocacy agency POhWER chief executive Valerie Harrison.
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CommentReview of services in Yorkshire warns of system failure
A high profile review of services in North Yorkshire and York, led by eminent doctor and NHS Confederation medical director Hugo Mascie-Taylor, has come to an end, and is well worth a read*.
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CommentNoel Plumridge: changes to charitable funding risks donators' benevolence
If, when the time comes, you leave a share of your worldly wealth to your local NHS, that’s entirely up to you. After all, it’s your money.
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CommentSouth Coast trusts forecast 2011-12 performance, predict £77m overspend
Trying to predict the future for the NHS is always difficult, as there always seems to be a reorganisation or a winter crisis just round the corner. However, primary care trusts in Sussex have given it a go.
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LeaderDistrust and pragmatism inform softly-softly authorisation plan
There is one sentence in the government’s draft authorisation process for clinical commissioning groups which highlights the atmosphere of distrust in which the new arrangements are being negotiated.
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CommentMichael Dixon: it's time for general practice to get real
I faced a difficult career decision 28 years ago. I wanted to go into general practice, but should I opt for a rural practice, where biomedicine had a clearer role, or for inner city practice, where needs were greater but medicine seemed less important?
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CommentSue Slipman: public board meetings are not a quick fix for accountability
With transparency and accountability increasingly on the agenda for trusts, Foundation Trust Network chief executive Sue Slipman argues that holding board meetings in public as a means to that end is not simply an open and shut case.
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CommentMedia Watch: deliberate delays report provokes fury in the press
The furore over the Cooperation and Competition Panel’s report suggesting primary care trusts were making patients wait longer in the hope they would die or go private was going strong when the weekend papers went to press.