Comment archive – Page 400
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Comment
Griffiths report could have freed NHS from politics
The Griffiths report could have created the utopian ideal of an NHS buffered from political meddling, but it was not to be.
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Leader
Why are so many NHS influencers white men?
The HSJ50 - the ranking of the 50 most powerful people in English health management policy and practice, published in last week's magazine - is very male and very white.
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Leader
Data tsunami will swamp trusts unless commissioners get a say
The clinical data revolution came closer this week with the unveiling of the approach for improving quality and a survey on what to include in quality accounts.
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Comment
Simon Stevens on Barack Obama's first steps
So what does Barack Obama's election victory mean for the future of the US health system? And what lessons, if any, are US policy makers likely to derive from recent NHS reforms?
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Comment
Media Watch: healthy towns
'It won't work round here,' a resident of one of the Department of Health's newly designated Healthy Towns predicted to The Times.
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Comment
Michael White on euthanasia
Buried away in a Commons debate the other day was a remark that could apply to the unhealthy state of the economy and assorted remedies to cure it, including a large injection of job-boosting cash into the NHS capital building programme.
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Comment
Laura Thomas on information prescriptions
By the end of 2008, people with long-term conditions should leave GP surgeries and hospitals clutching not one prescription but two: one for their medicines and another for the information and support they need.
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Comment
John Coakley on NHS targets
Most clinicians hate targets and view them as something that obstructs clinical care. However, it seems they have worked.
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Comment
Benjamin Ellis on clinician-manager rivalries
A few years ago, a doctor friend told me of a revelation she had had after attending a lecture on clinical nutrition. 'You see,' she said, 'I'd never really thought of calories as something you needed in order to survive - I'd spent my whole life trying to avoid them.'
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Comment
Ken Jarrold on the patient experience
There is nothing like being a patient to bring you face to face with the realities of working lives. Fortunately for me, my recent experience was entirely positive.
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Comment
Maggie Rae on NHS core competencies
Am I competent? We must all have asked ourselves this question. In the build-up to world class commissioning assessment, it is interesting to ponder what competency we have and whether we have any weak links.
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Leader
NHS top-ups are no substitute for offering a death with dignity
The response to Mike Richards’ review of co-payments has been largely positive. The cancer czar had a tricky job to do, forced to navigate choppy ideological waters and land at a practical resolution.
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Leader
Clawback puts financial safety net to the test
A fortnight ago HSJ revealed the Treasury was eyeing up NHS surpluses. This week we tell you how much will be clawed back.
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Comment
Michael White on NHS bad news
Some politicians suspected Alan Johnson deliberately chose to make his announcement on top-ups on the same day as Barack Obama's election to the US presidency in the hope that he could 'bury bad news.'
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Comment
Sir Ian Kennedy on the future of the annual health check
The Act of Parliament that established the Healthcare Commission required us to assess on an annual basis the performance of every NHS organisation, taking account of the standards issued by the Department of Health. Out of this requirement grew the annual health check.
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Comment
John Coulthard on delivering Darzi
At our annual NHS summit this year, we looked at the challenges facing chief information officers and clinicians in delivering Lord Darzi's vision for the NHS.
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Comment
Norman Niven on wasted medicine
The more I read about the NHS's troubles, the more I wonder whether dramatic headlines about bed shortages, waiting lists and superbugs serve to obscure a problem that is far less attention grabbing but potentially more damaging to UK healthcare.
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Comment
Mike Hobbs on clinical leadership and mental health
Mental health strategy has historically been seen as separate from mainstream health strategy and planning.
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Comment
David Peat on lean times for the NHS
Without sounding overly biblical, but with the credit crunch in mind, is the NHS facing lean times after years of fat expenditure?
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Comment
Jenny Rogers on enoughism
It is probably a bit eccentric, but I began a recent holiday by spending three days with a modest and talented genius called Chris Wing, who comes and sorts out your messy home.