Comment archive – Page 451
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Comment
Rotherham chief executive Brian James on why Gerry Robinson can't fix the NHS
'Disappointingly, Sir Gerry never seized the opportunity to explore and challenge consultants as to how they could be more efficient and productive, which is ultimately the key to eradicating waiting times. The opportunity was sacrificed for a much simpler story of consultants versus managers, with both sides presented as stereotypes.'
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Comment
A prescription for professionalism
What ideas like NHS independence lack is not the eye-catching headline or even the fine detail but the implementation and local connection
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Comment
Dr Pat Troop on managing the Polonium-210 outbreak
Staff have learned what it is like to work intensively at that speed under public and political scrutiny, and it has been useful training for future events, such as pandemic flu
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Comment
Key themes for change
The NHS has lost a great deal of talent in recent years. As a result it's lost much of its corporate memory
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Comment
Support is vital to change
It is at the front line where the drive for financial recovery overwhelms any opportunity to invest in the means to change the dynamics
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Comment
Mental health and ministerial promises
Why should the Government be believed when it hints at non-statutory answers to some of the issues around reform of mental health law (Michael White column, 4 January, page 10). The evidence tells us that we should be very wary of trusting them.
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Superbug memo: scale of problem in no doubt as MRSA paper admits failure
The memo considers - and rightly rejects - the case for primary care trusts to fine acute trusts for MRSA rates
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Comment
Pay and workforce: GP contract delay is the first staff salvo
The government will still be desperate not to see another staff group set itself against reform, particularly given the crucial role primary care will play
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Comment
Pay and workforce strategy 2008-11
There is currently great confusion among hospital doctors as to how best to respond to the many changes in employment conditions that are affecting our working conditions
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Comment
Chris Rudge on why the NHS needs to raise its game on transplants
'The NHS is spending nearly £190m a year on dialysis for the 6,278 patients waiting for a kidney transplant. If every one of these patients currently had a functioning transplant, the annual saving would be £160m'
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Comment
Information for GPs and search engines
Conservative MP Grant Shapps' 'Name and Shame' website is the latest publicity stunt to put patient appointment targets back into the headlines. While political parties continue to wrangle with one another, GPs must continue to run their practices under the significant pressure placed on them by these targets.
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Comment
NHS complaints
I read David Peat's article on lost baggage and fielding complaints with great interest. His comments in the penultimate paragraph are particularly encouraging.
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Comment
David Woodhead on lessons from Peru
'I met a group of local women who were trained in contraception and hygiene; they each had trained six women, who in turn were training others. The process had increased their confidence. And in the basement was a co-operative bakery which provided affordable bread but also made a profit.'
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Comment
HR managers must forge new staff model
The pay and workforce draft strategy documents seen by HSJpaint a picture of just how demanding 2007 will be for the human resources profession.
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: a primary care-bled NHS
‘Life carries on without GPs. In fact it’s a lot simpler’
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Comment
David Peat on lost baggage and fielding complaints
'I always try to acknowledge a complaint myself when it arrives on our doorstep, and I always sign off our response. It helps me keep in touch with patients' perceptions - their sense of grievance, injustice or perplexity.'
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Comment
Martin Pearson on warm glows and icy winds
'Directors and managers of today's organisations need to recognise that they are there not only to create cost-efficient and financially successful health businesses but also to lead services in a way that saves the world from further degradation and climate chaos'
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Comment
Ministerial support and local MPs
So the Home Secretary, Labour Party Chairman and Labour Chief Whip are all campaigning against the implementation of NHS policy in their constituencies. Hazel Blears will be able to give the threatened maternity unit in Salford meaningful and persuasive support, in due course, through Patricia Hewitt.
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Comment
Michael White on politics
'I do not think the Walsall trio, all nice chaps, will mind if I describe them as the Old Codgers, rather than the Three Musketeers'