All Comment articles – Page 323

  • Comment

    Simon Stevens on the case for independence

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    It now seems likely that, regardless of political party, our next prime minister will toy with some version of 'independence' for the NHS. Independence for the Bank of England is seen as one of the government's more important reforms, so an NHS parallel could resonate. And shadow health secretary Andrew ...

  • Comment

    Day case rates

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Marc Farr says day-case rates over the last three years have shown little sign of improvement

  • Comment

    Michael White: change in the NHS

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    We were standing on the edge of my local swimming pool discussing the inevitability of change when a fellow wrinklie walked past, saying: 'Don't talk to me about change. I work for the NHS and whenever I hear that word I just switch off.'

  • Comment

    Media watch: hospital phone charges

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Those unlucky enough to spend Easter in hospital also had the misfortune of paying a whopping 26p per minute if they wished to call their loved ones. Not unexpectedly the tabloids and broadsheets were up in arms last week as they bemoaned the 160 per cent increase in hospital call ...

  • Comment

    Confessions of an NHS chief executive

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'I do not follow rhyme or reason, only the secretary of state'

  • Comment

    Sophia Christie on lessons from Sweden

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    One of the most distinctive characteristics of NHS trusts' work with US company Kaiser Permanente is also one of the least commented upon. Kaiser Health Plan is an insurance company in an exclusive partnership with the Permanente Medical Group, run as a profit share company for the participating partner doctors.

  • Comment

    Sophia Christie on national and local tensions

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Despite a bad press, national targets have challenged our complacency about poor health in poor people and poor services to support them.

  • Comment

    Sophia Christie on telling our story

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'Formal public meetings only ever engage the sort of people who like attending formal public meetings'

  • Comment

    Sophia Christie on health and employment

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The publication of the Commissioning framework for health and well being is a welcome reminder that 13 months ago the government published white paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say. For many of us it is a long-awaited statement about the future direction for the 90 per cent of NHS ...

  • Comment

    Malcolm Lowe-Lauri on clinical engagement

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'A meeting of minds gets enormous impetus when the fog of data is converted into information'

  • Comment

    Clinicians and trust

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Katzenbach is close (Anna Donald, Opinion, 8th March), but Onora O' Neill is closer. Her Reith lectures in 2002, 'A Question of Trust', pointed not to a crisis of trust but to a pervading culture of suspicion, directed particularly at the professions.

  • Comment

    Healthcare inspection comes under scrutiny of its own

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'Numbers do not impart wisdom in themselves, you have to learn how to select and use them'

  • Comment

    Listen and learn: keys to good commissioning

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    How does accountability to patients and the public fit into the commissioning framework, asks David Colin-Thome. Below, Tim Gilling outlines the 10 areas essential to effective scrutiny

  • Comment

    Media Watch: drug company's promise

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    This week comes news that a drug firm has offered to refund the cost of one of its products to the NHS if it fails to work on patients.

  • Comment

    Michael White on consultants

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Chairing a session at a recent Unison conference on the future of the NHS I chided Clive Efford, Labour MP for Eltham in south London, after he had cheerfully abused consultants. I think the word he used was 'spivs', unaware that the room was full of them, including the nice ...

  • Comment

    Noel Plumridge on the non-exec conundrum

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'How can one challenge yet remain part of the team? That's the non-executive dilemma'

  • Comment

    Noel Plumridge on the cost of a day's work

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'Calculate your daily rate. Say it out loud. 'I'm a £500 a day sort of guy''

  • Comment

    How doctors learned to stop worrying and love data

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The NHS has never lacked information, but, says Dr Foster Intelligence's Tim Kelsey, only now are managers and clinicians harnessing its power to change services. Public access is the next big challenge

  • Comment

    David Woodhead on public health

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    'Vicky was patronised by health professionals unwilling to listen to her views or take note of her experiences'

  • Comment

    A different kind of day at the office

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    The HSJChallenge offers managers the opportunity to escape their day jobs and pit their wits against their peers in a in a multi-agency health economy with more than its fair share of problems. The good news is that it's not for real. ...