External contributors – Page 244
-
CommentMichael White: The Tories don't have it in the bag yet
Are we any the wiser about a future Conservative government’s intentions towards the NHS? I think we are and, being determined to ignore those two great 2009 panics, piggy flu and Labour leadership flu, I plan to focus on those here.
-
CommentCally Bann on sporting achievement
OK, so the meeting to square off the ward upgrade plan, the summer theatre closure plan, the length of stay plan, the day case rate improvement plan, the 18-week plan, the demand management plan, the winter planning plan, the income plan and the 7.5 per cent cost improvement plan was ...
-
CommentBen Bridgewater on why funding clinical audit is essential
Observing clinical outcomes and ensuring they enrich the NHS’s wealth of data is essential so audit must be fully backed by national funding, leadership and IT
-
CommentSophia Christie on making an impact on male mortality
I can’t live without my burgers, my chips or the doner meat. I know they are bad, I can see the fat dripping out of it…
-
CommentNorman Lamb and his love of rap
As populist scare stories go, The Sun has got to be applauded this week for combining two of the nation’s (largely unfounded) fears: drug users and swine flu - not just once but twice.
-
CommentSteve Preston: Top tips to keep your career going
Do you see the announcements about radical NHS funding cuts and the changing agenda as a threat or an opportunity? Now might be a good time to start re-evaluating and managing your future to meet the challenges.
-
CommentHow to ensure choice in maternity services
If the government’s pledge, laid down in Maternity Matters, that all women in England should have the choice of a home birth by the end of 2009 is to be met, every maternity service should be discussing home birth with every woman.
-
CommentJoan Saddler on patient centred services
Actively seeking out and acting on patient feedback to shape services is still far from the norm but is fundamental to putting quality at the heart of the NHS.
-
CommentMedia Watch: the shrill cries of the doomsayers
Depending on which paper you read this week, you could be forgiven for thinking you were living in two different countries.
-
CommentStephen Eames on the need to make changes
Sunday morning and it looks as if it is going to be a hot day - a precursor to a long hot summer dominated by organising surge plans to combat pandemic flu, while digesting the impact of another central initiative on quality, innovation, improvement and productivity, otherwise known as “QIPP”.
-
CommentPaul Corrigan on commissioning strategy plans
Nearly all primary care trust commissioning strategy plans describe a rationale for their intentions over the next five years. Tailored to the health and healthcare needs of their population, they describe future actions which intend to move activity out of secondary care, and cut emergency admissions and attendance at A&E.
-
CommentMichael White on the future of healthcare funding
For a politician in his situation, care services minister Phil Hope was in a remarkably cheerful mood when I caught up with him to find out how well - or badly - his department’s latest green paper had been received.
-
CommentJenny Rogers on tendering
The person on the telephone sounds very young. I am stifling incredulity at her request. “You mean you want me to tender for this?” I ask.
-
CommentSurvey: How do you think the NHS is coping with swine flu?
Health Service Journal and Nursing Times would like to hear about the experience of swine flu by NHS staff so we can share with you, via our magazines and websites, how nurses and managers are feeling and what support they are getting.
-
CommentNoel Plumridge: the optimism bias uplift
The crowd from the finance department were relaxing in the Rat and Weasel musing on life’s three inevitables: death, taxes… and the private finance initiative.
-
CommentMedia Watch: is Burnham the new Pants Man?
As swine flu takes increasing hold it will be interesting to see how the national papers’ coverage of the pandemic begins to diverge.
-
CommentMichael White on swine flu and infectious attitudes
There comes a time when even a “keep calm” column has to acknowledge that Britain seems to be edging towards a swine flu pandemic. Alas, there is no antiviral to protect more vulnerable groups like politicians from exhibiting alarming symptoms.
-
CommentClare Chapman: on being ready for the NHS constitution
How ready are we for the NHS constitution? Subject to the Health Bill being passed, all providers of NHS services will be under a legal duty to have regard to the new contract. Legal duties already in law will have to be fulfilled too and we will need to work ...
-
CommentYour Humble Servant on private lessons
We are all still reeling from the shock news of Mark Britnell’s sudden departure for pastures more remunerative. Thankfully he has left us with a commissioning sector which no one else in the world can match… and oddly none has sought to do so.
-
CommentKen Jarrold: Five ways to give feedback
Feedback is one of the most valuable gifts our colleagues can give us. To find someone who has the tact, courage and skill to tell you honestly how you are doing is a very rare thing indeed. In 36 years of full time work I had seven good appraisals.