Daniel Martin
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News Analysis: Next era of reform will hinge on Brown being as bold as Blair
With Gordon Brown almost certain to take over as prime minister this year, and his reputation for springing surprises, people in the health service are beginning to wonder what it will mean for them and the NHS reform landscape. Daniel Martin looks for clues
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Hewitt promises to back 'unpopular decisions'
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has given her strongest promise yet that she will back managers wanting to drive through difficult hospital closures and service reconfiguration.
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Media watch
'Researchers have found that the 29 primary care trusts in surplus in 2004-05 were mainly in inner-city areas'
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NHS Blood and Transplant to cut 400 jobs
Four hundred staff are set to be cut following the closure of three of the country's 10 blood centres and the sale of the only government-owned bio products laboratory.
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Specialist trusts lobby ministers for change in tariff
Britain's five specialist orthopaedic hospitals say they will be forced to cancel operations and cut services unless the government adjusts the way they are paid.
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Monitor will demand service level figures from foundation trusts
Monitor is set to instruct foundation trusts to provide more accurate information about the financial performance of each of their services.
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Dossier reveals true extent of management consultant spend
The imposition of turnaround teams on cash-strapped trusts has cost the NHS more than £22m, new figures reveal.
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New agenda replaces targets
The Department of Health is to focus on quality, safety and patient experience - leaving the Healthcare Commission to ensure compliance against locally set priorities, according to director of commissioning Duncan Selbie.
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PEC proposals promise equality for clinicians and managers
Clinicians and managers will be expected to work together to take joint decisions on commissioning under radical proposals to reform professional executive committees.
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Turnaround help for a third of acutes as deficits reach £1.2bn gross
More than one-third of all acute trusts and a quarter of all primary care trusts are receiving turnaround support as it was revealed that deficits in the NHS are climbing again.
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Nicholson urges MPs to show courage on reconfiguration
NHS chief executive David Nicholson has urged MPs to concentrate not just on 'how many hospitals we have, but how many lives we can save and improve'. The plea was contained in an impassioned letter laying out the case for service reconfiguration.
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Efficiency savings costed at £2.2bn
The Department of Health is to expand the number of productivity indicators on which trusts are compared as the first set of figures revealed the NHS could save £2.2bn a year if it improved its efficiency.
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Dignity nurse plan scrapped
Plans for hospitals to appoint a 'dignity nurse' have been dropped after the proposal was 'misinterpreted'.
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'Unbundling' options promised soon
Ministers are to review financial incentives to encourage the NHS to rehabilitate older people in the community, rather than acute settings.
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Wanless warning: future of NHS hangs on obesity action
The government has failed to tackle obesity - and unless it does so, the future of the NHS hangs in the balance, says the man who persuaded ministers to pump record sums into the service.
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Choice: NPSA attacks 'meaningless glossy menus'
The National Patient Safety Agency is to push for better information to inform choice after branding the sort of information available to patients as 'meaningless'.
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Conservative conference: charities push for changes to GP incentive framework
Two charities are planning to launch a campaign to push for GPs' incentive payments to be based much more on their success in improving public health.
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Former health secretary urges halt to Tory manager bashing
The Conservatives will not win elections by continuing to vilify managers, the man drawing up the party's health policy said last week.
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Tory pledge for more nurses
Every school would have a school nurse under the Conservatives, Andrew Lansley told the party conference.