Latest news – Page 2881

  • News

    ...YET GPs NEED TO KEEP A CLOSE WATCH ON CLINICAL SERVICES SO THAT THEY DON'T DISAPPEAR FOREVER

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    In recent months we have heard a lot about the new NHS and the formation of primary care groups, but little about the effect these changes will have on patients and patient services.

  • News

    ARE PCGs A GIANT LEAP OR A LEAP IN THE DARK?

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    The authors of the article on primary care groups ('The cultivated commissioner', pages 26-27, 30 April) helpfully highlight that the success of PCGs depends - among other factors - on 'the capabilities, commitment and skills of the primary care professionals chosen to run them'.

  • News

    THIS IS A HYPE-FREE WAY TO STAY UP-TO-DATE

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Congratulations on the publication of Managers and Medicine (30 April). I found it accessible, hype-free and, above all, a good read. It is a timely reminder of the principles that underlie all our work in the health service.

  • News

    WHAT'S IN A PROFESSION, FROM ONE WHO KNOWS

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Peter Heaton's amusing letter (14 May) raises an interesting issue. My own perception of a 'health professional' is someone who has chosen to spend their career in a healthcare setting, and has trained to do a healthcare job.

  • News

    SILENT VIGIL FOR UNBORN CHILDREN AND MOTHERS

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    I was interested in your picture of campaigners 'celebrating' the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the 1967 Abortion Act (News, page 5, 30 April).

  • News

    Sour note on a milk run that seems to run and run

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    As you read this, several passenger transport vehicles and their crews from the local ambulance service will most likely be at your hospital waiting to take home patients who are probably being assembled at a central collection point. But it makes no economic, logistical or humanitarian sense to continue to ...

  • News

    DOCTORS AND NURSES ARE NOT THE ONLY CARERS

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    While recognising that Royal College of Nursing general secretary Christine Hancock is by necessity an advocate of the role of nurses (Observations, 14 May), it is nevertheless frustrating once again to read that doctors and nurses run the health service between them, and that nurses are the only professionals in ...

  • News

    A CULTURE THAT KNOWS HOW BEST TO NETWORK

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    David Hunter (Live from Leeds, 7 May) raised interesting issues about the co-ordination and networking requirements of health action zones and health improvement programmes.

  • News

    THE VOICE OF APH SPEAKS OUT LOUD AND CLEAR

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Following Barbara Millar's report (News focus, page 9, 14 May) on the prospect of a new organisation for public health emerging from the alliance of the Association for Public Health and the Public Health Alliance, I'd like to point out that I am now co-chair of the APH.

  • News

    BY HOWARD BERLINER Anti-tax sentiment in ashes

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    The debate over the responsibility of tobacco companies for the medical costs of illness related to smoking still rages in the US. Most recently, the tobacco industry agreed to pay $6bn to the state of Minnesota, just as a jury was about to begin final deliberations. This action has given ...

  • News

    Branding those who bury their mistakes BY MICHAEL WHITE

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    I did a little survey the other day and found that there are now 34 Labour doctors in the House, seven Tories and just one Liberal Democrat - Twickenham's Vince Cable. Doctors in the sense of PhDs and DPhils, of course. New Labour retains a touching Old Labour faith in ...

  • News

    monitor

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    The snazzy new NHS Primary Care Group Alliance is a lobby group in tune with the times. Picking up the government's new emphasis on health promotion, its press launch eschewed the wine, nibbles and danish pastries that often feature at such events. Instead, hacks were offered mineral water. And just ...

  • News

    WEB WATCH

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Everyone wants to be a 'gateway' or 'one-stop shop' on the Net these days, and competition in the health world is increasingly fierce as commercial services recruit ever larger numbers of subscribers in a bid to capture what remains an elusive pot of advertising gold.

  • News

    Models of perfection

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Small general hospitals will have to adapt and change if they are to survive.

  • News

    Key Points

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Small general hospitals can adapt to changing demands in a number of ways. These include expanding day-case work and increasing outpatient services.

  • News

    Close call

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    When a health authority is looking for revenue savings, sooner or later its glance will fall on the local cottage hospital. But few such closure plans have been successfully completed, and some have caused HAs more time and effort than the savings justify. In almost every case, the HA has ...

  • News

    Lessons

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Health authorities and trusts need to listen hard to positive offers of help from the community to maintain services such as cottage hospitals.

  • News

    Home alone

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Carers of people with severe mental illness often have to cope entirely alone.

  • News

    bulletin

    1998-06-04T00:00:00Z

    on the record