5.15pm: NHS Confederation chief operating officer Matt Tee has written a blog on the Keogh review.
He says: “Yesterday’s measured announcement of the outcome of the review was in stark contrast to the mud slinging we saw between the political parties. The problem with slinging that much mud is that you both come out filthy.
“I really struggle to believe that any party will bolster public support for its policies on health by saying that another party is to blame when the NHS is not up to scratch.”
4.22pm: We have highlighted some of the most insightful and thought provoking responses to our survey of women in health, the results of which were published earlier this afternoon.
On the difference between men’s and women’s leadership styles, respondents said:
? “When women lead well they are fairer, see the bigger picture, are less confrontational. They are more sensitive about the value of positive relationships and are inclusive.”
? “I think it is a generalisation to say ‘all females lead like this’ and ‘all males lead like this’. Every individual does their role differently and leads differently. I’m sure their gender has a part in this but I don’t think it is the defining factor.”
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There were many comments on the challenges facing women leaders in the NHS, here are a selection:
? “I am old enough to know that stereotyping is rife and unhelpful but, to me, you still need to be twice as good to be a woman manager than a man in a similar role to get promoted.”
? “Being a young female of ethnic origin in a senior role means that I something feel as if I am not taken seriously, despite my achievements.”
? “Strong women are seen as difficult. Strong men are seen as good blokes.”
? “Barrier: I don’t play golf, watch football or like cars.”
3.26pm: We have published a couple of new opinion pieces.
Michael White laments the ongoing controversy over cigarette packaging and alcohol pricing, which reared up again last week.
He writes: “As if we didn’t all have enough to worry about over the Keogh review into failing hospitals in England, a story I suspect could be repeated elsewhere in the kingdom if a Celtic Sir Bruce went looking… Yet the booze and fags issue raises as profound questions about how we all live in a free society as hospital organisation does.”
Following Craig Barratt’s article on hsj.co.uk largely positive assessment of what the NHS would look like under former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy, Catherine Needham, Yvonne Sawbridge and Iestyn Williams provide a counter-argument.
They say: “Suggesting that the NHS can learn from a supermarket or a coffee chain is alluring because they are single-purpose organisations whose business we think we understand… Yet the complexity of the NHS isn’t something that can be circumvented through simplistic analogies to large-scale corporate enterprise”
3.14pm: The DH has announced: “The government’s fertility and human tissue regulators will continue as separate bodies, Public Health Minister Anna Soubry announced today, following an independent review.
“The Department of Health (DH) had considered transferring the functions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and Human Tissue Authority (HTA) as part of the government’s commitment to cut the number of arm’s length bodies.”
3.07pm: The media and journalism guru Roy Greenslade, who writes for the Guardian, has published a blog praising the Health Service Journal. He praises the strength of our journalism - particularly in relation to the Care Quality Commission, our editor Alastair McLellan, and higlights our recent launch of a tablet app.
He writes: “But the reason I mention Health Service Journal (HSJ), when so many other B2B magazines are engaged in similar initiatives, is its journalism.
The magazine’s reporting on the care quality commission saga (see here) has been highly praised. And last month, HSJ’s editor-in-chief, Alastair McLellan, was named business editor of the year in the annual Professional Publishers Association awards for 2013.
“The judges’ commendation said that McLellan was “a fantastic figurehead for a very well known title with the courage to not only take a stand, but also a strong point of view.”
“My colleague, Polly Toynbee, also noted McLellan’s “wise, calm analysis” of the Keogh report into the unusually high death rates at 14 hospitals.
“It is a reminder that B2B magazines are often in the forefront of breaking stories and the best of them are analytical and not afraid to campaign either.”
3.06pm: Women are still massively underrepresented in senior leadership positions in the NHS, a major analysis by HSJ has found.
Just 37 per cent of senior roles on clinical commissioning group governing bodies and NHS provider boards are held by women.
Despite the fact women make up 81 per cent of the non-medical workforce in the NHS, men constitute the majority in the leadership teams of all but 12 per cent of providers and 10 per cent of CCGs.
HSJ’s work forms one of the most comprehensive analyses of female representation in the NHS since the reforms set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 were implemented. Read Sarah Calkin’s story and analysis here.
The results of HSJ’s survey on women in healthcare, run with the King’s Fund, have been published.
More than 1,000 people responded to the survey on female healthcare leaders during a period of intense focus on the issue of workplace equality.
Some of the key findings include:
- 75 per cent of respondents who said they would recommend a career in healthcare management to other women
- 60 per cent who reported they felt female healthcare leaders had the same level of authority as men
- 37 per cent of women said they had experienced sexual discrimination during their careers in healthcare
Read Claire Read’s in-depth analysis and see our interactive breakdown of the survey results here. A mobile-friendly version is also available.
1.53pm: The BMA GP Committee will tomorrow vote on its new chair, to replace Laurence Buckman. The candidates are Dean Marshall, Chaand Nagpaul, current GPC deputy chair Richard Vautrey, and, on a joint ticket, Michelle Drage and Fay Wilson.
1.09pm: Isabel Hardman, of the Spectator, tweets: “”Labour sources: ‘In the light of today, we are going to formally call for a new inquiry’ on whether PM breaching ministerial code on Crosby”. This is in relation to the dropping of cigarette plain packaging.
1.04pm: Karen Lynas, of the NHS Leadership Academy, tweets: “looking forward to launch of @HSJnews inspirational women awards tonight http://t.co/91SQjiNc9b much needed opportunity to celebrate NHS”
12.45pm: This news was announced yesterday:
“Sir Nick Partridge will step down from his role as Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust at the end of October 2013.
“Sir Nick joined Terrence Higgins Trust as its first paid member of staff in 1985 when it operated out of a small London office run by a determined and dedicated group of volunteers. It is now the largest HIV and sexual health charity in Europe, supporting more than 100,000 people with HIV or sexual health needs every year through over 30 centres across England, Scotland and Wales. It has a membership of 14,000 people, 500 tireless volunteers and 270 staff, and an annual turnover of just over £20 million.
“Sir Nick Partridge said: “It’s been an extraordinary three decades, and a privilege to serve such a remarkable charity as Chief Executive. Having led Terrence Higgins Trust through it’s 30th anniversary, the time feels right for me to move on to other challenges. I know that the Trust will continue to go from strength to strength and of course I’ll continue to support that journey as a friend of the charity.”
“Professor Christopher Bones, Chair of Trustees of Terrence Higgins Trust said: “We are hugely grateful to Sir Nick for his enormous contribution to Terrence Higgins Trust over the last three decades. His vision, networks and insight are huge assets, and I am delighted that he will remain an important part of our family in the years to come.
“Our environment is one of continual change and we know that the future holds significant challenges. The Board is now looking for the next Chief Executive to lead Terrence Higgins Trust to 2020 and beyond.
“From 1st November, Paul Ward, currently Deputy Chief Executive at the Trust, will become acting Chief Executive while the Board recruits into the role.”
12.20pm: We’ve published the latest in our series of articles on women in health. Norfolk and Norwich chief Anna Dugdale says female leaders must be more resilient - and much more
This evening, we will unveil our first ever list of the most inspirational women in health. Follow @HSJnews and hsj.co.uk for coverage.
12.05pm: Ed Miliband raises plain cigarette packaging and the link to PM’s adviser Lynton Crosby, who works with cigarette lobbyists.
David Cameron says the Labour government also decided against plain packaging.
Ed Miliband describes Cameron as the “prime minister for Benson and hedgefunds”.
Sarah Wollaston, Tory MP and GP, raises minimum alcohol pricing. Cameron says the government will say it will be illegal to sell alcohol below cost price.
12.03pm: Prime minister’s questions has begun. Ed Miliband, Labour leader, asks what will happen about staffing problems.
David Cameron says the government is investing additional funds in the NHS. He says several of the listed hospital trusts employ more nurses than they did when the government came in, and 10 of 11 with serious problems have more clinical staff.
11.44am: Former NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp suggests in today’s Financial Times that the health service’s response to its recent scandals should be to make “patient empowerment” its top priority.
“If the NHS targeted patient empowerment as effectively as it tackled waiting lists and hospital ‘superbugs’ the result would be truly radical,” he writes. “It requires the same approach: clarity of aim combined with changes in systems, incentives and behaviour.”
11.17am: Today’s Daily Mail focuses intesely on the political side of the mortality review. Its front page has a large headline stating: “Labour’s day of shame over the NHS”. It carries several pages of prominent coverage. It is covered extensively on a ConservativeHome blog.
10.39am: Jeremy Laurence in the Independent writes: “The weekend headlines served only to alarm patients, demoralise staff and turn the public against a much cherished institution, for political gain. If the NHS is to improve, it needs, as Keogh says, a blame-free culture, a spirit of openness and the ambition to succeed.”
10.34am: The Keogh review has also provoked several prominent opinion pieces.
One this morning is by BBC political editor Nick Robinson, with the subheadline “Jeremy Hunt is trying to rewrite the script on the NHS”.
He observes: “The Tories fear they can never win the battle for the voters’ hearts on the NHS, but they can blunt Labour’s attacks. They are learning from the first piece of advice any hired political consultant will offer - “define your opponent before they can define themselves”.”
As an aside, in relation to the dropping of the policy of plain packaging for tobacco products, Robinson observes: “The constant denials that Lynton Crosby did not lobby or advise on health policy ignore one thing the Conservatives admit he did do. He advised the Tories to “scrape the barnacles off the boat” ie discard any plans that would cause unnecessary and distracting political rows - like those on minimum alcohol pricing and, er, plain cigarette packaging.”
The article says: “The shocking conditions in Britain’s hospitals have been laid bare by an official report which disclosed that failings uncovered in NHS wards were so bad that inspectors felt compelled to abandon their impartial roles and step in to alleviate patient suffering.”
It details the eleven NHS trusts which were put into “special measures” and highlights the report’s conclusion that the hospitals investigated were “trapped in mediocrity”.
10.31am: The lead story on the Guardian’s two page spread on the Keogh review focuses on the political row surrounding the report and allegations that health secretary Jeremy Hunt has used “NHS deaths for political ends”. The paper highlights example of poor care at Basildon hospital but also carries comments from members of the public in the town’s Eastgate shopping centre who have experienced good care at the hospital.
In an opinion piece Simon Jenkins describes yesterday’s row between Mr Hunt and Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham as “the worst possible publicity for a national health service, a godsend to privatisers and American right wingers”. In a piece that goes on to criticise the NHS for being over managed and bureaucratic – a case of “lions led by donkeys” – he proposes the country should look to the Danish model of health services run by local authorities. It is accompanied by a cartoon showing Hunt and Burnham dressed as sumo wrestlers fighting over a bed pan as Nye Bevan looks on.
10.20am: There is widespread coverage of the Keogh review in the national press, often highlighting the failures which were discovered, and the political battle over the issues.
The Times headlines its story: “Cameron hammers Labour over failure of NHS trusts”. Its story says: “During a day which saw the NHS become the object of a bitter and bruising political battle, the Prime Minister claimed that the previous Labour government had failed to investigate the shortcomings of some trusts…
“Sir Bruce said that he had not seen evidence for claims that Labour ministers had put pressure on the NHS to cover up failings.”
8.55am: Also if you missed any of our coverage of Keogh review yesterday, you can catch up on our dedicated page.
8.45am: Good morning, all this week HSJ is celebrating inspiring women within healthcare. Today Dr Sara Khan talks to HSJ about Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’s theory of “leaning in” and explains the leadership styles emerging from a new generation of women doctors. These new female health leaders are digitally savvy, managing bold and influential networks via supper clubs and online groups.
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