All articles by Nick Edwards
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NewsDH sued over scrapped £921m PFI project
A Laing O’Rourke-led consortium has this week launched a £20m lawsuit against the Department of Health and University Hospitals of Leicester Trust over a cancelled £921m hospital project, Construction News has reported.
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News
Happiness is... getting to grips with the intangible
As the NHS has become sophisticated about the need to measure outcomes, it inevitably raises questions about what is actually measured, and therefore what matters. By necessity, the focus in the early years of this government has been on the utterly tangible - mortality rates, waiting lists and so on.
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News
It was a difficult journey, but under Blair the NHS was saved
Ten years ago this week, Tony Blair told the country that it had 24 hours to save the NHS. Now that the remainder of his premiership can be measured in days, what can be concluded on whether he delivered on that bold claim?
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News
Blair warns against independence
Prime minister Tony Blair has warned against creating an independent NHS. He said it would slow down decision-making and be in danger of becoming distracted by special interest groups.
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News
Blair warns against NHS independence
Prime minister Tony Blair has warned against creating an independent NHS, saying it would stymie decision-making and be in danger of being hampered by the demands of special interest groups.
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Comment
It's up to executive teams to champion productive wards
Do ward staff need the encouragement and support of their executive team to get on and make changes to improve everyday processes?
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Comment
Time to draw a line under Granger era
The national programme for IT is reeling from its most damning verdict yet - this week's report from the Commons public accounts committee that condemns uncertainty over the schedule of implementation and value for money (see news, page 9).
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Comment
Patient safety: Avoiding blame will not remove danger
Is the desire to establish a 'no blame' culture around patient safety becoming dangerously close to being seen as an end in itself rather than as a necessary aid to progress?
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Comment
Why the talking cure can help ease the reconfiguration blues
A list is circulating - despite Department of Health denials - of 18 trusts that have been deemed unviable in their present form and on which strategic health authorities will be acting. There will probably be few surprises in the names and no surprise that major restructuring of acute services ...
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Comment
Whitehall shake-out rumbles more change
'The DoH will not comment on whether posts such as director-general of commissioning will disappear rather than be filled, but is it likely that much of the spate of high-profile leavers, so far and to come, is part of a coming restructuring.'
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Comment
Pioneers race on but progress is measured by the backmarkers
'It is notable that not one of the 13 early achiever sites comes from NHS London or NHS East of England'
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News
RAB axed as Hewitt defends year of pain
Has the NHS finally emerged from its financial quagmire? Patricia Hewitt argues the new post-RAB system has never been more fair and open. Nick Edwards talks to a buoyant health secretary
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News
Healthcare Commission must 'remodel' work following 17 per cent funding cut
The Healthcare Commission will have its budget cut by 17 per cent in 2008-09 because of the government's decision to delay the creation of a combined regulator by a year until April 2009.
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Comment
Primary care: what will improve discharge summaries?
GPs are complaining this week that they are 'plagued by delays' and errors in the quality of discharge summaries many of them are sent by hospitals (see news story). According to an NHS Alliance survey, almost 60 per cent say clinical care has been compromised as a result and almost ...
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Comment
A 'fixed' financial system will bring a legacy of control
One of the worst-kept secrets of the last few months has been that the much-despised resource accounting and budgeting system, which penalised trusts twice for their deficits, would be scrapped at the end of the financial year.
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News
Asset-sharing will limit the scope for dispute between the NHS and local government
'The commissioning process must have an injection of public involvement at every stage but particularly at the very beginning when need is assessed'
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Comment
Consistency and agreement are needed to spread success
'The MPs' committee calls for lessons learned from the turnaround programme to be shared. But evidence for its effectiveness is opaque'.
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Comment
The importance of manager-doctor relationships
Training row emphasises the importance of collaboration
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Comment
Decade of mental healthcare defined by unproductive debate
Mental health trust chief executives give their views of ten years under New Labour
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Comment
Restoring confidence requires an end to financial fudges
.'With the NHS moving .towards a more transparent. market, top-down decisions. on the distribution of funds. must not become the norm.'.