All Off Diary articles – Page 3
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CommunityLet's talk about death
A press release last week titled Let’s Talk About Death was particularly timely, coming amid hot debates about end of life care.
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Community
BMA says no
One hsj.co.uk reader has come up with a tongue in cheek experiment, prompted by the British Medical Association’s anti-privatisation campaign.
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Community
Life in the public [health] eye
It could be argued that public health minister Gillian Merron has had it a tad easy this year. With the exception of a warning that chlamydia should be avoided and a quote about shingles being nasty, she seems to have landed all the fun jobs.
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Community
Red faced statisticians
“Christmas Eve top day of the year for NHS births - Boxing Day is bottom,” announced the NHS Information Centre last week.
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Community
Great to good
Department of Health witnesses appeared to be feeling the pressure during the latest round of the Commons health select committee’s inquiry into commissioning.
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Community
Lib Dem hedging
When is a political party health spokesman’s policy not his party’s policy? When it is Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb’s “Liberal blueprint for the NHS”, it seems.
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CommunityFeet first
If End Game readers are ever unfortunate enough to need an ambulance in the North West region, they can be assured the staff will be properly dressed from head to foot - as North West Ambulance Service has just decreed that ambulance crews cannot wear novelty socks.
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Community
A Wii fracture
Buried next to a New England Journal of Medicine study about a technique for communicating with patients in a vegetative state, blah blah blah, is a far more significant development: scientists believe they have uncovered the first ever Wii Fit fracture.
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Community
LINks hitch
Members of local involvement networks still struggling to get off the ground - nearly two years after they were meant to be created - will have welcomed the Department of Health’s publicity drive over the past two weeks. But there is one hitch, End Game understands.
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Community
Not too many tweets
Keeping up to date with mental health policy is about as high on Joe Bloggs’ agenda as dusting the picture rails or learning Esperanto.
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CommunityHappy birthday, Helen Bevan
The NHS Institute’s director of service transformation Helen Bevan is known to never miss an opportunity for a learning experience, especially if she can combine it with rigorous exercise, ideally at sub-zero temperatures.
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Community
Foundations cussed
Research out last week, showing less than a quarter of people have had a real say on health and care services, chimed with the experience of End Game’s colleagues.
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CommunityWelcome to the Lib Dem fringe
Health minister Mike O’Brien likes to include a gag in his speeches, so it was only a matter of time before the opposition health team got in on the act.
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Community
Give Gordon a duster
A former nurse on a recent visit to the prime minister’s Downing Street pad noted that the chandeliers, while very ornate, were rather dusty.
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Community
Nurses fess up on inefficiency
Productivity and efficiency may be the current buzzwords bandied around by the mandarins at the Department of Health - not forgetting quality, innovation and prevention as well of course - but what does the hard pushed frontline think?
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CommunityHumour academies
At an HSJ conference last week, a psychologist said NHS managers should try using their sense of humour to bond with staff.
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Community
Weak clean
The NHS has done much to change public perception of its cleanliness over the years - PEAT inspections, stringent hygiene codes enforced by the Healthcare Commission and the Care Quality Commission and “deep cleans” of wards. But somehow the message does not seem to be getting through.
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Community
Missing you
The DH’s top brass were up before the health select committee last week for their annual grilling on where a fifth of the total public spending goes.
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Community
Treasury whine
At a Number 10 reception for nurses last week, prime minister Gordon Brown was a suitably charming host - with one small exception.