All Health Service Journal articles in Opinion – Page 30
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Comment
Emma Dent's Malawi diary
When HSJ senior features writer Emma Dent was asked to join an Oxfam and Unison delegation to poverty-stricken Malawi, she got a lot more than she bargained. Read her day-by-day account of the trip here.
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Comment
Neil Goodwin on public service reform
'If there is one lesson to be learnt.from the past 10 years, it is to pay much more attention to implementing change. Far better to implement half-a-dozen change strategies effectively than to fire off a dozen in a scattergun way, hoping some will hit the mark'
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Comment
Ofcare: 'Ambitions and metrics' mark launch of a new regulatory era
'Ofcare's performance framework commences with mea culpa, admitting what healthcare professionals have been telling the Department of Health for years - top-down targets undermine innovation, motivation and accountability to communities'
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News
Leak reveals plan for Ofcare regime of fines and closures
Underperforming trusts will face fines and closure under powers given to new health and adult social care regulator Ofcare, HSJ has learned.
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Comment
Your Humble Servant: future imperfect
‘MRSA is discovered to have hidden properties which eliminate the H5N1 avian flu virus and patients now choose hospitals with high bacteraemia rates’
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Comment
David Peat on fitness for purpose
'Fitness for purpose has given us intelligence, new understandings and insights into the changing role of being a fully fledged commissioner in the new NHS. It has.helped us respond to the new realities and changes that have taken place in our relationships in and outside the NHS'
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Comment
The role of individual responsibility
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has stressed.that joint working should be the first, not the last, option considered by local authorities and primary care trusts.
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News
John Murray on a joined-up service
'Devolution in the NHS means local priorities increasingly drive allocation of resources. While this development has many benefits, it can unfairly disadvantage patients with specialised conditions, who will inevitability be smaller in number and therefore have less of a voice locally'.
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Comment
Bear the burden of getting care just right
As patients demand more, it is vital to control variation while preserving truly personalised delivery, argue Geraint Lewis and Phyllis Shelton
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News
Bill exposes flaws in plans for greater patient involvement
'One of the strengths of the local involvement networks was supposed to be that, rather than examining the services in a particular institution, they could range across a whole area to gain a rounded view of all aspects of services users' experiences'
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Comment
Independent treatment centre move redefines choice
'The DoH appears to be considering pushing PCTs to use independent sector treatment centres.- even to the extent of trying to steer patient choice'
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Comment
Social services are at last fighting back
David Lock stated in your.article ('David Lock on continuing care liability'): 'A line must be drawn somewhere between health and social care... the social services lobby appears to have been highly effective at persuading the team designing the new eligibility criteria that 'care needs' can usually mean 'healthcare needs', and ...
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News
BBC-style management model will not work in the NHS
In response to your article - BBC-style management could save NHS from 'political ice', I can't think of a much worse model to aim for than the BBC. It is effectively funded as a tax on all TV owners, irrespective of whether they actually use the service or not. And ...
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News
BMA's failure to support medical training
NHS Confederation chief executive Gill Morgan may believe that the British Medical Association has recently been playing a 'constructive role' in policy development ('Resignation over MTAS row 'could weaken' BMA').
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Comment
Thumbs up to Monitor's business plan
I am referring to Monitor's business plan announced last month ('Monitor takes tougher line to prepare for wave of FT plans'). Personally, I think this approach is absolutely right. Having just been deferred at Birmingham and Solihull mental health trust for a few months, we have worked hard to have ...
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Comment
Vulnerable patients and carers need to be recognised
According to David Lock's article ('David Lock on continuing care liability'): 'There is a serious danger that the new single national criteria for NHS continuing care will result in a substantial number of high-cost care packages being transferred from local authorities to the NHS.'
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Comment
Private sector's role is irrelevant for efficient commissioning
You report on a possible deceleration in NHS commissioning of private sector healthcare provision ('Private slow-down expected as service prepares for Brown'). It may seem odd to hear a private sector organisation saying this, but if such a phenomenon occurs, it will not necessarily be a bad thing. This is ...
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Comment
Early consultation with scrutiny committees is key
Your article about health scrutiny (opinion, page 20, 31 May) made the point that it is helpful to involve councillors on health overview scrutiny committees when considering.service changes at an early stage. That is absolutely right.
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News
Robina Shah on a day in the life of Patricia Hewitt
Trust chair Robina Shah spends an exhausting day in the shadow of health secretary Patricia Hewitt