PATRICK BUTLER
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Your money or your life
The hospice movement, a lynchpin of the voluntary sector, is running out of funds. Its leaders say it's time for the NHS to pay for the care of those who use it. Patrick Butler reports
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Money for old hope
Clinical genetics have been transformed since the mapping of the genome. Patrick Butler reports on a Scottish case that could have far-reaching repercussions
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Power steering
The final instalment of our series on the government's NHS modernisation plans looks at the two patient teams: empowerment and access. Essentially, this is about shifting the balance of power from the NHS towards patients, making sure they can get 'fast a
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Heading for a change
The fourth article on the government's modernisation programme looks at the work of the professions modernisation action team. Its brief is 'to increase flexibility in training and working practices and remove demarcations, in the context of major expansion of the healthcare workforce'.
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Mothers' care labouring under delusions
One of the doughtiest and most paradoxical champions of the NHS in the House of Commons recently returned to the subject of one of his greatest triumphs - maternity care - to lament with typical directness what he sees as its decline.
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Target practice
The general election is some way off, but the first salvos have been fired in the health debate. Patrick Butler gets caught in the crossfire
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Easy self-Assembly?
The UK's three devolved power bases have had up to 10 months to forge their own identities. Patrick Butler asks key players how they see their progress
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On the case
FRAUD If fraud in large organisations is 5 per cent of revenue, that's £2bn a year for the NHS in England alone. But is the counter-fraud directorate really going to deliver on the detection and recovery of funds? Patrick Butler reports
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Joyless triumph
A trust's 'achievement' in bringing the first major PFI project to completion has been tempered by claims that the way it has been funded is a 'disaster'. Patrick Butler reports
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Conflict of interest
The armed forces medical service faces the same staffing problems as the NHS - and the two are even competing for the same people, writes Patrick Butler
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Prentis ship
A new leader is set to take the helm at Unison, but although he's known as a moderate, the union is on a collision course with government. Patrick Butler reports
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Managers are bearing brunt of fraud probes
Managers and administrative workers are subject to more fraud investigations than any other NHS staff group, according to an unpublished document compiled by the Department of Health's new fraud squad.
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Crisis, what crisis?
The media was determined to get its 'NHS winter crisis', but officially there wasn't one, junior health minister Gisela Stuart told MPs. That didn't entirely get her off the hook, though, Patrick Butler reports
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The bill of the chase
A ruling on 'duty of care' means ambulances, not hospitals, may be lawyers' next targets, writes Patrick Butler
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Milburn wins plaudits for 'more beds' move
Health secretary Alan Milburn's promise of more NHS beds and a fresh focus on care for elderly people appears to have won the backing of key health service interest groups, boosting his attempts to sustain the momentum of his embattled reforms.
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The famous five
Tony Blair's bold talk in a TV interview of a 5 per cent spending increase for the NHS sparked much debate as to what he really meant. Patrick Butler sifts through the evidence
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Research and destroy
The cancer research industry is under fire, described as wasteful and driven by rivalry. Now MPs are launching a root and branch investigation. Patrick Butler reports
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The very rough guide
It may be a shadow of its early draft, but the new planning and priorities guidance is maintaining a rapid pace of change, writes Patrick Butler