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CommentBlaming individuals for care failures is sometimes the right response
The Great Ormond Street scandal exposes a growing imbalance in NHS patient safety policy. In moving away from blame, the system has also lost sight of individual competence, leadership responsibility, and the non-negotiables needed to prevent serious harm
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Expert BriefingPatient Safety Watch: Jeremy Hunt’s sobering realisation about bureaucracy and box ticking
HSJ hosts the Patient Safety Watch newsletter, written by Patient Safety Watch chair Jeremy Hunt
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NewsChase ‘quick wins’ to hit A&E target, hospitals told
Hospitals are being encouraged to target children, less sick patients, and “near miss breaches” in the final weeks of the financial year, in an attempt to hit the government’s A&E target.
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NewsMinisters overclaimed impact of ‘crack’ elective teams
Elective activity has “barely increased” at the hospitals targeted with “crack teams” to cut waiting lists – contrary to ministers’ claims that the work has “turbocharged activity” – analysis reveals.
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NewsTrust bosses clash over ‘car park care’
Ambulance service leaders have clashed with a large hospital trust for putting “pressure” on its crews to deliver “car park care” while patients wait to be admitted.
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CommentThe National Cancer Plan contains many unanswered questions
The National Cancer Plan is a welcome response to the facts: England lags behind on cancer outcomes, and rising incidence will challenge systems even further. But, says Cancer Research UK, with the right focus on evidence and delivery, the plan could yield results
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NewsKey cancer target pushed back seven years
Ministers have pushed back the NHS’s objective to diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage by nearly seven years, in their new 10-year cancer plan.
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HSJ LocalTrust CEO departs after five years
A chief executive has announced he will retire this summer after five years in leadership roles at a small acute trust in the North West.
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CommentThe biggest drivers of healthcare demand are not what you think
Rising healthcare demand is usually blamed on an ageing, less healthy population. But new analysis suggests this is incorrect
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CommentIs your performance dashboard revealing what you need to know?
Digital decision-support tools are widespread in the NHS, but their impact remains limited. Digitisation has focused on generating insights without creating the organisational architecture needed to act on them
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NewsRevealed: Bid to overhaul key emergency target
National officials are in talks about a major overhaul of the ambulance response time target that covers more than half of emergency calls.
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CommentPatients with dementia are spending too long in hospital
Better dementia care could significantly ease winter pressures on the NHS, but the system is not set up for current needs, let alone future demands
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NewsTrust to review claims of multiple cases of patient harm by surgeon
A trust is investigating the work of one of its former consultants amid claims the cases of “significantly more than 50 patients” he treated at its main site and a local private hospital should be reviewed for potential harm, HSJ has learned.
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CommentCompassionate leadership is not just about ‘being nice’
Compassionate leadership isn’t the problem for the NHS; practising it superficially is. Real compassion already includes clarity, boundaries, and action
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CommentAs a trust CEO I found it hard to keep the focus on improvement
For more than two decades, the NHS has invested heavily in improvement. There have been new operating models, structures, and performance frameworks, as well as repeated waves of leadership development. Yet across much of the service, improvement remains episodic. Gains are made, often at pace – and then lost
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HSJ PartnersWe digitised decisions. Now we must digitise delivery.
The NHS holds more clinical data than ever, yet patient flow remains a daily struggle. Not because digital transformation has failed – but because we digitised decisions while leaving delivery analogue.
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News£50m gap declared after EPR and A&E knock trust off plan
A trust has declared it will end the year with a deficit of at least £48m, admitting its breakeven plan “carried too much risk”.
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CommentWhy so many acute oncology services are unsafe by design
Despite their central role in cancer care, Acute Oncology Services remain underdesigned and overreliant on professional goodwill. Workforce redesign, not resilience, is now the critical safety issue
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NewsNHSE launches ‘sprint’ in bid to hit waiting list target
NHS England has told trusts to begin a “sprint” exercise in a bid to hit its politically critical waiting list target by March.
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CommentThe real cause of NHS leadership burnout
Pressure is visible; disorientation is not. Until the NHS names the quiet drift pulling leaders off course, burnout will continue to be misread and mismanaged











