Judge the NHS on its outcomes – not the intentions behind it July 7, 2014 WITH Monty Python at the O2 arena and ongoing coverage of the NHS, I was reminded last week of the Python sketch showing a lady giving birth. Unfortunately for her, the doctors played by John Cleese and Graham Chapman are more interested in impressing the hospital administrator by surrounding her with machinery (like the machine [...]
Future of NHS funding needs national debate, say health professionals July 7, 2014 A host of health experts have penned a letter to the Times urging a national debate on the future of NHS funding in England. While celebrating the rise in life expectancy, the letter warned that the next 50 years will see a growth of at least two-and-a-half times the number of people suffering from multiple [...]
Why bold action on NHS funding can no longer be avoided June 30, 2014 FEW SUBJECTS generate emotion in UK politics like the funding of the NHS. Warnings of the health service’s imminent collapse are ten a penny, while politicians love to talk about “saving” it. With an election less than a year away, the call by Dr Sarah Wollaston MP (chair of the health select committee) and former [...]
There may be a funding gap, but NHS spends less per head than US or European counterparts June 18, 2014 It was announced earlier today that the NHS is likely to suffer from a £2bn funding gap in the next financial year due to growing costs. Health bosses warned that expenditure would outstrip the NHS's £100bn budget set aside for the year commencing April 2015, stating that population growth and ageing will lead to an [...]
Why the NHS now needs a radical strategy for survival March 31, 2014 THERE’S a new boss at the NHS. Today, Simon Stevens takes up the reins as chief executive of NHS England, the quango now responsible for the vast majority of the health service’s £100bn budget. Back in October, many welcomed his appointment to the top job in the NHS. After working for Tony Blair and Alan [...]
The NHS needs to focus on patients not staff pay packets, says think tank March 13, 2014 News this morning that only some public sector workers will see a one per cent pay rise next has riled individuals and unions alike. While Armed Forces, prison officers, members of the judiciary and some NHS workers will see a pay rise next year, not everybody will. And the rise – by only one per [...]
We’re failing to face up to the long-term crisis stirring within the NHS January 9, 2014 DO YOU think the NHS will be a significant factor at the next general election?” asked a BBC reporter last year, as we stood chatting. Never mind recent structural reforms, purely on the basis of our ageing population, it has to be. But whether there will be a realistic debate about what the NHS can [...]
NHS told to refocus on quality of care July 1, 2008 The quality of a patient’s care will become the central focus of the National Health Service in England, with hospitals and careteams rewarded for achieving high standards. Patients will be given a new legal right to choose their GP practice and the kind of treatment they will receive under a draft NHS constitution, launched on [...]