Choice and competition in health care

Author: Jennifer Dixon
Reference: The Political Quarterly
Published: 07/10/2008 11:13:00

Extract Review of The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services through Competition and Choice, by Le Grand J., Afterword by Alain Enthoven and Lord David Lipsey. Princeton University Press.

Some time around 2001 New Labour crossed a Rubicon by accepting that provider competition and patient choice were valuable to lever the National Health Service towards better performanceRead this article >

Trust relations in a changing health service

Author: Michael Calnan and Rosemary Rowe
Reference: Journal of Health Services Research & Policy
Published: 03/10/2008

Extract Trust is believed to be particularly salient to the provision of health care because it is a setting characterized by uncertainty and an element of risk regarding the competence and intentions of the practitioner on whom the patient is reliant.Read this article >

NHS inequalities row is shrouded in secrecy

Author: Sally Gainsbury
Reference: HSJ
Published: 11/09/2008

Extract The question of whether poor urban areas should continue to get the most funding is about fundamental NHS principles - so why is it being discussed behind closed doors? Sally Gainsbury reports.Read this article >

Reforming the NHS: why postmodern mush is healthy

Author: Jennifer Dixon
Reference: Policy Review
Published: 01/09/2008

Extract Watchers of health policy in England can be forgiven in recent times for wondering what is the difference between policies of parties of different political stripes. Apart from discrepancies such as whether there should be an independent board for the NHS, the role of local government in commissioning, and whether or not top up payments should be allowed, there is remarkable consensus on how the NHS should be funded, what needs to change and, to large extent, how change should be achieved.Read this article >

The Golden Age of the NHS

Author: Michael White
Reference: HSJ
Published: 28/08/2008

Extract I have been sitting in patchy sunshine reading Rejuvenate or Retire? the Nuffield Trust's anthology to mark the NHS 60th anniversary. Read this article >

Summer reading: try some R&R

Reference: HSJ
Published: 11/08/2008

Extract It's been a big year for managers, one way or another. So why not leave work behind and lose yourself in a good book? It is holiday time, after all.

After a long year in health policy, managers are heading off on their summer holidays. Should they use their two weeks off to catch up on Whitehall documents or leave health behind with the latest blockbuster novel? HSJ readers and contributors some suggestions for summer reading. Read this article >

Quality Control

Author: Noel Plumridge
Reference: Public Finance
Published: 01/08/2008

Extract The Darzi report signals a move away from NHS targets to patient-satisfaction outcomes.It means a big shake-up for health funding, explains Noel Plumridge. Read this article >

Nurse lands top academic job

Reference: Nursing Times
Published: 29/07/2008

Extract A nurse academic has been appointed overall head of a new school of health sciences at Southampton University.Read this article >

Will the NHS strategic plan benefit patients?

Author: Donald Light
Reference: BMJ
Published: 26/07/2008

Extract The first principle of the Toyota way, one of the world’s most successful management systems, is to base decisions on a long term philosophy that generates value for the individual, society, and the economy.

NHS chief executive David Nicholson revealed the figure when estimating the impact of two pay-for-quality initiatives announced in Lord Darzi's next stage review. Read this article >

Think tank warns party politics are risk to UK health

Author: Lindsay Moss
Reference: The Scotsman
Published: 14/07/2008

Extract Scotland and England need to be much more co- operative when dealing with health concerns, rather than relying on ad-hoc arrangements which could be at risk from party politics, a report warns today. Devolution has meant that the four nations of the UK have moved further apart when it comes to health policies, with Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon last week saying that there was a "battle of ideas" between Scotland and England. Read this article >

Report calls for better UK coordination to solve devolution problems

Author: Adrian O’Dowd
Reference: BMJ
Published: 14/07/2008

Extract The four national governments in the United Kingdom need to work far more closely and to coordinate formally over health issues or face growing conflict, a major report says.

Since 1999, devolution has meant ever widening differences in health policy between the four countries, and lack of coordination will damage all four healthcare systems, warns the report by the health policy think tank the Nuffield Trust.Read this article >

A fairly happy birthday

Author: Tony Delamothe
Reference: BMJ
Published: 05/07/2008

Extract This week the NHS celebrates its 60th birthday. It should be its most benign anniversary in recent memory.Read this article >

Forces of change threaten to shatter political consensus

Author: Nicholas Timmins
Reference: Financial Times
Published: 03/07/2008

Extract As the National Health Service enters its seventh decade it appears as safe from dismemberment as it has ever been.

David Cameron's determination to cauterise the NHS as an election issue means the service is basking in the warm glow of cross-party consensus for the first time since the 1950s. Read this article >

Managers put faith in Darzi's clinical vision

Author: Helen Crump & Rebecca Evans
Reference: HSJ
Published: 03/07/2008

Extract Managers believe Lord Darzi's vision for the NHS, where quality is financially rewarded and commissioning is the lynchpin of the service, is achievable within the next 10 years. Read this article >

Darzi quality incentive puts £1bn at stake

Author: Sally Gainsbury
Reference: HSJ
Published: 03/07/2008

Extract Up to £1bn - or 3 per cent - of annual hospital trust income will be contingent on meeting service quality requirements by 2010-11.

NHS chief executive David Nicholson revealed the figure when estimating the impact of two pay-for-quality initiatives announced in Lord Darzi's next stage review. Read this article >

The NHS at 60: Time to end the fairy tale

Author: Graham Watt
Reference: The British Journal of General Practice
Published: 01/07/2008

Extract Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who’s the fairest of us all?’

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs there is a tragic mirror that flatters all who look into it, saying that there is none as fair as they. The NHS has a similar effect, reflecting our best ideas and wishes for free health care, treatment according to need, personalised service, fairness, and so on. But while everyone has been admiring themselves in the mirror, the world has moved on. Read this article >

Do you have your own doctor, doctor? Tackling barriers to health care

Author: Graham Watt
Reference: British Journal of General Medical Practice
Published: 01/07/2008

Extract Doctors are more at risk of mental ill-health than the general population. The risk of suicide is higher than the general population, especially among GPs, anaesthetists, and psychiatrists. Studies from North America suggest that 8-18% of doctors will be affected by drug or alcohol abuse during their lifetime. So the way that doctors do or don’t access healthcare is important – for them, for their families, their colleagues, and ultimately, for their patients. An article in this issue reviews the literature on health behaviours of doctors and the barriers they experience in accessing care. Read this article >

NHS health gains do not match investments made

Reference: Healthcare Insurance Report
Published: 01/07/2008

Extract The last in the series of four reports commissioned by the Nuffield Trust entitled, The Quest for Quality: Refining the NHS Reforms, concludes that despite a decade of constant reform in the NHS, health gains do not match the investment made in health services. The UK is still outperformed by other countries especially in the areas of mortality from circulatory disease and cancer. The UK also has the highest rates of MRSA infection, although this has fallen in the past year. Progress was described as “sobering” by Jennifer Dixon, director of the Nuffield Trust.Read this article >

Round-up of reaction to the Darzi review

Author: Neil Durham
Reference: HealthCare Republic
Published: 01/07/2008

Extract BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said much of the change in the Darzi review was positive but success or failure would depend on the detail and engagement with those who worked in the NHS. Read this article >

The NHS was a glorious idea, but it needs urgent treatment

Author: James Gubb
Reference: Yorkshire Post
Published: 28/06/2008

Extract The NHS's aims have always been laudable – and they remain so today. A lack of money should never prevent anyone who suffers the misfortune of ill health from getting quality treatment.Read this article >