No problem means no solution
Patrick Wintour’s article, ‘Health and social care bill was a deep failure of Conservative politics’ on the Guardian website, details the trials and tribulations of the passage of the recent Health and Social Care bill from a political perspective. But the most interesting part, as I have written about before, is the general problem of [...]
Lack of prevention in diabetes could cost £600m
I recommend listening to a File On 4 programme about diabetes where they explore the cost of the lack of preventative care in diabetes and how it leads to higher costs in the long term. The programme speaks for itself but it is worth excerpting a couple of parts from the pdf transcript. Julian O‟Halloran, [...]
A hip operation is like buying a cardigan
I’ve only just started following Roy Lilley’s nhsManagers.net email newsletter. I would recommend it. Interesting, sharply written and relevant. But I have to disagree with his latest column entitled, “Not like buying a cardigan”. In it he argues that difficulty in contacting your GP, bad hospital food, poor attitude of staff and collecting a hospital [...]
Cheating – no other way to stay within target
Polly Toynbee writes on The Guardian Comment Is Free website that she has been contacted by Carol, who tells of cheating waiting lists at an NHS Foundation trust. They have a target; they are bound to cheat. That is what people do. Carol told Polly that, She was told to cancel operations for anyone who [...]
NHS in ‘no man’s land’
I was fascinated to listen to Sue Slipman, Director of the Foundation Trust Network, when she said on The World at One, in regards to the hotly contested NHS bill that, “if there were no forward movement that the NHS would be in no man’s land.” This is because many of the provisions of the [...]
Patients need care at weekends too
Dr Foster, the health intelligence and statistics company, have released their new hospital guide. The accompanying press release says that, The Hospital Guide shows that patients are less likely to get treated promptly and more likely to die if they are admitted to hospital at the weekend. The chances of survival are better in hospitals [...]
Elderly care cuts are incredibly short-sighted
This report about cuts to elderly care has much to make you angry. There are the obvious inhumane outcomes where “elderly people with crippling disabilities are being left to fend for themselves” and “elderly people have been left in bed for 17 hours at a time, abandoned in soiled bedding and clothing, while others had [...]
Not enough incentive to treat patients
There is a bit of a tizwas about whether there are people waiting too long on waiting lists and whether this is a legacy of Labour’s policy or the fault of the coalition government. Some say waiting times are going up and others point to new measures coming in from the government that will address [...]
Indiana Lansley and the 18-week NHS target
As Indiana Lansley approaches the altar sweat pours down his face. Lansley tries to control his pounding chest and rattled nerves as he eyes his prize. To get to this precarious spot he ducked the poison darts from the opposition benches, he rolled past the whirling blades of the BMA, he outwitted the deadly collapsing [...]
When you mix healthcare and money
Bupa thinks the surgeons are doing operations to make money and the surgeons think Bupa is undermining their clinical judgement and suspect that it might be simply to save costs. The Guardian reports a spat between a health insurer and the consultant surgeons that are operating on its clients knees. We can’t know who is [...]
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