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 [...]
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 [...]
Why do NHS managers want to keep targets?
The Public Service web site reports on a survey where 59% of NHS managers say they want to keep the targets that are being dropped by the new government. Andrew Lansley has said that the 48 hour GP target, the 4 hour A&E target and the 18 week GP to treatment target are to be [...]
Soldiers kill civilians for bonuses
Indian soldiers in Kashmir are being investigated by the local police because they may be killing civilians and then claiming that they are Islamic militants. Human rights activist Parvez Imroz was interviewed in an article by The Guardian where he said that soldiers received bonuses for each kill. He added that, “There are vested interests [...]
Surgery targets endanger patient safety
The BBC reports that About one in five of the nearly 600 surgeons questioned by Bournemouth University reported being involved in incidents, during a two-week period, where patients were harmed. Using the figures further on in the article of 549 surgeons questioned and 19% seeing harm, that means that in two weeks, 104 surgeons saw [...]
A target is not a plan
In the News section of the May 2010 edition of Qualityworld (who I have written for) there is a report on a vote by readers on which of the political parties have the best appreciation of change. I noted that one respondent wrote, The Tories’ critisism of targets indicates that they do not understand the [...]
NHS four-hour A&E target to be cut
From the Press Association, NHS four-hour A&E target to be cut This is good news, but it remains to be seen what the alternative will be. It is hoped there will be some sort of method behind it this time. By method I mean a practical way of improving that is not ideological or dogmatic, [...]
Welsh Ambulance Response Rates Show No Improvement
It is reported by the BBC that the Welsh Ambulance Service has improved its response times for Category A emergency calls. These calls are targeted to have an ambulance arrive within 8 minutes 65% of the time. The BBC article states that the percentage has been above 65% for the last three months and that [...]
Ambulances no longer sent to all seriously ill patients
The obvious angle for comment on the recent Daily Telegraph story, ‘Ambulances no longer sent to all seriously ill patients’ is that targets are damaging patient care and causing ambulance services to cut corners by sending paramedic cars to patients who really need an ambulance. But this has been covered in previous posts and actually the more interesting point is hidden near the end of the article.
No such thing as a justified target
No Justified Targets Before the election in May, the three health spokesmen for the major parties debated on television. Obviously the question of targets came up and Andrew Lansley said he would scrap “politically motivated” NHS targets but keep those that were “clinically justified”. The problem is that there is no such thing as a [...]
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