Increasingly, we are being asked to do more with less. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, a private member’s bill, became law in January 2012. It requires all commissioners of public services to consider economic, social, and environmental value—not just price—when buying goods and services. Social value is about how well scarce resources are allocated […]
Category: Guest writers
Tim Rudin: Ethical Sourcing—how organisations can learn from other public sector bodies
Transport for London (TfL) has been implementing ethical sourcing into our procurement practices since the launch of the Greater London Authority (GLA) Responsible Procurement Policy in 2006. When we first started, very few other public sector bodies in the UK were looking at ethical sourcing. It had traditionally been the preserve of the private sector, […]
Tara Lamont: On failing well—Archie Cochrane’s legacy
I have been reading Archie Cochrane’s account of his life and work (not in general print, but I got it from the Cardiff University archives for £14.99). It is not at all what I expected. Although there are elements of autobiography in the classic, seminal monograph Effectiveness and Efficiency, these are anchored to the main, […]
Tim Ballard: The wider consequences of healthcare delivery
In January we saw the launch of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit’s (SDU) strategy for the NHS. Since its inception, the SDU has tirelessly promoted the wider responsibilities that we have when providing healthcare and social care. At its heart, this strategy reminds us that we need to act if we wish to decrease the […]
David Colquhoun and Andrew Plested: Why Altmetrics is bad for science—and healthcare
Altmetrics is the latest buzzword in the vocabulary of bibliometricians. It attempts to measure the “impact” of a piece of research by counting the number of times that it’s mentioned in tweets, Facebook pages, blogs, on YouTube, and in news media. That sounds childish, and it is. Jeffrey Beall wrote an […]
Arthy Santhakumar: Shining a torch on medical supply chains—the great paradox
Have you ever found yourself wondering where the equipment used by the NHS comes from? Maybe, maybe not. If you are in the latter category, then you may find that the answer makes for an uncomfortable truth. Healthcare is a big business, and navigating through the NHS, its organisations, and supply chains is no easy feat. […]
Jonathon Tomlinson: “Four problems”—a typical day for a GP
I had only three patients left to see at the end of my morning surgery. It was 12.30. I had started at 8am, taking urgent phone calls for an hour before starting face to face appointments. It had been a typically challenging morning. Many patients had complicated mixtures of physical, mental, and social problems which […]
Azeem Majeed: General practitioners should give up their independent contractor status and become NHS employees
General practitioners (GPs) have worked as independent contractors since the NHS was first established in 1948. However, we now need to review whether this model of general practice is what the NHS needs in the 21st century, and consider an alternative model in which general practitioners become NHS employees. In many ways, GPs are already de […]
Päivi Hietanen and Matthew Richard: Providing healthcare in a Syrian refugee camp
A new temporary home in the desert Assisted by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Jordanian authorities, large families flee their homes in war torn Syria to seek refuge in Jordan. Refugees cross the border in the shadows of night carrying their life possessions in rope bags and cardboard boxes. They are first registered […]
Ewout van Ginneken: ICARE4EU—important progress and challenges ahead
The ICARE4EU project wants to improve the care of people suffering from multiple chronic conditions. It will describe, analyse, and identify innovative integrated care models for people with multimorbidity in 31 European countries, and aims to contribute to more effective implementation of such models. During the project (from 2013 to mid 2016), members of the […]