Last week prime minister David Cameron announced a series of measures to improve nursing standards and care, including a “friends and family test” (FFT). To me, it appears more of a political gimmick rather than a clinically meaningful mandate for the NHS. The FFT proposes that every patient will be able to give feedback on […]
Category: NHS
James Raftery: QALYs and value based pricing
This blog reports on a workshop held by the Department of Health on 28 November 2012 under Chatham House rules, that is the discussion can be reported but not attributed. This workshop aimed to provide a framework for “a part of the government exploring use of QALY weights” in value based pricing (VBP), specifically: Burden […]
Kieran Walsh: Revalidation starts today
A running joke about revalidation is that its roll out is and always will be 12 to 18 months away. What will mandarins in Whitehall and the colleges chuckle about now that revalidation has finally started? Almost as important, will revalidation work and what impact will it have on the working lives of doctors, standards […]
Jacky Davis on the National Health Action party
On a recent rainy Saturday in November an estimated 15,000 people marched through the centre of Lewisham in response to a call to protect their local hospital whose A&E department, children’s and maternity services are all under threat of closure. The march took an hour to file past and was remarkable for its heterogeneity, with […]
Trishan Panch: More disruption please?
As an NHS GP I learned that healthcare is fundamentally locally provided and delivered through fostering long term relationships. However, the convergence of mobile technology and big data have the potential to profoundly change the way care is delivered. Should existing power brokers see this as an opportunity or a threat and what does this […]
Fred Kavalier: Judge not
Do doctors and judges inhabit different worlds? A judgment handed down this week makes me feel they do. I do not think justice has been done in the case of Sean Maguire. Dr Maguire was the GP who, on 29 August 1993, saw a two year old child with a runny nose, which he diagnosed […]
Kailash Chand on the NHS commissioning board
In the Department of Health’s guidance Developing the NHS Commissioning Board, David Nicholson stated: “CCGs (Clinical Commissioning Groups) will be the engine of the new system and things will only be done at a different level of the system where there is evidence that this produces better results.” However, there is wide spread concern that […]
Rob Hampton: Long term absence needs to be case managed
At the end of November the government will give its response to last year’s sickness absence review led by business leader David Frost and healthcare expert Dame Carol Black. A key recommendation of the review was the establishment of an independent assessment service (IAS), to which GPs could refer patients who have been off work […]
Fred Kavalier: Not very harmonious
Newspapers these days have a steady stream of stories about the alleged failings and dirty dealings of private companies who are providing services to the NHS. Saturday’s Guardian (10 November 2012) has a story about Harmoni, the UK’s biggest out of hours provider that has recently been sold to Care UK for £48m. According to […]
Ian Liddell-Grainger: What more can be done to improve patient access to medical technologies?
Despite an increasing number of medical technologies that have the power to save and enhance lives, a high proportion of healthcare professionals still believe that the NHS has been too slow to embrace innovative ideas and technology. Many point out the stark variations in uptake of medical technologies across the country, not to mention the […]