The Freedom of Information Act has been a revelatory tool for journalists but should we really expect to read all Whitehall correspondence as a result?
Those pressing for the NHS reform risk register to be published argue not to do so denies the public the opportunity to make up its own mind about whether the risks of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms are those worth taking.
One word, eight letters long: A-U-T-O-N-O-M-Y.
According to NHS Alliance chairman Dr Michael Dixon health secretary Andrew Lansley mentioned it 10 times in his speech to 150 clinical commissioning group (CCG) leaders in London on Tuesday. It is the one promise the meeting had been wanting to hear all day. Read more »
A new book from The King’s Fund investigates the impact of New Labour’s introduction of competition to the NHS.
The authors point out that Labour’s market reforms took place in a totally different context to the NHS of today, in which a relatively cash-rich financial climate reduced the impact of competition on hospital trusts.
They argue that competition alone will be insufficient to meet the new and complex challenges of an ageing population and improving care for long term conditions, in a service facing huge financial restrictions. Read more »
Last week my colleague Emma Bower blogged that health secretary Andrew Lansley was unlikely to enjoy much of a summer holiday as the BMA and RCGP rounded on the amended Health Bill.
I don’t imagine health secretary Andrew Lansley will have a very relaxing summer holiday this year.
Parliament has gone into recess and MPs are scurrying off to their constituencies and holiday homes as we speak, but it looks like Mr Lansley may well be spending the summer dealing with possibly the fiercest criticism yet of his Health Bill.
It took Tony Blair’s Labour government several years and a couple of health secretaries to draw up major health reforms.
Blair fan David Cameron wanted to learn from the previous government’s mistakes, and do more, faster.
This week’s GP newspaper splashes on the exclusive that plans to merge all GP contracts into a single deal will be put off for at least two years as the government fights to rescue its NHS reforms.
I’ve been working in the medical media for almost 20 years
now and have reported on many reorganisations of the NHS – but I can safely say
that I have never seen such as mess as we’re all seeing now.
This week’s GP newspaper splashes on the results of an exclusive investigation which finds PCTs are denying GP consortia across England the £2 per patient development funding they were promised in the NHS operating framework.
I’ve been interviewing GP consortia representatives over the last fortnight and have been interested by their reaction to the government’s listening exercise.
Does it mean months off putting their feet up in the sunshine? Well, as appealing as that thought might be given the current weather, the answer is no, quite the opposite, actually. More a case of ‘heads down and let’s get on with business’.
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