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“Equity & Excellence”: The Devil is in the Detail

The Department of Health has issued a consultation document  “Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS”, published on 12 July, setting out their proposals for putting local consortia of GP practices in charge of commissioning services to best meet the needs of local people, supported by an independent NHS Commissioning Board.  The eagerly awaited detail of how the white paper reorganisation will be implemented outlines:

• How GP consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board can best involve patients in improving the quality of health services
• How GP consortia can work closely with secondary care, community partners and other health and care professionals to design joined-up services that are responsive to patients and the public
• How the NHS Commissioning Board and GP consortia can best work together to make effective and efficient commissioning decisions
• And how the NHS Commissioning Board can best support consortia and ensure they achieve improvements in outcomes within NHS resources.

Last Updated on Friday, 04 March 2011 12:38

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Public Health Service for the Future

In his first speech on public health, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has set out his vision for a new Public Health Service that will encourage society to work together to get healthy and live longer.

Speaking at the UK Faculty of Public Health's annual commissioning conference in June Lansley explained the philosophy behind the new approach and outlined what the framework required to deliver more effective Public Health might look like.

The plans to create a healthy nation are centred on a whole new approach which focuses on behaviour change; and which goes beyond constraining the supply of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and begins to understand and influence the drivers of demand.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 08:21

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Equality: Female GPs make slow progress in leveling the playing field

Women GPs earn £11,000 less than men for doing the same job, a report reveals and the 13 per cent pay gap is only partly explained by women's family commitments.  Male GPs earned £83,333 on average in 2006, while women earned £72,250.  In The Pay Gap for Women in Medicine and Academic Medicine, co-published with the BMA, the Medical Women's Federation (MWF) suggested that women are reluctant to bargain their pay up.  Academic research hints that 'women are poor or unwilling negotiators', the report said.  Dr Clarissa Fabre, MWF president-elect and a GP in Uckfield, East Sussex, agreed: 'Women do not like to bring up money or, for example, time to parity. It is in their nature not to ask.

Last Updated on Monday, 26 July 2010 12:00

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Will the latest White paper deliver better quality care?

The government's NHS White paper “Liberating the NHS” outlines one of the most radical reorganisations in its 60 year history at an estimated cost of £2-3bn.  But have we been here before? 

Kieran Walshe, Professor of Health Policy and Management at Manchester Business School says that “there is very little evidence that past NHS reorganisations have produced improvement” and argues the new government "looks likely to make all these mistakes again." In an editorial published on bmj.com today,  Professor Walshe explains that few of these reorganisations have been properly evaluated and a recent National Audit Office study of over 90 government reorganisations found that, despite huge costs, the benefits were unclear, the process was often poorly managed, and that its impact on performance was often adverse.  Those working in the NHS will recognise this situation; as often the restrucutures have been politically motivated rather than for organisational performance improvement.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 08:26

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