Simon Stevens, the relatively new NHS Chief Executive, put innovation front-of-house in his speech to the NHS Confederation yesterday. He identified it as one of three elements crucial to 'future-proofing' the NHS for the challenges ahead. You can read the full speech here. But I have also included the relevant extract below as it is worth reading. A few points... Continue Reading →
Is Healthwatch England, Barking up the wrong tree?
Call me simple-minded but it never bodes well for an organisation in my view, if WORD persists in underlining your name in red. I should know. Nor does it bode well if your strategy doesn't fit on one side of A4. If people can't print it out they won't read it. In my opinion. But... Continue Reading →
Our NHS: If there is a patient on board could they please make themselves known to the cabin crew
The NHS would appear to be suffering an in-flight emergency. It is locked on auto-pilot. The cabin crew are unsure what to do. A few are close to panic. The nature of the problem is unclear. The causes indeterminate. No one was trained for this. Cabin crew announcements become more insistent and louder by the... Continue Reading →
Research in the NHS: I couldn’t put it better than Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust
Recently I decided to 'Follow' as many of the NHS organisations (Trusts, CCGs etc) as I could find on Twitter. The main reason was that as we ratchet up what we do around the patient access to research agenda in the New Year, I thought it would be good to begin to make connections on... Continue Reading →
The NHS Commissioning Board Draft Mandate and patients in health research
The Shard went up (officially). And the NHS Commissioning Board Draft Mandate came down from on high. All on the same day. Add the odd torrential downpour with its associated misery and these could be Biblical times. I have come to the conclusion that it is my fate to be locked away somewhere remote and with an intermittent... Continue Reading →
Are you a patient? Then, I’m holding you for questioning. You have the right to…..
Just in case you had missed it, it's all about patient experience from now on! And a good thing too. Or, at the very least, it seems the intention is to ask people more questions about their experience. A lot more questions in fact. In the new world, I wonder, will we be met by NHS 'chuggers'... Continue Reading →
HSJ ‘Progressive Research Culture’ Award 2012: Open for entries
It's that time of year again to get your local NHS Trust to enter this year's Health Service Journal (HSJ) 'Progressive Research Culture' Award. This follows the success of last year's award which saw over 40 Trusts enter. Further details from the NIHR CRN CC website. I'm delighted that the nine criteria include these two: - Evidence of... Continue Reading →
We need more than better chat-up lines to increase participation in research
'Pedestrian freight.' It is a term I had not come across until last week. I believe it is the phrase once used inside train companies to describe you and I, the commuters who throng with fortitude through our stations up and down the land every day. Perhaps it still is, I don't know. Such 'internal' phrases can... Continue Reading →
NHS research up close and personal: ‘Research People’ site tells the stories behind the story
Returned from half-term leave today thinking that I might write about the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) patient experience survey. After a while looking at the results I began to think: is there a good reason why there isn't a patient 'out of body experience' survey conducted and published? It might come closer to the... Continue Reading →
Government consults on Healthwatch membership
The Government last week launched a public consultation seeking views on the membership of Healthwatch England. Healthwatch England will be the 'consumers champion' under the NHS reforms. It will be what they call a 'statutory committee' of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and is expected to be up and running by the autumn. Many, including... Continue Reading →
I’ve got a pile of irony to do tonight – from Scottish independence to NHS reform
On my train journey from Edinburgh this morning, I listened to a BBC Radio Scotland phone-in about the implications of Scottish independence. The intricacies of a possible de-coupling from the UK are fascinating - from the economy to people's pensions, to the NHS. I've yet to read an article written specifically about the pros and cons... Continue Reading →
Given my post yesterday I am delighted to congratulate Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust on winning the Health Service Journal's (HSJ) first ever research culture award last night. The full list of winners and highly commendeds is as follows: Winner: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Highly Commended: Portsmouth Hospitals... Continue Reading →
You cluster if you want to…the single most important translational gap in UK clinical research today
A colleague of mine put up two slides at a meeting today which neatly encapsulated for me the key strategic - perhaps translational gap - in uk clinical research right now. On the demand side, the first showed the key results from the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) commissioned MORI poll of public attitudes... Continue Reading →
Manning and crowd weigh in on NHS reforms at the eleventh hour
Goodness me the nation's health must be in peril if the Royal Colleges have kicked off their slippers and downed their pipes to emerge like Dad's Army into the affray about the NHS reforms. All seems to rest now on those of their number who reside in the Upper House. How peculiarly English but ultimately unsatisfactory... Continue Reading →
Cancer Research UK does not have all the answers..and that’s an invitation to the rest of us
I see that Cancer Research UK last week put out a press statement about the need for the UK to have strategic vision for medical research. You can find further details on their blog and they also issued a document entitled 'Building the Right Environment for Medical Research.' Thoughtfully the announcement and document have been... Continue Reading →
NHS reforms to face a tough round of Peer review this autumn
We are a nation that no longer knows when to put its rubbish bins out. So I reflected, as I dragged our two overflowing wheelie bins back to their usual place. To be fair to Bromley Council, it's not that they fail to pick-up our rubbish; just that no one can quite predict what sort... Continue Reading →
From I Claudius to iLansley…phone apps in the new NHS
The summer break has clearly done the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, a world of good. From beating a lone path as the libertarian Claudius in the face of a centralised health service, he has resurfaced this week as the man for all seasons to launch a competition for the best ideas for... Continue Reading →
Rising cancer rates and the NHS reforms…plus NIHR and ‘impact’
I suspect you have seen today's news bulletins covering Macmillan Cancer Support's report predicting a significant rise in the number of people who will get cancer. To quote the opening lines of their statement today: Cancer rates are increasing at such a rate that research shows 42% of people who die in this country will... Continue Reading →
I've got a sneaky feeling that Andrew Lansley might be going to Cornwall on holiday giveh his overtures to the region about how the new funding allocations for the NHS will no longer penalise the county. And this is how The Guardian reported Andrew Lansley's speech to the NHS Confederation yesterday.
Government gets the message on research in NHS reforms
From the NIHR website today following the Government's response to yesterday's publication of the NHS Future Forum conclusions. A real result as far as I can see with regard to excess treatment costs as well as the strengthening of the duties and responsibilities to promote research in different parts of the NHS structure. Very good... Continue Reading →
