Lansley must do better on accountability

Mr Lansley is a convinced man. But that’s not good if it means his mind is closed.  His understanding of accountability in the new NHS he is proposing is precarious, judging by what he said to Andrew Marr in an interview today.  Despite what is in the Bill,  he said nothing about how commissioning... 
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Hammer down local PPI now with consortia

Our views  on PPI in the new Bill prompted a thoughtful response from  the patient and public involvement advisor of a major health trade union. Here’s what he wrote: My observation is a little less fulsome, since I’m concerned that if we’re not careful, we’ll see ‘business as usual’,... 
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Collaborate on neurological commissioning – Lansley

This afternoon  we got the answer to one of our questions straight from the horse’s mouth on national radio.  Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley answered  on Radio 4′s PM phone in about the new NHS reforms the question we and others have been posing about how the more complex,... 
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Top Billing for Involvement in Lansley Bill

MAC’s initial response to the patient and public involvement (PPI) aspects of the Health and Social Care Bill introduced on 19th January is positive. The preamble describes it as a Bill whose purpose includes  “to make provision about public involvement in health and social care matters”.  That’s... 
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Ramp up patient power in the NHS reforms

So says a report from the great and the good – including Jeremy Taylor of National Voices – published by the NHS Confederation on 17th January.  Liberating the NHS – what might happen? gets out the crystal ball to address a lot of “what ifs?” and other known unknowns about Mr Lansley’s radical... 
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MAC Updates Commissioning Briefing on Engagement

We have updated our briefing for GP consortium commissioners on discharging the duty of patient and public engagement.  This reflects the statements made by Mr Lansley in the Next Steps and Legislative Framework announcement of mid-December, in advance of the publication of the Health and Social Care... 
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Urgent care – our man on the Clapham omnibus wonders what it means

Sitting on the 319 bus the other day as it trundled me home from Clapham Junction, I spied a bright orange NHS London version of the Choose Well campaign.  I wonder how many other Londoners have looked at these and come away confused about what choices they should make when they or a family member... 
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The Patient Experience: from Data to Doing

Our Val said it in her October blog Where Participation gets Personal where she mourned the continuing reluctance of senior managers in a hospital and partners in GP practices to act on data from patients and their carers. She was thinking in particular of the information available informally from patients... 
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Perfect Palindrome

Remember the Election? There certainly seems to have been a strong political flavour for 2010. Our first post of the year was about the NHS Constitution. Our best wishes for 2011 will still have a strong taste of the political but with the emphasis changing from aspiration and announcement to delivery... 
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