Time to FaceTime the practice nurse

Roy Lilley nailed the problem in his usual way:  I think it is only a matter of time before the public starts to say; ‘Why do I have to queue on the phone to get an appointment with my GP?’ ‘Tell me why I have to have a day off to speak to someone I can talk to on Skype from my desk?’... 
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Habemus Epistola Pascha

Perhaps the time is overdue for the eminences of the national religion that is our NHS to retire into a conclave and finally decide who is in charge. We won’t be holding our breath for the white smoke – those of us left with functioning lungs. We will have staggered away – our walking... 
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Care plans or A&E – your choice

I had a revealing encounter with Sir David Nicholson this week in the grand surroundings of the Royal Society in SW1. National Voices hosted a smashing conference there on “patients as leaders: how people power will shape the new health and social care system”.  (@publicinvolve  reported... 
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The Big News This Summer

You are forgiven if you missed the big news of the summer what with various sporting events and so on. Fairy Liquid has been toppled from its perch by the kitchen sink as the king?/queen? of washing up liquids. I have been following its fortunes closely since I was on the road as a Lever Brothers sales... 
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Get Smart about Engagement

The DH and NHS Networks have made it easy to get smart about engagement with their Smart Guides to Engagement series.  Six titles published already and more in the pipeline.  They are aimed at clinical commissioning groups in particular – but are useful for anyone in health and social care who... 
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Engagement entryism – otherwise known as ‘Get Stuck In’

By all means add your voice to the almost 600,000 who have signed the 38 degrees petition against the NHS Bill. But don’t stop there. What concerned citizens should then do is consider some “engagement entryism” at local level. That is where the real issues will be fought out and that... 
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GP Federations: win-win for patients, public and frogs

The healthcare trade papers report that the RCGP and BMA (GPC) are pushing the GP Federation idea again, this time as a way to escape what they see as the problems with the commissioning reforms and the vulnerability of Clinical Commissioning Groups.  We welcome that as something that GPs can unite... 
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Decommissioning lessons: accept the anger – and the impact

If you are sitting comfortably, then we’ll begin with the lesson on “decommissioning for GPs”.  When resources are finite –shrinking in real terms given NHS inflation – commissioning to achieve quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) can only happen in parallel with decommissioning... 
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Don’t shout “man overboard” quite yet

Reading through the comments on the Future Forum website about choice and competition and accountability to patients, many of them make me want to weep. The  now-closed “listening exercise” about NHS reforms has apparently drowned in a tsunami of misunderstanding, misinformation, half-truths... 
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Patients as customers Prof Field?

Just spent a frustrating couple of hours watching a live Q&A session on the NHS reforms and possible changes to the Health and Social Care Bill with Prof Steve Field (who started off by being an hour late arriving at the Guardian office venue).   How depressing to hear him more or less dismiss patient... 
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