LATEST
ARTICLES
What’s the true cost of axing
culture?
20 December 2013
As councils contemplate where next to cut following Tuesday's
announcement of a 2.9% reduction in total spending power
next year, support for culture risks another financial battering.
With individual councils facing funding cuts of up to 6.9%, and
growing concern in some authorities about their long-term
ability to meet statutory obligations, spending on culture has
inevitably been slashed in many areas.
However, in a few places councils are fighting hard to maintain
support.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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Good NHS trusts welome
complaints
12 December 2013
Complaints and compliments should be key drivers of reform in
any NHS organisation. Services constantly alert to the
experiences and views of their patients and staff will spot
problems early, respond quickly and effectively, and welcome
rather than resent criticism.
When warning signs are ignored or not pursued, small
difficulties will develop into crises. In the review by NHS
England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh of the care provided
by 14 trusts with high mortality rates, being slow to learn
lessons when things went wrong and failing to drive change
through the system were among the faults he identified.
Read the full article on the Guardian healthcare network
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US mayors give lesson in
leadership
6 December 2013
The growing energy and activism of city mayors in the United
States stands in sharp contrast to the UK's ambivalence
towards clear civic leadership.
US mayors are confronting the big problem in their
communities – from education and inequality to transport and
crime – using both formal powers and informal leverage.
Kansas city mayor Sly James has earned a reputation as an
innovator in both transport and technology.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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NHS competition is out of control
28 November 2013
The government's doctrinal obsession with competition in the
NHS is damaging care, holding back improvement and
undermining integration. But ditching competition is not the
solution.
Numerous studies on the impact of competition on the quality
of healthcare (John Appleby of the King's Fund has written an
excellent summary) broadly demonstrate that when used
appropriately it can bring benefits, but it is by no means a
universal tool for improvement.
Read the full article on the Guardian healthcare network
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How to keep people out of social
care
27 November 2013
Adult social services epitomise the values of a caring
community – supporting us when we are at our most
vulnerable. But funding cuts mean local governments can no
longer meet the needs of local people. A new approach to
social care has to be found.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services reports
that in the three years to March 2014, £2.68bn – or about a fifth
of the total funding budget – will have been cut from adult
social care.
Read the full article on Guardian Social Care Network
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Core Cities make a bid for
freedom
22 November 2013
The UK's eight largest cities are making a bid for freedom.
Following on from the success of the city deals negotiated with
the coalition they are now building the case for how devolving
power to them will unleash economic growth.
At the Core Cities Summit on Thursday Birmingham, Bristol,
Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and
Sheffield presented compelling evidence from across Europe of
a link between devolved political power and economic growth.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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Can companies back public
health?
18 November 2013
Public health is not yet occupying the space envisaged for it
under the Coalition government’s health reforms. Then health
secretary Andrew Lansley’s vision was to remove ministers
from day-to-day running of the NHS while greatly increasing
the Department of Health’s focus on public health. Before the
election the Conservatives even floated the idea of renaming
the DH the Department of Public Health.
Jeremy Hunt is instead micromanaging the NHS and giving far
less emphasis to the work of Public Health England.
Read the full article on the Cambridge Health Network
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Keogh A&E plan faces major
risks
14 November 2013
At last NHS England has the beginnings of a solution to one of
the major crises facing the health service. Its long-term plan to
address the A&E problems, unveiled on Wednesday, is
clinically led, evidence-based, and provides a route to public
acceptance. But it will be extraordinarily difficult to implement.
Such is the public's attachment to A&E that it probably took a
crisis to stand any chance of convincing them of the need for
change.
Read the full article on the Guardian healthcare network
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Stevens ushers in hospital data
era
13 November 2013
Simon Stevens, incoming chief executive of NHS England, has
global expertise in buying healthcare. His arrival will trigger the
development of a more analytical, quality focused and rigorous
commissioning regime which will compel providers to change
their models of care.
NHS England's attempt to run the whole system has led to
confused lines of accountability with the Care Quality
Commission, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development
Authority.
Read the full article on Health Service Journal
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Councils chiefs go for growth
12 November 2013
The chief executive role is getting harder. Now the easiest cuts
have been made, local authority heads are faced with changing
the purpose, culture and organisation of their councils to get
them through another decade of austerity.
Graham Farrant, joint chief executive for Thurrock unitary
authority and the nearby London borough of Barking and
Dagenham says that although the first years of cuts have
meant tough decisions, they have been manageable and in
some cases improvements have been made.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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Health boards need quick
success
8 November 2013
In the run-up to the launch of the new NHS structure in April,
one of the few aspects which everyone agreed on was that
health and wellbeing boards were a good idea.
They were to be the place where clinical services could co-
ordinate with all the others which shape people's health –
notably social care, housing, and public health – to tackle the
root causes of ill health and inequality.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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Cuts spur social care integration
6 November 2013
Across the NHS, social care and government officials are
talking about integration. But political and institutional inertia,
and public resistance to change, are impeding progress. Back
in 2010, progress was being made towards integrated care in
New Zealand's Canterbury region. Then came a series of
earthquakes, which significantly damaged hospitals' capacity to
function. And yet this gave the integrated care initiative more
impetus; disaster compelled change.
Read the full article on Guardian Society
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How will Simon Stevens lead
NHS?
31 October 2013
When Simon Stevens takes over as NHS England chief
executive next April he will become the principal figure in a
system that does not work and which lacks a credible plan for
addressing a huge and widening funding gap.
His time in charge will be split into two phases. For the first
year, his ability to secure visible change will be hampered by
the intense political fighting in the run-up to the 2015 general
election. Much of that period will be used preparing the ground
for more radical activity after polling day.
Read the full article on the Guardian healthcare network
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MPs’ scrutiny of councils has
limits
25 October 2013
Whitehall and parliament are tightening the screw of central
control again, and this time Margaret Hodge is coming after
local government. The Labour chair of the public accounts
select committee said last week: "You will be accountable to us;
we will be able to haul you in."
The committee is planning to do a "broad review" of local
government with close examination of some individual councils,
as well as headline programmes such as the work on troubled
families.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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GPs’ only chance to lead the NHS
24 October 2013
Just seven months ago, GP commissioners were poised to
lead a clinically driven revolution in the NHS. Their deep
understanding of the needs of patients and ability to eyeball
hospital clinicians on service quality were billed as the levers
for radical improvements.
But there is a grave danger that much of the early ambition
around the reform of commissioning is being thwarted by two
major obstructions—competition rules and financial instability.
Read the full article at the British Medical Journal
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Who will lead the NHS out of
crisis?
17 October 2013
The Foundation Trust Network has been gathering in Liverpool
for its annual conference against a background of drift and
crisis in the NHS. Like soothsayers in the dying days of a
crumbling empire, the service is beset by reports and speeches
predicting collapse. Harder to find are leadership and answers.
No week would be complete without another report telling us
how many billions of pounds the NHS needs to save, how
quickly it needs to do it, and how little chance it has of
achieving it.
Read the full article on the Guardian healthcare network
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Harnessing the power of Big Data
16 October 2013
Digital services and big data are rendering traditional ways of
organising local government obsolete, compelling councils to
collaborate both internally and externally.
What's more, the public-sector spending cuts are accelerating
this change as councils seek to share costs while developing
services that offer the hope of long-term savings, such as early
intervention to help older people live independently.
Read the full article on the Guardian Society
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Council chiefs stay calm in a
crisis
11 October 2013
Local authority chief executives and senior managers gathered
at the Solace Summit this week in York where the incoming
Solace president Mark Rogers, from Solihull council, urged
members not to be overawed by austerity and to think about
the whole system when finding a way through for their councils
and communities.
Read the full article on the Guardian local government network
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Tories winning war of words on
NHS
3 October 2013
At their conferences the political parties laid out their
campaigns on the NHS for the 2015 election. Labour talked
about ideology; the Tories talked about patients.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham had written his speech
for the party faithful. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt aimed his
squarely at the voters.
Read the full article on the Guardian healthcare network
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Public Policy Media
Richard Vize