Does the NHS need management consultants?

As NHS management expenditure tightens, management consultancy costs are in the spotlight. The NHS is big business for the consultancy industry. We spend hundreds of millions of pounds a year on consultancy services. Over the next period, we need to ensure that as section 3.55 of the NHS Operating Framework 2010/11 states, external consultancy is “used only when there are no other options” and that every pound invested in consultancy support delivers a significant return. However, this doesn’t mean the demise of the consultancy industry in the NHS. In fact I believe that management consultants can play an even more effective role and help us get better, faster results. HSJ. http://tinyurl.com/yhadg3e

Biggest Shake up in NHS Medical Education History

All Nurses must have degrees by 2013. The courses, lasting up to four years, will meet standards developed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

http://tinyurl.com/y8nmnu9

A revolution in care

Setting up a National Care Service would be equivalent to the creation of the NHS – now to tell the public what social care is

http://tinyurl.com/ygn2zl7

Warner Chilcott pays £1.9bn for P&G medicine arm

‘Transformational’ drugs deal backed by Wall Street banks

http://tinyurl.com/yztkwvl

Gordon Brown backs free healthcare for world’s poor

• Government to spend £6bn on overseas healthcare by 2015
• PM offers cash and help to create free systems

http://tinyurl.com/mgddol

NHS staff sickness rates 1.5 times private sector level, health report finds

• More than 45,000 NHS workers a day report sick
• Staff have higher levels of obesity and poor mental health

http://tinyurl.com/kmp4p3

NHS or US healthcare?

The debate about the relative merits of the NHS and US healthcare continues to rage. But if you were to fall ill, which system would you rather be treated under?

http://tinyurl.com/yfztnzg

Bupa boss warns of care crisis

The government has failed to grasp the scale of the problem 

http://tinyurl.com/ykab6zm

Cleaning up US healthcare’s mess

I know first-hand the difference between healthcare in the US and UK. My experience shows why the profit motive isn’t healthy

http://tinyurl.com/m2po28

General Healthcare in talks to buy Covenant

UK’s largest private hospital firm eyes indebted rival

http://tinyurl.com/no3svo

Dream teams

Who will care for older people in the future … experienced council-employed staff or poorly-paid migrants in cash-starved independent homes?

http://tinyurl.com/mtkky5

Jobs at risk as NHS faces cuts to meet £15bn shortfall

• Study warns of financial squeeze after 2011
• ‘Improved quality and efficiency’ best remedy

http://tinyurl.com/naha24

Putting the health back into the NHS

Budget management and hierarchies dominate a sector sorely in need of an injection of innovation from the bottom up. Over the next two years, the NHS budget will top £205bn, and then the cuts will come – or will they?

http://tinyurl.com/mvqo47

NHS contract leaves BT with painful results

The government has handed the telecoms giant a £100m advance despite its dire record on delivering computer systems

http://tinyurl.com/ylcb6lg

GSK takes orders for 195m swine flu doses

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the UK pharmaceuticals company, has received orders for 195 million doses of its swine flu vaccine and expects a sustained level of demand for pandemic medicine “over the next few years”.