I’m rarely stuck for words, but recently I found myself struggling when a friend of mine (a director in an NHS foundation trust) asked, ‘How can we possibly plan for the next few years?’ We had been t...
There is a new orthodoxy: people who use health services can no longer be viewed as passive recipients of care but must be active co-producers of their own health. But there remains a stubborn gap ...
I've written about investigations in health care before but sadly, with a few notable exceptions, things haven't improved. We still waste vast sums of (our) NHS money and, even worse, we create false ...
Access to psychological therapies for those with severe and enduring mental health problems has been much advocated for in mental health circles of late. Great strides have been made in recent years f...
It has been just over a year since Professor Don Berwick produced his review of patient safety in England. The review offered a distinct shift in emphasis from the focus of the Francis Inquiry. Most n...
It can be really tricky to get better at something. Sometimes it’s even trickier to know if, when, and how much you’re actually getting better. But there are some things you can do to make improvement...
Parity of esteem. A big phrase. We are all signed up to it. But what does it really mean? I was thinking about this after hearing of Robin Williams’ death. Such a tragedy. Depression is a life threate...
Parity of esteem is a much discussed concept – the idea of equally high quality mental health and physical health care is something that it is easy to sign up to. But how close are we to parity? And w...
It’s increasingly recognised that empowering people to take a greater role in managing their health care is beneficial for both patients and health care professionals, especially for those living with...
A little bit of Christmas cheer might be in the offing for the NHS in George Osborne’s Autumn Statement after he announced additional funding of anything up to £2bn for the NHS in 2015-16 on Sunday. ...
