As I walked through the office door on Monday morning, my assistant told me that my first appointment had been cancelled. I admit to sharing some annoyance, but then he told me the person I was suppos...
The work of 1000 Lives Plus, Wales’s national healthcare improvement programme, has repeatedly emphasised the need to include patients in the design and delivery of services. The use of ‘Stories for I...
Healthcare staff are usually motivated to enter their professions by a desire to make a difference for patients and service users. Why then do they find it so hard to speak up for patients when they s...
As the NHS passes another milestone, one wonders how 2013 will be remembered. The beginning of a slow and steady decline? Or is 65 the new 45 and the time to re-think the future? At the Health Foun...
Our health and social care system in Scotland is facing challenges nationally and locally which open opportunities for change and improvement. The Quality Strategy for NHS Scotland 2010 recommends ...
Yesterday's high octane ding-dong in the House of Commons over the Keogh report was an example of the unacceptable face of political interference in the delivery of healthcare. It was nothing, however...
Whilst Northern Ireland differs from much of the rest of the NHS in having an integrated health and social care system, it faces many of the same challenges and must deliver similar changes if it is t...
The readmissions policy (non-payment for readmissions within 30 days) has been a feature of the system payment rules for several years now. The rationale is that providers should get it right first ti...
There comes a time in your life when you start to get preoccupied about what the world looks like for older people, profoundly hoping it will get better before you have to experience it for yourself. ...
Orthostatic hypotension (a drop in blood pressure upon standing from a lying or sitting position) is a major cause of falls, both in the community and for hospital inpatients. At Stockport NHS Foundat...
