In the second of Health Policy Insight’s series of interviews in the run-up to the revised Operating Framework publication and the NHS Confederation annual conference, editor Andy Cowper interviews Andrew Donald, the chief operating officer of NHS Birmingham East and North PCT.

HPI: How will an independent commissioning board and GP-driven commissioning consortia change the meaning and practice of NHS commissioning?

In the first of Health Policy Insight’s series of interviews in the run-up to the publication of the revised 2010-11 NHS Operating Framework and the NHS Confederation annual conference, editor Andy Cowper talks to Nigel Edwards, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation.

by Health Policy Insight editor Andy Cowper

There are survivors and there are thrivers. Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary of Government Communications Matt Tee is the latter.

His career in communications, culminating in the role of Director General of Communications for the DH, took an interesting tangent when he was appointed chief executive of NHS Direct. He also worked as Business Development Manager for Dr Foster.

At the end of January, Dr Bill Moyes steps down as executive chair of Monitor, the independent regulator of foundation trusts (FTs).

In this interview, Moyes reviews the financial challenges of austerity and a marginal tariff, and appraises the successes and challenges of the FT sector within the healthcare economy of 2010.

Financial matters

Interview by Andy Cowper, editor, Health Policy Insight

Michael Sobanja occupies exactly the position he wants to in NHS Alliance. It’s just not an easy position to define. In musical terms, he’d be the drummer of the band: nailing down the beat of the tunes to hold together the front-stage heroics of lead vocalist Michael Dixon and lead guitarist David Jenner.

Interview by Andy Cowper

Simon Stevens is well-known to the NHS policy world as one of the principal architects of the New Labour health reforms as policy adviser to health secretaries Frank Dobson and Alan Milburn and PM Tony Blair.

Interview by Andy Cowper, editor, Health Policy Insight

Matthew Swindells left the Department of Health in April 2008 to become - after the mandatory DH purdah interval - Managing Director for Health at Tribal Group: a significant player in healthcare consulting and the FESC market for commissioning.

Swindells had been seconded from NHS management (as chief executive of Royal Surrey County Hospital Trust) to become special adviser to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt in 2005.

Interview by Andy Cowper, editor,
Health Policy Insight

Michael Dixon is a man of many hats - GP, chair of NHS Alliance, medical politician, defender of alternative medicine, family man; but just as memorably, a man of many bow ties. The bow tie is not rare among medics - for infection control purposes, some say - but Dixon is almost unimaginable without his. It is literally impossible to imagine him in a T-shirt. Indeed, perhaps it’s where he acquired his ability to tie up loose ends in policy and point them back into the vital world of primary care.

INTERVIEW – MIKE FARRAR

Clinical input and measuring outcomes

Why PBC needs a stimulus and why regulation needs to understand its limitations
Mike Farrar, chief executive, NHS North West
Interview by Andy Cowper

There’s a great photo of Mike Farrar from his semi-pro footballing days, getting punched in the face with both hands by a goalkeeper who, we must presume, is going for the clearance of a cross.

Farrar vs Goalie

It’s not just a great photo because of the punch - which must have stung a bit at the time. It’s a well-taken picture, which also encapsulates ambition, determination and guts.