None of my best friends are management consultants.

But even in the aftermath of the revelation that the DH funded such people to the tune of nearly half a billion pounds in 2009-10, I can see five main reasons why you might use such people.

Some of the reasons are better; some simply dispiriting.

Never can an acronym have been more appropriate.

Consultants at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) have given their chief executive a letter of no confidence.

Acording to the Sunday Telegraph's report, around half of the trust's consultant body have signed a letter of no confidence in the CE Dr Jane Collins, which was facilitated by the BMA.

That's a lot of coins.

As in Combined Online Information System (Coins).

Nearly half a billion pound coins, in fact. On consultants.

How very consultative.

Doesn't it make you feel proud?

An excellent piece of investigative journalism - a collaboration between the BMJ and the Bureau for Investigative Journalism - has revealed that the World Health Organisation failed to declare a crucial commercial conflict of interest on the part of scientists advising it about policy on swine flu vaccines.

Stolen from the Popbitch email:

A man was rushed to hospital when a bizarre sex game went wrong, leaving him with six toy horses stuck up his arse.

Doctors described his condition as stable.

The latest HSJ captions its front cover picture of new Monitor chair Steve Bundred, late of the Audit Commission, with the phrase ‘No Cheerleader’.

Their interview gives Bundred the chance to signal that he will be no Bill Moyes in his approach.

What is the official government policy now on national NHS targets?

And are Prime Minister David Cameron and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley singing from the same hymn sheet?

There are reasonable arguments on both sides of the targets debate in healthcare. In a 2009 debate feature in the BMJ, Gwyn Bevan of the LSE suggested that targets are broadly unproblematic; James Gubb of Civitas had many reservations.

I'm not able to access PMQs directly, but according to a man I would trust without reservation, Michael White of The Guardian, Prime Minister David Cameron promised to keep community hospitals open earlier today.

UPDATE: Hansard now online - reads,
Q9. [000434] Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con): Noting the very high standards of professional care in the NHS in Stroud, may I ask the Prime Minister to lend his support to the Stroud maternity unit?

What a surprise. Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust is appealing against the findings of the Employment Tribunal that its former CE John Watkinson was unfairly dismissed.

Hello. I've had a day off - it was great.

Firstly, may I draw your attention to some good things. You will find another instalment of Maynard Doctrine for your edification and entertainment. The good professor discusses the theory about why bigger hospitals should have higher costs.

You should also look at the National Patient Safety Agency's 10 for 2010 campaign. Their list of attention areas is a sound one: