It may appear premature to talk about the resurrection at Christmas, but the recent joint report by the Nuffield Trust and NHS Alliance, Beyond practice-based commissioning: the local clinical partnership, by Judith Smith, Julie Wood and Jo Elias, offers a viable alternative option to practice-based commissioning (PBC).

Time for a medicines use review, clearly: they’re having visions again in the DH.

The first chapter of new policy document The NHS 2010-2015: from good to great - preventative, patient-centred, productive is called ‘Sustaining the vision’.

Just what we need: a compendium of mission-statement-speak.

Dr Jim will see you now

So, what happens next?

(Yes, I've had another interruption. Sick children thing. You know. Anyway, shut up, it's free, innit?)

I think we can start to be clear about quite a few things.

I'm also going to tell you the answer to all the problems the NHS will face during the public sector recession. The answer is, in six roughly equal parts:
The Count from Sesame Street
The Babel Fish from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To the Galaxy
Indiana Jones
The John Lewis Partnership
Nike
and
The Beatles

Allocative efficiency in the downturn: Is it possible to 'disinvest' in existing health services and programmes?

The last in the NHS Confederation’s strong 2009 policy salon series addressed whether health economic techniques of allocative efficiency, public engagement and the voluntary sector can give the NHS clues about how and where to make some disinvestment decisions. Coming before NICE’s recent publication on how to support world-class commissioning, the ideas explored could offer a QDOS (quick and dirty operating system) approach to world-class decommissioning.

Professor Alan Maynard OBE reviews the consistency and coherence of recent pronouncements on Conservative health policy.

In a recent speech, leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron spelt out his views on NHS policy. He said:

I'm Bach.

No, hang, on, that's not right - I'm back.

And bloody hell. I leave you alone with the NHS for five minutes while I go and do some work, and what happens?

FTs start topping their patients (again).

Professor Alan Maynard OBE dissects the NHS and politicians’ approach to financially straitened times ahead.

The NHS is about to have a severe financial crisis due to bankers undermining the economy. The costs of our banking bail-out continue to escalate. The UK economy remains reluctant to return to 2007-08 levels of national income and growth.

But has the NHS really got this message yet?

Flat cash

NHS Employers has released ‘Leading the NHS workforce through to recovery’ today at their annual conference.

The report emphasises the need for an intelligent approach to workforce management during the downturn. Its five main 'employer's checklist' principles (full list below) are:
(1) Start planning now. NHS trust and PCT boards need to put a workforce strategy in place that takes a long-term view of both immediate and upcoming challenges.

I've just been reading David Cameron’s latest health speech, looking for anything interesting in it.

There’s a hearty endorsement of Andrew Lansley, which is of note: “Nobody is better placed to bring about this change to the NHS than Andrew. He has an exceptionally detailed knowledge of his brief … a cast-iron determination to reform and improve the NHS … and a deep understanding of what the health service and its values mean for this country”.

Good afternoon.

Last Friday's Times had this story that the Cabinet has agreed to press forward legislation guaranteeing that patients exceeding NHS waiting time targets will be treated privately, to be included in the next Queen's Speech.

The article suggests that patients who are in danger of breaching maximum times (18 weeks for elective care, and two for cancer) would have to be informed of their legal and enforceable right to choose another provider - including independent providers.