Professor Alan Maynard OBE, HPI's esteemed columnist, reflects on the blinding stupidity of currently prevalent NHS treatment of 'wet AMD'.

For several years, it has been known that there are alternative treatments for ‘wet’ age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Lucentis and Avastin. The former costs some £700 per dose; the later can be obtained for less than one-tenth of this high cost.

Whooppeee! That champion of socialist wages policies the Daily Mail has discovered that GPs can earn a lot of money for working out-of-hours.

Wow. This is investigative journalism of a high order of magnitude ... a mere four years or so after everybody else noticed this one.

Missing links

First, there was 'world-class commissioning' maestro Mark Britnell's departure, which few people apart from himself were expecting.

Then, there was Lord Darzi's departure: although DH officials knew of his irritations with the system, it was not as common knowledge that he was heading out the door as has sometimes been suggested subsequently, with the virtue of 20-20 hindsight.

The DH has outlined ten 'workstreams' for addressing the worst-case scenario for the economy. At one level, this should not get us too excited; at another, it should get us very excited indeed.

The tremulous ten are:
1. Medicines - including the notion that 30% are not taken at all (or are taken by someone else)
2. Secondary care - beds, theatres, clinics, patient flow
3. Community services
4. Appropriate clinical care, decommissioning, demand management, etc
5. New models of care
6. The health-social care interface
7. Workforce and education
8. Back office procurement

Good evening. I hope this finds you well and swine flu-free.

Swine flu. SWine flu. SWINE flu SWINE FLU SWINE FLU SWINE FLU OH MY GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, THEY'RE COMING TO GET US AND THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT ALIVE AFTER THE HOLOCAUST OF SWINE FLU EXCEPT FOR RATS AND PR MEN!

David Cameron is trying to woo NHS woman.

Women are the section of the electorate that are moving to the Conservatives, and the Tories now want to ensure they gain the support of women who care about the NHS.

Professor Alan Maynard OBE offers some ‘black sky thinking’ about how the NHS could react to cope with recessionary economics.

It is time for NHS purchasers and providers to confess their failings and mitigate their inefficiencies. Unless they ‘bring out their dead’, their capacity to weather the storms of recession funding will be inadequate and they will join the redundant throngs produced by mischief of the bankers.

HPI associated director Tom Smith looks at the battleground of US healthcare reform - a totem to the Obama presidency, and a target for Republicans and large parts of the US's mighty healthcare industry. This could make the Boston Tea Party look sedate ...

After months of discussion, the battle is accelerating and the key disputes are becoming clear. The politics are ‘messier than ever’, the FT says, while The Economist says the next few weeks are critical for how the politics play out.

Good morning. It's dark and raining here in Burgundy, schadenfreude-holiday types. Still, mustn't grumble: it's not in the commissioning plan.

Interesting news on the front page of FT.com this morning. Nick Timmins reports that the private sector has been asked to take over the management of Hitchingbrooke DGH on a franchise basis, with private operators and NHS foundation trusts "being invited to take on its running and financial risk".

Good morning. New figures on the government's lower tax revenues reported in today's Indpependent set an unsurprising context for two recent reports.