Goodness gracious. For want of shorter, more anglo-saxon words.

Tom Ireland of Healthcare Republic reports that Liberatin' Andrew Lansley told a meeting of GPs in Halton that private sector or charity-led 'commissioning support organisations' will help GP consortia share financial risk.

Is there some bet on for who can deliver the most half-baked piece of policy in 2010?

There is a bitter irony that a day devoted to raising awareness of the sacrifices of previous generations in war, a report reveals that people of the main demographic we consider are at significant risk from healthcare.

An Age-Old Problem is the depressing new report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Death (NCEPOD), out today.

David Smith of The Guardian reports that Netcare KwaZulu has admitted in a plea bargain to having received receiving 3.8 million rand (£342,000) from an illegal international organ trafficking syndicate.

The process involved the removal of kidneys from five children. The transplants were done at one of South Africa's top hospitals, Netcare St Augustine's in Durban.

This is a puzzle.

Earlier today, I heard about David Nicholson's National Quality Board letter to Health Secretary Andrew Liberatin' Lansley, which urges a measured approach to the pace of change, moving to the new system once bodies are demonstrably fit for purpose.

Now Dave West and Sarah Calkin of Team HSJ have spotted that the DH has issued a revised timetable, bringing precise end-dates for PCTs (April 2013) and SHAs (April 2012).

This letter from Nicholson to Lansley is interesting. (UPDATE - you may also want to read this article.)

Sir David didn't get to where he is today without the ability to pitch the tone just right. Well, that and making his numbers, as he has often admitted.

It makes a variety of smart points about the White Paper proposals; specifically on:
1. the need to manage change and develop commissioning skills

It has been quite clear now for some time that whatever your question in public sector policy, the answer is mutualism a la the John Lewis Partnership.

It's not a new thing. Neu Labour (itself the John Lewis Partnership version of The People's Party) used mutualism as a fifth ace in policy every time it got into deep shit: the funniest example was Alan Milburn's eleventh-hour efforts to flog foundation trust policy to his own benches as a revival of the co-operative movement. Ahem.

Yesterday was the opening day of the promised Francis Inquiry Two: This Time, It’s Public. As with all sequel or remake, the inevitable first question is, will it be any better than the original?

There is a nice line in one episode of Yes Minister about a paper on 'Open Government' - you get rid of the difficult bit in the title, and then don't have to mention it again.

Last Wednesday saw the third Wellards annual conference. I went along.

It's an interesting event: Wellards provide information on the NHS, targeted at the pharmaceutical industry - and COI declaration: I do bits and pieces of consultancy and editorial work for them.

At last year's conference, DH primary care czar Dr David Colin-Thome made his infamous remark that "the corpse (of GP practice-based commissioning) is not for resuscitation".

Professor Alan Maynard fully supports the decision to reduce the tariff premiums paid to childrens’ and other specialist hospitals, but wonders why most people in the media haven’t noticed.

Carefully study of Hansard is always fun. Having MPs insult Ministers and Ministers reciprocating is great entertainment. On November 2nd, the exchanges were particularly entertaining and very informative.

The socialist heart of Andrew Lansley