Our interview series continues with editor Andy Cowper interviewing Dr Michael Dixon GP, chair of NHS Alliance.

What are the main opportunities for GPs and the primary care team in the new policy?

MD: “This is the time for general practice to up its game. Current changes allow GPs and general practices a major role as local leaders in determining the nature and quality of all local services available and improving local health. Potentially, they can move from being peripheral to this process to becoming the driving force within it.

Morning. From a startlingly rattly Virgin train to Liverpool, please find for your edification our new interview with NHS Alliance chief exceutive Michael Sobanja on the future of clinically led commissioning, the role of managers in the brave new world and what’s missing to make it all work.

Our new Michael Dixon interview focuses on engaging GPs, fitting the willingness to risk, and locally leading the NHS.

You may already have seen the previous instalments:

In the third in our series of policy interviews, editor Andy Cowper interviews NHS Alliance chief executive Michael Sobanja.

What are the main opportunities for GPs and the primary care team in the new policy?

MS: “Predominantly, the opportunities are for GPs and general practice. One interesting thing in emerging policy is its focus on GPs as opposed to the primary care team.

Power is sometimes the most fascinating thing in the world, and yet it so easily becomes the dullest.

Power in and of itself isn’t interesting. It’s just heft, a monolithic kind of stupid freedom.

Power becomes fascinating in relation to purpose, and in observing its affect on relationships. Used properly, power is always a means; never an end.

Contrary to some last-minute rumours, VAT goes up to 20% from January 2011 following today's budget.

There is an interesting corrolary side-effect, which is to wipe out the promised £200 million for the National Cancer Drugs Fund.

Whoever drafted the revision to the NHS Operating Framework 2010-11 deserves a sharp clip round the ear for inventing the word “re-ablement”. (Unless there’s a DH sweepstake to see who can come up with the most hideous policy neologism – if that were happening, I would quietly respect “re-ablement” as a worthy challenger to “polyclinic”.)

Our new interview with Andrew Donald, chief operating officer of NHS Birmingham East and North PCT is now online.

The first in the series, with NHS Confederation acting chief executive Nigel Edwards, was published on Friday.

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?

Morning all.

The revised Operating Framework 2010-11 has just been published by the Department of Health. UPDATE: This is now the correct link. A bad mistake by the DH web team.

According to the press release, the revised OF will:

Hello.

As the countdown starts to next week's publication (Monday or Tuesday, we think) of the revised Operating Framework for 2010-11 and the NHS Confederation's agenda-setting annual conference, Health Policy Insight is running a series of policy interviews with practitioners, policymakers and influencers.

The first in the series, with NHS Confederation's acting chief executive Nigel Edwards, is here.

We hope you enjoy them.