Editor's Blog

Editorial Friday 9 July 2021: What the remaining NHS England leadership candidates must consider

AndyCowper — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 11:36:41 -0400

It seems as if the candidate pool has reduced to three in the race to succeed NHS England chief executive Lord Stevens of Birmingham (the artist formerly known as Simon Stevens).

HSJ reports that NHSE deputy CE Amanda Pritchard, KPMG's Dr Mark Britnell and Leeds City Council boss Tom O'Riordan remain in the race.

Editorial Friday 11 June 2021: USA's FDA orders recall of Innova lateral flow tests

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 08:55:37 -0400

Ooops.

The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday asked Innova to stop sales of its Innova SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test.

Editorial Monday 7 June 2021: NHS Improvement chair Baroness Dido Harding interviewed on 'Woman's Hour'

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 06:27:23 -0400

NHS Improvement chair Baroness Dido Harding on Woman’s Hour: a rough transcript. Interview by Emma Barnett.

Emma Barnett: Is TAT system robust enough to deal with Covid19? It’s been in the papers yesterday about your possibly going for the top NHS England job once Sir Simon Stevens goes. Have you applied?

Editorial Wednesday 26 May 2021: The People’s Dominic Show

AndyCowper — Wed, 26 May 2021 04:40:32 -0400

It’s The People’s Dominic Show day.

The PM’s former chief advisor is giving evidence to the Commons Health/Science select committees’ joint ‘lessons learned’.

Mr Cummings was at the heart of Government during the pandemic. He now has the political and scientific nation’s attention.

This write-up will be as accurate as I can make it, but it is in real time: there will be elisions, omissions and lots of typos.

DC's answer to the opening question states that the Government failed disastrously, and he apologises for his part in that.

Editorial Tuesday 25 May 2021: The new 2021 lockdown trend

AndyCowper — Tue, 25 May 2021 11:30:08 -0400

Excuse me?

Actually announcing new lockdown restrictions? Out loud, in the real world? (Always fashionably too late, obvs.)

Oh pur-lease, darlings. That's peak cheugy.

So 2020.

The 2021 trend is here, and it's fab-u-lous.

This season, it's all about the 'shush'-y lockdown (a trend first spotted by the fashion bible Manchester Evening News).

Editorial Friday 30 April 2021: Who's next? Post-Stevensism, the Mencken Fallacy and the art of the impertinent question

AndyCowper — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 06:25:26 -0400

Since yesterday's announcement of the abdication of The Sun King Of Skipton House, Sir Simon Stevens, a lot of people have rushed to ask 'who's next?'

Mmmmm. If not mmmmmmmm. As our classicist Prime Minister Boris Johnson might advise, 'festinare lente': more haste, less speed.

Editorial Thursday 29 April 2021: Sir Simon Stevens steps down as NHS Commissioning Board CE

AndyCowper — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 10:32:50 -0400

It has been simultaneously an open secret, and a jealously guarded one (the date, that is, not the announcement).

This afternoon's news that Sir Simon Stevens will step down as NHS Commissioning Board chief executive gives the end date - the end of July 2021.

Sir Simon has been in post for seven years, which is a long time to do such a job. He is smart enough a man to know that you can stay too long in such roles, and it has not been a secret that he has been developing an exit strategy over the past two years.

'Taking back control'

Editorial Thu 15 April 2021: 'Alan's Big Pocket': Hancock given 15% shareholding in sister's NHS £150K contract-winning company

AndyCowper — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:48:16 -0400

Meet Emily Gilruth.

She's a jockey.

She had a significant fall in the 2017 Badminton Horse Trials, from which thankfully she made a good recovery.

Editorial Wednesday 31 March 2021: Why did Open Democracy misleadingly claim it won its Palantir court case against NHS England?

AndyCowper — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:01:35 -0400

I'm a fan of the idea of crowdfunding, and of insurgent media organisations holding the powerful to account.

I am not, however, a fan of blatantly misleading people.

It's disappointing that the crowd-funded Open Democracy, which has had some important stories about the pandemic, is misleading its funders and readers in its report that it "won our lawsuit" over the NHS contract for using the Palantir software and tools.

This is, in fact, untrue. It is the opposite of the truth.

Editorial Friday 26 March 2021: From The Sun King to a mere Prince of Wales - NHS 'England' comms boss Simon Enright is off

AndyCowper — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 09:02:03 -0400

Simon's off.

No, not that Simon: the other Simon.

The demotion from being director of communications for The Sun King Of Skipton House Sir Simon Stevens to working for a mere Prince of Wales is a tough fall from grace in the royal pecking order.

However, if anyone can manage it, then it's the affable and cheery Simon Enright, literally and metaphorically the outgoing director of communication for the NHS Commissioning Board.

He announced his exit to his fellow NHSCB staff in the letter below.