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Dear Colleague,

EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE: LIBERATING THE NHS - MANAGING THE TRANSITION

INTRODUCTION

Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS in England

Health Secretary speech to the NHS Confederation Conference 2010

‘Shifting power to the frontline’

Good afternoon, it’s great to be back in Liverpool, on this stage and with all of you.

Welcome friends and colleagues to this 12th NHS Alliance Annual Conference. The best NHS conference of the year, of course, but only because you represent the very best of primary care. The best managers, clinicians and non execs leading at the NHS’s frontline.

You are, as Miss Jean Brodie put it, “La crème de la crème”!

The past
Twelve years and a General Election in the near future make it a good time to take stock for the NHS and NHS Alliance.

Starting with the past, let’s pause for a second and celebrate our successes.

by Andy Cowper, editor, Health Policy Insight

Sir Denys Lasdun died in 2001. I have no idea if health policy affected his death, but it is a shame that he cannot post mortem be tried retrospectively (as MPs are currently being, for their dodgy expenses claims) on the grounds of crimes against architecture.

Lasdun is the man who blessed Londoners with the naughty twin sisters of the National Theatre and IBM buildings, knackering the South Bank river frontage for decades to come. He also built this shocker for the RCP.

Editor's note: Bob Sang's untimely death has taken away one of the most original and innovative thinkers about the co-production of healthcare. It is not currently clear whether this is Bob's last article. This was written recently for Health Policy Insight, and is published with respect and grateful thanks for Bob's contributions, input and insight.

Derek Felton, MD of Tribal Health Commissioning and Ashton Leigh and Wigan PCT’s chief executive Peter Rowe explain to Health Policy Insight editor Andy Cowper in this first of four quarterly reports how they will be working together to support the development of commissioning.

by Andy Cowper, editor, Health Policy Insight

Meet Patrick Robert Carter - Lord Carter of Coles, a Labour peer. He co-founded and sold Westminster Healthcare, ‘saved’ the Wembley Stadium rebuild, strongly supports Titan prisons, chairs a big list of government committees, lives in Islington and was Jack Straw’s best man at both of his weddings. He is 62.

He’s also the inaugural chair of the new NHS Co-operation and Competition Panel, which may make him the fourth most important person in the NHS.

by Andy Cowper, editor, Health Policy Insight

The Liberal Democrats go into the party conference season as the only major Westminster party trying to sell its members (and by extension, the electorate) a major shift in policy. They are the only party promising to cut taxes overall.

And their able deputy leader and finance spokesman Vincent Cable, in an un-leaked announcement in his speech, has suggested that more may be afoot of a tax cut even than their existing promise.

Kings Fund debate 11 September 2008. What is fair – should patients be allowed to top up their care?

by Andy Cowper, editor, Health Policy Insight

This morning saw me out of bed disgustingly early to get the Kings Fund for their latest debate, What is fair: should patients be allowed to top up their NHS care?
Moderated by Kings Fund chief executive Niall Dixon, the panel of Andrew Dillon (NICE), Jo Webber (NHS Confederation), Karol Sikora (CancerPartnersUK and Reform) and Martin Gore (Royal Marsden) covered the issues thoroughly and thoughtfully.