Treating NHS hospitals with competition and closures

Patients in England, especially the poorest, have benefited from choice and competition according to LSE economist Zack Cooper

An interview with Dr Zack Cooper of the London School of Economics, on how he believes competition helps NHS patients – especially the poorest.
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Videoconference consultants boost emergency stroke care

Allowing consultants to order drugs remotely is saving lives and money, according the medical lead of the NHS Stroke Improvement Programme

This is a use of fairly straightforward IT, teleconferencing, that saves lives and money through making it much easier for consultants to decide which drug to prescribe victims in the three hours after a stroke takes place. Continue reading “Videoconference consultants boost emergency stroke care”

Doctors and nurses turn managers in Oxford

The hospital trust chief executive tells SA Mathieson why he is putting clinicians back in the driving seat

Based on a lengthy interview at the John Radcliffe hospital with Sir Jonathan Michael, chief executive of what is now Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust.
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NHS should embrace lean times

A technique developed by the car industry could help staff, patients and reduce costs, says SA Mathieson

Since this event, the concept of lean healthcare does not appear to have spread widely across the NHS, unfortunately. In August 2012, the New Yorker reported on a few US hospital chains thinking of the same ideas.
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Those who scan, do: Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS)

First appeared in Health Service Journal, 10 June 2004

The use of digital imaging systems within the NHS has been on the verge of taking off for some years – but hasn’t. That is set to change this year when a combination of central initiatives dramatically unfreezes the potential for progress at a local level.

On 1 May, the National Programme for IT announced deals with GE Medical Systems to provide picture archiving and communications systems in three local service provider clusters, with Philips and Kodak with ComMedica winning one LSP contract apiece. The systems will be installed from this summer, with national coverage planned for completion in three years.
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