Journalist, editor, analyst and trainer on computing, government, climate and data
The west country council came perilously close to outsourcing a wide range of services to BT. Why did it change its mind?
Based on a set of interviews with councillors, and a trip to Bodmin to take a look at the Beacon technology park courtesy of Ann Kerridge – some images in the gallery above – this is my first piece in my second run as a freelance journalist, for the Guardian’s Society pages. Cornwall council is taking a pragmatic approach to outsourcing, trying to create and protect local jobs, increase efficiency and involve its local NHS trusts.
Continue reading “Cornwall council’s privatisation compromise”
Last week saw two healthcare policy ideas discussed. One sounds fairly promising, the other is fairly silly. Fortunately, the former is the one that is likely to prevail. Continue reading “Exercise or lose benefits idea fails friends and family test”
Earlier this month, the Royal College of Nursing said that 61,276 posts in the English NHS have either gone since the general election, or are at risk. This figure comes from numerous sources including trust board papers, so it’s hard to check. But the RCN also says that the number of posts that have actually gone since May 2010 is 20,790, using NHS Information Centre data. While correct on publication, this now needs updating – NHS jobs in England are now down 24,221 between the election and August this year (in terms of full-time equivalent posts, FTEs), a 2.3% reduction in the workforce. Continue reading “NHS jobs since the election: more doctors, fewer nurses and managers”
The NHS Commissioning Board has published a list of the managing directors of commissioning support units (CSUs), which will provide support services to most clinical commissioning groups. We don’t yet know exactly which CCGs will be using CSUs, but there is enough information to put them on a map, along with their managing directors and email addresses. Continue reading “Commissioning support units and managing directors mapped”
Everyone in England needs healthcare, so you might imagine that NHS jobs would be fairly evenly distributed based on population.* That isn’t quite the case, as this interactive map, using data from the NHS Information Centre on the largest English NHS employers and each region, shows. Continue reading “Where are the NHS jobs: the biggest NHS employers mapped”