My first article for TechRadar Pro, on how small businesses can make smart use of Twitter, has just been published. Thanks to Patrick Neale at Jaffe & Neale bookshop and cafe, and Sarah Warman at craft brewer and bar manager BrewDog, for their time talking about this. Continue reading “How small businesses from BrewDog to Jaffe & Neale use Twitter”
Category: IT
The CSU-zy merging, morphing map of NHS commissioning support units
Other maps of the new NHS: clinical commissioning groups (CCGs); local area teams (LATs); specialised commissioning hubs and clinical senates.
Just under a fortnight ago, the NHS Commissioning Board published an updated list of commissioning support units (CSUs) – the organisations that are about to start running ICT and other support functions for the vast majority of clinical commissioning groups.
Map removed as Google Fusion Tables no longer works.
This revealed that six of the old list of 22 had merged into three – requiring some map update work, see above* – although only one merger was highlighted in the announcement, that of West Yorkshire CSU and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw CSU becoming West and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw CSU under Alison Hughes. She was already acting as managing director for both, after Ming Tang, who the original MD for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, took the post of director of data and information management systems with the NHS Commissioning Board. Continue reading “The CSU-zy merging, morphing map of NHS commissioning support units”
CSUs: NHS commissioning support units set to spend around £670m a year
Other maps of the new NHS: clinical commissioning groups (CCGs); local area teams (LATs); specialised commissioning hubs and clinical senates.
I’ve previously written about the development of CSUs on this blog, and it’s now one of the main subjects of my first report for EHI Intelligence. Budgets and staff numbers from a sample of the 22 CSUs suggest they will set a total budget of approximately £670m for the 2013-14 financial year, and employ about 8,500 staff. It’s been covered by my colleagues on the EHI newsdesk, and there’s more details on the report here. Continue reading “CSUs: NHS commissioning support units set to spend around £670m a year”
ID cards Shred Day, two years later
On 11 February 2011, I got on a train to Witham in Essex to witness Home Office minister Damian Green destroying hard drives used for the ID cards’ National Identity Scheme – and took photos including this one. (That’s Mr Green, in the hi-vis vest, tie and black gloves.) The resulting news story is here, along with a gallery. ID cards Shred Day was, at the very least, surreal. Continue reading “ID cards Shred Day, two years later”
Cornwall council’s privatisation compromise
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”