We are only two months away from it becoming real for GP consortia. I was looking through the information going to one of our pathfinder executive meetings in the next week. […]
Martin McShane
Martin McShane: The dog that hasn’t barked
As we wrestle with uncertain futures, financial stringencies, and retaining a focus on ensuring services continue to get delivered, there is a creeping realisation that something is missing. There is […]
Martin McShane: Where has all the money gone?
I am lucky because I work with a Director of Finance who likes to make things clear and easy to understand. Last week he went through what is happening to […]
Martin McShane: Enthusiasm, cynicism, pragmatism and Pathfinders.
In Lincolnshire, we had 3 Pathfinder consortia announced in the second wave. This is good news. At least, we think it is. We are, however, not sure what being a […]
Martin McShane: Take me to your leader
There are a number of variants on the cartoon about an alien asking someone or something to “take me to your leader.” Of course we all laugh because we can […]
Martin McShane: Transition and the operating framework
I have a weekly teleconference with GPs from our emergent consortia. We set this up a while back to try and keep up with events, nix rumours and misconceptions and, […]
Martin McShane on tools and workshops
This is one of the busiest times of the year for the PCT. We have a tight timetable to assemble a plan and start contract negotiations. Soon we will be […]
Martin McShane: Gentlemen or players (and fish farms)
The concerns expressed by the new chair of the RCGP about the difficulties which GPs might face, in taking on commissioning, are pertinent. There is always a tension between being […]
Martin McShane: Climate change
The King’s Fund paper “How cold will it be?” published in July 2009, discussed three financial scenarios for the NHS. The toughest was a 2% reduction in funding for 3 […]
Martin McShane: Transition
We did something a bit different today as an executive team. We used the “goldfish bowl” technique to explore how to support the transition from PCT-led to Consortia-based commissioning. I […]