For the past two months I have been trying to find somebody to speak in in favour of mammography in a debate, but I have failed. Some six people have […]
Columnists
Martin McShane: One small step
Back in May 2010 the professional executive committee and NHS Lincolnshire board agreed to delegate the management of the minor surgery local enhanced service to the practice based commissioning (PBC) […]
David Kerr: Healthcare apps
The latest world record for the most number of tweets being sent on a single topic is now held by the Women’s World Cup football final earlier in July this year. […]
James Raftery: The government response to the value based pricing consultation
The publication of the Government response to the value based pricing consultation provides some further insight into current thinking. 188 responses are summarised to the 20 questions posed in the consultation, along […]
Richard Smith: Scientific communication is returning to its roots
A compelling piece in the Economist argues that social media are returning news to the “more vibrant, freewheeling, and discursive ways of the pre-industrial era” and that newspapers will prove […]
Martin McShane: Nietzsche and commissioning
As part of the development of our Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) the seven GP CCG chairs now have a place at the NHS Lincolnshire Board meetings. The agenda was not […]
Tracey Koehlmoss on being policy makers in our own lives
I am writing to you not from Bangladesh but rather from the Institute of Medicine’s workshop on country-level decision making for control of chronic diseases being held from 19-21 July […]
Desmond O’Neill: First night of the Proms
It is a sure sign of the ever diminishing pool of memorable acronyms that even the most treasured of ceremonial events can be hijacked for the basest of clinical motives. […]
Richard Smith: In the goldfish bowl with GPs—part 2
In my last blog I described my time in a goldfish bowl with some 35 GPs on a leadership course—how the process worked, and what I learnt about myself, and […]
James Raftery: The NHS top-up policy for drugs not recommended by NICE – challenging the limits?
A recent breakfast meeting at the Kings Fund discussed the issue of an NHS top-up policy in relation to multifocal lenses in cataract surgery. My contribution from the commissioner perspective […]