More heavyweight voices in hospital closure debate

The BMA and NHS Confederation have joined the King’s Fund and RCN in calling for a reconfiguration of hospital services. As reported on www.nationalhealthexecutive.com, King’s Fund chief executive Chris Ham has argued: “Up to 20 hospitals, around 10% of the total...
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More calls to close or sell off unsustainable hospitals

Professor Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund health think tank, has joined the calls for politicians to be distanced from decisions on the future of individual district hospitals, to ensure it is clinical need rather than local political concerns that informs the debate...
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Hospitals should close says RCN chief

 Chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Dr Peter Carter, has urged ministers to be “brave” when it comes to closing down acute hospitals in urban areas. Dr Carter acknowledged there would be short-term political risks to doing this...
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NHS “may reach breaking point within the next few years”

The 2009 census of the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK shows the current strain the NHS is under in specialties caring for very sick patients.  Dr Andrew Goddard, RCP director of medical workforce, suggests that increasing... <<Read more>>

NHS facing ‘increasing’ pressure

The health service is likely to face increasing pressure, according to experts from the NHS Confederation. David Stout, director of the NHS Confederation's Primary Care Trust Network, said: "Strong financial planning will be more important than ever in the coming years as we...

NHS to go head to head with private sector

There has been a mixed reaction to the news that NHS hospitals will now have the cap lifted on the amount of private work they can carry out.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said that he expects to build a vibrant industry around the new reforms, with foundation trust hospitals able to compete with private sector providers for work.