What is money? It is not a thing. It is a measure. It measures values of all economic activity including services, labour, assets, goods, skills, knowledge. This list is another seemingly endless recital. But the key element is that, like centimetres or grams, without something to measure, it has no value in itself. In past […]
Great Britain, as it was then mostly known, was the leader of the industrial revolution. We assembled the largest empire in the history of the world, out of our ability to build ships and railways and every single component of both manufacturing and consumption. Self sufficiency and independence were a given. Now, manufacturing accounts for […]
My holiday from blogging and writing generally is coming to an end. It seems the right moment. Renewal is the political buzz word now. A new government has brought a change of mood. Relief at one level, but anger at another. Public morale is lifted by Olympic medals but is dampened by the realisation that […]
Not yet anyway. Meanwhile it is strikes, the NHS, collapsing concrete, passing the buck, high interest rates, falling house prices or a government of musical chairs unable apparently to get a grip or exercise control. All of this unending bad news stems from two related ideologies. One is that the individual is greater than the […]
There is an unwelcome culture now embedded in the English structure through which the State and its outsourcing satellites runs our public services. Or responds to unexpected emergencies and events. Late or never delivery, cover ups, buck passing and warnings ignored are no longer the exception but the rule. This has to change because while […]
NHS Reports of using spare capacity in the private health sector to help deal with backlogs in the NHS make sense. In the short term this is the obvious route to improvement, as it does not require massive reorganisation of the NHS. To be effective it needs to be disciplined and working to a programme, […]
As I said in my last post, the organisational structure of the NHS, both medical and administrative, is dysfunctional. Unless you are addicted to queues, waiting lists and needless suffering. Failure to actually deal with these issues, apart from tinkering, promises and announcements, now threatens the very future of the NHS as a public service. […]
I have discussed in previous posts the bewildering systems of managing and funding the NHS, including the broad outline of a better financial model. Today it is time to look at an outline of a way a rejuvenated NHS can be built and managed. We start with the general structure of control and direction. From […]
In terms of its original blueprint the NHS has already failed. Delays, ambulance queues, waiting lists, vanishing GPs, strikes and so on, put timely care out of reach to millions. Meanwhile the nation has scarcely ever been more unhealthy with lifestyle and diet issues undermining the wellbeing of millions. How to stay healthy is left […]
The NHS is probably the most comprehensive health service in the world. But it is now in crisis at every level and in every sphere. From time to time I plan expose what I believe are fatal flaws, which hobble its outcomes and frustrate both its selfless, overworked and dedicated staff as well as its […]