Here's a thought or two from Grumpy Old Scotsman aka Calum Paton:
The King's Fund in London recently hosted Kenneth Kizer, well-known for
his improvements to the Veteran's Health Administration in the USA through
(inter alia) integrating care between hospitals (the VA had previously
been a 'hospital service') and the community/primary care. In his blog on
the KF website, King's Fund CE Chris Ham argued that 'deviant leaders'
were needed to reject various mechanisms responsible for retarding
integrated care in England.
My reply on the site:
Chris, I could not agree more.....which begs the question: why have you
spent the last 21 years supporting reforms which dis-integrate care in
England? You could not make it up!
To prove I'm an anorac as well as a Grumpy Scotsman: I believe that
Kenneth Kizer was short-listed when the government was replacing Nigel
Crisp as CE of the English NHS in 2006. But New Labour's reforms at this
time were, as are the Coalition's now, about dis-integration on the altar
of market ideology. Maybe the American was too left-wing for the socialist
NHS!
Will the NHS encourage 'deviant leaders'? Will Kim Jong Un renounce his
daddy? Will Ahmadinejad apologise for rigging elections? I suspect the DoH
is keen to import many things selectively from the US but the US's very
own island of
socialism? I doubt it!
Calum Paton aka Grumpy Old Scotsman
PS I believe the NHS could have had the VA's electronic record system for
free instead of paying squillions for its failed 'market' IT system. Those
whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad!
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