Health trends
-
The Medical Manpower and Education Division of the Department of Health publishes information in this Journal each year on the current state of medical and dental manpower in England and Wales, to assist medical and dental students and newly-qualified doctors and dentists in their career choices. Additional information can be obtained from the national and regional census tables which are usually published by the Department of Health each Autumn. ⋯ Information based on census data is useful, but is always for the previous year. It should be used to consider trends in medical manpower prospects.
-
This paper describes the process involved in establishing the nurse practitioner services at Oldchurch Hospital, Essex. It also contains an evaluation of the safety of such a practice and outlines the current operational guidelines.
-
The identification of problem waiting lists is important in effectively targeting scarce resources. This paper discusses the data available on waiting lists, and develops an information profile which can be used as a screening device to construct a short list of the 'worst' waiting lists. This profile was tested using the waiting experience of one specialty in the Northern region, and the results are presented here. Further developments to the profile are largely dependent upon improvements to the information currently collected on waiting lists.
-
Consultants should expect from the general manager a clear context for their work and the systematic support of the organisation around them. General managers seem to be unable to provide these things at present. ⋯ There is avoidable overwork for some doctors and good ideas are not being implemented. This article contains a personal view on what kind of understanding between consultants and general managers might start to make things better.