Patricia Hewitt survived the recent Cabinet reshuffle. But her department faces huge upheavals, with newly merged SHAs and PCTs and a worldwide search for a new health service boss. Seamus Ward...
A committee of MPs has condemned the Department of Health's contracting and negotiation arrangements for GP out-of-hours services as 'scarcely believable', and 'a concealed pay rise for GPs'.
A bigger share of public expenditure must be invested in education over the next two decades if Scotland is to compete internationally and combat poverty and inequality, First Minister Jack McConnell...
The minister co-ordinating the government's public services reforms this week urged Whitehall departments to sign up to a project that could prevent workforce opposition to future changes.
Figures obtained by Public Finance suggest that NHS patients treated in private hospitals are more likely to require emergency readmission than those treated in the NHS.
Newly merged NHS primary care trusts could be pushed into partnerships with large for-profit organisations, a leading community health specialist has told Public Finance
Bed blocking has increased dramatically in more than 10% of England's local authorities with social service responsibilities, figures seen by Public Finance reveal.
The Department of Health has insisted that the quality of NHS Direct's services will not suffer as a result of plans to axe 400 posts and close 12 call centres.
This year's big winners at the Public Servants of the Year Awards work in very different parts of the public sector, but they share a commitment to helping disadvantaged young people turn their lives...
Taking on local young people as caretakers has proved to be a winning idea for Richmond Housing Partnership. Its Paintbrush scheme has not only cut levels of graffiti and vandalism but also solved...
Local authorities are struggling to provide appropriate housing for vulnerable adults because of cuts in the Supporting People grant, the Commission for Social Care Inspection has found.
Introducing a market into local health provision can in theory increase user 'choice'. But in practice the most likely result is that a few giant firms will end up running all the services in ever-...
As all the parties compete for a fresh image, the LibDems have taken a lead by appointing England's youngest MP as a top Treasury spokeswoman. Vivienne Russell talked to her
The new contract for senior hospital doctors has cost £90m more than expected and failed to deliver better services to patients, the King's Fund said this week.
The membership of the new management team that will lead the English NHS regions became clearer this week with the appointment of eight of the ten new strategic health authority chief executives.
Rising rates of middle-age obesity, diabetes and cancers are often portrayed as a huge drain on the NHS, but a study out this week shows that the 50-something English are healthier than their US...
A Scottish council and its partners are seeking a power that could pave the way for a legally backed authority to co-ordinate services, including those administered by other public agencies.
Nurses and pharmacists have hailed the dawn of a new era after the Department of Health confirmed they would be allowed to prescribe a wider range of drugs.
