The appointment of Mike Tomlinson to replace the combative Chris Woodhead as chief inspector of schools and head of Ofsted has brought a welcome change of tone, MPs have said.
The health service must change the way it measures performance if it is to make a success of franchising arrangements for failing trusts, the NHS Confederation has warned.
Unison this week raised 'serious concerns' over the potential scope for public sector employers to push experienced staff into early retirement to save money on pensions.
Wendy Thomson's Office of Public Service Reform is to carry out a review of the willingness of government departments to let councils enjoy the new autonomy Stephen Byers promised them in his recent...
The government has given nurses renewed hope of higher wages and more flexible working hours after it revealed that the NHS had reached its target of recruiting an extra 20,000 nurses three years...
The NHS is investing in the healing power of poesy. The organisers of Poems for the Waiting Room hope to inject some humanity into the service by soothing patients with sonnets and displaying...
A cash-strapped local authority has denied it is sending its senior managers on an awayday simply to indulge in yoga, meditation and water aerobics. Isle of Wight Council insists it is trying to...
Health Secretary Alan Milburn this week hammered home the prime minister's backing for NHS workers, claiming that staff, patients and the government were on the same side.
A backlash against audit and inspection may be gathering force. New studies just published in the US say league tables for hospitals and schools can push up spending while reducing quality of service...
The NHS Counter Fraud Service expects to have recovered £12m paid out in fake claims by the end of the financial year, the Department of Health has said.
Government officials are considering a fundamental reorganisation of police pensions after it was revealed that the total liability for English and Welsh forces may have leapt to £36bn.
Politicians should hand over the day-to-day running of the NHS to an arm's length corporation, according to a report from the health think-tank, the King's Fund.
The 24-hour health service helpline NHS Direct has 'saved' up to £50m a year by reducing the pressure on GPs and casualty departments, the National Audit Office said this week.
Scottish health unions have called for an investigation into a possible link between poor hygiene practices in hospitals and the rapid spread of a stomach virus across Scottish wards.
Unison this...
The NHS Confederation has welcomed the government's indication that it will establish a code of conduct to regulate health service managers and prevent scandals such as the recently revealed waiting-...
NHS managers gave a qualified welcome to this week's announcement giving greater independence to the best trusts but remained sceptical over Alan Milburn's masterplan for a brave new world in the...
Northern Ireland's ambulance workers held an emergency meeting this week to consider strike action in protest at continuing attacks after a brick was thrown into an ambulance, injuring two paramedics.
Nurses will feel 'sorely let down' by a pay rise that will give experienced staff nurses an extra £9 a week, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
The NHS has two years to regain public confidence or its principles of a tax-funded, equitable service may be lost for good, health minister Lord Hunt said last week.
The government's decision to give the English NHS fewer national targets and allow patients more choice over where they are treated has been welcomed by doctors and managers.
Increasing patient expectations will provide the greatest impetus for the NHS to improve, Neil McKay, NHS chief operations officer told the HFMA conference.
Gordon Brown has rejected suggestions that promised service improvements resulting from increased public spending are being thwarted by Whitehall's reluctance to spend the extra money.
