"Fate over the last month has transpired to bring into sharper relief the issue of how the NHS (in England) has become more exposed to and influenced by international trends in health policy and management.
Jeremy Hunt’s speech at Virginia Mason in Seattle and the arrival of Simon Stevens from the US healthcare giant United Health are, on the face of it, unconnected. But they do illustrate the on-going relationship between US and UK health policy.
Hunt’s speech concerned patient safety1. His call for “systemic change on a national scale” and “5,000 safety champions as local change agents” was largely directed at an English audience. Equally, his aspiration of a “whole system” in which “lessons” about unsafe practices are spread across the country is appealing but challenging....."
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