When the vehicles we all drive became more complex and controlled by computerised engine management systems there was widespread feeling that many mechanics would not be able to make the switch.

The dawning of the party conference season late last year produced two major additional emphases to a debate and consultation which by then had been progressing for the previous 18 months.

No-one could forget the headlines when, in 2005, Jamie Oliver's pioneering documentary, Jamie's School Dinners, shone a light on school food in England

Nigel Ellis, Head of National Inspection and Assessment, CQC, on April's Registrations and the challenges which lay ahead

Delivering Individual Budgets is a complex and costly practice for Local Authorities, with paper-based reconciliation processes requiring hours of administration to monitor care commissioning transactions effectively. Whilst some find that a lighter-tough approach may reduce the bureaucratic burden, this may lack the diligence required when monitoring the most vulnerable customers and is much more open to fraud. Recovering funds due to changes in customer circumstances can also present significant issues for the administering authority.

In recent years, C. difficile has increasingly become perceived as a major threat to patient care.  This is due in part to a sharp rise in reported cases of the infection in UK hospitals.  As we know, in response to this the Government has set infection rate reduction targets for hospital trusts, along with financial penalties for those that even marginally exceed these targets.

At no other time in history have we needed transformational thinking as badly as we do now. Without radical rethinking of the way we go about change, the pressure to contain costs will only be met by cutting services or forcing overstretched staff to work even harder. 

When the National Health Service was created in 1948, the concept of social care as we know it today did not exist. The world has changed a great deal in the last 60 years, and so have people's needs and expectations.

Since the early 1990s, MRSA infections have increasingly gained public attention. Following numerous reports in the media, in 2001, the Health Minister announced that the reporting of MRSA bacteraemia, together with other healthcare associated infections (HCAIs), would become mandatory.