Published 25 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2673
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2673

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Matthew Limb, freelance journalist

1 Croydon

mlimb@blueyonder.co.uk

News, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2623

The King’s Fund review of practice based commissioning suggests that Mark Britnell, the NHS director general of commissioning and system management, faces a tough challenge. Matthew Limb talks to him about his role

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Mark Britnell is on a journey to transform healthcare commissioning. So it’s a surprise when, early into a breathless narrative, he retrieves a miniature hospital, rather than say a polyclinic, from a corner of his Richmond House office.

Before joining the Department of Health, Britnell was chief executive of a foundation trust, and the model in his hands is a glimpse of what he was working there to deliver—Birmingham’s first new hospital for nearly a century, due to open in 2010. He says that the hospital, which is privately financed and being built to replace the Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak hospitals, will have "vastly superior facilities" and more beds.

"It’s a year ahead of schedule and absolutely on budget. As you can see from the design it’s both iconic and spectacular. It’s stunning." So in two years’ time Britnell will have left an indelible mark on a city’s skyline, . . . [Full text of this article]


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New approach is needed to reinvigorate practice based commissioning
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BMJ 2008 337: a2623. [Extract] [Full Text]

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