http://www.credo-group.com/comment Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:01:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We like and admire Garvis Snook, Rok's chief executive. He's built a £1bn business; he stands out from the crowd; he's been guest of honour at a Credo breakfast - what's not to like? To these credits, add this latest pugnacious response to the crystallisation of a £l;15m trading ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/406 But not even Rok's natural embullience can survive the dreary dampening of modern coporate communications. So here's how the interim statement describes Rok's closing of its property division: "Rok's strategy remains unchanged but our business mix is evolving" That's one way of putting it. http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/405 Johnson slams PCT over GP access policy Source: HSJ; 31st July 2008 Health secretary Alan Johnson has attacked the "disgraceful attitude" of primary care trusts that quibble over the terms of his department's flagship policy to extend access to GPs in under-doctored areas. The PCT in question is North Lancashire; the accusation is ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/404 The 2008-09 NHS revenue settlement is £93bn. A Panorama documentary back in July asked the question ‘how much is spent on private sector providers?’. The answer was not conclusive but the sentiment was that increasingly larger sums were being spent on private sector provision. We like a challenge, so we set ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/403 Not consolidation of local authorities themselves - the public sector doesn't change its structures just because they cease to work - but more IT company match-ups in the face of falling demand. Over the weekend, Anite's sold its public sector IT division to Northgate. The price, we're told, diluted ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/402 This from the latest Contract Journal: "Keepmoat, the social housing specialist group, changed hands in August 2007 at the peak of the market when its founders, Dick Watson and Terry Bramhall, sold the group for £780m to the HBoS bank. Today Keepmoat is worth 40%-50% of its value a year ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/401 GP commissioning boost Source: HSJ, 24th July 2008 Private companies are to help practice based commissioning consortiums put together business cases that primary care trusts can understand. Practice Based Commissioning is an important component of PCT commissioning. But PCTs and GPs appear to be speaking different languages - GPs are apparently poor at ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/400 An interesting survey hit my desk last week: Corbett Keeling's taking of the temperature in private equity. Based on 500 interviews with private equity johnnies, Jim Keeling describes conditions as "surprisingly buoyant", suggesting that 2008 is not so much 1929 all over again, but 2006. In other words, ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/399 Compare and contrast these snippets of news. First up is another local government consulting acquisition where Tribal has bought again. This time it's RSe, whose 30-or-so people do a little bit of strategy consulting for a lot of local authorities. Financial details aren't available but, for the purposes of ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/398 Heart surgery survival rates published Healthcare Commission, 16th July 2008 The website gives information on over 35,000 heart operations performed between April 2006 and March 2007 at 37 units. Five units performed ‘better than expected’, these are: Leeds General Infirmary, Moriston Hospital Swansea, Southampton General Hospital, University Hospital of Wales and Wythenshawe ... http://www.credo-group.com/comment/archives/397