Happy New Year from Media Eye! Just a few days out of the starting gate, and 2013 has already produced a substantial cache of thought-provoking management news…
Sunday Telegraph
NHS bosses can expect to receive tougher sanctions for failing to meet the highest standards for compassion in their sector, according to Health secretary Jeremy Hunt. In a special column to explain management changes at the Care Quality Commission, Hunt specifically reflected on the scandal at Stafford Hospital, which experienced dramatically high mortality rates between 2005 and 2008. The hospital’s shortcomings are currently subject to a public inquiry, set up by the Coalition after Gordon Brown’s Labour government resisted such a probe.
“It is tough and often thankless being an NHS manager; despite which most do an excellent job,” Hunt wrote. “But the best ones know that no box to be ticked, no target to be met, no initiative to comply with is worth a single failure in care. Just as a manager wouldn’t expect to keep their job if they lost control of their finances, nor should they expect to keep it if they lose control of the care in their organisation.”
Hunt’s column came on the same day that the Mirror revealed NHS managers had set bailiffs on nurses that it had overpaid by a total of £1 million.
Guardian
Cuts to the UK’s armed forces risk leaving them incapable of dealing with threats to national security that are likely to emerge in the remainder of the decade, according to three leading defence chiefs. In a special report for military watchdog the UK National Defence Association (UKNDA), the highly ranked veterans accuse the government of treating the forces as the “Cinderella of public services” for the best part of 20 years, and said that defence spending should be swelled from 2% of GDP to 3%. The UKNDA report (PDF) was compiled by former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West; Bosnian UN Protection Force Commander General Sir Michael Rose and Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon.
Independent on Sunday
Bosses of online retail outlets and managers of delivery firms have come under fire in the paper’s investigation of their approach to customer service in 2012 – particularly the Christmas period. According to IoS research, 225,000 packages per day failed to arrive on time during the month of December. Consumer champ Martin Lewis said that retail leaders had failed to put delivery operators under enough pressure to get their services right. “We as consumers need to get more militant,” he said. “The fact is, these companies are crap.”
Mail online
Ultimo underwear tycoon Michelle Mone has been tipped to replace haulage honcho Hilary Devey on the BBC’s flagship entrepreneurial panel show Dragon’s Den. While Mone has turned down previous attempts to enlist her to the Den, citing busy work commitments, she is thought to have had a change of heart following her recent split from spouse and business partner Michael. Ms Mone conquered the bra market in 1999 following three years of research and development on the Ultimo garment, for which she owns the invention patent.
Sun
Billionaire PayPal founder Elon Musk has announced his intention to set up a colony on Mars – yes, your actual, proper Red Planet – powered by sustainable energy and comprised entirely of vegetarians. The digital guru is seeking some 80,000 recruits for his mission. While Musk’s plan may sound somewhat far fetched, he has already clocked up several hundred hours of space entrepreneurship as owner of Falcon 9: a rocket that makes regular cargo deliveries to the International Space Station.
Mirror
Hiring managers have swooped on 24-year-old, jobless graduate Adam Pacitti, after he spent his last £500 on a roadside billboard ad in London’s East End begging firms to hire him. A former media-production student with a specialist focus on documentary, Pacitti purchased the ad in the wake of a summer strewn with 200 job rejections – a run of bad luck compounded by a recent round-the-world trip in which he aimed to find the woman of his dreams, which set him back £6,000. Alongside a photo of the jobseeker, the ad features the tagline: “I spent my last £500 on this billboard – please give me a job.” It then invites onlookers to check out the site employadam.com, which holds Pacitti’s highly entertaining video CV…