Barometer

18 February 2012

Cradle to grave

The Health Bill is one of numerous attempts to change the administrative make-up of the NHS. What did it look like on its first day, 5 July 1948?

— There was a tripartite structure under the Minister of Health, Nye Bevan (who was also responsible for housing policy).

— 14 regional hospital boards oversaw 400 hospital management committees. Teaching hospitals, however, remained under direct control of Whitehall.

— An executive council oversaw GPs, dentists, pharmacists and opticians,all of whom were self-employed contractors paid proportionately to the number of patients on their books.

— Local authorities employed a Medical Officer of Health, who ran community services such as immunisation, maternity clinics and midwives, community nurses, school dental services, chiropodists, ear clinics and environmental health departments.

Pay for performance

Fabio Capello resigned as England football manager. Was he worth his £6 million a year? Here is how some prominent teams and their managers stacked up in the 2010 World Cup, with managers’ salaries in US dollars:

Manager / Stage when team knocked out
England
Fabio Capello, $9.9m 2nd round

Italy
Marcello Lippi, $4.1m Group stage

Mexico
Javier Aguirre, $4m 2nd round

Germany
Joachim Löw, $3.3m Semi-finals

Netherlands
Bert van Marwijk, $2.7m Finals

Spain
Vicente del Bosque, $2.2m Winners

Women on top

David Cameron hinted at obligatory quotas for women on company boards. Which countries have the most and fewest women on boards?

Most
Norway 36%
Sweden 23%
Philippines 23%
Finland 21%
Denmark 12%
Colombia 11%

Fewest
Morocco 0%
Portugal 0.4%
Japan 0.9%
South Korea 1%
Chile 2.4%
Italy 3.6%