Financial planning is key to the success of a new consultant operation, according to experts.

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Consultant Mr Roberts who was overseeing the operation said he was going to check the case notes.

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Furthermore, hospital waiting times start when the consultant gives the go-ahead for an operation.

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Kenichi Ohmae, a consultant who used to run McKinsey's operation in Japan, says it took the Japanese 40 years to develop the sophisticated products and the quality control that allowed them to prosper.

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It found that the average waiting time for an operation, once a patient had been assessed by a consultant, remained unchanged at an average of eight months, compared with the NHS maximum target of 12 months.

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The public had been completely in the dark about Mr Wallis's temporary employment as a consultant until his arrest last week by detectives from Operation Weeting, the phone-hacking investigation.

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It heard Dr Abdullah had told the hospital's consultant that she was competent to perform the appendix operation but initially had not realised she had taken out an ovary by mistake.

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Mr Rick Popert, Consultant Urological Surgeon, at Guys and St Thomas, who carried out Mr Mooney's operation said that the results of the new form of brachytherapy were proving very successful in low-risk cases (cases with a PSA of less than 10).

BBC: Patrick Mooney and Nurse Specialist, Janette Nichol.

There are currently nine publicly-sponsored choice programmes (from vouchers to tax credits) in operation, and nearly 70 privately sponsored ones, according to Nina Shokrai Rees, a Washington-based education consultant.

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