Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (8 May 2022)

London medical students say they cannot live on NHS bursaries

Medical students in London are reporting being unable to prioritise their studies as they have to work in part-time jobs to make ends meet. Students have begun the #LiveableNHSBursary campaign on Twitter where they are sharing the financial realities of studying.

One medical association representative said students were being “forced to choose between eating or passing finals”. The government have said there are hardship grants available for those struggling the most.

Khadija Meghrawi, co-chair of the BMA medical students committee, said: “It is deeply worrying that students are facing financial hardship because the support they are given during their degree is not enough to pay for their basis needs.”

BBC News – 5 May 2022

NHS rolls out lifesaving arthritis drug to treat severely ill Covid patients

A new life-saving treatment for the most seriously ill Covid patients has been rolled out in NHS hospitals. The Recovery trial of 8,000 patients, carried out through the NHS, discovered that 13 per cent fewer severely ill patients died from the virus when treated with arthritis drug baricitinib compared to exisitng treatment options.

Health officials say this drug is the latest in “an armoury of Covid treatments” that the health service has at its disposal. This now includes three re-purposed arthritis drugs that have treated more than 32,000 of the most severely ill Covid patients in hospital.

The arthritis drugs work by reducing inflammation caused by Covid-19 by blocking signals to the immune system that are causing it to attack the body. Patients given baricitinib will receive a daily dose for 10 days, or until they are discharged from hospital, whichever comes first.

Baricitinib is the seventh Covid treatment approved for use on the NHS, and will be used to treat hospitalised patients in line with MHRA guidance.

INews – 6 May 2022

Patients’ lives being ‘put at risk’ by NHS hospitals ‘crumbling in disrepair’

A lack of investment in NHS infrastructure has led to collapsing ceilings, power cuts during operations and ‘massive’ water leaks in maternity units in hospitals across England. The number of clinical incidents linked to a failure to repair crumbling buildings and fault equipment has tripled in the past five years.

Freedom of Information requests reveal dozens of cases of collapsed ceilings in the last 3 years. Other incidents include an unconscious patient on a ventilator trapped in a broken lift for 35 minutes and sewage leaks through ceilings.

The poor state of crumbling hospital buildings, many of which date back to the Victorian era, has led to hundreds of NHS operations and appointments being cancelled. Recent analysis by the Health Foundation found that the UK would have to double its capital spending on the NHS to meet the average of other OECD nations.

The backlog in maintenance costs, resulting from lack of investment in NHS infrastructure and failure to replace equipment, has soared to £9.2 billion in the last five years.

Metro – 3 May 2022

NHS backlogs: ‘majority’ of retiring doctors won’t heed call to stay amid ‘unbearable’ conditions, says GP

NHS England has recently sent a letter to hospital trusts asking that retired and recently retired doctors be requested to continue working part-time or from home to help clear health backlogs.

The letter suggested that those nearing retirement or who had recently retired, but are still registered, could help train student doctors and nurses to free up current staff to carry out more procedures.

However, a GP has claimed that the “vast majority” of retiring doctors will not heed the call to remain in the NHS amid “truly unbearable” working conditions. Jackie Applebee, chair of doctors’ Unite branch, said the lack of a long-term government plan to resolve staffing shortages would likely deter older medics from remaining in the profession.

According to the General Medical Council, 21,000 doctors are due to retire in September 2022, while the NHS has an estimated staff shortfall of around 110,000.

INews – 5 May 2022

Face masks may soon be recycled into prosthetics under NHS green scheme

Plans considered by one of London’s largest NHS trusts include surgical face masks being turned into prosthetics, bed pans, syringes or clogs for theatre staff. Imperial College Healthcare is investigating the feasibility of separating the “hundreds of thousands” of masks being used across 5 hospitals each month to allow them to be recycled.

NHS-wide regulations require IIR disposable masks to be worn throughout the hospital, including by visitors, despite easing of the pandemic restrictions. These are the light blue, fluid-resistant masks with elasticated ear bands that differ from the advanced FFP masks used in higher risk environments. Currently, contaminated masks are disposed of alongside other medical items and taken to be turned into energy at a plant near Heathrow.

Dr Bob Klaber of Imperial said the trust is determined to minimise waste in commitment to sustainability and reducing “carbon footprint”. This project is one of the first to address growing issue of plastic waste in the NHS since the pandemic. He said: “We may discover that collecting all these things isn’t worth it and we are better off sending them to be burned into energy but it feels promising.”

Evening Standard – 5 May 2022

Pledge of 50,000 more nurses fails to have any ‘substantial impact’

The NHS is on track to recruit 50,000 more nurses by March 2024 but this will have little impact on the number of unfilled posts and recruitment is not keeping up with demand, according to a new report by the King’s Fund.

The report also suggests that their findings were not explained by worsening retention rates but the demand for nurses rising more quickly than new nurses can be trained or recruited.

This comes as earlier this month, MPs rejected a plan for the second time to publish regular healthcare workforce analysis designed to identify and help tackle the shortfall in staff. There are currently still around 40,000 unfilled nursing vacancies across NHS England.

Jonathan Holmes, policy adviser at The King’s Fund commented: “It has been too easy for successive governments to duck the health and care workforce challenge. The regular publication of workforce supply and demand projections would create the much-needed impetus to tackle the staffing crisis.”

Nursing Notes – 4 May 2022

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (21 February 2022)

The true extent of A&E delays to be reported

Javid’s ‘new’ ideas short on funding

One in ten on NHS waiting list in the Midlands

Javid pushes ahead with changes to primary care

Policy of underfunding and outsourcing fails mental health patients

Insourcing – private companies working in the heart of NHS hospitals

Is in-store support the future for mental health in the UK?

Unions win fight for staff to move back in-house

Charges loom large in NHS recovery plan

One million people overpaid for prescriptions because they didn’t get an NHS ‘season ticket’ – how to cut your medical costs

More than one million people in England have missed out on average savings of £40 in the 12 months to April 2021 as they did not use a prescription ‘season ticket’, Money Saving Expert have revealed.

A single payment of £105.90 (now increased to £108.10) for unlimited prescription for a year, rather than paying £9.15 (now increased to £9.35) for each prescription, shows an overspend of £40 – or £43m in total – if you buy 12 or more prescriptions in a year.

You can buy season tickets, known officially as prescription prepayment certificate, online, over the phone on 0300 330 1341, or at many pharmacies. You can also get a refund for any prescription charges you pay whilst waiting for your season ticket to arrive.

Full details – Money Saving Expert, 21 February 2022.

NHS stops taking gambling funds to treat addiction

The NHS has announced it will stop taking money from the gambling industry to treat people with addiction. The gambling industry paid £16m to the grantmaking charity GambleAware, who awarded £1.2m in grants to NHS-run gambling clinics.

Claire Murdoch, NHS England national mental health director, said patients were uncomfortable about using services paid for by the gambling industry. She said the funding “has allowed us to roll out treatment services faster than would have otherwise been possible”, but there was a desire to move the funding into general NHS funding.

Clinicians also reported feeling a conflict of interest in their clinics with part of the funding coming from the gambling industry.

The NHS is facing a rising demand to help problem gamblers with 668 people with the most severe gambling issues referred to NHS specialist clinics between April and December 2021.

Full story – BBC News, 19 February 2022.

Hospital waiting lists: the 15 NHS hospitals in England with the longest wait for treatment

Waiting lists for hospital treatment in England are continuing to grow, with more than 6 million people waiting for treatment now. Some NHS trusts had more than 100,000 on the waiting list for treatment.

Nearly 300,000 of those on waiting lists at the end of December 2021 had been on the waiting lists for more than 52 weeks. Those with the highest waiting lists include University Hospitals Birmingham, Manchester University Trust and Northern Care Alliance Trust.

Full story – National World, 21 February 2022.

Ending all Covid restrictions ‘premature and not based on evidence’, says BMA

The BMA has said that ending all Covid restrictions is premature and not based on current evidence. Experts have warned that dropping testing and self-isolation could lead to a surge in cases.

It comes as the PM is keen to claim victory for weathering the Omicron wave and appease lockdown-sceptics on his backbenches. But Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of BMA council, said: “It clearly hasn’t been guided by data or done in consultation with the healthcare profession.”

There are also concerns within the NHS about some proposals under consideration, including dropping regular asymptomatic testing for healthcare workers, and restricting the use of the most effective PCR tests in hospitals to symptomatic patients.

Full story – The Guardian, 19 February 2022.

Government rejects plans to address nurse burnout and staffing ignoring ‘crisis’ warning

A health and social care committee report found that burnout amongst nurses and allied healthcare professionals had reached a critical level and “is an extraordinarily dangerous risk to the future functioning of both services”.

However, the Government has rejected plans that would help address NHS staff burnout and rising staff shortages. These plans included annual report on workforce shortages and instead proposed the Health Secretary publish reports every five years.

Former health secretary, and chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, Jeremy Hunt said the Gov had missed an opportunity to address the “cycle of crises”. He said: “It is disappointing the Government has again rejected our call for transparent and independent projections of the number of doctors and nurses we need to meet future demand.”

“Unless we have future-proof workforce planning, it will not be possible to address the NHS backlog and the cycle of crises putting dangerous pressure on staff will continue.”

Full story – Nursing Notes, 18 February 2022.

Changes to GP pension contributions postponed until October

Changes to the amounts GP and staff will contribute to their NHS pension will now be implemented from 1 October, a six month delay from the planned implementation date.

DHSC published a response to a consultation and proposed changes to NHS pension scheme member contribution rates and structures. Accountants have warned this could cause problems for GPs’ own pensions contributions, and how partners manage staff pay.

Accountants also commented: “The though of changing contribution rates in the middle of an NHS year just seems like asking for more and more mistakes by PCSE.”

Full story – Pulse Online, 17 February 2022.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (6 February 2022)

It’s high time ministers and NHS took staffing crisis seriously

Low NHS capacity in mental health leaves it beholden to private companies

Billions lost in PPE chaos, fraud and bungled loans

Stampede of bids for new hospital funding

NHS reorganisation proceeds before health bill has been passed

Will Javid’s GP reorganisation meet the challenge of improving access to care?

Low NHS capacity in mental health leaves it beholden to private companies

The north London hospital that has come up with a solution to the NHS backlog

Specialist teams of a nurse, GP and administrator greet patients arriving at Northwick Park Hospital before they reach the doors to A&E to assess whether they might be better suited being seen elsewhere. In some cases, patients are given a prescription on the spot.

The project has seen more than 1,000 patients redirected to more suitable services since its launch six weeks ago, easing pressure on one of the busiest UK hospitals during an exceptionally busy winter period.

Jackie Wilmot, lead nurse on the project, explains: “There are a lot of patients coming into the hospital right now because they’re worried and anxious about Covid. So my job is really to filter out who really needs to be there and who might be better suited to receive medical care elsewhere.”

Full story – iNews, 5 February 2022.

NHS diabetes diet helps people cut more than 2 stone in 3 months

Thousands more people will be able to access a “life-changing” diet piloted by the NHS to fight diabetes after early success sees participants lose two stone in 12 weeks. Early stages of the programme revealed positive signs that participants could potentially put their Type 2 diabetes into remission through weight loss.

Weight loss helps people with diabetes to control their blood sugar levels, and reduces the need for diabetes-related medication. Roughly 1 in 10 prescriptions written by GPs are for treating diabetes and the condition is estimated to cost the NHS £10 billion a year.

To tackle the growing problem, the NHS introduced a ‘soups and shakes’ diet involving low calorie, diet replacement products for three months to kickstart weight loss. Participants then reintroduce healthy and balanced food into their diet. They track their progress through one-to-ones, group sessions and digital support to maintain a healthier weight with support of expert clinicians and coaches throughout the year-long programme.

Full story – Liverpool Echo, 5 February 2022.

Public worried pressure on ‘demoralised’ and ‘undervalued’ NHS staff is harming patient care

New polling data has revealed the general public is concerned about the pressure on NHS staff and services. Only 12% of the public believe the right policies are in place to support healthcare staff and services.

57% of the public believe the standard of care provided by the NHS has got worse in the last year but support for the core principles of free at the point of delivery, a comprehensive service available to everyone and funded through taxation remains very strong.

The public appears most concerned about workforce pressures on the NHS, as well as elective care waiting times. RCN England director said: “Many people agree with us that the biggest issue for our entire health and care system in England is addressing the pressures on staff. Staff are being spread thinner and thinner and struggling to care for their patients safely.”

Full story – Nursing Notes, 3 February 2022.

Cornwall NHS ‘busier than any point in pandemic’

Health bosses have said that NHS health services in Cornwall are busier than at any point during the pandemic. 165 people were waiting to be discharged from hospitals in the Duchy on Thursday.

People were urged to only call 999 in life-threatening situations – in a renewed plea that comes six weeks after leaders predicted heavy demands, with covid adding pressure at an already busy time of year.

Ambulances were also once again experiencing lengthy waiting times to get people into hospital this week, with 22% of patients in Cornwall waiting more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E staff in the week to 30 January.

Chief exec of Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust said there were challenging times ahead for the health service in Cornwall:

“We’re working really closely not just with the council but with the Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust and with GPs and I think there are some things that we can do together that will help address some of the demand coming into hospital.”

Full story – BBC News, 4 February 2022.

Ayrshire NHS chief apologises over A&E waiting times branded ‘dismal’ by West Scotland MSP

NHS chiefs in Ayrshire have apologised over A&E waiting times as stats show 70.8 per cent of A&E patients in the region were seen within the four-hour target time for the week ending Sunday, January 16. At University Hospital Ayr, just 62 per cent were treated within four hours.

This is well below the Scottish Government national standard that 95% of patients should wait no longer than four hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer for A&E treatment. These stats helped make NHS Ayrshire & Arran the second-worst performing health board in the country.

West Scotland Labour MSP Katy Clark has called on the Scottish Government to take urgent action. She said: “The need to see revised NHS recovery and workforce management plans from the Scottish Government has never been more urgent.”

Full story – The Daily Record, 3 February 2022.

NHS leaders have ‘heads in sand’ over widespread racism, BMA warns

Interim findings for the health unions ‘Racism in Medicine’ survey revealed that 75.6% of NHS doctos suffered racism at least once in the last two years, with 17.4% experiencing racist incidents on a regular basis.

The BMA has warned that the evident widespread racism is undermining the NHS’s ability to bring the best out of its workforce – and health service leaders have their ‘heads in the sand’ over the issue.

The study of over 2,000 doctors also found a fifth of doctors had either considered leaving (13.8%) or left their job (5.6%) within the past two years due to race discrimination. Almost 60% of those who had been subject to abuse said it had negatively impacted their wellbeing, including causing depression and anxiety.

Full story – GP Online, 2 February 2022.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (19 January 2022)

Campaign calls for £20bn to start rebuilding of NHS

48 new hospitals? Only one by 2025

Mental health services – never more in need of Help!

Mental health: data backups concerns over services

Past mistakes repeated in academy-style hospitals proposal

Surge deal – good for business, bad for the NHS?

Lord Stevens pushes for clarity on mental health funding

Vaccine Centre sell-off

Sunak: from “whatever NHS needs” to “booster jabs will mean cuts”

Hundreds of England’s NHS consultants have shares in private clinics

The Centre for Health and Public interest has revealed that hundreds of NHS consultants are shareholders in profit making ventures with private healthcare firms. These arranges have generated more than £1bn in revenues since 2015.

CHPI has identified 481 consultants with shares in 34 private ventures in partnership with providers ranging from huge US firm HCA to Specsavers. 74% of these consultants are NHS doctors.

The report by CHPI claims many of these arrangements are often opaque, and that financial incentives created by the joint ventures could lead to conflicts of interest. They are calling on regulators to investigate, saying the pandemic has “turbo-charged” the share of NHS budgets spent in private clinics.

“The large number of consultants who own shares in private hospitals through joint venture arrangements and the very large financial benefit which they derive from these arrangements is a significant matter of public interest,” said David Rowland, CHPI director.

Full story – The Guardian, 21 January 2022.

Covid vaccine mandate for NHS staff could be ‘paused’ by government over fears 70,000 workers would be sacked

A temporary suspension of the plan, due to come into force April 1, is being looked at by DHSC amid dire warnings from hospital trusts and GPs of the severe impact of staff shortages on services.

The need for a gap between doses means that anyone who does not have their first dose by February 3 will be told they will be losing their job.

The Royal College of Nursing has warned that it will be an act of “self-sabotage” at a time when the NHS is suffering from staff shortfalls.

One London trust alone warned it could have to fire 1,600 staff, and several trusts across the country are understood to have asked NHS England to urge the DHSC to rethink.

Full story – iNews, 22 January 2022.

Patient ’glued own teeth’ as dentists drop NHS work

NHS dentistry is hanging by a thread with some patients waiting up to two years for check ups, the British Dental Association has warned.

Department of Health data reveals that almost 1,000 dentists working in 2,500 roles across England and Wales left the NHS last year.

One woman reported to the BBC how she resorted to filing down and supergluing her own teeth after waiting over a year for NHS treatment.

CCG West Suffolk lost 21% of its dentists last year whilst the worst affected area, CCG Portsmouth lost 26%.

Full story – BBC News, 20 January 2022

Hospital patients to be moved to hotel to free up beds amid ‘enormous pressure’ on NHS

Patients in Norwich, Norfolk are set to be moved to a hotel to free up hospital beds. Up to 15 patients will receive care at a city centre hotel. The health and care system in the area declared a critical incident at the hospital early this year as it faced “unprecedented pressure”.

The scheme will only include people who are healthy enough to leave hospital, but may require care before they can go home.

Chief Nurse Cathy Byford says the system is under “enormous pressure” despite staff “working tirelessly to ensure that people get the medical help they need as quickly and as safely as possible”.

Full story – Sky News, 21 January 2022.

Applications to study nursing up but remain well below NHS bursary levels

A UCAS report has revealed the significant impact Covid-19 has had on people’s decision to apply for nursing degrees. Nearly 30,000 students selected a nursing course as their first choice.

This is a record number of applications from 18 year olds and there are rises across other age groups too. However, the figures remain down by 17% from 2016 – the last year the bursary was available to support student nurses.

RCN Director for England Patricia Marquis said: “The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the profession and the surge in applications to study nursing is very welcome.

“However, record numbers of applications after so long with insufficient numbers doesn’t equate to the nursing supply needed to meet long-term patient demand.”

Full story – Nursing Notes, 22 January 2022.

NHS will launch major prostate cancer campaign to locate ‘thousands’ of missing patients

The health service is joining forces with Prostate Cancer UK to find whose disease has gone undetected during coronavirus pandemic.

Senior medics told MPs it was vital that people did not put off seeking help after it emerged there had been nearly 50,000 fewer cancer diagnoses across the UK since the start of the pandemic. MacMillan Cancer UK report that prostate, breast and lung cancers making up most of the absent cases.

The NHS is focusing on raising awareness for these three cancers in particular. However, there are still concerns that many people are still not coming forward and presenting with symptoms.

Full story – iNews, 20 January 2022.

GP appointment data reveals exponential rise in demand in pandemic

Between September and November 2021, GP practices delivered 33% more appointments compared with the same period in 2019 – and far more again when Covid vaccines were factored in.

Total appointments in the three month period were up by 10% or more in a third of CCG areas. Factoring in covid jabs some areas were up by 60%.

The figures highlight the extent of increased workload that general practice continues to experience as the pandemic heaps extra pressure onto a workforce already working at its limit.

This extra pressure comes as BMA predicts there are around 1,700 fewer full-time equivalent GPs now compared to September 2015.

Full story – GP Online, 14 January 2022.

BMA backs proposal to mandate more GP roles on ICS boards

The British Medical Association has backed a proposed amendment to the Health and Care Bill that would see more GP roles mandated on ICS boards. It also called for ‘formalised roles’ for LMCs ‘at entry level of ICSs’.

This amendment comes as the Bill moves from its second reading to committee stage in the House of Lords. There are concerns the Bill ’as written risks undercutting local clinical engagement and leadership’ by losing ‘positive elements’ of CCGs, such as their ‘accountability to clinicians and patients as a body of elected local GPs’.

Back in July 2021, the BMA council passed a resolution calling for MPs to reject the new Health and Care Bill, arguing it is ‘not the right time’ to be bringing in widespread legal reforms while the NHS deals with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Full story – Pulse Online, 12 January 2022.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (30 October 2021)

Ambulance crisis: who is rushing to help?

When ‘record’ spending is nowhere near enough

NHS waiting lists push people to an independent sector with safety issues

New fight against Grantham downgrade

A history of privatisation part 7: A flurry of contracts and “reforms”

Unison wants NHS staff to reject Welsh government pay offer

Members of Unison who work for the NHS are set to reject a new pay offer from the Welsh Government. The union have described the new offer as “derisory” and will advise staff to reject the offer at a consultation ballot.

If the offer is rejected by a majority then the members will vote whether to take industrial action.

The government previously offered a three per cent pay rise and suggested a one-off, unconsolidated one per cent and a day’s additional annual leave. The new offer includes the option for staff to sell back their unused annual leave from 2020/21 carry over and a proportion of leave from 2021/22.

Unison have said this offer falls short of its request for all NHS staff to receive an increase of £2,000 and is still below inflation rates.

Dawn Ward, chair of UNISON Cymru Wales’ Health Committee, said: “NHS staff can’t understand why politicians think it’s alright for healthcare workers to be given a below inflation pay rise.”

Full story – South Wales Argus, 29 October 2021.

NHS Wales records its worst ever performance figures

Nearly 250,000 people have been waiting more than nine months for treatment, up 25,000 from the start of the pandemic, statistics show. These performance figures come amid growing concerns on staff pressures ahead of winter.

NHS Wales chief executive Andrew Goodall said the system is running “at the hottest we’ve seen” due to Covid.

Data shows accident and emergency waiting times were again the worst on record, with only 66.8% dealt with in the four hour target. Meanwhile, cancer treatment waiting times have slightly improved with 63.2% starting first treatment within 62 days.

17 organisations representing staff have jointly warned of a “deepening winter care crisis”.

Full story – BBC News, 21 October 2021.

Scots government to create over 130 trainee doctor posts to help NHS recover from covid

The government in Scotland has announced £32 million to be spent on supporting services that are under pressure due to understaffing and capacity issues. A further 139 trainee doctor posts are to be created to support the NHS recovery from the pandemic.

NHS in Scotland has been under increasing strain since lockdown restrictions were lifted in August with a number of health boards forced to call in the Army to help ease pressure.

The successful trainee doctor applicants are expected to start in Autumn 2022 and will specialise in cancer, psychiatry, anaesthetics, intensive care, public health and respiratory medicine.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, said: “This significant expansion of trainee doctors underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to support the NHS, not only in response to the pandemic but also as we look beyond and plan ahead to build long term resilience.”

Full story – Daily Record, 30 October 2021.

No plans for mandatory vaccination in Northern Ireland despite Sajid Javid ‘leaning towards’ the requirement for NHS staff

The health department in Stormont say that a move to mandatory vaccination for NHS staff could worsen the staffing crisis in the health service in Northern Ireland.

There is already a significant staffing shortage in the country with the nursing profession worst impacted.

Health and social care staff are encouraged to get vaccinated but making it mandatory could destabilize an already vulnerable staffing position.

Vaccination is already a mandatory requirement for care home staff in England but not in Northern Ireland.

Full story – News Letter, 26 October 2021.

111 helpline wait 3 times longer than 5 months prior in Yorkshire

Callers to Bradford district and Craven’s 111 helpline waited more than three times longer for help in September than 5 months earlier, with health services nationally experiencing the busiest month on record.

Nuffield Trust has said the increasing waiting times for the urgent helpline were symptomatic of the high level of pressure on health services.

111 helpline operators in Yorkshire and Humber were taking an average of around 15 minutes to answer calls from people seeking medical help last month.

24% of calls to the service were abandoned before being answered. Of the calls answered, over 38,000 were recommended to attend primary care services, 18,000 to attend an emergency department and an ambulance was called for nearly 13,000.

Deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust, said: “Increasing waiting times across the board are a result of the continued impact of the pandemic including staff absences.”

Full story – The Telegraph and Argus, 26 October 2021.

Abuse of North East NHS staff is rising

Health leaders in the North East are warning that NHS staff are facing increasing incidents of abuse from public as the health service braces for a busy winter period.

Hospital, ambulance, GPs and other primary care staff have become targets of verbal abuse or attacks, despite working harder than ever to deal with rise in demand and ongoing impact of pandemic.

Hospitals, GPs and paramedics across the region are also managing another surge of pressure on vital services with many of the region’s hospitals seeing record daily numbers of A&E attendance, a huge increase in paediatric cases and ongoing Covid-19 patients.

NHS teams across hospitals and GP practices still face challenges of reduced space in clinical treatment areas and surgeries to follow strict infection control measures.

Dr Neil Halford, interim medical director for North East and North Cumbria ICS, said: “While we appreciate that some people may be frustrated there is no excuse for abusing our staff and this should not and will not be tolerated.

Every part of the healthcare system is currently under huge pressure so please be patient and think carefully about the right NHS service for your needs.”

Full story – The Northern Echo, 22 October 2021.

Millom Hospital makes ‘difficult decision’ to close beds due to staff sickness

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust revealed staffing at Millom Hospital has been ‘difficult for more than a week’ and beds had to be closed but the decision would be reviewed on a weekly basis.

The trust aims to reopen the hospital as soon as it is possible to provide safe care for patients.

Outpatient clinics and appointments at the hospital are not affected and patients should continue to attend their appointments.

Millom Hospital is a nine bed GP/nurse-led unit which provides medical, nursing, rehabilitation and end of life care for predominantly sub-acute in-patients.

Full story – The Mail North West, 30 October 2021.

The NHS action plan to ease handover delays at hospitals amid 999 call ambulance crisis

NHS chiefs in the West Midlands are working on an action plan to ease handover delays and get ambulances back on the road.

Hospitals are being pressed to provide ‘temporary accommodation’ or convert spare space close to A&E so patients can quickly be offloaded from ambulances, freeing them up to answer more 999 calls.

This is one of a series of actions being taken to ease pressure on the ambulance service after it raised its risk rating to the highest in its history amid fears for patient safety.

This comes as at least 8 patients waiting for emergency help have died in the last three months as ambulances could not reach them quickly enough.

Across the region, ambulances were held up for more than half an hour on thousands of occasions in the last month. The 15 minute handover target is now routinely taking more than two hours, with some taking more than 10 hours.

Full story – Birmingham Live, 28 October 2021.

Concern for Addenbrooke’s as 500 staff off sick and 103 beds closed across Cambridge University Hospitals

Five hundred staff employed by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are absent due to sickness and 103 beds are closed amid the staffing crisis.

These figures come in the week that an investigation was launched after a patient died in the back of an ambulance following a handover delay at the hospital.

Staff have been urged to focus on PPE to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and perform tests even if they have no symptoms. Visits to the hospital have also been restricted to reduce the risk of infection spreading.

The city’s Labour MP, said he was “worried” about the situation at Addenbrooke’s and blamed the government for “being far too slow to respond to warnings”, arguing its complacency would lead to more suffering.

Full story – Cambridge Independent, 29 October 2021.

London hospitals use ‘James Bond medicine’ to tackle rare heart condition

World-leading NHS doctors are using “James Bond medicine” and cutting-edge technology to save the lives of people whose hearts collapse due to a rare and often fatal cardiac condition.

Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London have begun sending specialist teams to hospitals across England and Wales to pick up patients who would otherwise die from cardiogenic shock.

Patients receive intensive treatment only available at a few hospitals, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. This involves blood extracted from the body and having extra oxygen added and re-introduced to the body to help the patient breather again on their own.

The Brompton and Harefield hospitals treat 700 patients a year and the programme has boosted survival rates among patients treated at the hospitals for the condition from 51% in 2018 to 86% in 2020/21.

Full story – The Guardian, 26 October 2021.

Calls for new health hub to serve South Shropshire

Calls have been raised for a health hub to be developed to serve south Shropshire, eight years after plans for a new hospital in the area were shelved.

Councillors in Ludlow say a dedicated centre to bring together the town’s “fragmented” services in a state-of-the-art facility would help improve health provision in the town.

They are urging health bosses to put off the planned sale of the disused infirmary building at Ludlow Hospital until all options for the site’s future have been explored.

Councillor Tracey Huffer, who represents Ludlow East and is also a NHS nurse said: “We need to think about how we manage health provision acrosss Ludlow, which is the primary health hub for south west Shropshire… The entire Ludlow Community Hospital site needs investment and reorganising as a health hub for our community.”

Full story – Shropshire Star, 28 October 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (18 October 2021)

Care worker shortage will increase NHS waiting lists

The privatisation of social care

Watford’s £900m plan for “pie in the sky”

NHS given impossible ‘guidance’

Invest in publicly run services to secure health and social care

Javid focuses on pharmacies to help GP workload

NHS dentists: Concern as two South Gloucestershire surgeries turn private

A patients’ group has expressed concern over a lack of access to NHS dentists in South Gloucestershire after two surgeries recently turned private.

Frampton and Flaxpits surgeries say NHS targets cannot be reached without putting patients and staff at risk, and going private is the only option in order to survive. Healthwatch, an independent statutory body representing patients, have said not having an option to have NHS care is a ‘real concern’.

Vicky Marriott, from Healthwatch, said: “Between July and September this year, in Bristol alone, we’ve had 73 people contact us saying that they’ve been emailing or phoning every single dental practice to see if they can get treatment and haven’t been able to.”

Full story – BBC News, 14 October 2021.

More than two-thirds of NHS workers in the South East have considered leaving in the past year

An alarming 73% of NHS workers in the South East have considered leaving the service in the past 12 months.

NHS employees cited being under heightened pressure and even felt pressured to work when unwell, a study has found. This comes as the COVID pandemic has affected both the mental and physical wellbeing of NHS employees across the UK.

The survey was completed by Healthcare Workers’ Foundation. Other findings included 42 per cent of respondents saying they would not recommend joining the NHS to other people.

The Healthcare Workers’ Foundation stressed that while coverage of NHS backlogs, pay rises and taxes continue to dominate headlines, the “great resignation” within the NHS needs to be recognised.

Full story – SussexLive, 15 October 2021.

East London NHS bosses outline factors making hospitals fail

Outer East London hospitals are struggling with a shortage of hospital beds, a lack of staff and a “revolving door” of leaders.

The NHS trust that runs King George Hospital and Queen’s Hospitals failed to treat three out of every ten emergency patients within four hours last financial year, in part due to the bed shortage.

At a board meeting of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust the chief executive admitted a “lack of workforce” prevented them from adding more beds. He said: “There’s an issue in terms of our staffing ability. There’s no point opening up multiple new wards if we won’t have staff.”

Full story – East London & West Essex Guardian, 12 October 2021.

Paramedics warn of ‘tents in car parks’ amid mental health crisis

The ambulance service in the east of England is in an unprecedented state of crisis, with staff predicting “tents in the car park” to treat patients this winter as they warn “the wheels are going to come off”.

Burned-out paramedics are taking mental health sick leave at twice the rate of the peak of the pandemic, with eight per cent of the workforce off sick, and one in thirteen staff leaving the service.

Whistleblowers working for East of England Ambulance Service Trust said they were waiting up to six hours to unload patients at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Data also reveals staff are working shifts up to 18 hours straight.

Full story – Eastern Daily Press, 13 October 2021.

Seven-hour hospital ambulance waits in Shropshire ‘unacceptable’

Ambulance crews having to wait seven hours to hand over patients at hospitals in Shropshire is unacceptable, one of their bosses has said.

Mark Docherty, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, said it was not unusual for delays to take so long and reported an incident of a patient just over a mile from hospital dying after waiting for an ambulance.

Councillors were told average waits in September at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital were more than two hours and, at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, one hour and six minutes. Hospital bosses admit they are under extreme pressure and seeing unprecedented demand.

Docherty said that around 8 years ago each ambulance crew would see an average of eight patients in a 12-hour shift but handover delays are resulting in the current number sitting below three.

Full story – BBC News, 16 October 2021.

Nurse pay: RCN in formal dispute with Welsh government over 3% rise

Nurses’ trade union, RCN, has logged a formal dispute with the Welsh government over a 3% NHS pay rise. Wales’ health minister previously announced the rise recognised “the dedication and commitment of hardworking NHS staff”.

The Royal College of Nursing Wales director said nurses now felt “undervalued” and a formal trade dispute would warn the government that if they would not open pay negotiations, the union would begin steps towards industrial action.

Helen Whyley, director of RCN Wales, said: “For the past 18 months nursing staff have gone above and beyond in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but now they feel undervalued, disenfranchised and angry.” She added that 94% of the trade union body’s members who voted in the consultative ballot, voted that a 3% pay rise was “totally unacceptable”.

Full story – BBC News, 14 October 2021.

Blood test vial shortages ‘still an issue’ in the North East says GP

A senior medic in Northumberland has warned a national shortage of test tubes for blood tests is still affecting the NHS in the North East.

Dr Graham Syers said that although tests remain available for those in urgent need, more routine monitoring tests were having to be postponed.

This is adding pressure to GPs practices because whenever the shortage is resolved staff will be scrambling to catch up.

The issue began during in the summer but some annual tests had already been put back during the pandemic and the shortages were now hindering attempts to catch up.

Full story – Chronicle Live, 14 October 2021.

Salmon Fields selected for £4.5m NHS centre

The Royton business park is set to house a community diagnostics centre, due to open in Spring 2022. Planning consent still needs to be secured but this is hoped to be concluded in the next two months.

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust said that the £4.5m investment will benefit patients across the whole Oldham area, with earlier diagnostic testing accessible closer to home.

The Trust said that it has collaborated with Greater Manchester HEalth and Social Care Partnership, Oldham Council and NHS Oldham CCG to receive a share of £350m national investment fund.

The new centre will be part of a network of one-stop-shop for checks, scans and tests providing 2.8m scans across England in the first full year of operation. The site in Oldham will treat an estimated 30,000 patients.

Barney Schofield, director of planning and delivery at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It will help make diagnostic tests more convenient, with shorter waits and give us better ability to deliver multiple tests on the same day, away from our main hospital sites.”

Full story – Place North West, 14 October 2021.

NHS backlogs could take up to two years to clear, says Yorkshire health chief

NHS officials have spoken about their winter preparations but warn it could take two years to clear backlogs and longer waits for treatments.

Councillors in East Riding heard hospitals were working to put on more beds, do more procedures without overnight stays and send patients to sites with more capacity.

Jacqueline Myers, Director at Humber Coast and Vale which coordinates local health services, said preparations were facing fast rising demands.

It also comes as despite recruitment efforts being stepped up, many staff were looking for early retirement or moving out of the health sector entirely.

Full story – Yorkshire Post, 6 October 2021.

Digital therapeutics part of NHS Scotland services in ‘world-first’ deal

The Scottish Government has announced a ‘world-first’ deal with Big Health to provide digital therapeutics for anxiety and insomnia as part of NHS services.

Patients across all 14 NHS Scotland Health Board areas will have access to the digital platform which they can sign up through self-referral or by visiting their GP.

Scotland will be the first country in the world to fully implement digital solutions to provide help for anxiety and insomnia at no cost to the patient.

Kevin Stewart, mental wellbeing and social care minister, said: “Digital technologies have massive potential to help people manage and support their mental health in a way that feels right for them.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has only affirmed what we knew from the beginning – digital mental health is critical to help scale much-needed services and provide additional choice for people to manage their mental health.”

Full story – Digital Health, 15 October 2021.

Financial package for GPs in Northern Ireland will not be tied to number of face-to-face appointments

It is understood that the financial package for GPs in NI will not depend on the number of in-person appointments they carry out. Health Minister Robin Swann announced details of a £5.5m cash boost to support general practice over a challenging winter period.

This comes a day after Health Secretary Sajid Javid incurred widespread backlash as he announced family doctors who fail to provide an “appropriate” level of face-to-face appointments would not be eligible for new NHS funding worth £250m.

The NI Health Minister recognised challenges experienced by patients in accessing GP surgeries but it is understood there are no plans to introduce league tables or set up a rating system for GPs.

Moreover, work is under way to help improve access to GP surgeries, including upgrading telephone lines and introducing alternative ways for patients to order repeat prescriptions.

Full story – Belfast Telegraph, October 15 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (2 October 2021)

Nottingham rations cancer care due to lack of staff

Thousands ‘go private’, many more forced to wait

Back to the future as Javid appoints a General review

Fuel problems impacting care to ill and vulnerable

Exploring flaws in the Health and Care Bill

Patients in poorer areas wait longer for treatment

NHS capacity – room for improvement?

Consultants claim Royal Sussex is ‘extremely unsafe’

GPs receive NHS letter of gratitude in face of negative media pressures

The regional NHS team in South West of England have written to GPs to acknowledge the intense pressure and criticism facing the profession and expressing gratitude for their work.

This comes just a week after GPs in Cornwall warned general practice was on the brink of crisis with primary care overwhelmed by the workload.

The letter was co-signed by the clinical chair of NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCGs. It was sent amid escalating abuse from the public and media towards GPs and practice teams.

The letter states: ‘This short note is to recognise the negative impact of working while such criticism is ongoing, and to thank you for the work you are doing, have done and will be asked to do as winter approaches.’

Full story – Pulse, 30 September 2021.

Work starts on new South East Ambulance’s 999 and NHS 111 centre

Work has begun on the development of South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS FT’s new multi-purpose ambulance, 999 and NHS 11 centre in Gillingham. It will be considered the only of its kind to bring all three functions together under one roof.

The integration of both 999 and 111 services is a key part of SECAmb’s strategy to deliver more integrated care and to increase efficiency.

SECAmbd Executive Director of Operations, Emma Williams, said: “The new centre provides us with greater capacity, means we can improve the ratio of 999 calls taking across our two EOCs and will bring local recruitment opportunities for people across both 999 and 111 services.”

The centre is expected to become fully operational in Autumn 2022.

Full story – National Health Executive, 29 September 2021.

Pop-up NHS cancer testing and health check centres to open at 4 London sites

NHS tests and scans will be available at 40 pop-up venues, including 4 in London, to tackle the backlog caused by the pressures of Covid.

Finchley Memorial Hospital, Queen Mary’s Hospital, Mile End Hospital and Barking Community Hospital are the four London sites that will welcome people for tests and scans.

This is part of a £350 million government scheme that will carry out a wide range of health checks after referrals from GPs. All venues will be set up by March 2022. The NHS aims to provide 2.8 million scans in the first year of operation.

It is hoped the centres will help tackle the number of cancer tests, which in some cases, were severely delayed due to the pandemic.

Full story – My London, 1 October 2021.

Stafford County Hospital gets innovative 3D scanner thanks to charity funding

Orthodontic patients at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust can now benefit from a faster, more accurate and less invasive treatment thanks to the purchase of a 3D scanner bought with charity funding.

The new equipment means consultants and dentists can instantly view digital pictures of patient’s teeth as well as electronically send scans off to the laboratory speeding up treatment waiting times.

Jinesh Shah, Consultant Orthodontist at UHNM, said: “This new digital process is cleaner, faster and more comfortable for patients. We’re now able to use the scans displayed on screen to instantly explain treatment to patients.”

Full story – In Your Area, 2 October 2021.

NHS Wales’ new chief is Aneurin Bevan CEO Judit Paget

Judit Paget will take up her new role as NHS Wales’ chief executive and director general for health and social services, on November 1. She will succeed Dr Andrew Goodall, who will become the Welsh Government’s permanent secretary.

Paget is the second chief executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to take on the top NHS Wales role.

Paget’s predecessor, Dr Goodall, said: “She brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and insight that will help her advise Welsh Government ministers and provide leadership, as we continue to navigate the pandemic and reset and recover the system for the future.”

Full story – South Wales Argus, 1 October 2021.

NHS Wales record worst month on record for patient waiting times

August data has shown that the month has given the longest NHS waiting list on record, and the second slowest response time from ambulances in NHS Wales.

The data shows that 68.7% of NHS emergency departments in Wales spent less than four hours in the department from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge. The target figure nationally is 95%.

Cancer treatment times also continued to be missed and have worsened with 61.8% being treated within 62 days, down from 67.3% in June.

Full story – Western Telegraph, 28 September 2021.

North East NHS pressure set to be eased with massive hospital upgrade

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust aim to open the new facilities by the end of 2022. Health leaders and senior councillors in the area have welcome plans for “massive investment” into the new facilities at the borough’s district hospital.

Projects expected to transform the hospital include a new £10 million Integrated Diagnostic Centre to meet growing NHS pressures for diagnostic services.

Other key developments include:

A new £2m endoscopy unit.
A new £2.5m six-bed intensive care unit.
A new £800,000 outpatient pharmacy.

Full story – Chronicle Live, 27 September 2021.

Wirral seeks more than £100m for Clatterbridge Hospital revamp

Architect BDP is drawing up designs on behalf of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for the revamp of the Bebington facility. The £100m is being requested from the government’s £3.7bn New Hospitals fund.

Much of the project would comprise new-build elements but there will be some refurbishment of existing structures on the site.

In Crewe, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has also bid for £663m to replace the ageing Leighton Hospital.

Full story – Place North West, 28 September 2021.

Yorkshire and Humber trusts sign deal with TytoCare

Telehealth company TytoCare has expanded its presence in the NHS after signing a deal with 14 trusts in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The deal follows a successful pilot with the company involving TytoCare’s hand-held, all-in-one device for remote examinations being used for chronic paediatric respiratory patients, paediatric patients with ENT conditions and paediatric palliative care.

The devices can be used to examine the heart, lungs, skin, ears, throat, abdomen and body temperature.

Kate Lodge, head of strategic partnerships at Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network, said: “New digital tools like TytoCare help to design services around individual patient and family needs as well as reduce the need for hospital visits and admissions.”

Full story – Digital Health, 2 October 2021.

Tax rise should be spent on social care in NI, says Age NI

The £400m Northern Ireland will receive as part of UK’s health and social care tax rise “should be ring fenced for social care”, Age NI has said. The money is expected in 2024/25.

The government has said a majority of the money will go towards easing the NHS backlog in England before moving onto social care.

Age NI has described social care in Northern Ireland has “sitting in the shadow of health too long and must be treated equally”.

The Health Minister, Robin Swann, has said he will launch a public consultation on reforming social care in Northern Ireland later in the year. Options to be addressed would include introducing a cap on care costs incurred by individuals.

Full story – BBC News, 22 September 2021.

Scotland’s NHS Covid vaccine app tech glitches as users still hit by ‘error messages’

Users of Scotland’s new vaccine passport app are still being hit by technical issues just a day after it went live. The app was launched by the Scottish Government on Thursday.

This comes as from 5am on Friday, people now need proof of two vaccinations to enter ‘high risk’ venues including nightclubs, large-scale events and football matches in the country.

Glitches with the app include verification issues so users have been unable to access their jab certificates due to issues uploading ID. Other users reported ‘error messages’ when attempting to sign up.

The Scottish Government have put the issues down to high initial traffic to the app. To download the app, people can access the NHS Inform Scotland Covid Status app site here.

Full story – Daily Record, 1 October 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (13 September 2021)

Surprise privatisation of NHS staff at London urgent care centre

No private firms to sit on Integrated Care Boards

Urgent support for ambulance staff needed

Waiting times for surgery leads to increase in opioid use for pain relief

Major mental health provider told “patients deserve better”

Care Quality Commission – an impossible job?

Gaps in Bill question level of local control

‘Revolutionary’ new cancer blood test to be trialled in the North East

A ‘revolutionary’ new blood test which could detect up to 50 different kinds of cancer before symptoms appear is set to be trialled in the north-east. The Northern Cancer Alliance – covering the north-east and north Cumbria region – is one of 8 regional groups picked to trial the new Galleri blood test.

The team behind the trial are hoping to recruit 140,000 volunteers for the “quick and simple” blood test, which can be administered at mobile testing units in the community.

NHS England chief exec Amanda Pritchard said: “By finding cancer before signs and symptoms even appear, we have the best chance of treating it and we can give people the best possible chance of survival.”

She is urging those invited to the trial to take part and said if successful the new test could help the NHS meet its target of diagnosing three-quarters of all cancer cases in the early stages.

Full story – Chronical Live, 13 September 2021.

Nurses reject 3% pay offer for NHS Wales staff as ballot for strike action edges closer

93.9% of RCN Wales members who voted said the pay award from the Welsh Government was ‘unacceptable’. The vote was part of an online consultation on NHS pay which ran from August 12 for 28 days.

Members of RCN Wales will now decide what action to take next with the option to ballot for industrial action on the cards.

Helen Whyley, RCN Wales director, said: “This shows the strength of feeling among our NHS members who are bitterly disappointed with the 3% pay award. Nurses have not had a decent pay award for the last decade. This comes when inflation is above 3% and national insurance contributions are rising which effectively negates this pay award.”

Nursing vacancies in Wales were at least 1,500 pre-pandemic and many of those have still not been filled.

Full story – Wales Online, 16 September 2021.

Stockport plans £500m hospital on Debenhams site

The council and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have bid for funds to replace Stepping Hill Hospital with a new town centre medical facility.

Currently, no new hospital is officially in the works. The trust has only placed its bid for Stockport to get one of the 40 facilities promised under the government’s £3.7bn New Hospitals Programme. The programme has already delivered money for 32 new-build projects and actively looking to sponsor another 8.

Karen James, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We know that many of our patients, visitors and staff, particularly those living in outlying areas, don’t find it easy to get to Stepping Hill Hospital,

The proposed town centre site is close to key transport hubs and would allow us, as a major employer in the town, to play our part in the exciting regeneration of Stockport.”

Even if funding is secured, it is estimated that it could take seven to eight years before a new hospital would be able to open. In the meantime, the trust plans to continue investing in maintenance of the hospital including £30.6m plan to develop a new emergency care campus.

Full story – North West Place, 8 September 2021.

Youth workers to support stab victims at Dudley’s Russels Hall Hospital

Youth workers will be placed in a Black Country hospital to support victims of knife attack and serious violence. This is part of a government-backed scheme to try and tackle knife crime in the region.

Youth workers will approach young people who have come into hospital with stab wounds or who have suffered another serious injury from crime. They will attempt to work with troubled youths in gangs or at risk of being drawn into them.

The support programme has been launched by the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit, who secured Home Office funding. They have already launched in Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital.

Full story – Birmingham Live, 16 September 2021.

Nursing vacancies in NHS Scotland at ‘record level’, union says

Vacancies have reached ‘record levels’ as new figures show more than 500 consultant positions and almost 5,000 jobs in nursing and midwifery are vacant.

RCN Scotland are demanding action as the level of staff vacancy was revealed this summer. The union claimed the vacancy rates in some areas – including NHS Highland, NHS Shetland and NHS Dumfries and Galloway – meant that more than one in 10 nursing and midwifery roles were lying empty.

This comes as RCN Scotland are locked in a pay dispute with the Scottish Government, with union leaders demanding a “fair pay rise” to “retain and recruit the nursing workforce Scotland needs”.

Julie Labmerth, RCN Scotland board chair, said: “RCN Scotland members are telling us that they have never been under greater pressure and with so many vacancies adding to the strain, we are seeing work-related absences on the rise.”

Full story – The National, 8 September 2021.

East Kent Hospitals: Chief executive of baby deaths trust to step down

The chief executive of East Kent Hospitals Trust has stepped down. The trust has been exposed for failings in its maternity care and Covid-19 precautions is stepping down. Susan Acott steps down four years after taking on the post in 2018.

In June the trust was fined £733,000 over the death of baby Harry Richford in 2017, admtiting failing to provide safe care and treatment.

In October 2020, the trust also came under fire from the CQC after an inspection revealed a number of failings over Covid-19 precautions.

The search for her successor begins immediately, with a huge job on their hands to recover the trust’s reputation.

Full story – BBC News, 8 September 2021.

NHS dentistry is financially unviable, Northern Ireland Health Minister told

Almost 500 dentists from across Northern Ireland have signed a letter addressed to the Health Minister which warns NHS dentistry “is at severe risk of complete collapse”.

The British Dental Association (BDA) said NHS dentistry in Northern Ireland is “financially unviable”, with the income for associate dentists dropping by 36% since 2008/09 and 43% for practice owners over the same period.

The letter states: “While practitioners across the UK have experienced sustained cuts to their incomes, practitioners in Northern Ireland have seen their pay eroded by the largest proportion.”

The BDA have described a burnt-out and demoralised workforce and that income has been significantly impacted during the pandemic, leaving the service in an “extremely precarious state”. They are calling for collective leadership from the government to try to avoid a complete collapse of health service dentistry.

Full story – Belfast Telegraph, 2 September 2021.

‘Perfect storm’ of more Covid, soaring A&E demand and staff exhaustion feared by London hospital chief

The hospital chief has warned that hospitals will be unable to reduce the patient backlog or increase access to visitors if they are hit by the ‘perfect storm’ of rising Covid cases and staff burn-out. Hospitals are already reporting A&E numbers usually only seen in the winter.

Across London more than 800,000 patients are waiting for hospital treatment. Professor Orchard, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said staff were exhausted and some hospital services would have to be postponed to help them cope in the event of more Covid cases.

St Mary’s Hospital, part of the trust, has submitted a full strategic outline case to the government for funding to be part of the 40 new hospitals promised nationally.

Professor Orchard said: “The trust has the biggest backlog maintenance liability of any NHS organisation and, as our staff and patients are very aware, the state of our facilities, with many pre-dating the NHS itself, makes it increasingly difficult to provide high quality care.”

Full story – Evening Standard, 16 September 2021.

Cornwall Council announces blitz on Covid cases

Cornwall Council is aiming to tackle the number of Covid cases in the council this week with so called ‘vaxi taxis’ and extra vaccination clinics. These form part of the extra support after Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were designated an Enhanced Response Area on August 27.

Three weeks since this extra support and covid cases in Cornwall have dropped in line with South West and national average. However, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 continues to pressure the NHS.

Teams will hit the streets this coming week to engage with residents in areas of lower vaccine uptake about the importance of getting vaccinated. The ‘vaxi taxi’ is a free transport scheme to encourage carers to get fully jabbed before September 16th and additional pop up vaccine clinics are being held in Falmouth and Truro – with no booking required.

Local councillor and Portfolio Holder for Adults and Public Health, Andy Virr, said: “It’s great that we’ve managed to bring case numbers down in Cornwall but we still need everyone to step and do their bit to protect each other.”

Full story – The Falmouth Packet, 16 September 2021.

London statue unveiled in honour of Windrush NHS nurses

A statue has been unveiled in North London to commemorate the efforts of Windrush and Commonwealth NHS nurses and midwives, following a successufl crowd-funding campaign.

Around 40,000 nurses and midwives from around the Commonwealth came to the UK from 1948 to 1973 to help the fledging NHS, which was facing recruitment issues. Their dedication and service was exemplary and it has been said that the NHS would have collapsed without ther contributions.

Full story – The Independent, 11 September 2021.

Lowdown stories (5 September 2021)

Why NI funding boost is still not enough for health and social care

Millions go without mental health support

GPs endure relentless workload and abuse

Johnson’s plan to build 40 hospitals yet to stand-up

Expansion of pharmacies’ clinical offering fails to offset crisis in general practice

National Insurance increase for care funding unfair

NHS loses top spot in international rankings

Health and care bill takes deep flaws into committee stage

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (30 July 2021)

The Health and Care Bill – a chance to solve the NHS staffing crisis?

How does NHS funding work?

Solent NHS Trust first with integrated sexual health self-service

Solent NHS Trust has become the first in the country to go live with a personal health record system that facilitates an integrated approach to the remote delivery of sexual health services.

The system enables trust patients to book and amend clinic appointments online, create and manage their own records, and streamlines delivery service by allowing clinicians to digitally triage their patients.

Once fully implemented, patients will also have access to repeat contraception, postal testing kits, results and prescriptions, and offers a secure and anonymous partner notification service.

The digital service has been designed in an effort to alleivate pressure on sexual health clinics, particularly in light of a nationwide squeeze on sexual health funding.

Full story – Digital Health, 30 July 2021.

Drug firm fined for huge price rise that hit NHS

Advanz increased the price of a crucial thyroid remedy more than 10-fold, from £20 in 2009 to £248 in 2017, making the drug unaffordable for the NHS. It has now been fined more than £100m by the Competition and Markets Authority for the move.

The watchdog said it “exploited a loophole enabling it to reap much higher profits” and the latest fine sent a “clear message” to the pharmaceutical sector that breaking the law would not be tolerated.

An investigation revealed that between 2009 and 2018, Advanz charged excessive and unfair prices for supplying liothyronine tablets. The CMA said: “They achieved this because liothyronine tablets were among a number of drugs that, although genericised, faced limited or no competition and therefore could sustain repeated price increases.”

Full story – BBC News, 29 July 2021.

Covid vaccine passport is here after change to NHS app

Vaccine passports have no effectively been introduced in England after a change to the NHS app to include a “domestic” section. It states: “You may need to show your NHS Covid Pass at places that have chosen to use the service.”

Previously, the app just included the option of showing proof of vaccination status for foreign travel or for the Government’s events research programme, including getting into Wembley for the Euro 2020 matches, but the latter has been deleted.

Businesses have the option to use “vaccine passports” on a voluntary basis and the Government is set to make them mandatory in some settings, including nightclubs and large public events in the Autumn.

It comes as ministers are stepping up their pleas for more people, particularly young adults, to get the Covid jab.

Full story – Evening Standard, 29 July 2021.

Covid: One million masks for NHS fail high-grade safety tests

Tests have found that a million masks supplied to the NHS as high grade did not meet the correct level of protection. According to the report, the masks (FFP3 type) also had invalid CE safety markings – an emblem used to signify compliance with European standards.

The BMA have responded that it was “scandalous” staff working during the pandemic had been put at risk. The DHSC said a strategy was in place to provide alternatives.

The FFP3 masks are worn by health professionals in intensive care or during certain procedures that can generate aerosols. These are tiny virus particles that can build up in stuffy rooms and are linked to outbreaks of Covid-19.

DHSC said 1.12 million of a certain brand of these masks were in use in the NHS or in stores when they were withdrawn earlier this year. They claim this represents a “very small proportion” of its overall stocks.

Full story – BBC News, 29 July 2021.

NHS staff with ‘colossal workload’ desperately trying to clear huge waiting lists as Covid admissions rise

Leading medics have warned that NHS workers are desperately trying to clear huge waiting lists while juggling the treatment of an influx of Covid patients.

One A&E doctor described the grim realities of working a shift in her department, which is seeing up to 70 extra patients a day as bed numbers dwindle. Another medic said hospitals are “very full and busy trying to catch up” and that even a few Covid admissions can become disruptive.

Dr Denise Langhor, BMA specialty emergency medicine lead, works in a hospital in the north-west of England and said they are currently treating 45 Covid patients, 9 of which are in intensive care.

“Many intensive care units would only have 10 or 12 intensive care beds; every Covid ICU admission that we have means that a bed is not available for the patient that might need critical care.”

Full story – iNews, 29 July 2021.

£6bn NHS glove contract shows rocketing cost of PPE

The Department of Health and Social Care has budgeted up to £6bn to spend on disposable gloves over the next two years, highlighting the huge expense of continuing to supply the NHS with personal protective equipment.

Securing PPE quickly since the onset of the pandemic has led to rocketing prices, accusations of cronyism, and reports of forced labour being used to manufacture the products. A National Audit Office report found the government had budgeted “an unprecedented £15bn of taxpayers’ money” for PPE during the chaotic procurement processes of 2020-21.

A recent framework agreement quietly published by the government online on Friday (23rd) suggests that ensuring frontline workers never again go without critical protections is likely to be costly. DHSC sources say the figures represent a cap, rather than a target, for the maximum amount to be spent over the lifetime of a contract.

Full story – The Guardian, 28 July 2021.

NHS pay: Royal College of Nursing to hold ‘summer of action’ over 3% pay rise

The government has been under fire from NHS staff and unions in recent months after its original 1% pay rise offer which has now been increased to 3% – a move that was described as “shambolic”.

The Royal College of Nurses have announced a number of events will be taking place across the country in a “summer of action” to raise awareness of its “fair pay” demands.

The nursing union, the largest in the world, has warned the government is “failing” and has called for a fully-funded 12.5% pay rise. They say that with inflation the 3% award is a “real-terms pay cut and leaves experienced nursing staff £200 a year worse off”.

The government also announced that the money for the pay increase would be found from existing budgets, further angering the nursing profession as the funding will have been allocated for patient care, according to the RCN.

Full story – Sky News, 28 July 2021.

Amanda Pritchard to replace Simon Stevens as NHS England chief

Simon Stevens’ deputy has been confirmed as the head of NHS England. The announcement comes after months of speculation that the job could controversially go to the head of test and trace, Dido Harding.

Pritchard will be officially appointed as NHS England chief executive on Sunday – a sign that the government is seeking continuity as the health service attempts to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. She will be the first female NHS head since its inception in 1948.

The recruitment process has been overshadowed by rows over the candidacy of Harding, who lead the highly criticised £37bn test-and-trace scheme. The appointment comes as Stevens stands down after seven years in the job. His successor will have the job of overseeing a huge backlog of routine care after the pandemic has left staff exhausted.

Full story – The Guardian, 28 July 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (12 July 2021).

Is ‘step four’ a step too far for the NHS?

Summer crisis for depleted NHS hospitals

New Health & Care Bill will gag local voices

Maternity safety compromised in a third of NHS trusts

Ramsay bid to become largest UK private health supplier

New NHS community diagnostics attract firms with £10bn contract

Silly season bid to sneak through new prescription charges

Campaigners highlight covid threat to prisons in India

‘Borderline meltdown’: NHS emergency services brace for soaring demand the weekend of the Euros final

Emergency services across the country are bracing for a flood of call-outs as England play in the Euros 2020 final during the middle of a summer crisis for hospitals.

The Independent learned that patients have recently been forced to queue for up to an hour outside one A&E department, and some waiting up to 20 hours for a bed.

In Scotland, there are also intense pressures with call volumes to the NHS 24hr telephone helpline up to 60 per cent higher than a year ago, with 90-minute wait times to get through. Similar pressures on England’s 111 system has been blamed on a decision to scrap a dedicated Covid telephone assessment service as cases began rising across the country.

South East Coast Ambulance Service has declared a “black alert” this week, along with four other ambulance services in England, and are preparing for an increase in calls during the Euros final.

Full story – The Independent, 10 July 2021.

Covid: Fully jabbed NHS staff may not have to isolate

Ministers are considering plans for fully vaccinated NHS staff in England to be exempt from having to self-isolate if they are traced as a Covid contact.

It comes as health bosses are urging the government to change the rules amid fears of staff shortages. Sources say no decision has yet been taken and ministers want to see evidence the plan is safe before moving ahead.

If it does go ahead, self-isolation would be replaced with daily tests from 19 July. This idea echoes a similar policy that would apply to all fully vaccinated people and children in England from 16 August.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, said: “The government should bring that in as soon as possible. I can’t see any reason to delay. NHS trusts are struggling with the number of staff having to isolate – anecdotally we’re seeing significant numbers off work.”

Full story – BBC News, 10 July 2021.

‘Incomplete data’ means true levels of violence against female NHS staff in Scotland is not recorded

It has been revealed that the true extent of violence against women working for the NHS in Scotland is unknown due to “inaccurate” recording by health boards.

Only 4 of the country’s 14 boards were able or willing to provide data on the number of female staff attacked during work in the last three years. Since 2018, there have been at least 28,730 assaults on NHS staff.

Violence against women organisation Engender said underreporting by public institutions of violent incidents against females leads to a “phenomenon where official crime statistics do not represent the true number of crimes committed”.

Full story – The Courier, 10 July 2021.

NHS England waiting list reaches record high for second straight month

The number of patients waiting for NHS treatment in England hit 5.3 million, breaking records for the second month in a row. The figures have prompted warnings the huge care backlog could exacerbate health service staff burnout.

There are fears that the waiting lists will hit 7 million before the end of the year. It was also revealed that only two-thirds of patients received treatments within 18 weeks in May, well below the NHS standard of 92% within that timeframe.

Healthcare leaders say there is an “immense task ahead” for healthcare workers, who are “valiantly firefighting on multiple fronts” with “unprecedented levels of exhaustion and stress”.

The NHS said it was investing an additional £1bn in extra operations and treatments to restore services and cut backlogs.

Full story – The Guardian, 9 July 2021.

Government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy left fearful NHS patients avoiding treatment

The hostile environment policy for charging overseas visitors for the cost of NHS services has been blamed for causing fear among vulnerable patients, leading to some avoiding treatment.

An independent review of the policy in action at one NHS trust found that whilst the trust was complying with government rules, it did not act with compassion or empathy towards affected patients.

Some patients at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust faced bills of thousands of pounds while living on benefits or without any income. The trust referred debts worth £5.4 million to debt collectors between 2016 and 2018 – the most from any trust in the country.

Campaigners say the situation at the trust is symptomatic of broader mistreatment of vulnerable migrants and overseas visitors at the mercy of legislation requiring the NHS to pursue them for costs of non-emergency treatment.

Full story – The Independent, 9 July 2021.

NHSE bosses admit GPs working ‘well beyond’ pre-pandemic levels

NHS England has said that GPs are delivering ‘well beyond’ pre-pandemic levels of activity and are busier than ever. This comes at the same time they plan to introduce a target on GP appointments.

The BMA responded that it was ‘pleased to hear some acknowledgement and praise for the significant activity and related workload pressures in general practice in the NHSE/Improvement board meeting’.

However, the BMA has condemned the new target, saying that the goal should be for GPs to do ‘fewer not more appointments’ and called for the metric to be replaced with one on GP recruitment.

Full story – Pulse Today, 8 July 2021.

Pandemic will not simply ‘disappear on 19 July’ warn nurses

The Royal College of Nursing has called for the continuation of public mask-wearing and better protection for frontline workers.

Nursing staff have warned the public that there will continue to be a risk after 19 July as many pandemic measures are set to be relaxed. The RCN are calling for the continuation of public mask-wearing and better protection for frontline workers.

Official statistics reveal Covid-19 weekly cases in England are up 74% on the previous seven days, and the number of people admitted to hospitals has risen by 55% over the same period.

Jude Diggins, RCN Interim Director of Nursing, Policy and Public Affairs has said: “After the steps to reduce restrictions, nursing staff need even greater protection than they have been afforded to date – they still need higher-grade [PPE] masks”.

Full story – Nursing Notes, 7 July 2021.

BMA will support legal fight of whistleblowing junior doctor Chris Day

Junior doctor, Chris Day, has fought a four year legal battle to have his claims of unfair dismissal heard after raising concerns in 2014 about understaffing and safety at the intensive care unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, London, where he was a specialist registrar in emergency medicine.

The BMA will back his case as part of plans to improve its support for whistle-blowers. Day previously claimed that BMA initially offered support for his case but then withdrew it.

Full story – BMA, 7 July 2021.

Health bill could see NHS contracts awarded without tender process

Private companies could be handed NHS contracts to treat patients without going through a tender process as a result of government’s planned shakeup of the NHS, critics have claimed.

The Labour part, doctors’ leaders and anti-privatisation campaigners warn that the new health and care bill would allow NHS bodies to award clinical care contracts to private providers without considering other bids.

The bill was laid out in parliament on Tuesday and sparked fears there could be repeats of the “Tory cronies” contracts scandals involving multi-billion-pound deals for PPE during the pandemic, but this time with clinical care.

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow health secretary, said: “after a year when billions of taxpayers’ money has been handed out to Tory cronies for duff PPE and testing contracts, allowing further privatisation with no oversight will be resisted strongly by Labour”.

Full story – The Guardian, 6 July 2021.

Protest planned demanding 15% pay rise for NHS staff and against privatisation

NHS workers in Leeds and across the nation met on 3 July to protest. They are demanding a restorative 15 per cent pay rise and against the privatisation of the NHS.

Organisers say the protest is in response to NHS workers losing 20 per cent of their pay since 2010. They also added that NHS staff feel “undervalued and overworked” which has led to “understaffed wards and burnt out staff”.

Full story – Yorkshire Post, 2 July 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (27 June 2021)

Calls for Javid to stop NHS shakeup

Tory splits on Health Bill

Don’t expect a return to normal service any time soon

NHS Reorganisation – a never ending story

Awkward questions linger over Leicester plan

NICE: Deciding what the NHS provides and how

Matt Hancock resigns as health secretary after day of humiliation

Hancock resigned as health secretary on Saturday night after Tory MPs, ministers and grassroots Conservatives defied Boris Johnson and demanded he be dismissed from government. This comes after footage was released of Hancock breaking Covid-19 rules for kissing his aide, Gina Coladangelo, in his ministerial office.

The resignation is considered a blow to the authority of the prime minister, who had stood by Hancock following his apology for the incident, declaring the matter to be “closed”.

Coladangelo is also leaving her role as a non-executive director of the health department, after a series of questions about how she recured the role and her influence within Hancock’s office.

There are also investigations after it was revealed that Hancock had been using a personal email account to conduct vital Department of Health business, including multimillion-pound Covid contract negotiations. This is against official guidelines.

Sajid Javid, former chancellor and home secretary, has been announced as Hancock’s replacement.

Full story – The Guardian, 26 June 2021.

NHS staff in Manchester reveal ‘major incident’ over hospital pressures

Doctors and nurses working at Manchester’s Royal Infirmary say they were told the hospital had declared a major incident on Thursday, with pressures mounting on its emergency department, long waits for patients and concerns over bed and staff shortages.

The reports of a major incident being declared come from multiple sources who say the incident was rapidly reduced to an internal incident to “avoid bad press”. The trust has denied declaring any such incident.

Staff report that patients in A&E were facing long waits for admission to wards, and only 65% of patients were being seen within four hours. One clinician said: “There is lots of pressure in the system. Staff are tired. There are very high numbers of attendances and enough Covid for us to start going back to the bad old days.”

Full story – The Independent, 26 June 2021.

Covid-10: NHS Test and Trace weaknesses remain, says watchdog

The National Audit Office (NAO) review of NHS Test and Trace in England has highlighted poor turnaround times for testing during the winter, and an over-reliance on consultants. It revealed there remained “pressing challenges” to solve in the coming months.

There has been progress in the creation of local council contact tracing team. This is the second review by the NAO, the first of which was heavily critical. It looked at performance from November to April.

NAO warned effectiveness of service was still being undermined by low levels of public compliance, both in terms of testing and isolation. It is estimated that only 14% of the 691m rapid lateral flow tests distributed to the public have been used.

Full story – BBC News, 25 June 2021

Online Covid-19 passports go live in Wales

People in Wales can now access their Covid-19 vaccinated passport, which is also available in England, to prove they have had both jabs when travelling abroad.

From 25 June, all those living in Wales aged 16 and over and have had both vaccinations can access their Covid passport. These digital passports are being recommended over a paper version and can be shown on smartphones, tablets or laptops.

Access to the pass requires an NHS login through the NHS website. Once registered and logged in, a user can view their vaccination status and print the pass as a PDF document. Those who do not have online access can request a paper version of their passport to be sent from on from 5 days after receiving their second jab.

Full story – Digital Health, 25 June 2021.

Nursing staff formally enter dispute with Scottish government over NHS pay

Nursing staff have notified the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland employers that they’re in a trade dispute over pay. This comes after RCN and GMB members rejected a 4% single-year pay deal earlier this year.

The Royal College of Nursing Scotland has stressed the serious concerns members have about the recruitment and retention of nursing staff and the impact this has on patient care. RCN Scotland board chair, Julie Lambeth said:

“In these circumstances, the Scottish government has left us with no choice but to notify them of this dispute. They have relied on the good will of nursing staff for too long. For years, we have been responding to the challenge of delivering safe and effective patient care, in the face of increasing demands, staff shortages and low pay. These issues have been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

Full story – Nursing Notes, 23 June 2021.

NHS nurse sacked over weekend working wins landmark ruling

A community nurse who was sacked for not agreeing to work weekends has won a “landmark” ruling for working mothers after a judge ruled that employment tribunals must take childcare disparity into account.

Gemma Dobson worked fixed shifts around her caring responsibilities for her three children, two of whom are disabled. In 2016, she was fired by North Cumbria NHS foundation trust as she was unable to meet a new requirement for community nurses to work flexibly, including some weekends.

Gemma was unsuccessful at an employment tribunal, where she cited unfair dismissal and indirect sex discrimination, but has won an appeal before the president of the employment appeal tribunal, Mr Justice Choudhury. He judged that “childcare disparity” was a matter employment tribunals “must take into account if relevant”.

Full story – The Guardian, 23 June 2021.

Fears Covid-19 and flu could ruin NHS efforts to deal with backlog of patients

Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses could result in a “perfect storm” this winter, hampering plans to deal with the backlog of patients needing NHS care. 78% of NHS trust leaders in England are extremely or moderately concerned about operational pressures their trust faces this winter.

Among concerns are a possible increase in demand for urgent and emergency care, as well as flu cases and 9 in 10 trust leaders said they expected another surge in Covid-19 cases.

The COO of a community trust in the South East said: “I am worried that we will have a difficult flu season and we will have a run on the beds. This will destabilise the elective (planned treatments) recovery which will be very concerning given the length of time patients have already waited.”

Full story – Sky News, 23 June 2021.

Thousands more leave NHS pension scheme over tax bills

More than 50,000 workers opted out of the NHS pension scheme in 2019/20 over concerns they would be hit with a significant tax bill.

Freedom of Information requests have shown a total of 180,000 staff have opted out over the past four tax years. According to Quilter, many later rejoin the scheme to try and reduce pension growth for the year to avoid being hit by annual allowance tax charges.

An NHS pension specialist, Graham Crossley, has said the government must look at the current pension tax system for the public sector and see whether it is still fit for purpose.

Full story – Financial Times Adviser, 21 June 2021.

NHS England announces to commission long covid GP enhanced service

GPs will receive funding to treat patients suffering with long Covid via a new enhanced service worth £30m, NHS England has announced.

It was also announced that GPs will soon be able to refer children and young people to new long Covid clinics as specialist services are expanded. 15 paediatric long Covid clinics will be set up for £70m invested in expanding care for the condition, and £30m will ‘go to GPs to improve diagnosis and care for those with Long Covid’.

GPs has previously warned that access to existing clinics is patchy, with only one fifth of GPs saying they currently had access in their local area. This is as the ONS predict the condition is affecting about one million people in the UK.

Full story – Pulse, 15 June 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (14 June 2021)

A rash dash for your patient data?

Health visiting staff being cut in Staffordshire

Urgent calls to fix “incoherent” health and social care staffing

No answers on delayed Leamington mega lab

Ministers complacent as hospital trusts struggle with emergencies and waiting lists

History of NHS privatisation: NHS money commissions new private hospitals

NHS told to identify patients actually sick from Covid-19 separately to those testing positive

Hospitals have been told to change their method for collecting data on patients infected with coronavirus so it differentiates between those actually unwell with symptoms and those who test positive while seeking treatment for another condition.

This move would reduce the overall number of patients in hospital for coronavirus. NHS England have instructed hospitals to make the change in the flow of data sent by trusts in order to better analyse the effect of the vaccine programme.

Lib Dem MP, Layla Moran, said: “If this provides a more accurate picture of the impact of Covid on our hospitals then that should be welcomed. However, we need to be cautious about the government using this as a way to massage the figures as we approach 21 June.”

Full story – The Independent, 11 June 2021.

Number of people on England’s NHS waiting list tops 5m for first time

The number of people on waiting lists for hospital treatment in England has exceeded 5 million for the first time, highlighting the growing issues of long waits for NHS care.

The number of people forced to wait at least a year for planner, non-urgent treatment in hospital, particularly surgery, has fallen for the first time in over a year but remains a serious concern.

The NHS constitution target that 92% of patients are treated within 18 weeks has not been met since 2016. The Covid pandemic, combined with widespread staff shortages and a decade of austerity, has left many hospitals across the country with a growing backlog.

Tim Gardner, senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation, has said it would be “extremely difficult” for the NHS to increase elective care given workforce shortages, burnout among staff, and the reduced number of hospital beds as a result of social distancing.

Full story – The Guardian, 10 June 2021.

Hancock denies PPE shortages caused any of the 1,500 NHS staff deaths from Covid-19

The health secretary told MPs at a hearing that there had never been a national shortage of PPE despite ‘huge challenges’. This goes against evidence of clinicians having to use ‘bin bags’ as protection during the earlier stages of the pandemic.

Hancock expressed regret at the death of NHS workers but he argued that the government had down ‘everything it possibly could to protect staff’. However, GP online reported last year that GP surgeries were told by their CCG to buy their own face masks because of short supplies.

Hancock also said that there is no evidence that a shortage of PPE provision led to anybody dying of Covid-19 and that the higher death rate for healthcare workers were because they were often at the frontline.

Full story – GP Online, 10 June 2021.

How to opt ouf of NHS Digital data sharing

The plans to transfer pseudonymised medical records of 55 million British patients to a central database has been delayed until September after concerns about privacy and lack of public awareness were recently expressed.

The BMA and RCGP wrote to NHS Digital last week to express concerns around lack of widespread awareness of project and many privacy campaigners signalled concerns that people’s confidential information could be sold on for commercial ends or the system could be vulnerable to hackers.

You can opt out via the National Data Opt-out and also by registering your opt-out with your GP practice. More information about the National Data opt-out and the move to NHS Digital can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

Full story – The Independent, 9 June 2021.

Link between Covid cases and deaths has been broken, says senior NHS boss

Chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, says hospitals are reporting much lower mortality rates and the UK’s vaccination programme has broken the link between infections, hospital admissions and deaths. Hospitals are also reporting fewer and younger patients.

His comments on the radio came as the government is mulling over whether to lift any remaining coronavirus restrictions on 21 June – a decision is expected on Monday 14th.

Coronavirus cases are rising again, particularly in areas where the Delta variant is spreading. Andy Burnham has called for extra support for areas suffering most with the rise in Delta variant cases. He urged the government to provide a “surge” in vaccine supplies to these regions to stop the spread of the virus.

Full story – The Guardian, 9 June 2021.

NHS and social care staff burnout at an emergency level – report

MPs have warned that NHS and care staff in England are so burnt out that it has become an “emergency” and risks the future of the health service. This comes as a highly critical report reveals workers were exhausted and overstretched because of staff shortages.

The report also highlights the fact the problems existed before the pandemic, but the last year has worsened the pressures. Doctors’ and nursing unions have welcomed the report’s conclusions with the staff shortages already well documented.

The report is from the health and social care committee inquiry. It said there needed to be a “total overhaul of the way the NHS does workforce planning” and “It is clear that workforce planning has been led by the funding envelope available to health and social care rather than by demand and the capacity required to service that demand.”

Full story – BBC News, 8 June 2021.

Thousands of UK men to benefit after NHS approves prostate cancer drug

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has recommended enzalutamide as an option for treating some types of prostate cancer. It can be taken at home and is especially beneficial to those who cannot have chemotherapy.

The cancer drug was adopted by NHS England during the pandemic as “swaps” for existing drugs because they are less likely to damage the immune system or cause hospital visits. The new draft guidance from Nice is expected to open access to the drug for broader use among an estimated 8,500 men.

It works by blocking the impact of testosterone on prostate cancer cells, inhibiting growth. Clinical trials have found the treatment slows the worsening of the disease and extends patients’ lifespans.

Full story – The Guardian, 8 June 2021.

Government will end free car parking for NHS staff by June

This move adds further insult to injury after the Government told NHS workers a 1% pay rise was all it could afford this year.

The new guidance is contrary to an NHS England pledge in the People Plan that calls for parking to remain free for the duration of the pandemic. Late last year some NHS trusts ignored government advice and started to reimplement parking charges for some workers.

A survey by Nursing Notes reveals that some nurses are paying upwards of £50 a month to work on the frontline. Meanwhile, hospital car parking remains free in most parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Unions have accused the Government of “penny-pinching” over the move.

Full story – Nursing Notes, 28 May 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (29 May 2021)

NHS plans to share data, “leaks will inevitably happen”

NHS England is planning to share the medical records of 55 million individuals with third parties, in a move that is attracting strong criticism from digital rights campaigners.

Unless individuals opt out by June 23rd by informing their GP practice, their personal medical records will be shared from July 1st onwards. NHS Digital says it will not collect patients’ names, addresses or identifiable information but rather data about diagnoses, symptoms, test results, medications and allergies.

NHS Digital website states that the data will be used to research the long-term impact of Covid-19. However, digital rights campaigners have raised alarms that the NHS has not clarified who they would be sharing the data with.

Full story – Healthcare Global, 27 May 2021.

Amazon Web Services wins £9 million one-year contract for UK NHS track and trace hosting

The UK’s NHS Test and Trace program has signed a £9 million one-year hosting deal with Amazon Web Services, the DHSC signing a contract with the cloud company.

When the deal was first published, the Test and Trace privacy notice made no reference to AWS, instead saying citizens’ data would be “held on Public Health England’s secure cloud environment, which is kept up to date to protect it from viruses and hacking,” before updating the wording to include reference to the cloud giant.

Amazon has won a number of hosting contracts from the UK government, NHS Scotland, Ministry of Justice, HMRC and the Home Office have signed deals with the company since 2020 totalling more than £200 million.

Full story – Data Center Dynamics, 27 May 2021.

Enhanced NHS 111 clinical input and reduced ambulance journeys to replace A&E target

The four-hour target for A&E will be replaced by a new set of 10 indicators, including the proportion of 111 patients receiving ‘clinical input’ and measures to reduce unnecessary ambulance journeys, according the NHS England.

The target introduced in 2004 to see 95% of A&E patients within four hours has not been met since July 2015. The new proposed indicators were consulted between December 2020 and February this year, following a clinical review of NHS access standards for urgent and emergency care.

Proposed new indicators could include:

The ‘proportion of contacts via NHS 111 that receive clinical input
The reduction of ‘avoidable trips’ to emergency departments by 999 ambulances
The percentage of patients receiving an ‘initial assessment’ within 15 minutes of arrival at A&E
The percentage of patients spending more than 12 hours in A&E.

Full story – Pulse, 26 May 2021.

Covid hospital admissions rising with most patients younger people, says NHS leader

The number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 is rising in some regions but “few, if any” are from care homes. Younger people are making up most of coronavirus hospital admissions with 70% of admissions in one hospital consisting of under-45s.

The rise is hospital admissions in some areas affected by the Indian Covid variant is still small compared with the levels seen earlier in the year.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson has said most hospitalisations were among younger people and those who have been offered the vaccine but have yet to take up the offer.

Full story – The Independent, 26 May 2021.

‘Unnecessary secrecy’: 42 NHS trusts criticised over Covid deaths data

The Patients Association and Transparency International criticised 42 NHS acute trusts for not fully complying with freedom of information requests for hospital acquired Covid infections and deaths.

The Guardian revealed that up t0 8,700 patients lost their lives after probably or definitely becoming infected during the pandemic while in hospital for surgery or other treatment. The BMA said the hospital trusts not revealing the figures of such deaths were denying the bereaved crucial information.

“No one should come into hospital with one condition, only to be made incredibly ill with, or even die from, a dangerous infectious disease” said Dr Rob Harwood, chair of the BMA’s hospital consultants committee.

The Guardian has raised trusts’ widespread non-compliance with the information commissioner, who oversees public bodies’ adherence to the Freedom of Information Act.

Full story – The Guardian, 25 May 2021.

Dentistry: Rising numbers struggling to access NHS care

Healthwatch England has warned that rising numbers of people in England are struggling to access NHS dentistry. It said some people had been asked to wait up to three years for appointments, with the pandemic creating backlogs and worsening access to NHS services.

Practices were closed from March to June last year so with clinics running at limited capacity and some practices stopping seeing NHS patients has contributed to the problems. The organisation also said people had claimed they had felt pushed into going private – and that dental fees were too hgih for some.

However, the government said work is underway to tackle the problems caused by the pandemic. This includes extra urgent dental clinics being opened, with vulnerable and those in most need prioritised for treatment.

Full story – BBC News, 25 May 2021.

NHS staff to protest for better pay in Cornwall and Devon

NHS workers in the south west are due to protest for higher pay, demanding the wage increase they were refused last year.

The campaign between NHS workers, Nurses United and GMB is part of a set of national demonstrations to take place.

They are petitioning the Government for a 15 per cent pay increase, which they say will bring wages up to date with inflation from the past few years.

Full story – Cornwall Live, 25 May 2021.

NHS England will not enforce new face-to-face appointment guidance

NHS England will not enforce its new guidance on face-to-face appointments, although CCGs may, according to Pulse. This comes as an updated standard operation procedure has been published that fails to clarify questions raised by NHS England’s previous guidance.

An NHS England spokesperson told Pulse that it is up to local commissioners to hold GP practices to account for delivery of their contract, but that CCGs have not specifically been asked to monitor or enforce the new guidance.

This comes after last week, an NHS England letter sent to practices said patients must now be offered face-to-face appointments if that is their preference. It remains unclear whether NHS England will monitor or enforce this or whether it should be considered guidance only.

Full story – Pulse, 20 May 2021.

Covid-19: NHS to trial rapid diagnostics and Saturday clinics to tackle elective care backlog

NHS England is set to invest £160m to test new initiatives to reduce hospital waiting lists that have soared to 4.7 million during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Selected areas in England will test quicker access to diagnostic testing at one stop facilities, pop-up clinics to treat and discharge patients closer to home, Saturday specialist clinics staffed by multidisciplinary teams, and “virtual wards” to assess people at home.

NHS chief operating officer, said: “With covid cases in hospitals significantly reducing thanks to extraordinary success of the NHS vaccination programme, our focus in now on rapidly recovering routine services.”

NHS England said that while elective activity was recovering faster after the second wave of the pandemic than it did last year, it wanted to accelerate the recovery through the pilots.

Full story – The BMJ, 13 May 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (18th May 2021)

End the injustice of dementia patients paying for their care

What will be in the Health and Care Bill?

Independents look to boost NHS work, despite transparency failures

The History of Privatisation – Part 5

Is online access to GPs increasing their workload?

70% of people in England now have Covid antibodies, ONS figures show

Nearly 70 per cent of adults in England are likely to have Covid-19 antibodies, according to the latest estimate from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In Scotland, the estimated figures range from 59.2 per cent of adults in Scotland to 63.2 per cent for Wales and 63.5 per cent for Northern Ireland, and 69.3 per cent in England.

The presence of Covid-19 antibodies implies someone has either had the infection in the past or has been vaccinated, and it takes between two and three weeks after infection or vaccination for the body to make enough antibodies to fight the virus.

Full story – The Independent, 14 May 2021

Scotland concludes NHS pay talks after majority agree 4% pay deal

The Scottish Government has confirmed that NHS pay talks have officially concluded after the majority of health unions agreed to a single-year rise of 4% for most workers.

Under the deal, those on pay bands of 1 to 4 would receive a flat uplift of £1,009, band 5 to 7 would receive a 4% pay increase, bands 8a to 8c would receive 2% pay increase, and bands 8d and 9 would receive a flat uplift of £800.

It comes on top of a £500 “thank-you payment” for health and care workers in recognition of their efforts during the pandemic.

Full story – Nursing Notes, 14 May 2021

Government Pays £38 Million to Firm After Reneging on COVID Contract

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has paid out more than £38 million after reneging on a pre-contract arrangement with a provider of COVID-19 testing services.

An NHS procurement specialist told Byline Times that this may be the “largest settlement figure” of its kind so far in the ongoing procurement scandal.

The settlement agreement notice published on the Government’s Contract Finder website appears to be the first that has been released during the Coronavirus pandemic. It reveals that the DHSC paid a Dubai-headquartered company called Ecolog nearly £38.5 million for a service it never received.

Full story – Byline Times, 14 May 2021

Report of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response: making COVID-19 the last pandemic

In May 2020 the World Health Assembly requested the WHO Director-General initiate an independent, impartial, and comprehensive review of the international health response to the pandemic. An independent panel was convened for this purpose, known as the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. The panel has spent the past 8 months examining the state of pandemic preparedness before COVID-19, the circumstances of the identification of SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, and responses globally, regionally, and nationally, particularly in the early months of the pandemic. The panel has also analysed the wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic on health and health systems, and the social and economic crises that it has precipitated.

The panel has produced a definitive account to date of what happened, why it happened, and how it could be prevented from happening again. This report was published on May 12, 2021, together with a companion report that describes 13 defining events which have been pivotal in shaping the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full report – The Lancet, 12 May 2021

Healthcare at Home placed in special measures

A Care Quality Commission report states that failures at the private provider Healthcare at Home meant that patients have come to avoidable harm; the company failed to deliver thousands of medicine prescriptions.

Healthcare at Home, which is based in Staffordshire but provides NHS-funded care and medicine supplies to patients’ homes across the country, has been rated “inadequate” and placed in special measures.

The report said that inspectors found more than 10,000 patients missed a dose of their medicine between October and December 2020 due to problems caused by the introduction of a new information system. Reviews have found some suffered avoidable harm as a result.

Full story – the HSJ, 13 May 2021

Study in The Lancet claims having minimum nurse to patient ratios cuts risk of death

New research, published in The Lancet, examining the effect of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios has found it reduces the risks of those in care dying by up to 11 per cent.

The study also said fewer patients were readmitted and they had shorter stays in hospital.

It compared 400,000 patients and 17,000 nurses working in 27 hospitals in Queensland, Australia to 28 other hospitals. The state has a policy of just one nurse to every four patients during the day and one to seven at night, in a bid to improve safety and standards of care.

The research said savings made from patients having a shorter length of stay, which fell 9 per cent, and less readmissions were double the cost of hiring the extra nurses needed to achieve the ratios.

Full story – The Independent 12 May 2021

Conflict of interest claims for former tory party chair over PPE contract

Emails obtained by The Good Law Project and seen by The Financial Times have shown that Andrew Feldman, a former chair of the Conservative party, used an advisory role in the UK health department at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to initiate a government contract for a client of his lobbying company.

Feldman was quietly given an unpaid job advising health minister Lord James Bethell from March 24 to May 15 last year despite there being potential conflicts of interest with clients of Tulchan, the lobbying and PR firm he has run since 2019.

The emails show that Feldman, while advising Bethell, urged an official at the Cabinet Office in March 2020 to buy personal protective equipment from Bunzl, a Tulchan client.

The health department subsequently awarded Bunzl a £22.6m deal on 2 April 2020.

Full story – The FT, 12 May 2021

Covid bereaved condemn government refusal to publish NHS 111 training content

The government has refused to make public the training materials call handlers in the NHS 111 coronavirus response service (CRS) were given at the start of the pandemic, on the grounds that they are “commercially sensitive”.

The Labour MP Kate Osamor condemned the refusal as an “insult” to families whose relatives have died from the virus. The MP had warned last year that the 111 service “simply couldn’t cope” with the huge number of people needing advice for Covid-19 symptoms.

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has said that many of its members strongly believe that their relatives who died were failed by inadequate advice from 111 call handlers, and has demanded the service be investigated as part of a public inquiry.

Full story – The Guardian, 29 April 2021

UK Covid contracts ‘raised red flags for possible corruption’

A report by Transparency International UK said a “seriously flawed” arrangement, whereby companies bidding for contracts were prioritised if they were referred into a “VIP lane” by their political connections, had “damaged trust in the integrity of the pandemic response”. The report noted that one in five government Covid contracts awarded between February and November 2020 contained one or more red flags for possible corruption and require urgent further investigation.

The group has called for the government to disclose the identities of companies awarded public money through the VIP lane, which was set up by the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care in the early days of the pandemic.

Full story in The Guardian, 22 April 2021

VIP lane for Covid suppliers left UK civil servants ‘drowning’ in non-credible bids

A court has been told that civil servants found themselves “drowning” in bids for Covid contracts that failed to meet due diligence standards after the government created a “VIP lane” for politically connected suppliers.

The legal case being brought by the Good Law Project against the government has led to this disclosure that suggests the controversial scheme resulted in a deluge of non-credible offers to supply personal protective equipment (PPE), some of them recommended by MPs and ministers.

The government has repeatedly refused to reveal which companies were awarded public money after having their bids assessed through the VIP lane, citing “commercial confidentiality” and it denies that ministers had any role in dictating which companies received contracts, or that the scheme was used to direct public money to applicants favoured by the government.

Full story – The Guardian, 22 April 2021

Windrush scandal made ethnic minority people ‘fearful’ of using cancer services

The HSJ has revealed that following the Windrush scandal some people from ethnic minorities have been afraid to access cancer services during the pandemic as they fear that their data would be shared with the Home Office, according to an NHS England document.

The paper from the West Midlands Cancer Alliance said there was a “perception” the government was “accelerating immigration removals” and that, as a result, ”individuals (particularly those affected by the Windrush scandal) are then fearful of accessing cancer treatment and may not participate in screening programmes for fear their information will be inappropriately shared with the Home Office”.

The news comes after figures released last week showed the fall-off in referral and treatment of Black-British patients for cancer during the early stages of the pandemic was sharper than for their White-British counterparts.

Full story – the HSJ, 21 April 2021

End NHS staff shortages now, Boris Johnson told

A letter signed by unions and other groups representing most of the NHS’s 1.4 million-strong workforce, has demanded that the government devise an urgent plan that will significantly increase the size of the workforce of the NHS in England by the time of the next general election in 2024.

The strain of working in a perpetually understaffed service is so great that it risks creating an exodus of frontline personnel, they warn the prime minister in a letter published on Wednesday.

The letter has been signed by the Royal College of Nursing, British Medical Association and Unison. NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation, which both represent hospital trusts, have also endorsed it, as has the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, a professional body for the UK’s 240,000 doctors.

Full story – The Guardian, 21 April 2021

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (18th April 2021)

Fantasy and denial in under-funded NHS

The “terrifying” mental health crisis explained

Urgent action needed for post-pandemic recovery

Private firm’s alternative NHS White Paper

Private health sector propped up by NHS

Oxford trust chases private income

Matt Hancock accused of ‘cronyism’ over his stake in NHS supplier

The opposition Labour party have accused the health secretary of “cronyism” after he declared he owned a minority stake in a company that is an approved supplier to NHS England and has won contracts with NHS Wales.

HSJ first reported the link between Hancock and the company, Topwood Limited, who specialise in shredding and storage solutions, after it was placed on the NHS Shared Business Services framework in 2019. This allows the company to bid to provide services to NHS England.

Hancock has declared he held “over 15 per cent of issued share capital” and company documents show 20 shares were transferred to the health secretary on February 1. Hancock’s sister is named as a director of Topwood Ltd on Companies House.

The company have claimed there is “no conflict at all” with NHS Wales contracts awarded to the company and Hancock’s part-ownership. The revelations come at a time when lobbying within Whitehall is under severe scrutiny and after a year of accusations of cronyism in Covid contracting.

Full story – Financial Times, 16 April 2021.

Covid-19 having ‘catastrophic’ impact on NHS as 4.7 million wait to start hospital treatment

Charities and health organisations alike have warned the pandemic is having a “catastrophic” impact on NHS services as the number of people in England waiting to begin hospital treatment hits a record high.

Meanwhile, routine hospital treatment admissions were down by 47% in February 2021 compared to the same month in the previous year. The number of people waiting more than 52 weeks to start treatment was at 387,885 in February, a figure not reached since December 2007.

Sara Bainbridge, head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Tens of thousands of people are still missing a diagnosis due to disruption caused by the pandemic, which could affect their prognosis.”

Boris Johnson remains positive the backlog can be tackled but Shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said the government’s lack of NHS funding over the past 10 years has meant the service is “weakened when a pandemic hits.”

Full story – Sky News, 16 April 2021.

Scheme launched to improve safety for frontline NHS staff

A London-wide operation, called Operation Cavell, has launched to improve the safety of NHS staff. The initiative will see a senior officer review all reports of assault and hate crime against NHS staff.

The NHs, Metropolitan Police Service and Crown Prosecution Service have been working in partnership to launch the scheme, following a three-month pilot. A senior police officer, welfare and support staff within the NHS are brought on board to help those who have been victim of such crimes feel safer.

Prior to the pilot, 50% of NHS staff in London who were assaulted would not support an investigation, whereas the last three months has seen that number drop to 25%. Chief Inspector Luke Mooney, who led the pilot, said: “We are determined to make sure our NHS staff feel confident to report asssaults or hate crime. There is no place in society for such abuse.”

Full story – National Health Executive, 16 April 2021.

Covid-19: NHS will take at least a year and a half to recover, doctors warn

A survey of members of the Royal College of Physicians has revealed most doctors think the NHS will take at least 18 months to recover from the pandemic.

The survey also looked at staff morale. It found that over two thirds of doctors were exhausted and 31% were demoralised. Two thirds also said there had still been no discussion in their organisation about time off to recuperate.

Andrew Goddard, president of the RCP, said: “The problem is workforce… we simply don’t have enough doctors to meet demand, which is why we need to expand the workforce. We need to double the number of medical school places and establish transparent processes to ensure we are training enough people now to meet future demand.”

Full story – BMJ, 16 April 2021.

Scottish election 2021: Nicola Sturgeon pledges ‘transformational’ NHS funding

Speaking as she launched the party’s manifesto, Sturgeon said frontline NHS spending would increase by at least 20% over the next five years. The manifesto also promises a £10bn investment programme in NHS facilities, and a minimum 25% rise in mental health spending. Additionally, it pledges to abolish NHS dental charges.

Sturgeon said: “If the SNP is re-elected, we will use our experience to undertake a full-scale post-pandemic remobilisation of the NHS. Investment in the NHS is already at record levels. But the pandemic has placed exceptional pressures on our NHS – and that requires an exceptional response.”

Full story – BBC News, 16 April 2021.

Thousands of doctors have quit the NHS for overseas amid row over visas for elderly parents

According the figures obtained from the General Medical Council, thousands of GPs and consultants have left the NHS over the last six years to move overseas. The row over visas for elderly parents is one of the main reasons behind the “staggering” exodus.

Doctors said the figures make a mockery of the Government’s economic argument for severely restricting the number of adult dependent relative (ADR) visas for elderly parents of NHS staff. The hostile environment policy led to a change of rules in 2012 resulting in an immediate collapse in the number of visas granted.

Medics point out the £250,000 cost of training a doctor to consultant level so the Government is spending far more replacing the lost doctors with expensive locums than they would on the ADR visas. The scandal was dubbed “another Windrush” by a barrister working on ADR cases.

Full story – iNews, 13 April 2021.

Tories accused of corruption and NHS privatisation by former chief scientist

Sir David King, a former government chief scientist has accused Boris Johnson’s government of corruption, privatising the NHS by stealth, operating a “chumocracy” and mishandling the pandemic and climate crisis.

The scientist contrasted the success of the vaccination programme, run by the NHS, with the failure of the government’s test and trace operation, which has been contracted out to private companies. King has worked under various governments over the years.

He said: “The operation to roll out vaccination has been extremely successful. It was driven through entirely by our truly national health service and GP service – just amazing… Yet we have persisted with this money for test and trace, given without competition, without due process… I am really worried about democratic processes being ignored.”

Full story – The Guardian, 13 April 2021.

Tax gambling firms to fund addiction treatment, says NHS director

Head of mental health in England has said gambling firms have profited during the pandemic but are leaving the NHS to “pick up the pieces” of addiction and should be hit with a compulsary levy to fund treatment.

Claire Murdoch denounced the current voluntary system which allows the £11bn a year industry dictate how much it contributes to helping addicts. The health service is planning to open more gambling clinics across the country as it believes it is currently only reaching “the tip of the iceberg” for demand.

Successive lockdowns have triggered huge surges in spending on online casino games and slot machines, fuelling increases in revenue for big gambling firms with chief execs taking massive salaries.

“After seeing the destruction the gambling industry has caused to young people in this country, it is clear that firms are focused on profit at the expense of people’s health, while the NHS is increasingly left to pick up the pieces.”

Full story – The Guardian, 7 April 2021.

Strain on NHS as tens of thousands of staff suffer long Covid

ONS figures reveal at least 122,000 health service workers have condition, threatening patient care as intense pressures on the already overstretched NHS are being exacerbated.

Patient care is being hit because many of those struggling with long Covid are only able to work part-time, are too unwell to perform their usual duties, or often need time off because they are in pain, exhausted or have “brain fog”.

Dr Helena McKeown, workforce lead at BMA, said: “Ongoing illness can have a devastating impact on individual doctors… Furthermore, it puts a huge strain on the health service, which was already vastly understaffed before the pandemic hit… In the longer term, if more staff face ongoing illness from past Covid-19 infection, the implications for overall workforce numbers will be disastrous.”

Full story – The Guardian, 3 April 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (20th March 2021)

Waiting lists during the pandemic: from zero tolerance to looming crisis

How do GPs fit into the NHS?

The dying days of local NHS accountability

Mega-lab not privatised insists Department

Bleak prospects for troubled ICSs

Sugar tax is a win-win

Frimley drops subco plan: Another one bites the dust

Clearing NHS waiting lists caused by Covid ‘will take three years’

A hospital boss has warned it may take up to three years to get NHS waiting lists back to pre-pandemic levels. Professor David Loughton said that clearing the backlog of patients waiting for procedures which have stacked up while tackling the pandemic is now a priority.

Figures released recently showed that the number of people in England waiting to start hospital treatment had risen to a record high, at 4.59 million people.

The health chief added that ‘things are looking good; as numbers of Covid in-patients have dropped significantly since January, but other NHS patients have been left suffering as operations and procedures had to be cancelled.

Chris Hopson, chief exec of NHS Providers, also agreed that clearing the backlog of patients would take years not months. He said the real questions would be who is prioritised for care: “The NHS is obviously now concentrating on the most urgent cases that had to be delayed […]”

Full story – Metro, 20 March 2021.

Revealed: Scale of discrimination against ethnic minority staff in Norfolk’s NHS

Discriminations against Black and Minority Ethnic staff is on the rise in some of Norfolk’s NHS trusts, with over a third of staff at the ambulance service saying they received abuse.

Figures in the annual NHS staff survey revealed 37% BME staff in East of England Ambulance Service experienced discrimination in the last year. This is more than double the average of NHS trusts in England. Around a fifth of BMA staff at three main hospitals also said they had experienced discrimination at work, higher than the national average.

Unison’s eastern regional organiser said the figures should “ring alarm bells across the NHS”. He said: “We’re already working with NHS trusts across Norfolk to tackle all forms of bullying and harassment. But they must take the message from this survey seriously and redouble their efforts to stamp out racial discrimination.”

Full story – North Norfolk News, 20 March 2021.

37 NHS GP practices have been sold to a private US health company – here’s what it means

An American health insurance company has taken over 37 GP practices across London, sparking fears the NHS is being sold by stealth.

Private Eye reported this last week that Operose Health, a UK subsidiary of US health insurance giant Centene Corporation took over the practices. It adds to the 22 primary care services the company already runs in the UK.

During the 2019 election campaign, former Labour leader Jeremy Corby claimed he had seen internal documents showing Boris Johnson had signalled willingness to allow US healthcare companies greater access to the NHS, which the Prime Minister repeatedly denied.

GP practices have traditionally been owned privately by GPs themselves. Many political leaders and members of the public have expressed concerns that sales to private companies like these will lead to poorer service while opening the door to further privatisation of public NHS services.

Full story – Southern Reporter, 19 March 2021.

AI project to ‘pandemic-proof’ NHS supply chain

A collaboration between Sheffield University and AI healthcare marketplace Vamstar has formed with the aim to help the NHS manage its supply chain more efficiently.

The team behind the project hope that the platform will help to prevent future shortages of essential products in the future. That includes any shortage of PPE as reported by many health and social care organisations during the first wave of the pandemic.

The AI will have the ability to analyse NHS and global procurement data from previous supply contracts and allow NHS buyers to evaluate credibility and capability of supplies to fulfil their order. Each supplier would have a real-time ‘risk rating’ with information on the goods and services they supply.

Full story – The Engineer, 19 March 2021.

Funding confirmed to replace the final NHS coal boilers

There are plans to replace the final NHS coal boilers with a new energy-efficient alternative. The £2.7m project will see the installation of a new Combined Heat and Power unit at the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

The funding to complete this project was secured from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. Director of Estates and Facilities at the trust, said:

“As a Trust, we have made a commitment to increasing sustainability by making better use of our existing buildings and reducing our running costs […] Reducing carbon emissions also has significant health benefits, as poor environmental health contributes to a number of major diseases, including cardiac problems, asthma and cancer.”

Full story – Air Quality News, 18 March 2021.

Chemo-free cancer treatment given green light for NHS use

Thousands of leukaemia patients could benefit from a new cancer treatment after health officials said it could be used in the NHS. The drug usually costs £169 a day but officials have come to an agreement to buy it at a cheaper rate.

It is estimated that 2,395 patients will be eligible for treatment every year which could offer them a chemotherapy free treatment that can be administered at home.

NICE have said the drug has fewer side effects than existing NHS treatments and should improve the quality of life for people with the most common type of leukaemia. The possibility of home treatment is particularly beneficial during the pandemic as it reduces hospital visits for patients.

Full story – Evening Standard, 18 March 2021.

Covid: NHS warns of ‘signnificant reduction’ in vaccines

A letter to local health organisations from the NHS warns of a “significant reduction in the weekly supply” of Covid vaccines. It says there has been a “reduction in national inbound vaccines supply” and asks organisations to “ensure no further appointments are uploaded” to booking systems in April.

The health secretary has explained it was a “standard” letter and it is understood that no one who has booked a vaccine should lose a slot.

There is potential for there to be fewer AstraZeneca vaccines than expected because of issues with the company’s international supply. However, a spokesperson for the company said: “Our UK domestic supply chain is not experiencing any disruption and there is no impact on our delivery schedule.”

In a press briefing, Matt Hancock said the UK was “ahead of schedule” to offer first doses to all over-50s by 15 April and the commitment remains to ensure all adults in the UK are offered their first dose of the vaccine by the end of July.

Full story – BBC News, 18 March 2021.

Government reportedly considering U-turn over NHS pay

The Government has experienced cross-party criticism over the proposed 1% pay rise, below the 1.7% inflation figures predicted. As such, the government is reportedly considering increasing the pay offer for NHS workers to between 2% and 3%.

A source told The Times that it is a matter of “when, not if” the Government announces the increased pay offer.

However, health unions have explained how even 3% falls short and having been calling upon the Government since June 2020 to give NHS workers a rise of between 12.5% and 15% amid a decade of real-terms pay cuts.

Anthony Johnson, leader of Nurses United UK, said: “All sides of the political spectrum need to wake up to the public mood and decide to invest in a 15% restorative pay rise to bring our NHS back to safety.”

Full story – Nursing Notes, 12 March 2021.

GP funding must not be plundered under NHS reform plans, BMA warns

The BMA has warned that GP services must not be stripped of funding under NHS integrated care plans to break down ‘funding silos’ at regional levels.

The warning follows NHS chief executive Simon Stevens comments to MPs that reform plans set out in the recent government white paper should increase flexibility for commissioners – with statutory control over GP services shifting to regions.

The White Paper included plans to bring NHS and local government together legally in integrated care systems, scrapping Clinical Commissioning Groups. BMA GP committee chair, Dr Richard Vautey, responded by saying the government must not renege on funding agreements made in the NHS long-term plan. He also called for ‘transparency over spending decisions’ and ‘fair representation’ for NHS providers impacted by decisions.

“It is crucial however that proposals for collective local funding decisions to be delivered through ICSs are carefully considered and ensure fair representation from all those impacted by such decisions […] This cannot be about cutting funding which would break the commitment that NHS England and Improvement and the government made in the long-term plan…”

Full story – GP Online, 10 March 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (7 March 2021)

Budget letdown: NHS faces record waiting lists and staff exodus

“Whatever it takes”?

Private sector unfazed by White Paper

Can campaigner’s unite over coming health Bill?

Mounting repairs threaten hospitals

Campaigning for an All-Ireland National Health Service

Campaigners write to Hancock requesting investigation of Centene takeover of London GP surgeries

Six million ‘hidden’ patients could flood NHS waiting lists this year

NHS Confederation warn that up to 6 million “hidden” patients could join the queue for NHS treatment in the coming months, raising waiting lists to records not seen for over a decade.

The Budget announced last week offered no new investment for the health service so the ministers must level with the public that previous guarantees on waiting times will now be impossible to meet, the head of NHS Confederation said.

Danny Mortimer, said: “We have to be realistic about the time it will take us to address these issues, and the government have to be realistic about what it will take particularly if this week’s Budget is an indication that actually there won’t be money made available to the NHS to truly address these issues.”

Full story – The Guardian, 7 March 2021.

Anger grows at offer of 1% pay rise for NHS staff

Ministers insist the decision to recommend just 1% pay increase for health workers is necessary for the nations finances. Meanwhile, nurse leaders raise the prospect of strike action, there is fury across the public sector and some Conservative MPs express fears the government is heading for another embarrassing U-turn.

When Matt Hancock was quizzed on his repeated praise for NHS workers not resulting in a higher pay rise, he claimed: “We do have issues of affordability because of the consequences of the pandemic on public finances, which were set out in the budget this week.” He also ruled out the prospect of a one-off payment for health staff in recognition of their work.

Unions representing NHS staff are furious with the announcement and there is a strong feeling among workers. The RCN has agreed to set up a £35m fund to support members in the event of a strike.

Full story – The Guardian, 6 March 2021.

Migrant NHS workers deserve immigration security

Migrant healthcare workers have been essential to the NHS ever since its formation. Since 1949, the government has introduced deals and programmes that encourage migration of overseas workers to the UK to work in the health service.

However, the government has failed to provide further security over immigration status for migrant NHS workers. During the first wave of the pandemic the government announced all non-EU migrant healthcare workers whose work visas were due to expire would have their visas extended for another year for no fee. This is expected to end in March 2021 with no government plan to extend.

There are currently around 170,000 overseas healthcare workers from 200 countries residing in the UK who have worked throughout the pandemic. Large proportions of these people are facing immigration insecurity, with many having to apply every five years to renew their work visas.

Full story – Keep Our NHS Public, 6 March 2021.

NHS body in England urges minority ethnic people to fill out census

The independent NHS Race and Health Observatory is urging black and minority ethnic communities to complete this year’s national census survey to capture a more accurate picture of the overall health condition of households across England.

The Census includes questions on household makeup, individual data covering physical or mental health conditions, caring support provided to others, and questions about religion, qualifications and employment status.

Dr Habid Naqvi, director of the independent health body, said: “The vital information submitted by households across England will help the observatory, along with local healthcare services, hospitals, social care providers and local authorities, in the design and delivery of fair and inclusive health and care services.”

Full story – The Guardian, 6 March 2021.

NHS sickness absence during the Covid-19 pandemic

Rates of sickness absence among staff directly employed by NHS England have been fairly stable over the last decade, including in January and February 2020. Sickness absence averaged at about 4% of the workforce each month.

In March 2020 this figure rose to 6.8% of the workforce absent each month. Total days lost for infectious disease reached almost one million in April 2020, the monthly average for the previous five years was just 25,000.

The study also found that NHS staff sickness absences varied geographically, reflecting the pandemic hotspots across England. For example, in London absence rates rose faster, slightly earlier and to a higher peak than in other regions.

Full story – The BMJ, 3 March 2021.

Pandemic leaves nurses feeling depressed, unappreciated and looking to leave the profession

A new survey reveals that 8 in 10 nurses believe the pandemic has had a damaging effect on their mental health with many considering leaving the profession. Over findings include nurses having often lost sleep, felt depressed or isolated and driven to tears over the past year.

43% of respondents to the survey, by Nursing Notes and Nurses United UK, said they considered leaving the profession. 1 in 2 nurses said they felt less appreciated now than before the pandemic.

One nurse said: “I have never struggled with mental health but I feel depressed, incredibly anxious and very low as a direct result of the pressures I’m facing at work every shift.”

Full story – Nursing Notes, 2 March 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (21 February 2021)

This week we are taking part in a public discussion about privatisation so we have produced a series of features, articles and keys facts to summarise the topic.

Why does NHS privatisation matter?

A History of NHS privatisation, part 3

Under cover of covid…

The great consultancy boom – from Covid to ICSs

New NHS White Paper – the end of outsourcing?

US company in takeover of network of GP practices

Privatisation: Key facts

Matt Hancock urged to deal with government ‘cronyism’ after it lost High Court ruling

On Friday 19 February, a high court judge ruled that the Department of Health and Social Care acted unlawfully in failing to publish billions of pounds worth of COVID-19 contracts.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has defended his officials among media scrutiny. The judge in the ruling said the health secretary had “failed to publish redacted contracts in accordance with the transparency policy”.

By law, the government is required to publish a “contract award notice” within 30 days of a deal being agreed for goods or services worth more than £120,000.

Matt Hancock justified the law breaking on Sky News, commenting “The reason is that there was a global shortage of PPE […] paperwork got delayed by on average just over a fortnight.”

The legal action was taken against the DHSC by the Good Law Project, over what is described as a “wholesale failure” to reveal details of the deals it struck during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Full story – Sky News, 21 February 2021.

A year later nurses still have ‘inadequate’ protection – without action the death toll will continue to rise

Healthcare workers are three to four times more likely to contract and die from Covid-19 than the general public. The Prime Minister is being urged to prevent further deaths by action on evidence around the need for better ventilation and higher grade PPE.

The majority of nursing staff care for Covid-19 patients with just standard surgical masks, gloves, and a thin plastic apron. During the pandemic at least 930 health and care workers have died and many more are suffering long-term adverse effects from coronavirus.

A letter to the PM signed by the RCN and BMA, among other leading health organisations, states “a change in approach must be implemented at speed” to protect staff and patients.

Full story – Nursing Notes, 21 February 2021.

The government’s reorganisation of the NHS risks doing more harm than good. Patients must be at the heart of it

David Cameron’s top-down reorganisation of the NHS back in 2012 was sold as the reorganisation to end all reorganisations. Instead of less bureaucracy and improved cancer survival rates we got demoralised staff, distracted clinicians, waster money and a fragmented service failing to deliver the coordinated care many patients needed.

In the midst of a pandemic, we are now faced with another round of restructuring.

Labour has warned that enshrining competition rather than collaboration at the heart NHS reorganisation would not deliver the care quality that patients need with a demographic of rising chronic disease, long-term conditions and an ageing population.

Full story – By Jon Ashworth, Politics Home, 21 February 2021.

High-cost lenders ‘exploit NHS workers on pandemic frontline’

A look into the story of a nurse at Scarborough general hospital, reliant on payday loans to meet her bills and working every shift possible to pay them back.

A study from University of Edinburgh Business School has found thousands of NHS workers have been left heavily reliant on high-cost loans charging exorbitant interest rates because they are being excluded from more affordable mainstream options.

Alan Campbell, founded of Salad Money, commented: “The conclusions reached by the University of Edinburg should rightly horrify anyone with a sincere and genuine interest in the financial and emotional wellbeing of the NHS workforce, particularly at this time when their roles are more vital than ever in battling the global pandemic.”

Full story – The Guardian, 21 February 2021.

NHS sees surge in referrals for eating disorders amon gunder-18s during Covid

Observer analysis of government data found that referrals of young people with eating disorders for NHS treatment shot up by almost half last year in England. Doctors are warning that lives are being ruined.

Referrals initially fell in the first two quarters of last year but then surged in the final three months of the year.

Head of Communications for the eating disorder charity Beat told the Observer: “We’re hearing from people that lockdown has had an impact on their mental health and their eating disorder, we’ve heard from people that they’re relapsing because of lockdown.”

Full story – The Guardian, 20 February 2021.

2021 NHS White Paper: government seizes on the pandemic as an opportunity

White Paper’s are used in the UK to present government policy preferences before introducing legislation and testing public opinion. The recent White Paper ‘Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’ was leaked recently with headlines suggesting a significant change in government policy.

Despite implications that this White Paper could reduce the privatisation of NHS services – Keep Our NHS Public have argued the opposite is fact. They outline evidence of false statements and empty premises, the mis-selling of reforms as anti-privatisation and why the White Paper does not spell the end of privatisation in an in-depth article.

Full story – Keep Our NHS Public, 18 February 2021.

Bradford MP, Imran Hussain, demands Government give ‘guarantee’ to end NHS privatisation

The MP for Bradford East has told the Government to make a “cast-iron guarantee” it will rid the NHS of private companies amid its new proposals.

Hussain cited the controversy around a private subsidiary company being created for non-medical staff in Bradford as an example of the dangers around privatising parts of the NHS. This example related to plans in 2019 at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which would have seen porters moved to a subsidiary company, but were overturned following a Unison campaign.

Matt Hancock brought forward proposals for a new Health and Care Bill in early February but Mr Hussain is concerned the proposals have said little about existing private providers in the NHS or about the widespread use of private companies with little or no formal tendering process throughout the pandemic.

Full story – Telegraph & Argus, 15 February 2021

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (9 February 2021)

US company in takeover of network of GP practices

New NHS White Paper – the end of outsourcing?

White Paper: power grab, sea change or cementing in the status quo?

Covid contracts: the struggle for scrutiny

Mental health services still waiting on promised improvements

Private health and privatisation costs lives

Hundreds of US hospitals at risk

NHS campaigners launch ‘People’s Covid Inquiry’ into 100,000 coronavirus deaths

The launch of this campaign comes with the backing of leading academics, celebrities, campaigning groups, unions and front-line workers. It aims to analyse why Britain has suffered such a high death toll and what lessons should be learned to inform future decisions and policymaking.

Human rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC will oversee the proceedings, which will be hosted by Keep Our NHS Public.

The inquiry comes in the absence of a formal public investigation by officials. They will hear testimony from front-line workers, scientists, academics, politicians and members of the public.

Full story – Morning Star, 5 February 2021.

No free critical care beds at 15 NHS England trusts last week

Nearly 10% of all English NHS trusts had no spare capacity for critical care patients in the final week of January.

As Covid pressures continue, January was a struggle for many. More than 5,000 critical care hospital beds were occupied every day from mid-January onwards. NHS England figures show that at one point almost 2,000 more critical care beds were in use than at any point in the previous five winters.

This comes after The Guardian revealed earlier last week that dozens of Covid patients a day were being transferred between hospitals due to severe critical care bed shortages. Despite some signs that a fall in cases is leading to fewer hospitalisations, the state of critical care bed figures has emerged as a pinch point for the health service.

Full story – The Guardian, 4 February 2021.

Doctors’ call for broad NHS pension system reform rejected

The government have rejected calls from thousands of doctors and NHS leaders for more broad reform of the pension system. They say that measures introduced last year were sufficient to reduce risk of staff running up tax bills for working overtime.

This news follows consultations in 2020 when it became clear that thousands of doctors were turning down extra shifts due to fears the additional income would breach their annual pension allowance and trigger large tax bills. This raised serious concerns on how to cover the work needed to reduce the growing patient backlog.

Despite calls for more flexibility to NHS pension schemes, the government have declined and responded that the 2020 changes to raise the threshold for an allowance breach were sufficient.

Full story – The Financial Times, 4 February 2021.

The shadow NHS: Outsourced hospital staff “on a knife-edge” without adequate protections

Front line hospital workers employed by private contractors miss out on key protections, making their jobs more dangerous and financial situation more precarious.

Outsourcing has been prevalent in NHS trusts since the 1980s where private firms are contracted to supply workforces in non-medical jobs. It has been a key element of union protests over the years as caterers, cleaners, and porters demand better employment and pay.

Read the News Statement report for a full insight into the world of frontline workers under this “two-tier” workforce system.

Full story – New Statesmen, 3 February 2021.

NHS Scotland: Hospital operation numbers dropped in 2020

According to latest NHS Scotland figures, there were 151,701 fewer operations scheduled in 2020 than in 2019 – a 44% drop. Of those, 8.7% were cancelled on the day of or day before the planned operation date.

In response to the stats, Scottish Labour say it is evidence of an NHS in Scotland under increasing strain, with diminishing capacity to cope with non-coronavirus related illnesses.

The Scottish government said in response they are investing £200m in a network of new elective and diagnostic treatment centres to add capacity for those awaiting hip and knee replacements across Scotland.

Full story – Scotland Herald, 2 February 2021.

NHS Wales app users can now apply for a £500 self-isolation payment but it won’t be backdated

People in Wales who are notified by the NHS Covid app to self-isolate will now be eligible to apply for a £500 self-isolation support payment.

The self-isolation support scheme applies for those on low income, who cannot work from home and must self-isolate. It also applies for parents and carers who are on low income with children who are self-isolating.

Full story and eligibility requirements – Wales Online, 2 February 2021.

Valuing all lives equally: cancer surgery, COVID-19, and the NHS in crisis

With covid infections continuing to rise at an unprecedented rate, the NHS finds itself under the most pressure of its lifetime. Hospitals across the country have had to cancel urgent cancer surgeries as the majority of intensive care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Despite these intense pressures in the public health service, non-urgent elective treatments have been continuing in the private hospitals. The Royal College of Surgeons has called on the Government to bring in the private sector and their bed capacity again as a matter of urgency.

Delays to cancer treatment will have an intense effect on lives across the country. Even just a 4-week delay increases mortality by 4-8%. It is vital that plans are made to ensure the Covid-19 crisis does not worsen suffering for people with cancer in the UK.

Full story – The Lancet, 1 February 2021.

NHS will take months to return to normal in England, says hospital boss

A senior hospital trusts boss says the NHS in England will take many months to return to normal service post-Covid as the workforce is “exhausted and traumatised”. There are also concerns many staff may quit the health service altogether.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, says large numbers of staff will go on long-term sick leave or leave their jobs as a result of the extreme pressures they have faced throughout the pandemic.

He says that MPs or the public should not pressurise the NHS to resume speedy diagnostic and treatment services. Cancelled surgeries will take some time to be caught up. This comes as almost 4.5 million people in England are waiting for hospital care.

Full story – The Guardian, 31 January 2021.

Scotland announce £16bn investment in health

The 2021-22 Scottish Budget includes record funding to support NHS Scotland in light of the immense pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The health budget will receive an additional £16bn, a 5.3% increase on 2020-21 spending, and a further £869m to tackle Covid-19.

The funding also includes money for capital funding, social care and integration, mental health services and drug and alcohol services.

Full story – Scottish Government, 29 January 2021.

Northern Ireland announces Covid-19 bonus for nurses and students

Nurses in Northern Ireland are set to receive a £500 “special recognition” payment for their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Student nurses could also receive up to £2,000.

The bonus payment is part of a scheme for all health and social care staff in Northern Ireland, similar to the offer made by the Scottish Government in November.

Department of Health Northern Ireland is said to be still ironing out the details and were subject to Department of Finance approval.

Full story – Nursing Times, 28 January 2021.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (7 December)

Urgent changes needed to failing covid response

NHS to take over six private hospitals at high cost

Vaccine distribution: saving the world’s rich and poor alike?

Unions urge PM to provide pay boost in depths of covid crisis

Why the US can easily afford universal health care

Leicester: four key problems question “Better Hospitals” plan

Tories rip up proposed protections in the trade bill

NHS maintenance bills rocketing before Covid struck

wider media stories –

Transcript: The Mental Health Act and Me

NHS England confirms decision to divert Covid vaccine deliveries to regulate uptake

RCN demands answers over PPE ‘postcode lottery’

NHS patients among first to access new CAR T cell therapy for lymphoma

Bid to boost nurse staffing in hospitals ahead of coronavirus failed, NHS report reveals

Covid-19: Reports from Israel suggest one dose of Pfizer vaccine could be less effective than expected

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (22 November 2020)

NHS lab network undergoes rapid private expansion amid performance issues

Billions spent on NHS IT could leave most vulnerable stranded

Reality check coming for deniers of the NHS challenge

COVID-19 drug treatments explained

The beginning of the end of Subcos that affect low paid NHS staff?

Hinchingbrooke staff celebrate as outsourcing plan dropped

More trouble with NHS contracts and outsourcing

Too little change in a divided USA

Ontario campaigners fight carte blanche for negligence

Regional News Round-Up

________________ EDITOR’S PICKS FROM THE HEALTH NEWS________________________________

National News

COVID-19: NHS now facing biggest vaccination campaign in UK history

The Oxford vaccine prevents 9 out of 10 Covid cases and may reduce transmission of the virus. With 100 million doses pre-ordered by the Government, there is a lot riding on the success of this vaccine.

The reduction in asymptomatic infections from this vaccine is significant. The vaccine is showing 90% efficacy, which although is lower than the Pfizer and Moderna trials, this only shows interim data.

The company is confident on getting the green light from regulatory authorities and is planning for a full-scale global rollout. The NHS now faces the challenge of the biggest vaccination campaign in UK history.

Full story – Sky News, 22 November 2020.

NHS ‘workforce disaster’ threatens a million operations and could cost lives, royal college warns

Widespread shortages of anaesthetists in the NHS could delay more than a million patient operations – with 9 out of every 10 hospitals reporting at least one vacancy.

More than 140,000 NHS patients have already waited over a year for treatment with waiting lists exacerbated by the coronavirus.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA) told The Independent the scale of the vacancies was getting worse and labelled it a “workforce disaster” that could cost patients’ lives and have a widespread impact on hospital services.

Full story – The Independent, 22 November 2020.

Government paying £1m a day to store mountain of PPE – but NHS staff still short on supplies

Nearly 10,000 shipping containers full of vital PPE is sitting in storage in ports, despite warnings that many NHS staff in need of the protective gear still not receiving it.

Fees at the shipping container site at Felisxstove attract high rate fees so to deter use of facilities for long-term storage, according to The Telegraph sources. The payments could be avoided if PPE supplies were quickly moved on, allowing empty shipping containers to be returned.

Unions are warning that continuing logjams, and guidance restricting use of PPE, means many frontline workers are still being forced to carry out high-risk procedures without protection.

Full story – The Telegraph, 22 November 2020.

GPs to deliver just one fifth of Covid vaccines

Provisional plans, obtained by Pulse, reveal GPs in primary care networks in London will only deliver around 13% of coronavirus vaccines.

8% will be delivered by ‘roving units’ – 171 cars staffed by primary care. The vast majority – 700,000 a week – will be given at mass vaccination centres.

A leaked copy of NHS England’s national plans reveals 33.9 million vaccine doses – the largest proportion – will be carried out at ‘community mass vaccination sites’, understood to be designated GP practices open 12 hours a day, according to HSJ, which has seen the proposals.

Full story – Pulse Online, 23 November 2020.

NHS faces action over illegal transgender healthcare delays

NHS England is set to face legal action over the “persistent and long-standing breaches of the law,” within Gender Identity Development Services.

The legal action has been launched by a legal team on behalf of a teenager who has been denied access to the services. The action is supported by The Good Law Project based on NHS England’s statutory duty to ensure patients are seen within 18 weeks, after a referral from their GP.

However, transgender clinics have extraordinary wait times with some waiting up to 4 years for treatment. The Good Law Project says on average young trans, and non-binary people are waiting 18 months or more.

The legal action is also being backed by several charities including Stonewall, Amnesty International UK, Liberty and Gendered Intelligence.

Full story – Forbes, 23 November 2020.

NHS patients at risk as ICUs routinely understaffed, doctors warn

NHS intensive care units across the country are so routinely understaffed that patients are at risk of poor care, warn doctors working in them today. As many as four in five intensive care consultants report worrying shortages of doctors and nurses.

The unprecedented demands that Covid has placed on ICU staff across the country means that 1 in 7 ICU consultants are thinking of quitting or switching roles. Stress and burnout among medics who have borne the brunt of the pandemic is widespread.

The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM) said the findings, from the UK-wide survey it undertook last month of senior ICU doctors and shared with the Guardian, showed that lack of staff in ICU is worryingly common.

Full story – The Guardian, 22 November 2020.

Student nurses on Covid placement in UK call for return of paid NHS contracts

Student nurses across the country are calling for the reinstatement of paid contracts for those on placement in UK hospitals, saying they feel “forgotten about” during the second wave. The original scheme for this ended in September.

As admissions to hospitals rise this winter, many student nurses are now being drafted in to help on Covid wards. In England and Scotland, their student status also means they are not automatically eligible for the death-in-service benefits that paid NHS staff receive.

Emily Cooper, a student nurse in Leicester said: “Death rates are higher and the cases in hospitals are higher, and we’re in lockdown again, so we feel hard done by because we’ve not got any protection or any kind of financial payment. We’re still out there on the frontline, and it’s a really scary time.”

Full story – The Guardian, 22 November 2020.

NHS to offer free flu jabs to over-50s from December

From 1 December, anyone over-50 will be able to get a free flu jab from their GP or pharmacist. The new scheme has been introduced in an effort to combat the “twin threats” of Covid and the flu this winter.

A number of people qualify for a free NHS flu jab, including the following:

Those aged 65 or over, including those who’ll be 65 by 31 March 2021
Those who are pregnant
Those with certain medical conditions (the NHS has a full list)
Those living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facilities
Those who receive a carer’s allowance or who are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person
Front-line health and social care workers
Children aged two or three on 31 August 2020
Children over the age of six months with a long-term health condition
All primary school-aged children (reception to year six)
Those who live with someone at high risk from coronavirus
All year seven children (those aged 11 and 12) in secondary school
Those aged 50 to 64, but only from Tuesday 1 December onwards

Full story – Money Saving Expert, 20 November 2020.

Go-between paid £21m in taxpayer funds for NHS PPE

A document filed in US court has revealed a Spanish business man received £21m in taxpayer funds to act as a consultant for a PPE contract earlier this year. He was also set to receive a further £20m.

The legal document reveals the American supplier of PPE described the deals as “lucrative”.

A legal dispute is ongoing in Miami regarding the amount of money some companies have made supplying the NHS with PPE during the pandemic.

The deals are also set to be challenged in UK courts by The Good Law Project. They accuse government ministers of not paying “sufficient regard” to tax-payers’ money over a contract with the firm.

Full story – BBC News, 18 November 2020.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (10 November 2020)

NHS England takes control – but hides key figures

GPs suffering abuse over mistaken belief that they are closed

Win-win situation for private hospitals

Assisted dying: Where is the UK? New Zealand is the latest country to allow it

Covid vaccines: when can they be used? What’s on the way?

US healthcare: neither party offered what voters want

________________ EDITOR’S PICKS FROM THE HEALTH NEWS________________________________

Covid-19: NHS England should manage test and trace system, says Independent SAGE

The Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has renewed its call for urgent reform of national test and trace system. It is urging for the current system to be replaced by one overseen by the NHS to avoid future lockdowns.

Latest figures for the Serco-run system show the number of contacts traced has remained stagnant at around 60%.

Gabriel Scally, professor of public health, commented: “The state has been hollowed out since 2010 so there are no regional structures. A lot of what remains has been repurposed to commissioning and contracting, and not actually running things.”

Full story – The BMJ, 9 November 2020.

Covid-19 vaccine candidate is 90% effective, says Pfizer

Pfizer have announced the first interim results on large-scale trials for a Covid vaccine. The results reveal 90% efficacy, according to the manufacturers.

Their analysis shows much better performance than many experts had hoped for and brings into view a potential end to the pandemic. Any vaccine would have to be coupled with improved treatment for coronavirus, which has killed more than a million people.

This news increases the hopes a vaccine before the end of the year.

Full story – The Guardian, 9 November 2020.

Public sector pay ‘very likely’ to be frozen ‘at 1% for at least two years’

According to a source close to the issue, public sector workers are set to have their pay rises capped at 1% for at least the next two years.

A pay cap would hit NHS workers especially hard after they missed out of a pay deal for public sector workers earlier this year. Figures suggest some of the most experienced frontline nurses have experienced a 20% real-terms pay cut over the last decade.

The RCN alongside Unite and GMB have spent the past few months calling for a 12-15% rise for their members.

Full story – Nursing Notes, 9 November 2020.

Government fails to publish details £4bn shady Covid contracts

Campaigners reveal that the government have failed to publish any information about £4 billion worth of coronavirus contracts awarded to private companies.

The Good Law Project, joined by a cross-party group of MPs, are now suing Matt Hancock, for what they say is an ongoing breach of UK law.

The group – led by Jolyon Maugham QC – warns of a “transparency gap” and is pushing for an independent judge-led inquiry into the huge amount of money spent on these contracts since the pandemic began.

Full story – The London Economic, 9 November 2020.

Coronavirus vaccine taskforce chief Kate Bingham manages investments for drug firms

The head of the government’s vaccine taskforce has failed to declare to the public that she manages private investments in two private companies involved in the race to develop coronavirus drugs.

Kate Bingham is a managing partner at SV Health Investors. Two months after her appointment, she said it was the “perfect time” to launch a fund that invested in a company researching coronavirus antibodies.

The Sunday Times reported that Kate Bingham had shown government documents to US investors at a virtual conference. Ministers had not signed off on her appearance.

Full story – The Times, 9 November 2020.

‘Sticking plaster’ local contact tracing deluged with missed and out-dated Serco cases

Local contact tracing teams are being overrun with cases from the national Serco-run test and trace system. Many of these cases are already so out-of-date there is little point following them up.

Public health departments have seen caseloads multiple in recent weeks, with some seeing six times the cases they had expected and forecasted.

One director of public health said her department were simply having to abandon some of the cases by on by Serco because the seven-day delay on them is so long.

Full story – Manchester Evening News, 6 November 2020.

Serco profits soar while Test and Trace reaches lowest ever proportion of contacts

The Test and Trace system reached only 6 in 10 close contacts of people who tested positive, in the same period it recorded its highest weekly number of positive cases.

In the week ending October 28, only 59.9% of close contacts of people who tested positive in England were reached. This was a record low for the Serco-run system.

Despite this consistent failure, The Guardian reported that: “Shares in Serco surged by 18% on Friday [16 October] after it said it expected to make an underlying profit for the year of between £160m and £165m.”

Full story – The Canary, 5 November 2020.

Tory-linked firm involved in testing failure given new £347m Covid contract

The UK government has awarded a further £347m in a six-month extension of an existing contract to Randox. The extension was agreed without other companies being invited to bid.

This is despite the Tory-linked private healthcare company’s failures over the summer, with testing kits recalled due to concerns about contamination.

Matt Hancock has now approved transfers of nearly half a billion pounds in taxpayer funds to the company. The award has prompted concerns about “cronyism” and calls for an independent inquiry into the £12bn spent so far on the test-and-trace system.

Full story – The Guardian, 4 November 2020.

NHS bosses accused of ‘putting politics before patient safety’ as leading hospital struggles to cope with second wave

An NHS hospital at the epicentre of the second wave of Covid is facing a threat of action by the care watchdog as it struggles to maintain patient safety.

Senior NHS bosses in the northwest region have been accused of putting politics ahead of patient safety and not providing enough support to help the hospital cope with the surge of Covid patients.

The Trust medical director of Liverpool University Hospitals Trust warned his colleagues the hospital had been overwhelmed by coronavirus and standards of care could no longer be maintained. He went further to criticise NHS England and said the trust had been “abandoned” as the second wave cases surged.

Full story – The Independent, 2 November 2020.

Covid nurse death toll now as high as the number of nurses who died during World War One

The International Council of Nurses has revealed the numbers of nurses that have died from coronavirus has now exceeded the number killed during the entirety of the First World War.

The latest figures show that 1,500 nurses have lost their lives since the pandemic began around the world.

However, the ICN expects the figure to be a significant underestimate as it only includes data from 44 countries. They describe the lack of data on deaths among healthcare workers as a ‘scandal’.

Full story – The Independent, 31 October 2020.

NHS should be on the table in UK-US trade talks, says senior US Senator

The chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, a Republican Senator, says American pharmaceutical companies should get access to the NHS in a UK-US trade deal.

The committee is responsible for approving trade agreements. The senator, Chuck Grassley, said that the trade deal “ought to involve almost anything” and that the NHS would benefit from increased competition.

The UK government has repeatedly said that the NHS would not be involved in US trade talks.

Full story – City.AM, 29 October 2020.

Covid pressure on health visitors puts generation of babies at risk, charities say

A coalition of children’s charities have warned that a generation of babies born during the pandemic may be at risk as they and their parents are not being fully supported by health visitors, in the weeks and months after birth.

The charities, including NSPCC, say restrictions to services and redeployment of health visitors could mean thousands of families are not receiving the checks they are entitled to.

The NSPCC’s public affairs manager, said: “The Government is at risk of failing a generation of children if it does not commit to rebuilding the nation’s public health services for families.”

Full story – The Guardian, 29 October 2020.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (26 October 2020)

Where is all the money going?

Serco staff drafted in to clinical tracing roles, but are they qualified?

NHS staffing: is it getting safer?

Scientists unite to reject right-wing call for ‘herd immunity’

Private beds puzzle deepens

Closed eyes to Covid reality – Leicester health chiefs push through flawed plan

SE London CCG pathology outsourcing set to undermine local NHS trust

The lives of people in Kent are in the hands of Matt Hancock

________________ EDITOR’S PICKS FROM THE HEALTH NEWS________________________________

26th October 2020

NHS has 2000 fewer beds for the winter crisis
The NHS director of elective and emergency care said there will be “2,000 beds less (sic) open this winter”. The president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the fall was “extremely alarming”.

‘Operation Moonshot’ quietly abandoned
The Government has quietly agreed that ‘Operation Moonshot’ will be absorbed into the existing Test and Trace programme. They have also abandoned plans to spend £100 billion, a figure first revealed in the Government’s own leaked documents, on the project.

National lockdown needed but not sufficient
The Independent SAGE group has issued a clear 6 week plan that recommends a national ‘circuit breaker’. But this on its own isn’t enough; we must have an effective Find, Test, Trace, Isolate, Support (FTTIS) system.

Johnson’s Test and Trace system has failed
The Daily Mail runs a piece on the government’s disastrous Test and Trace system; it’s private and has cost billions. Now Johnson advertises now a new chief at a £2000 salary per day.

NHS short of over £1bn for Covid second wave and onset of winter
The funding the NHS has been given to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 through winter is over £1bn short of what it needs.

This information raises questions about Rishi Sunak’s pledge to give the NHS “whatever resources it needs” to cope with the pandemic.

Hospitals across England are facing budget gaps of up to £20m. This is hampering preparation efforts for the annual winter crisis and get back to pre-pandemic levels of care.

Full story – The Guardian, 26 October 2020.

iPhone 12 launch causes NHS Covid-19 app confusion
Some owners of the newest iPhone handsets have reported error messages popping up when trying to use the NHS Covid-19 app.

Issues are arising when apps are transferred from an older iPhone via an iCloud Backup data transfer. Some users have got round the problem by deleting and re-downloading the app, but that results in all the data being wiped.

It is the latest in a series of failures surrounding the infamous app. Around 18 million people have so far downloaded the app. Furthermore, Huawei are working with Test and Trace officials to try and expand the app.

Full story – BBC News, 25 October 2020.

Frontline NHS staff to receive coronavirus vaccine ‘within weeks’
There are hopes that jabs will be available to vaccinate NHS staff within weeks. An internal email sent to staff said preparations have already begun for a mass roll-out across the health service.

Chief executive of George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in Warwickshire, wrote: “Our Trust, alongside NHS organisations nationally, has been told to be prepared to start a Covid-19 staff vaccine in early December.”

It’s thought the most likely vaccine is the one currently being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Full story – Metro, 25 October 2020.

Mass cancellations of NHS operations inevitable this winter, say doctors
Doctors’ leaders across England have said mass cancellations of routine operations will be inevitable this autumn and winter. These comments come despite an NHS edict that hospitals should not again disrupt normal care.

NHS England have also been criticised for ordering hospitals to provide “near normal” levels of care during the second wave. Organisations, including the BMA, are demanding that fines for failing to meet targets should be scrapped.

In the last week an influx of Covid-19 patients has led to planned operations being cancelled or delayed in at least seven hospital trusts.

Full story – The Guardian, 23 October 2020

NHS hospital admissions for eating disorders rise among ethnic minorities
The number of hospital admissions for eating disorders is rising at a faster rate among people from ethnic minorities in England. It prompts fresh concerns on health inequalities that may be driven by cultural or racial factors.

Over three years hospital admissions for eating disorders rose by 31%. Comparatively, admissions among ethnic minorities rose by more than half (53%), according to Guardian analysis of NHS data.

The sharpest rise was for people from a black African background, among whom the number of hospital admissions increased by a staggering 216% between 2017 and 2020.

Full story – The Guardian, 18 October 2020.

RCN: A wake-up call to invest in the nursing workforce
Following the release of CQC’s annual report, the Royal College of Nursing have issued a fresh plea for further investment into the nursing workforce.

The report commended the efforts of nursing staff caring throughout the pandemic. However, it also highlighted the effect of the pandemic in causing greater inequalities in patient care.

Additionally, it emphasised the need for reform, investment and workforce planning. In social care in particular, it is pre-existing problems that have been both exposed and exacerbated.

Full story – National Health Executive, 16 October 2020.

Covid: NHS staff testing ‘dismantled’ in virus hotspots

A health leaders’ body reveals a number of NHS trusts stood down in-house coronavirus testing for staff in the summer, ahead of a surge in virus cases.

These decisions are understood to have been made following assurances from government about the capacity of the centralised system. However, it left some staff, even those in virus hotspots, unable to access testing when the national system came under strain.

The government has since said it has increased testing capacity.

Full story – BBC News, 15 October 2020.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (12 October 2020)

Will NHS mental health care become more reliant on failing private companies?

Who’s cashing in on ICSs?

NHS leaders face second wave without sustainable funding

Still no real signs of life in “integrated care systems”

Data harvesting – essential for your digital health?

________________ EDITOR’S PICKS FROM THE HEALTH NEWS________________________________

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust fined for slow A&E times

The trust has been hit with a £4,000 fine for failing to assess A&E patients in a timely manner. The CQC issued the fixed penalty notice for failure to comply with clinical guidance that all children and adults must be assessed within 15 minutes of arrival.

There was also failures in implementing a system that ensured all children who left the emergency department without being seen were followed up with in a timely manner, by a competent healthcare professional.

The fine follows inspections by the CQC in April and November 2019 which imposed multiple conditions and requirements on the trust. CQC chief inspector of hospitals explained: “The trust has not responded satisfactorily to previous enforcement action regarding how quickly patients are assessed upon entering the urgent and emergency department.”

Full story – Oswestry & Border Counties Advertiser, 12 October 2020.

Fatigued doctors prepare for long winter as coronavirus strains the NHS

Health services across Liverpool face a long winter of continued disruption as coronavirus hospital admissions rise putting workers under even more strain.

Doctors in the city have appealed to the public to follow guidance to contain the virus as concerns mount around intensive care units capacity.

Liverpool CCG chair, Fiona Lemmens, said: “The rate of hospital admissions is not quite as high as it was in March, however it is still extremely concerning. The staff across our NHS are tired and stressed and morale is difficult. The thought of facing six months of this throughout the winter period is taking its toll on the staff.”

Full story – Liverpool Echo, 11 October 2020.

NHS treatments to reduce after merger

Residents in Waltham Forest risk being unable to access three NHS procedures deemed “a poor use of money” if a merger of local services goes ahead next year.

Seven north-east London CCGs are due to merge in April 2021. This means residents across Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Hackney, Newham, Barking and Dagenham and the City of London will have access to the same range of treatments.

Laser surgery for short-sightedness, injections for non-specific lower back pain and surgery for snorers are among the procedures that a merged North East London CCG will no longer offer. The merger is still subject to approval by NHS England and residents are being invited to have their say.

Full story – The Waltham Forest Echo, 11 October 2020.

East Kent NHS trust charged over death of baby Harry Richford

The Care Quality Commission announced it was prosecuting East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust over the death of baby Harry Richford in November 2017. An inquest found that the baby’s death 7 days after his emergency delivery was “wholly avoidable”.

This is not the first scandal for the NHS trust, which has been investigated since July 2018 after a series of baby deaths. The trust now faces two charges of failing to provide safe care and treatment, in the first prosecution of its kind.

In a statement on the charges, the CQC said: “The trust is charged with exposing Harry Richford and his mother, Sarah Richford, to significant risk of avoidable harm. Baby Harry tragically died on November 9 2017, seven days after he was born…”

Full story – The Guardian, 9 October 2020.

Coronavirus: Year-long waits for NHS care at highest since 2008

The numbers of patients waiting over a year for hospital treatment have hit a 12-year high as hospitals in England struggle to return services to normal.

NHS England figures show nearly 2 million patients waiting more than the 18-week target for routine care. 111,000 patients have waited over a year.

NHS England say progress is being made but there are concerns that services may be cut back again as Covid admissions rise again.

Full story – BBC News, 9 October 2020.

Exclusive: Just a fifth of the public think NHS Test and Trace is effective, polling shows

The NHS Test and Trace system has suffered a new blow as recent polling reveals just 20% of the public think it’s effective.

This latest news of low public confidence comes just days after it emerged that 16,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus were not added to a central database due to software error.

The poll of 3,000 people on October 6 and 7 showed 62% of the respondents do not believe the test and trace system is effective.

Full story – Politics Home, 9 October 2020.

NHS faces drug shortages as Brexit stockpile used in Covid crisis

Hospitals are potentially facing shortages of drugs during the second wave of Covid because some of the medicines stockpiled for Brexit have already been used.

NHS Providers have said Brexit associated problems could create a “perfect storm” of issues this winter. They warn of problems in undermining care, seasonal flu, bad weather, workforce shortages, a second wave of Covid and an epidemic burnout among staff.

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers said: “All of the issues we feared about Brexit remain. None of these have gone away because we are in a pandemic. It’s important to remember drug supplies could be compromised.”

Full story – The Guardian, 6 October 2020.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (28th September 2020)

Phone ahead for A&E to avoid disappointment

Demand for mental health soars after patients abandoned in lockdown

Government Covid contracts by-pass process, but failures demand more scrutiny

Dark side of the Moonshot exposed

Crunch time for CCG merger bids

NHS performance recovering, but record numbers are waiting

NHS staff make personal appeal to PM on pay

Royal Borough in revolt over Brompton takeover

Why campaigners object to CCG mergers

Surgeries brace for impact of visa cuts

________________ EDITOR’S PICKS FROM THE HEALTH NEWS________________________________

10 million download NHS Covid-19 app despite glitches

Within three days of its launch more than 10 million people have downloaded the NHS Covid-19 app, the Government report. This is the equivalent to more than 1 in 6 of the population of England and Wales, despite initial concerns about flaws in the app.

A fix was rolled out on Sunday to ensure users could now log positive results. The app allows users to “check in” at business using a QR code and utilises Bluetooth to monitor nearby devices with the app.

Full story – The Times, 28 September 2020.

‘Scandalous’ – campaigners’ fury as failing NHS trust hands out nearly £1m in exit packages

Two regional mental health NHS trust managers were paid six figures to leave their jobs, despite the trusts remaining in special measures.

Exit packages for employees made redundant or leaving the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust nearly reached £1 million last year (£924,169). In the same year, the trust spent £33 million on ‘temporary staff’ – an £18m increase from the previous year.

Two members of management that left in a shake-up of departments represent a large chunk of this £1m, receiving between £150,000 and £200,000.

Full story – East Anglian Daily Times, 28 September 2020.

Cancer survivor’s fight to change NHS screening policy that could cost lives

Two years after surviving her own battle with cervical cancer, a woman is fighting for change with the NHS cancer screening process.

Katie Hirst was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2019 after returning a negative HPV result. Despite this, NHS procedure at the time meant she was tested for cervical cell changes. This meant her tumour was able to be caught at an early stage.

Since, changes to the screening procedure mean only women that test positive for HPV will be tested for cervical cell changes. It has prompted Kati to launch a petition calling for the NHS to U-turn on this procedure change to reduce the risk of patients being missed.

The petition so far has more than 8,700 signatures.

Full story – Yorkshire Live, 27 September 2020.

Only 23% of NHS trusts letting birth partners stay for whole of labour

Over three-quarters of NHS trusts are not allowing birth partners to be present for entire labour processes. This is despite the NHS and prime minister suggesting these visiting rules must be urgently changed.

Data collected from 144 trusts across England, Scotland and Wales revealed at least half were restricting partners from attending at least two of three key moments. This includes the 12-week scan, the 20-week scan and the duration of labour.

Campaigners say: “We understand that hospitals are trying to protect their staff and it’s not easy to make people safe… But, no one should go through labour or learn they have miscarried on their own, and women are telling us that [they] will never get over the experience.”

Full story – The Guardian, 25 September 2020.

UK government sourcing NHS PPE from company repeatedly accused of forced labour

One of the manufacturers the UK government is continue to source PPE from, based in Malaysia, has been repeatedly accused of ‘slave-like conditions’ for workers in its factories.

Top Glove, the world’s largest producer of rubber medical gloves, has been the recipient of multiple allegations of exploitation from Bangladeshi and Nepalese migrant workers.

Back in April at the height of the pandemic, workers report they were forced to work 12-hour shifts, six days a week, earning as little as £1 an hour. Top Glove denies all allegations.

Full story – The Guardian, 25 September 2020.

Staff discrimination named ‘biggest workforce issue of pandemic’

An NHS Confederation report recently released revealed the extent of discrimination faced by health and care staff from a Black and minority ethnic background.

The report further set out a list of key actions that need to be taken by the health sector around workforce inequality, staff experience and workforce supply.

This comes in addition to recognition that the virus has disproportionately impacted on individuals from the BME background. The report says Covid-19 has exposed “generations of racist discrimination in the UK”.

Full story – Nursing Notes, 24 September 2020.

Growing numbers of NHS nurses quit within three years, study finds

New research has revealed that increasing numbers of nurses are quitting the NHS within three years of joining. Demanding 12-hour shifts, exhaustion and burnout are key reasons cited.

The King’s Fund, who lead the research, also found stress, lack of access to food and drink during shifts and relentless demands are additional key factors. Tackling the poor working conditions of nurses and midwives in hospitals must be urgently tackled or further workforce shortages will come.

The thinktank commented on the investigation: “Staff stress, absenteeism and turnover in the professions have reached alarmingly high levels… This has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Full story – The Guardian, 23 September 2020.

NHS trust fined for lack of candour in first prosecution of its kind

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS trust have been fined by the CQC for failing to be open and transparent with the bereaved family of a 91-year-old woman. This prosecution is the first of its kind.

Elsie Woodfield died at Derriford hospital after suffering a perforated oesophagus during an endoscopy. Her family eventually received an apology letter, but felt it lacked remorse or adequate explanation of the tragic events.

The magistrates court ordered the trust to pay £12,565. Commenting on the case, the CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals, said:

“All care providers have a duty to be open and transparent with patients and their loved ones, particularly when something goes wrong, this case sends a clear message that we will not hesitate to take action when that does not happen.”

Full story – The Guardian, 23 September 2020.

GPs face wave of abuse and complaints after NHS England face-to-face appointment claims

BMA leaders have condemned an NHS England media briefing about access to face-to-face appointments. They claim that the media reports triggered by the NHS England letter provided a new ‘major hammer blow’ to morale within general practice.

The BMA reports that they are receiving large number of reports from practices across the country that complaints have increased, and staff members are being verbally abused. They are calling on NHS England to correct ‘unsupported and ill-informed media articles’.

Dr Richard Vautry, BMA GP committee chair, wrote to NHS chief Simon Stevens calling for an apology and efforts to correct the damage done.

Full story – GP Online, 17 September 2020

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (15 September 2020)

Frameworks for secrecy and private profit

New figures reveal up to 26% of CCG spend goes on non-NHS care providers

Diagnostic backlog ‘hub’ plan revealed

Covid Testing explained: bold promises and moon shots

Impossible demands: step up and redesign services

North West Anglia NHS ‘bucking the trend’ towards safer hospital food, unions warn

Puzzle of private beds

Default assumption: discharge home today

Coronavirus: NHS contact-tracing app to launch this month after repeated delays

The long-awaited NHS contact-tracing app is set to be rolled out in England and Wales on 24 September.

The project has been hit with a number of delays. No 10 was previously forced to drop its plans for its own custom-made app instead teaming up with Google and Apple for the new design.

Trials are underway in the London borough of Newham, the Isle of Wight and with NHS volunteers to establish the effectiveness of the new app.

Full story – The Independent: 11 September 2020.

Coronavirus cases on the rise in the UK

According the latest estimates, Coronavirus infections have increased in recent weeks with the current R number sitting between 1 and 1.2.

A study of thousands of people across England has found cases doubling every 7 to 8 days. Rises are particularly prevalent in the north and among young people.

This latest data comes as new laws on socialising indoors and outdoors are being introduced from Monday.

Full story – BBC News: 11 September 2020.

Car parking charges to be scrapped for NHS staff at Grantham Hospital

Health workers at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust are set to be allowed free parking following an agreement reached with UNISON.

This win for staff follows a two-year campaign from the union. It will cover Grantham and District Hospital, Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospital Boston and County Hospital Louth.

UNISON East Midlands regional organiser Elliot Dean commented: “This agreement will save hard-pressed staff more than £1.2m per year, money they can’t afford to lose.”

Full story – Grantham Journal: 11 September 2020.

NHS cleaners twice as likely to be infected with Covid-19 than frontline doctors

A study conducted in West Midlands at the height of the pandemic found intensive care staff were the least likely hospital workers to contract the virus.

Researchers suggest that the disparities could be down to the type of PPE worn. The findings of the study will be particularly relevant for any second coronavirus wave or seasonal flu this winter.

Infection risk was highest among cleaners, acute and general medicine clinicians, and those of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Full story – The Mirror: 11 September 2020.

Treatment for men with enlarged prostate is recommended by NICE for NHS adoption

Men who suffer with an enlarged prostate could now receive treatment with technology that reduces the risks of serious complications. NICE has released this information in new draft guidance.

Clinical outcomes are the same as conventional methods with fewer risks. Hospitals could save up to £534 per procedure.

One in three men over 50 currently suffer from the symptoms of enlarged prostate.

Full story – NICE: 11 September 2020.

NHS cataract surgery, breast reduction and weight loss surgery likely to be limited in Havering and Redbridge next year

The four procedures currently available on the NHS in the area are likely to be dropped prior to a huge merger. These services are set to the axed as they are deemed a poor use of money.

Operations for heavy periods, split earlobe repair and treatments for scarring will also no longer be offered.

The merger will take place in April 2021 and combines 7 East London CCGs.

Full story – Romford Recorder: 10 September 2020.

NHS staff to protest in town centre over better pay

Health workers and their supporters will be rallying in Dorchester on Saturday 12 September to demand a pay rise for nurses and a number of other NHS staff.

This protest forms part of a day of national action for pay justice. Organisers have undertaken a full risk assessment and will be ensuring participants wear face masks and observe social distancing measures.

South Dorset MP, Richard Drax, recently said: “The pandemic this year has proved the importance of our NHS nurses and doctors beyond all doubt: we must cherish them…”

Full story – Dorset Echo: 10 September 2020.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust: New site ‘not on shortlist’

An NHS trust looking to build a new hospital have announced a list of options that does not include any new sites.

After announcing in June that it was looking at replacing existing buildings, the trust has now suggested it would take too long to get a new site up and running.

Campaigners for a new hospital are calling it a “short-sighted decision”.

Full story – BBC News: 8 September 2020.

More than a 1,000 UK doctors want to quit NHS over handling of pandemic

A recent survey has found two-thirds of respondents plan to leave the NHS within the next three years. Covid-19 burnout and frustrations over pay are among the cited reasons.

The doctors responding either intend to move abroad, take a career break, switch to private hospitals or resign to work as locums instead. Concern about mental health and stress levels in the profession are growing.

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, president of the Doctors’ Association UK who undertook that research said: “NHS doctors have come out of this pandemic battered, bruised and burned out.”

Full story – The Guardian: 5 September 2020.

NHS patient backlog threatens to undermine return to pre-pandemic service

NHS Chiefs are aiming to restore to ‘near-normal levels of health services’ but even the simpler procedures are taking longer than usual.

Throughout the worst of the pandemic beds were found for patients in need across England despite predictions of overwhelmed wards. Non-emergency surgery was halted from mid-April to free up hospital beds.

As clinicians and managers try to return to normal, they are faced with a massive accumulation of cases that could undermine the NHS for years to come. One estimate suggests the number of people awaiting treatment in England could hit 10m by the end of 2020.

Full story – Financial Times: 2 September 2020.

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (21 July 2020)

Bed figures show NHS has bounced back already

My fight for safeguards in private and NHS hospitals

Cumberlege inquiry: Patients are still being harmed by our healthcare system

Sussex mega-trust foments fears of cuts

CCGs caught short-changing mental health services

CQC calls for intervention at failing trust

CSU bosses speed up plans for job cuts

Is Johnson pondering an NHS power grab?

Privatisation Protest at St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester

South West London hospital plan referred to Matt Hancock

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Safety watchdog warns that babies dying from treatable infections due to avoidable NHS errors

The Independent reports on a HSIB report that says babies are at risk of dying from a common treatable infection because NHS staff on maternity wards are not following national guidance and are short-staffed and overworked. The Independent notes that the watchdog warns that NHS staff on maternity wards can face conflicting advice on treating women who are positive for a group B streptococcus (GBS) infection. The HSIB said there were inconsistencies between national guidance produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2017 and local rules that aimed to keep women out of hospital until they are in established labour.

Full story in The Independent, 19 July 2020

Integrated Care law put off

Legislation to provide ICS’s (Integrated Care Systems) won’t be given parliamentary time this year, but has been put off until 2021. At present only CCGs have a legal status and must lend their authority to the new ICS in their region.

Full story in HSJ, 17 July 2020

NHS signs new four-month contract with private tech firm Palantir

The NHS has renewed its partnership with private technology company, Palantir, for a further four months. NHSX said it had signed a “new four month contract” with Palantir which will be published “in due course” and that it was a “direct award” using the GCloud framework. This is an extension of a contract signed in April this year for Palantir to work on the NHS Covid-19 datastore.

Full story in Digital Health, 17 July 2020

Safeguarding skin cancer services during Covid-19 using teledermatology

Dr Amy Poyner, a GP on the Isle of Wight, highlights how using teledermatology has improved the process for skin cancer diagnosis and ensured referrals continue as normal during the Covid-19 pandemic. The teledermatology assessment service introduced in 2019, called Dermicus, has ensured that patients with a suspicious skin lesion can be seen by their GP and referred to a dermatologist for diagnosis, without any delays or impact from Coronavirus.

Full story in Digital Health, 16 July 2020

CQC takes action against DMC Healthcare

The Care Quality Commission has taken enforcement action against the private healthcare company DMC Healthcare and the company’s St Mary’s Island Surgery in Chatham, Kent has been taken over on a temporary basis by GPs from the local GP Federation. Three weeks ago action was taken against DMC’s St Werburgh practice. The local CCG has also suspended the company dermatology contract in the area.

Full story in HSJ, 16 July 2020

NHS pay rates won by hospital security staff

Unison members employed as security staff at Tameside Hospital by french firm Engie were planning a 48 hour walk out on Monday 13th July, but last minute negotiations brought significant changes to proposals from management. Engie finally offered to pay the full Agenda for Change pay rates, including enhancements and overtime payments. This will be implemented with immediate effect.

Full story from Unison North West, 15 July 2020

McKinsey to look at Test and Trace

The Department of Health and Social Care has asked the management consultancy McKinsey to review the governance and form of the NHS Test and Trace programme. One of the areas the consultancy has been asked to look at is whether the organisation should remain as a directly controlled DHSC agency; be given greater operational independence; or be merged into another DHSC arms-length body, such as Public Health England.

Full story in The HSJ, 15 July 2020

Calls for greater investment in GP telehealth following Covid-19

A new report, General practice in a post Covid world, from the Royal College of GPs calls for further commitments to digital technology to enable remote monitoring, digital consultations, flexible working and better sharing of data. It makes a number of recommendations including for government to ensure that GPs have the IT tools, skills and broadband connectivity tools to deliver remote digital consultations; invest in and scale up the use of digital telecare tools which enable the remote monitoring of health conditions; and the roll-out of paperless electronic prescribing systems across the UK.

Full story in Digital Health, 15 July 2020

Isolation rules pre-hospital surgery affects poor people more

Under rules laid down by NHS England, all patients must strictly self-isolate and not attend work for fourteen days before attending hospital. The rules around social isolation pre-surgery disproportionately affect people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The government says that people have no right to statutory sick-pay.

Full story in OpenDemocracy, 14 July 2020

New UK immigration rules will exclude the majority of social care staff

The majority of social care workers and some NHS workers will not qualify for a new health and care visa under new UK immigration rules. The new points-based immigration system will operate from 1 January 2021. The new health and care visa will provide a fast-track route for health professionals wanting to work in the UK – but the majority of social care workers will be excluded from applying.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 13 July 2020

MPs lead the first enquiry into Covid pandemic

An all-party parliamentary group has started to hear from relatives of victims of Covid-19. The chair said “From the neglect of care homes to the lack of an effective testing regime, each day brings more evidence of mistakes in the handling of this pandemic, and there is every indication we will see a second spike this winter”.

Full story in The Guardian, 12 July 2020

80 consultants slam move to ICP contract

Consultants at the Dudley Group Foundation Trust have written to Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England over its plans to award a £360m integrated care contract to a new NHS trust. They say the move is costly and unnecessary and request a review of the risks and benefits of the ICP model.

Full story in The HSJ, 10 July 2020

Patients in England face the longest waits ever for surgery

Far fewer people are having surgery or cancer treatment because Covid-19 has disrupted NHS services so dramatically, and those who do are facing the longest waits on record.

Full story in The Guardian, 9 July 2020

The pandemic should increase our commitment to publicly provided healthcare

A blog by David Oliver counters a claim by the IEA think tank that the NHS should be a more marketised system. He concludes that despite attempts by the IEA to weaponise the pandemic to justify market based approaches to healthcare, the more likely response, will be “a greater commitment to publicly funded and provided healthcare, killing the debate on NHS funding and provision models for another decade or more.”

Full blog at The BMJ, 9 July 2020

The Tory election nurse recruitment pledge in doubt

The Johnson promise to recruit 50,000 more NHS nurses is in doubt after the number coming from the EU fell again and coronavirus prevented thousands of arrivals from the rest of the world. Annual data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council shows that the number of nurses and midwives from the European Economic Area (EEA) on its register, and thus able to work in the UK, has fallen for the last three years in a row.

Full story in The Guardian, 9 July 2020

83% say NHS should be run as a fully nationalised and public service

A poll by Survation found 83 per cent said it should be nationalised and run in the public sector. Only 15% wanted the continued use of private companies. The poll was released on the NHS’s 72nd birthday and also found that 78% of those questioned think it should receive more public funding to deliver services, compared to just 11% who thought profit-making companies should be given more public money to run health services.

Full story in The Independent, 9 July 2020

No strategy for PPE in a second wave

The House of Commons public accounts committee said the government should provide a plan of how it will stock the NHS and care sector with gowns, masks, eye protection and gloves. The government does not have a clear strategy to acquire and distribute the equipment.

Full story in The Guardian, 8 July 2020

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (8 July 2020)

Expensive failures could cost lives

Could a national care service help solve the social care crisis?

Sizing-up Johnson’s builder credentials

Homerton Hospital: trust board sticks with outsourcing giant

Celebrate the NHS and then protect it

Will NHS England block plan to halve Epsom bed numbers?

Top NHS managers want post-Covid changes – but not much of it

£1m to set up lab project – but still no business case

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Thousands of GP surgeries receive faulty PPE

Pulse reports that more than 5,000 GP practices and others received faulty face masks which posed a risk to users. The data is from two wholesalers. The face masks were past their expiry date, but had been relabelled with a new date,

Full story in Pulse, 6 July 2020

Shifts at private coronavirus mega-lab cancelled, whistleblower reveals

The Independent reports that it has been informed by a whistleblower that dozens of shifts at one of the government’s coronavirus mega-labs have been cancelled and staff paid to stay away because of a lack of test samples.

Full story in The Independent, 3 July 2020

Unions call on government for ‘early’ NHS pay rise

14 trade unions representing nurses, cleaners, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists, and other NHS employees have written to both the chancellor and the prime minister calling for pay negotiations to start soon, to give the workforce a chance of an early pay rise.

Full story in The HSJ, 3 July 2020

‘Urgent’ reviews launched by NHSE as learning disability death rates double

HSJ reports that NHS England and NHS Improvement have ordered urgent reviews into the deaths of people with a learning disability and autism during the pandemic. HSJ reports that it has seen messages on a private facebook group and an announcement posted on a social media group for Royal College of Nursing members last week, which said that the NHSE/I is “urgently seeking clinical reviewers with experience in learning disability”.

Full story in The HSJ, 1 July 2020

A choral tribute to health workers who died of coronavirus

A new song by the London Symphony Chorus, Never to Forget, was recorded remotely and pays tribute to the first 122 health and care workers to have lost their lives fighting the coronavirus.

Full story in The Guardian, 30 June 2020

Charging migrants for NHS services needs to stop

An outreach organisation, Doctors of the World, had been providing care to rough sleepers in the City of London for six months. It supports more than 2,000 individuals a year at its mobile clinic and walk-in centre in Stratford, east London.

Full story in The Guardian, 30 June 2020

The assault on the NHS: de-funding, outsourcing and marketisation

Dr Bob Gill “writes we have endured four decades of neoliberal policies supported, enacted but not explained by politicians: the NHS must be re-nationalised and excluded from a US-UK trade deal which would lock-in privatisation.”

Full article on WeOwnIt, 29 June 2020

Mass expansion of rehab beds for Covid planned

NHS leaders are currently working on plans to expand NHS capacity with the aim of allowing the service to deal with a potential second peak, without relying on shutting down as many normal NHS services as it did in March.

Full story in The HSJ, 29 June 2020

A Care-Led Recovery from Coronavirus

A report by the Women’s Budget Group offers the case for investment in care as a better post-pandemic economic stimulus than construction. Investing in care is economically sound not only because it generates employment but also because it helps create a healthier, better educated and more productive population.

Full report Women’s Budget Group, June 2020

SAGE: ‘Improve test and trace system before schools reopen’

The scientific committee that advises the government says increasing school attendance and relaxing other physical distancing measures without a test-and-trace system that reaches 80% of contacts within 48 hours risks a new surge in cases of Covid-19.

Full story in The Guardian, 26 June 2020

Jeremy Hunt calls to scrap waiting time target

Hunt says the Royal College of Surgeons reveals there will be huge waiting lists for surgery that could take five years to clear, and health service capacity will be limited by the new requirements for social distancing and PPE, so new targets are needed.

Full story in the HSJ, 26 June 2020

NHS restoration delayed waiting for cash

Despite government assurances the NHS would get “whatever it needs” leaders of NHS trusts, wanting to proceed with restoring health services, say they’re not getting promised funding.

Full story in the HSJ, 24 June 2020

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (24 June 2020)

Will “temporary” closures and cuts ever be reversed?

Tough questions that need answers on care home death toll

10 questions to ask about the NHS deal with the private hospitals

NHS deal with private hospitals blocked by Treasury

Support grows for NHS birthday events: Our NHS deserves better!

Merseyside staff call to scrap migrant charges

Who stands to gain from the NHS deal with private hospitals?

NAO report reminds NHS of extra PFI costs to come

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Conservative MP says, student nurses ‘not deemed to be providing a service’

Helen Whately, the Conservative MP for Faversham and Care Minister at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has claimed in a letter to a constituent that the government has “no plans” to backdate a new £5,000 grant for student nurses as they “are not deemed to be providing a service”. The letter which has been shared thousands of times across social media was written after student nurse Jess Collins called upon her local MP to help.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 21 June 2020

Government paid firms over £11m to build abandoned tracing app

The government awarded multiple contracts for the track and trace app trialled on the Isle of Wight, which has now been abandoned. Within the contracts, the records show one company, Zuhlke Engineering, was awarded multiple contracts totalling more than £6.5m for helping to develop the technology. In total over £11 million was awarded in contracts. Matt Hancock said that they had also been developing an Apple/Google-based app.

Full story in The Independent, 20 June 2020

Another U-turn: T&T app abandoned

After spending three months and millions of pounds, the government has abandoned a centralised coronavirus contact-tracing app. The government is planning to switch to a Google/Apple design, but this is months away from launch. The government had been warned of the limitations of its own app in March, but despite this development continues.

Full story in The Guardian, 19 June 2020

Serco bought out by NHS trusts

HSJ has revealed that King’s College Hospital FT and Guy’s and St Thomas’ FT will pay an undisclosed sum to Serco for its share of Viapath, the firm they co-own. Viapath was set up in 2009 to run the pathology labs at the two south London trusts, however lost the bid for a further 15 year £2.25 billion contract to another bidder earlier this year. The preferred bidder, Synlab, will take over the running of the services from September. HSJ understands that the buyout will mean there will be no “challenge” to the start of the new contract.

Full story in HSJ, 18 June 2020

Social care ‘cannot be kicked into the long grass’, Hancock warned

Matt Hancock has been warned that the issue of social care cannot “be kicked into the long grass any longer.” The Labour party is calling for more support for both professional and unpaid carers struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. Care homes make up 45% of the nation’s overall fatalities.

Full story in The Independent, 18 June 2020

Betrayal over NHS migrant surcharge

On 21st May Johnson announced that health and care workers would no longer be forced to pay the immigration health surcharge. However, since then no progress appears to have been made. The Doctors’ Association UK said “we are deeply concerned that no progress has been made towards actually scrapping the charges …a crass betrayal of thousands of migrant healthcare staff”.

Full story in The Guardian, 18 June 2020

Safety fears halts hydroxychloroquine trials

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has instructed UK clinical trials using hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent Covid-19 to suspend the recruitment of further participants and additional safety measures have been implemented. There is emerging evidence from trials that the drug does not have a positive clinical effect on Covid-19 patients.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 17 June 2020

Why didn’t we get Test and Trace right?

David McCoy, a professor of global public health takes the government to task for its insistence on a remote centralised system. Contact tracing involves divulging sensitive personal information about other people to someone they trust. Local professional public health teams are best placed for this work.

Full story in The Guardian, 16 June 2020

Student nurses irate when contracts cut short

Student nurses who joined the NHS frontline months before their training ended have seen their paid placement schemes terminated early, leaving them with no income. Nurses United UK has condemned the move, warning that students nurses will feel they were mis-sold the arrangement when opting in.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 16 June 2020

BAME report released that government denied existed

The second part of the government’s covid-19 risk review has been published, despite the government implying that it did not exist. Public Health England released the report, ‘Beyond the data: Understanding the impact of covid-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic groups’, today alongside a letter to equalities minister Kemi Badenoch.

Full story in The HSJ, 16 June 2020

Positive Covid-19 tests must not ‘disadvantage’ doctors’ life insurance applications

The BMA has written to the Association of British Insurers to seek urgent clarification on the reports that doctors have had applications for insurance deferred on the basis of a positive Covid-19 antibody test.

Full story The BMA, 15 June 2020

UK’s response: “slow, complacent and flat-footed”

Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, a peer-reviewed general medical journal, has made a withering attack of the government’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. He has written a book that he calls a “reckoning” for the “missed opportunities and appalling misjudgments” here and abroad that have led to “the avoidable deaths of tens of thousands of citizens”. Further it accuses SAGE, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies committee, of being “the public relations wing of a government that had failed its people”.

Full story in The Guardian, 14 June 2020

Chief Nursing Officer dropped from daily briefing over Dominic Cummings

England’s most senior nurse was dropped when due to appear at a Downing Street briefing after refusing to publicly back Dominic Cummings. Ruth May was due to appear alongside Matt Hancock on 1 June, but senior NHS sources allege she was “immediately dropped” from the line-up after expressing her views on his notorious 260 mile journey.

Full story in The Telegraph, 12 June 2020

Nightingale hospitals cost more than £200 million

The seven temporary Nightingale hospitals, set up to help the NHS respond to the covid-19 pandemic, cost around £220 million. Only the London and Manchester hospitals actually treated patients, with the London Nightingale treating 54 patients in total.

Full story in The HSJ, 10 June 2020

Asylum seekers and refugees excluded from online test and trace system

Disadvantaged groups may be excluded from the government’s online coronavirus test and trace system because it requires a credit reference database check to decide whether to deliver a home test.

Full story in the HSJ, 8 June 2020

Lowdown stories (9 June 2020)

One constant in Covid crisis: government contracts out, private sector cashes in

Overtime deal strengthens call for fairer wages and staffing

Does government policy on shielding leave thousands exposed?

Black lives at risk in unequal NHS

Trust signs up for Babylon’s triage app, doubling up on 111 service

What’s happening on integrated care?

No bold visions for Lancs and Cumbria ICS

Signs of Life: a review of Integrated Care System websites

Patients and staff left confused by rushed change of plan around vulnerable patients

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Racism in medicine

A special issue of the BMJ devoted to articles about racism in medicine, includes a number of free to view articles discussing racism in healthcare, including in the NHS, medical schools, and artificial intelligence.

Full issue BMJ, 10 June 2020

NHS hospital waiting lists could hit 10 million in England this year

The NHS Confederation has predicted that the waiting list for hospital treatment could rise to almost 10 million people by Christmas due to the huge backlog caused by coronavirus disrupting services. Hospitals are suffering staff shortages and have to restrict the number of patients they can treat due to physical distancing rules, which will also reduce the number of beds available.

Full story in The Guardian, 10 June 2020

UK ministers face legal challenge for refusal to order PPE inquiry

A case is being brought against Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), the Good Law Project, and the charity Hourglass, which campaigns on issues involving care homes. The legal challenge is due to the refusal of the government to conduct an investigation into the shortages of personal protective equipment faced by NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic. The challenge is being crowdfunded.

Full story in The Guardian, 8 June 2020

Online covid tests refused to those not on credit check database

The government’s test and trace system is excluding disadvantaged groups, according to a report from HSJ, as it requires a credit reference database check to decide whether to deliver a home test. If people do not pass the credit check they are told to go to a drive-through test, although this is difficult or impossible for many people.

Full story in the HSJ, 8 June 2020

Johnson told to plan for new Covid wave

Scientists fear that the virus remains too prevalent to ease the lockdown further and that it should be relaxed only when a comprehensive test and trace system has been proved to work. Johnson was urged to ditch “cheap political rhetoric” that risks eroding the public’s adherence to lockdown measures in the months ahead.

Full story in The Guardian, 7 June 2020

More than half coronavirus-related deaths from care homes

Based on data from the Office for National Statistics, a study by the business consultancy LaingBuisson estimates the deaths of those who list a care home as their primary residence. The death toll by the end of June from Covid-19 infections and other excess deaths is “likely to approach 59,000 of which about 34,000 (57%) are care home residents”.

Full story in The Guardian, 7 June 2020

PPE contract given to small pest control company

PestFix, a small family-owned company, was given a contract worth £108 million for the provision of PPE. The company is just one of several who were awarded contracts despite having no experience in the area. The public accounts committee has said it will be scrutinising the contracts awarded to ensure that they represented value for money.

Full story in The Times, 6 June 2020

Migrants are not coming forward for healthcare

A Medact briefing paper, co-produced by Migrants Organise and the New Economics Foundation highlights that migrants are not coming forward for healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic owing to the government’s hostile environment. The coronavirus ‘exemption’ from charging and immigration checks is not working, people are still being asked to show their passports for coronavirus treatment.

Full report Medact, 5 June 2020

Commissioners give notice on £240m contract

North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group and Essex County Council have ended a “Care Closer To Home” contract held by Anglian Community Enterprises, a community interest company. The contract, signed in 2015, was worth £240 million over seven years. The reason given was that for more integration of care a new contract will have to be set up. Hundreds of staff now face moving to new organisations after the 12 month notice period expires. The services included community nursing, ophthalmology, audiology and cardiology.

Full story in The HSJ, 4 June 2020

NHS test-and-trace system ‘not fully operational until September’

The NHS coronavirus test-and-trace system is unlikely to be up and working at full speed until September or October. A leaked email from Serco, seen by The Guardian, has revealed how its chief executive doubted the scheme would evolve smoothly but he wants it to “cement the position of the private sector” in the NHS supply chain.

Full story in The Guardian, 4 June 2020

Thousands of Covid-19 tests sent to US voided

More than 4 in 10 of the Covid-19 tests sent to the US for processing had to be voided due to the way they had been processed, according to the Telegraph. Ministers have admitted that 67,000 Covid-19 tests were sent to a lab in the USA over 10 days at the beginning of May; previously they had only admitted to 50,000 being sent.

Full story in the Telegraph, 4 June 2020.

Government censored BAME covid-risk review

HSJ reports that the government removed a key section related to the virus’ impact on BAME groups from Public Health England’s review of the relative risk of covid-19 prior to publication. The report noted that the risk is “disproportionate” for those with Asian, Caribbean and black ethnicities but makes no attempt to explain why the risk to BAME groups should be higher. An earlier draft of the review included responses from organisations and individuals who supplied evidence to the review. Many of these suggested that discrimination and poorer life chances were playing a part in the increased risk of covid-19.

Full story in The HSJ, 2 June 2020

Government misleads over test statistics

The UK Statistics Authority accused the government of mixing up tests carried out with testing kits sent out by post and thus giving a misleading figure for testing. The head of UKSA said “The aim seems to be to show the largest possible number of tests, even at the expense of understanding”. In a letter to the government, Sir David Norgrove, head of the authority, also made criticisms of the way testing is carried out and the data presented to the public. His letter is a second attempt to get more clarification from the government.

Full story in The Guardian, 2 June 2020

A decade of cuts and privatisation

A Guardian long-read on the litany of cuts to public health and privatisation of services that has led to the current chaos. The article is based on interviews with public health directors, politicians, experts in infectious disease control, government scientific and political advisers, NHS leaders and emergency planners about the years leading up to the pandemic. What they say is how the infrastructure to respond to public health crises was fractured or demolished, by policies introduced by recent Conservative governments, and previous governments to make so-called efficiency savings.

Full story in The Guardian, 31 May 2020

Early track and trace abandoned due to lack of capacity

Documents from the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies show UK’s disastrous decision to abandon testing for coronavirus occurred because health systems could only cope with five cases a week.

Full story in The Telegraph, 30 May 2020

‘Why I quit working for test and trace system’

Johnson’s ‘world-beating’ test and trace system comes in for severe criticism from someone working in the system. ‘People were having problems accessing the system …training was basic …many people were writing, “Did anyone do anything yesterday?” “Do we just wait?” “What are we waiting for?”

Full story in The Guardian, 30 May 2020

Scientists warn of lockdown easing too fast

Scientists have said lockdown measures should not be eased until the test-and-trace service is up and running. Members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which has been advising the government on the coronavirus outbreak, said ministers were taking risks by allowing the gradual reopening of shops and schools and larger gatherings to meet in private.

Full story from ITV News, 29 May 2020

Contact tracing: Serco given £90 million contract

Serco, which sponsored an event at last year’s Conservative Party conference, has been awarded a contract to provide emergency contact centre services for vulnerable people who are self-isolating. MPs have demanded that the government explain why Serco has been given another major contract.

Full story, Open Democracy, 28 May 2020

Lowdown stories (26 May 2020)

CCGs deficits revealed, prompting fears of a fresh financial squeeze

NHS changes made under the radar

Roy Lilley’s unpublished call to nationalise care homes

Mental health: still the poor relation?

Care Homes – Hancock’s “protective ring” fails to protect

A “privatised” and “dysfunctional” system led to lack of PPE

Track and trace failings risk safe release from lockdown

From Nightingale to Nightmare – how journalists undermined a PR stunt

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Deadline for launch of UK’s tracing app will be missed

The BMJ reports that the future of the UK’s covid-19 contact tracing app seems uncertain after James Brokenshire, the security minister, said on 21 May that he was “unable to give [a] definitive timeline” on when the app might launch.

Matt Hancock, had previously said that the app, which started trials on the Isle of Wight in early May, would be widely available by mid-May, but the launch has been repeatedly pushed back.

Free to view article in the BMJ, 26 May 2020

Fast track approval for remdesivir to treat coronavirus

Nursing Notes reports that the ant-viral drug remdesivir has been given fast-track approval to treat those hospitalised with severe COVID-19 infections under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS).

The approval was by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The move will allow the use of remdesivir in the treatment of adults and adolescents hospitalised with severe COVID-19 infection who meet a specific clinical criteria.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 26 May 2020

Doctors say public health must be “at the core” of global recovery plans

The BMJ reports on a joint letter to all G20 heads of state from organisations representing over 40 million doctors, nurses and other health professionals. These global health leaders have urged governments to put public health “at the core” of economic recovery from covid-19.

The letter was coordinated by the Global Climate and Health Alliance, the Every Breath Matters campaign, and the World Health Organisation.

Free to view article at the BMJ, 25 May 2020

Government forced to drop NHS surcharge for migrant health workers

The Guardian reports that Boris Johnson was forced into the first major U-turn of his premiership, as he announced that overseas NHS staff and care workers would no longer have to pay a controversial visa surcharge.

There was pressure from Conservative MPs, following the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, raising the issue in the House of Commons.

Full story in The Guardian, 21 May 2020

Coronavirus leaves a third of nurses suffering from ‘severe’ mental health issues

Nursing Notes reports that the ICON study found almost one-third of staff reported severe or extremely severe depression, anxiety or stress.

The ICON study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on the UK nursing and midwifery workforce with snapshots taken prior to the COVID-19 peak, during the peak, and in the recovery period.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 21 May 2020

MPs critical report says decision to abandon mass testing ‘pivotal’

A critical report from the Commons Science and Technology Committee has highlighted several lessons to learn from the UK’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Independent.

MPs told the government that testing capacity has been “inadequate” throughout the pandemic and there has been a lack of transparency over some of its crucial decision-making. The committee also called on the government to “urgently” build up capacity for contact tracing, a key tactic in helping ease existing lockdown measures.

Full story in The Independent, 19 May 2020

£27,000 NHS hospital bill for British army vet

The Guardian reports that a Commonwealth-born veteran, who served for more than a decade in the British army including tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, has been told he must pay more than £27,000 for NHS hospital bills after an emergency operation to remove a brain tumour.

Taitusi Ratucaucau, 49 and origianlly from Fiji, was classified by the hospital as an overseas patient, and therefore ineligible for free NHS care. He joined the British army in 2001 and has been continuously in the UK since being discharged from the military in 2011, living here with his wife and three daughters, and paying tax and national insurance.

Full story in The Guardian, 18 May 2020

High number of BAME doctors fear they will contract Covid-19

The Guardian reports on a survey by Royal College of Physicians (RCP) which found that 48% of all doctors who responded to its survey were either concerned or very concerned for their health, a figure that rose to 76% among BAME doctors.

Nearly two-thirds were worried about passing the virus on to others at home. Doctors said poor access to personal protective equipment, insufficient training on how to fit masks and lengthy waits for virus testing left them in fear of catching the virus and passing it on to those they lived with.

Full story in The Guardian, 18 May 2020

Concern over spread of covid-19 in hospitals

The HSJ reports that the leader of the NHS’ pandemic testing programme has highlighted concerns about the rate of covid-19 transmissions in hospitals.

Dr Aidan Fowler, NHS England’s patient safety director, told an industry webinar that he and his team “are concerned about the rates of nosocomial spread within our hospitals”.

These concerns have led to a focus on discovering where the virus transmission is taking place in hospitals, according to Dr Fowler who leads the NHS and Public Heath England testing programme (know as “pillar one”).

Full story in the HSJ, 19 May 2020

NHS procurement chiefs drafted in to help ailing national PPE effort

HSJ reports that the government has sought help in PPE procurement from 14 trust procurement chiefs and their teams. Each have been given specific types of equipment to buy.

This is considered to be a sign of an “obviously struggling” central operation, according to Senior procurement sources . The government and central procurement body NHS Supply Chain have faced weeks of criticism over PPE shortages.

Full story in The HSJ, 15 May 2020

Coronavirus test results not shared with local NHS

The Independent reports that the the results of tens of thousands of coronavirus tests carried out by the government’s new network of test centres are not being shared with local NHS hospitals or councils. This is hampering their efforts to fight the virus.

The report is based on an email leaked to the Health Service Journal (HSJ), which said that the data from the test centres, set up by the government and managed by consultancy firm Deloitte, was “increasingly becoming unavailable” and will not be reported to local organisations “until further notice”.

Full story in the Independent, 13 May 2020

Lowdown stories (12 May 2020)

Rebuild our health and social care: learn from the Covid crisis

Hancock complacent as care home crisis continues

How many people have really died from Covid-19 infection?

Privatisation during the pandemic

Stay alert, control the eugenicists, save lives

Back to normal for non-covid patients

Lockdown used to drive forward lab merger plans

Keeping track of testing chaos

Plans for post Covid NHS hatched behind the lockdown

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

New deal wanted for international NHS and social care staff

National Health Executive reports that the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has called on the UK government to create a new deal for international NHS and social care staff, recognising the vital role played they will play in the frontline response to coronavirus and the important part they will continue to play going forward. The new deal should include exemption from the International Health Surcharge for all NHS and social care staff, and their spouses and dependants, plus indefinite leave to remain, in appreciation of their efforts to support coronavirus efforts in this country.

Full story in NHE, 13 May 2020

Trading standards confirms new covid-19 contact tracing app open to fraud

The UK government’s new app for Covid-19 contract tracing, currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight, has been found to be open to fraud already.

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has received evidence of a phishing scam themed around the app, even before the real app has released nationally.

Full story in Care Industry News, 11 May 2020

Hancock challenged over covid testing numbers by stats watchdog

Following revelations by the HSJ of changes made by the government to counting Covi-19 tests, the UK Statistics Authority has written to the government raising fundamental concerns about the government’s reporting of covid-19 test numbers and called for greater transparency on how they present the data.

HSJ’s revelations concerned how the government changed the way it counted the number of covid-19 tests in order to hit its target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of April.

UKSA Sir David Norgrove has today written to health secretary Matt Hancock to outline the concerns.

Full story in the HSJ, 11 May 2020

Social care workers dying at roughly twice rate of general population, new statistics reveal

The Independent reports that a new analysis from the Office for National Statistics (ONS shows that care workers are dying from the coronavirus at about twice the rate of the general population, according

Data published on Monday also showed that healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, did not have higher rates of death involving Covid-19 when compared with people of the same age and sex in the general population.

According to the ONS, men working as security guards were at one of the highest risks – more than four times the risk of men in the general population.

Full story in The Independent, 12 May 2020

Healthcare firm advised by Owen Paterson won £133m coronavirus testing contract

The Guardian has reported that Randox Laboratories, a company which employs the prominent Conservative politician Owen Paterson as a paid consultant, has been awarded a £133m contract without any other firms being given the opportunity to bid for the work.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has given Randox the contract to produce testing kits to help respond to the coronavirus pandemic. It was awarded “without prior publication of a call for competition”, according to details of the contract seen by the Guardian.

Full story in The Guardian, 11 May 2020

UK care homes have to buy their own PPE as national deliveries fail

The Guardian reports that care home providers are still having to secure their own supplies of personal protective equipment because a promised delivery system cannot get the volumes they need to them. Clipper Logistics gained the contract for the delivery system to care homes, pharmacies and GPs at the end of March.

Some involved in the pilot have told the Guardian that it was only supplying a fraction of the PPE required. One care provider requiring more than 35,000 face masks a week said they had received only 400. Ministers warned last week that the national rollout for the system.

There are over 50,000 primary, social care and community care providers in the UK, but the new online system provides for about 1,400 providers. Providers are trying to source their own PPE, but were having to pay inflated prices, and were treating national supplies as a “last resort” that they could not rely on.

Full story in The Guardian, 9 May 2020

Almost 100,000 people demand inquiry into NHS deaths and PPE shortages

An open letter to Boris Johnson demanding a public inquiry into NHS staff deaths and appalling shortages of personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 crisis. compiled by The Doctors’ Association UK, has been signed by almost 100,000 people.

Full story in The Daily Mirror, 9 May 2020

Coronavirus testing restricted across London after chemical shortages

The Independent reports that it has seen a leaked email to NHS staff from the South West London Pathology Partnership that has confirmed only patients and staff who show symptoms will now be tested for Covid-19 after the labs, based at St George’s Hospital, were unable to source enough of the chemical reagents needed for the tests. The pathology services in south London, four major hospitals and hundreds of doctors’ surgeries, have now had to restrict testing both in hospitals and in the community.

This came on the day Boris Johnson unveiled a new target of 200,000 Covid-19 tests a day by the end of May (before backtracking and clarifying it was a target of capacity, not testing).

Full story in The Independent, 7 May 2020

Over 100 nurses have considered refusing to treat patients due to inadequate PPE

Nursing Notes reports that 70% of calls and emails to RCN Direct are about concerns over personal protective equipment (PPE) and over 100 nurses have been forced to seek advice regarding refusing to treat patients amid a lack of adequate PPE.

Last month the the RCN told frontline nurses they could refuse to treat patients if their safety was compromised through a lack of PPE and they have exhausted all options to maintain their own personal safety.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 6 May 2020

Lowdown stories (15 April 2020)

Care homes and home care – the forgotten crisis
When will NHS leaders speak up on PPE? Staff deaths rising
How do we escape lockdown? Community testing, new tech and an army of volunteers

Debt – full figures show the trusts that suffered most
PSI: We need safe workers to save lives
Latin American affiliates report a lack of basic security for health workers

Brown backs call for massive £190bn global effort to improve health for all
Who are the sinners and the saints of the crisis?

OECD locks the stable door
Brutality in Indian lockdown

Coronavirus: doubts over plan as virus spreads

Revealed: high cost of bullying in the NHS – Roger Kline

NHS staffing crisis won’t be solved soon

Clinical harm review underway after GP letters not sent

Bestcare goes bust leaving staff unpaid and a question mark over scans

InHealth takes five NHS commissioners to court over procurement

Is the post-Brexit Immigration Plan another nail in the coffin for the NHS? – Olivia Bridge

A dying shame: Marmot throws down the gauntlet – Alan Taman

The History of Privatisation – Part 1

Right royal mess in Worcestershire

GMB warns that patient transport services near “crisis point”

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

New self-isolation rules could decimate the health and social care workforce

The new self-isolation rules advise families to self-isolate for 14-days if any member of their household has a persistent cough or high temperature. The stringent steps announced also include avoiding non-essential travel and contact.

Nursing Notes reports that critics have been quick to point out that if the same 14-day isolation rules are applied to healthcare workers, it has the potential to decimate the healthcare workforce overnight.

A nurse from London told Nursing Notes; “Half of our workforce has someone at home meeting the self-isolation criteria. My 4-year-old is unwell with what I suspect is a cold, but I should now self-isolate. It is not possible for doctors, nurses, support workers, etc to work from home. We have to be hands-on and caring for the patients most in need.”

Full story in Nursing Notes, 17 March 2020

Healthcare workers with early symptoms set to be tested for Covid-19

The Government’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty announced that testing for Corvid-19 is set to scale-up, including early testing for healthcare workers and testing for asymptomatic individuals on whether they have already had the disease.

He added that Public Health England is ‘rapidly developing’ a test for whether people have already had the disease.

Pulse reports that GPs have expressed concerns around testing for practice staff, with testing being predominantly carried out in hospitals.

Full story in Pulse, 16 March 2020

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust: 20 deaths or serious harm cases in maternity

The BBC has obtained reports on the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust that show at least 20 maternity deaths or serious harm cases linked to a Devon hospital since 2008.

The BBC report on a 2017 review, that was never released, that raised “serious questions” about maternity care at North Devon District Hospital.

The BBC spent two years trying to obtain the report and won access to it at a tribunal earlier this year.

The BBC also saw a 2013 review by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) that investigated 11 serious clinical incidents at the unit, dating back as far as 2008.

Full story on the BBC, 16 March 2020

Cleaners at London hospital walk out after contractor fails to pay wages

Cleaning staff employed by a private contractor at Lewisham Hospital, the first London hospital to treat a coronavirus patient, walked out after the repeated failure of the company to pay them properly.

The Guardian reports that dozens of hospital cleaners employed by ISS walked out of Lewisham hospital on Thursday. They returned to work the following day after being promised that their pay would be corrected, however this has been an ongoing issue with some employees underpaid at the end of February.

Catering and portering staff joined them in staging a protest outside the south London hospital on Friday when they realised the money was still not in their bank accounts.

Full story in The Guardian, 13 March 2020

Mothers and babies at risk in maternity units across country, care watchdog warns

The Independent reports that a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report on maternity units across the country says that there are serious safety risks to mothers and babies.

In the report, the Care Quality Commission said it was concerned some maternity units show similar failures to those identified by an inquiry into baby deaths carried out five years ago. The CQC highlights a lack of training for maternity staff and warned some obstetric staff who saw low numbers of births were not maintaining their skills and posing serious risk to mothers.

Full story in The Independent, 13 March 2020

Coronavirus could ‘force the pace’ on transforming services

According to NHSX director, Polly Bishop, the spread of coronavirus cases could accelerate the NHS’ adoption of digital GP services such as virtual appointments.

The increase of digital services would only help to relieve the strain the virus is putting on the NHS and it would not be forced on patients, Ms Bishop said. It would also avoid infected patients visiting a surgery for face-to-face appointments reducing the risk of infection at the appointment and via travel.

Digital healthcare provider Refero has said it has been contacted by more than 200 GP surgeries after offering digital consultations to public sector bodies for free to help reduce pressure caused by coronavirus.

Full story on the Health Service Journal, 6 March 2020

NHS “does not have the nurses it needs”, finds report

According to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) there are around 44,000 unfilled nursing posts across the NHS in England.

Susan Masters, Royal College of Nursing Director of Nursing Policy and Practice said that without a proper workforce strategy to address the serious shortage of nurses, the NHS and social care services, as well as those who rely on them, are being left at risk.

The Royal College of Nursing is calling for an investment to remove financial barriers for nursing students, by paying for tuition fees and providing grants for the real costs of living.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 5 March 2020

Medical students and new doctors could be drafted in to fight coronavirus

Final year medical students and first year doctors could be called to work in hospitals and have their responsibilities extended if the NHS comes under severe pressure from increasing coronavirus cases.

Chief medical officer, Chris Whitty told MPs today that these measures would be considered in addition to the emergency re-registration of recently retired doctors if NHS hospitals are overwhelmed with new coronavirus cases.

The number of community-transmitted coronavirus cases in the UK is likely to go up, Professor Whitty said. Coronavirus has been declared as a national incident by NHS England.

Figures published today by the NHS England revealed that the NHS 111 service has not been able to keep up with the unprecedented demand.

Full story on the Health Service Journal, 5 March 2020

Stories from the Lowdown:

Lowdown stories from 17/02/2020 – 02/03/2020

Coronavirus: doubts over plan as virus spreads

Revealed: high cost of bullying in the NHS – Roger Kline

NHS staffing crisis won’t be solved soon

Clinical harm review underway after GP letters not sent

Bestcare goes bust leaving staff unpaid and a question mark over scans

InHealth takes five NHS commissioners to court over procurement

Is the post-Brexit Immigration Plan another nail in the coffin for the NHS? – Olivia Bridge

A dying shame: Marmot throws down the gauntlet – Alan Taman

The History of Privatisation – Part 1

Right royal mess in Worcestershire

GMB warns that patient transport services near “crisis point”

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Ditching 4-hour waiting time target in A&E

NHS Providers are open to scrapping the current 4 hour waiting time target on A&E departments, with statements that a standalone metric can no longer do the job.

New data is currently being put together including an average waiting time in A&E, a shorter target for the sick patients and how long patients wait for first clinical assessment.

A bundle of measures, therefore, is being considered as the best option, the lobby group stating that five key conditions around credibility, clinical support, funding, and patient engagement must be met.

Full story on the Health Service Journal, 4 March 2020

Hundreds of women left distressed after undergoing a hysteroscopy

Women undergoing a procedure that examines the womb using a narrow telescope across NHS England hospitals have told a survey their doctors carried on despite them screaming in pain.

660 of the 860 women surveyed stated they were not made aware that the procedure could be done under sedation. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists suggested the women should be offered general anesthetic, epidural or sedation, raising concerns that hospitals are not giving women the right information.

Almost all said they were left teary, shaken or distressed by the procedure likening the experience to ‘torture’, with the pain remaining longer than a day.

Full story on the Health Service Journal, 2 March 2020

Patients get faster access to cannabis-based medicines – The Home Office is reducing the import restrictions

The Department of Health has worked alongside the Home Office to offer patients prescribed cannabis-based medicines to get their treatment in days rather than months.

Imported from foreign countries, it can take weeks or months for the cannabis-based medicines to reach patients in the UK, due to export restrictions.

According to the government, the new rules allow patients and families with more challenging conditions such as childhood epilepsy to be treated quickly and more easily.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 3 March 2020

First integrated health service with the NHS App and NHS login’s encrypted sign on launched by Connected Nottinghamshire

Partnering up with Patients Know Best (PKB), the new local digital health and care service enable the public to securely connect NHS login to their personal health data, to connect the information and services they need all in one place.

The long term vision offers patients virtual access to care plans, remote consultations, messaging and self-monitoring, while also providing the ability to integrate medical devices, take advantage of social prescribing and share data with those involved in a person’s care.

Alex Farrow, head of strategy and transformation for Connected Nottingham states it is “a significant step forward in modernising health and care services across Nottingham”.

Full story on Digital Health, 3 March 2020

Student nurses use virtual reality to learn how to identify sick patients

Middlesex University has purchased five virtual reality (VR) headsets, recreating scenarios in a digital environment that a nurse would experience in real life.

Simulating patients who have sepsis, difficulty breathing, diabetes, COPD and severe allergies with the body’s physiological response to infection and clinical presentation.

The technology recreates typical visual indicators such as patches of discoloured skin, shivers, difficulty to rouse or shortness of breath, which the students can get personalised feedback on their identification, using analytics to help evaluate their efforts with tutors.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 1 March 2020.

Study published in The Lancet says Universal Credit linked to mental health problems for 63,674 people

A study published in The Lancet has found that tens of thousands of people may have become clinically depressed as a result of universal credit. The study calls for welfare reform to be “fundamentally modified” to reduce mental health harms.

The researchers found that the introduction of universal credit was associated with a 7% increase in psychological distress among recipients since the benefit was introduced – equivalent to an estimated 63,674 unemployed people.

Full story in The Independent, 28 February 2020

Prisoners suffer cancelled appointments and poorer healthcare

The hospital appointments of the inmates of England’s prisons are frequently cancelled and they receive less healthcare than the general public, according to a new report from the Nuffield Trust.

As many as four in 10 hospital appointments made for a prisoner were cancelled or missed in 2017-18, with missed appointments costing the NHS £2m. The report examined 110,000 hospital records from 112 prisons in England.

Full story in The Independent, 25 February 2020

Service cuts lead to Health visitors fearing for children’s wellbeing

The Institute of Health Visitors reports that cuts to the public health budget have left health visiting services unable to offer the minimum level of support in many areas. This means that health visitors are unable to protect vulnerable families.

This was the major finding of the annual survey of health visitors in England, published by the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) on 20 February 2020. The iHV calls for a ring-fence on new funding for the profession. Official figures indicate that around one in five health visitors were lost between 2015 and 2019 – the full-time equivalent of 18% of the workforce. The loss was due to public health budget cuts and the failure to protect health visitors’ preventative role by many cash-strapped local authorities after health visiting commissioning moved from the NHS to local authorities in 2015.

For more information visit the Institute for Health Visitors, 20 February 2020

NHS campaigners stage protest outside Leeds General Infirmary

Campaigners who want to keep the NHS public staged a demonstration outside the hospital on Saturday night to draw attention to the impact of the ‘winter crisis’ on the health service.

The protest was organised by Leeds Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) with around 30 people in support. It was part of a national day of action by KONP.

The organisation has demanded an “end to the crisis, adequate funding for the NHS, an end to pay freezes and an end to privatisation.”

Full story on Yorkshire Evening Post, 16 February 2020.

Private agencies paying workers less than half what they charge NHS to hire

Private nursing agencies are paying their workers less than half what they charge the NHS to hire them. Investigation found that the agencies rake in £71.53 an hour for busy overnight shifts, but nurses took home only £34 of that.

The agency is Thornbury Nursing and is owned offshore in the Caribbean and controlled by a private equity fund run by a major Tory party donor.

From Freedom of Information requests, we found that Thornbury charged some NHS trusts £67.45 to £71.53 an hour for a general registered nurse working a night shift between 2pm and 8am.

Full story on The Mirror, 15 February 2020.

NHS England targets digitalisation of millions of GP records

The HSJ have revealed that NHS England is hoping to create a nationalised digitisation of “vital” decades-old medical records.

Paper records are stored by thousands of GP surgeries in England and pose a risk to “person-centred care”, according to NHSE.

The aim is for these medical records to be digitised and stored in a cloud-based solution of the individual GP practices IT system. NHSE are calling for technology suppliers input in shaping the project.

Full story on HSJ, 14 February 2020.

Record number of A&E ‘trolley waits’ reached in January, NHS say

January saw another record for the NHS with A&E waiting time targets. More than 100,000 patients waited more than 4 hours to be treated.

There were 100,578 patients waiting for more than four hours, of whom 2,846 were delayed for more than 12 hours from decision to admit to admission, according to performance statistics released by NHS England.

It is an increase of 20.4% and 353.9% respectively from the same month a year ago, when there were 83,554 four-hour waits and just 627 12-hour waits.

The British Medical Association said the figures showed the strain on the NHS was “relentless, deepening and showing no sign of recovery”

Full story on The Guardian, 13 February 2020.

Union GMB claims Homerton Hospital cleaning staff boss ‘intimidated’ workers after turning up at protest

GMB have issued a formal complain to Homerton Hospital after a senior manager from the cleaning staff contractor allegedly intimidated staff at a protest.

The protest was being held over the treatment of staff at the hospital, with the union citing bullying, harassment and a sick pay policy “so draconian one hospital worker had his pay docked after suffering a stroke”

During the protest, a member of staff from the cleaning contractors ISS turned up and took out his mobile phone.

GMB are calling for the £45 million cleaning contract to be brought back in house.

Full story in the Hackney Gazette, 10 February 2020.

Union hits out as another patient transport service ambulance firm goes bust

GMB union have criticised local health chiefs, as another patient transport service provider has gone bust. The reliance on private providers has been criticised, as four companies have gone bust or walked away from contracts in the past few years.

Medi-1 is the latest, a subcontracted to South Central Ambulance Service, the NHS trust that took over the “non-emergency ambulance” from the now defunct Coperforma.

The GMB said: “Once again, hard-working staff and GMB members are made to suffer for Sussex commissioners dithering.

“Yet another Sussex Patient Transport Service (PTS) provider has gone bust as regional clinical commissioners remain non-committal towards the future of patient transport services in the county.

Full story on Brighton and Hove News, 10 February 2020.

Dying doctor warns of asbestos ‘hidden epidemic’ caused by NHS failures

A former NHS doctor and mother of two, Kate Richmond, who has just months left to live has warned of a “hidden epidemic” of asbestos-related cancers among NHS staff and patients.

This comes after Kate won a legal case against the NHS for negligently exposing her to asbestos while she was working as a medical student and junior doctor.

According to data from the Health and Safety Executive, between 2011 and 2017, there is a total of 128 people working in health and social care roles who have died from mesothelioma. This is the same asbestos-related cancer that is killing Kate Richmond.

“They made an economic decision that condemned me to death,” said Dr Richmond, adding: “No amount of money can compensate for my children growing up without their mother.”

Full story on The Independent, 9 February 2020.

Revealed: how drugs giants can access your health records

Leading experts have revealed that the Department of Health and Social Care has been selling the medical data of millions of NHS patients to American and international drugs companies. They suggest the public have been misled into believing the information would be anonymous.

The patient data, compiled from GP and hospital records, is sold to companies for large amount of money. However, this data can routinely be linked back to individual patients medical records.

Senior NHS officials are raising concerns that the data sold is not anonymous. However, the DHSC insists there are stringent measures in place to protect patient data.

Full story on The Guardian, 8 February 2020.

Reduce UK drug deaths by funding treatment services, experts urge

Experts have warned that drug related deaths will not reduce from record levels unless the government invests in treatment services.

The most recent official figures show that 4,359 deaths from drug poisoning were recorded in England and Wales in 2018, the highest number since records began in 1993, with around two-thirds attributed to drug misuse.

A local service manager of Addaction, one of UKs leading drug and alcohol charities, Gary Besterfield said: ““I would absolutely say one of the contributing factors [to the rise in deaths] is the drop in funding. The current political climate is not supportive of the work we do…”

Full story on The Guardian, 5 February 2020.

Nurses are undervalued because they are mostly women, finds RCN study

A study commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing argues that the “old-fashioned view that caring for others is a feminine characteristic still persists in British society.”

This belief has contributed to the suppression of nurses’ wages and working conditions for generations, the authors of the study claim.

The study concludes that nursing is undervalued both in status and pay and until both are enhanced, the UK will continue to experience severe nursing shortages.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 29 January 2020.

Nearly 35,000 patients overdue follow-ups at single trust

Patients in North Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation trust are suffering long-waiting times for follow-up appointments, with 35,000 overdue.

A clinical harm review process was introduced by the trust last year to address the backlog. According to the trust, 83 patients were identified to have come to “potential harm” 20% of the overdue appoints are in ophthalmology. This comes after the HSJ revealed that dozens of patients across the country had suffered permanent of long-term harm to their eyes after awaiting a follow-up.

The trust is currently rated “requires improvement” by the CQC.

Full story on HSJ, 28 January 2020.

Third of UK doctors report burnout and compassion fatigue

A survey has raised concerns about the effects of excessive workloads on staff in the NHS. It found that a third of all UK doctors may be suffering from stress, burnout and “compassion fatigue”

A&E doctors and GPs are the most likely to feel burnout. This is the biggest published survey of its kind and underlines the emotional impact on many doctors working in the NHS that is under the most intense pressure of its 71-year lifetime.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of BMA, said: “Years of systemic underfunding and serious workforce shortages mean NHS doctors are working longer hours in highly pressured, understaffed environments, and their wellbeing is suffering as a result.”

Full story on The Guardian, 27 January 2020.

Mental health care postcode lottery ‘is risking lives’

People suffering with mental health problems are being forced to wait 112 days for treatment through the NHS’s talking therapies programme. This is despite there being a supposed six-week maximum wait.

A leading expert in mental health has warned that delays in care for those with anxiety and depression are so long in some areas that they could lead to people taking their own life.

Analysis on NHS’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme has revealed a huge postcode lottery in waiting times for care. In some places, the wait for a first appointment averages at just 4 days and in others it takes 55.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “No one should have to wait three months between their assessment and starting treatment, and how long you wait shouldn’t depend on where you live. Not getting the right support can be life-threatening.”

Full story on The Guardian, 26 January 2020.

Virgin Healthcare has paid no tax on £2billion worth of NHS deals

Richard Branson’s Virgin healthcare group has not paid a single penny in corporation tax, despite being handed £2billion worth of NHS and local authority deals.

The lack of corporation tax paid is down to the healthcare firm consistently racking up losses since being created in 2020.

Dr John Lister, of Keep Our NHS Public and NHS Support Federation, said: “Virgin continues to play a parasitic role in the NHS, fragmenting services and poaching NHS-trained staff and undermining nearby NHS trusts…

“The fact the firm is not making a profit suggests its continued involvement with the NHS is either based on ideological opposition to public services or a series of loss leader contracts hoping to force the prices up and cash in later.”

Full story on The Mirror, 26 January 2020.

England’s poorest ‘get worse NHS care’ than wealthiest citizens

A recent study has found that the poorest people in England receive longer waiting times for A&E treatment and worst experiences of GP services.

In emergency care, 14.3% of the most deprived had to wait more than 4 hours for A&E treatment in 2017, compared to 12.8% of the wealthiest. Just 64% of the former had a good experience in making a GP appointment, compared with 72% of those from the richest areas.

The findings by the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation have sparked concern because they show that poorer people’s health risks are being compounded by poorer access to NHS care.

Ruth Thorlby, co-author of the study, said: “Poverty is bad for your health, and people in the poorest parts of England face a vicious cycle.”

Full story on The Guardian, 23 January 2020.

Emergency dementia admissions to hospitals up 35% in five years

Lack of social care has been blamed for more than a third increase in the number of people with dementia admitted to hospital, in the last 5 years.

The Alzheimer’s Society obtained the figures. The numbers mean that more than half of everyone in England with dementia had been admitted to hospitals at least once in 2017/18.

Jeremy Humes, chief executive of the charity, said: “This is the stark reality of many people with dementia left to fall through the cracks in our broken social care system.”

Full story on The Guardian, 22 January 2020.

Bath council takes back adult social care provision after repeated strikes

Sirona Care and Health announced that they are handing back the contract for three residential care homes and five extra care housing schemes in Bath and North East Somerset. This comes after a protracted pay dispute.

The services will come back under the control of Bath and North East Somerset council from September 1 and jobs and care will not be affected.

John Drake, regional organiser of Unison said: “This decision by Bath and North East Somerset Council is the correct one and we will work closely with the council to ensure continued quality of care for both residents and staff.”

Full story on Somerset Live, 21 January 2020.

Health secretary hints at scrapping A&E waiting times

Matt Hancock has hinted that the 4-hour A&E targets could be scrapped following the health service’s worth performance since records began. More than 1 in 5 patients waited more than 4 hours for treatment throughout December.

Hancock has suggested that the target fails to take into account other improvements, such as patients being treated on the same day and going home. He hinted at a change in these targets to address this, stating that clinicians are looking into this.

Shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth said changing this target would not “magic away the problems in our overcrowded hospitals, with patients left on trolleys in corridors for hours and hours.”

Additionally, the president of Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson said: “Rather than focus on ways around the target, we need to get back to the business of delivering it.”

Full story on Huffington Post, 15 January 2020.

Lowdown stories from 29/12/2019 – 16/01/2020

Social care adds to winter pressure: what’s being done?

Dash in to take charge in NW London

Real anger unites Northern Ireland’s health unions striking for fair pay

New buildings can mean fewer beds

Charity mental health provider misled CQC

High number of assaults still take place on mixed-sex mental health wards

Thousands of young people rejected by mental health services

Useful insights on American health care that help understand issues in our NHS

How seriously is the government committed to the long-term plan?

New buildings can mean fewer bed

NHS missing out on millions of pounds of unsecured and unspent funding from property developers Full story on iNews, 13 January 2020.

Practice forced to divert patients due to ‘staggering demand’ from closures Full story on Pulse, 12 January 2020.

Safety fears as hospitals redeploy nurses to care for patients in corridors Full story on The Guardian, 12 January 2020.

Private ambulances in Northern Ireland costs £3.2m last year Full story on BBC News, 12 January 2020.

NHS hospital patients to be temporarily houses in Portakabins due to overcrowding Full story on Liverpool Echo, 10 January 2020.

Patients suffer record delays because of pressures at A&E units Full story on The Guardian, 9 January 2020.

Glaucoma patients going blind due to treatment delays, watchdog finds Full story on The Guardian, 9 January 2020.

Nursing staff in Northern Ireland walk-out again over pay and unsafe staffing levels Full story on Nursing Notes, 8 January 2020.

NHS pressures putting medical breakthroughs at risk Full story on BBC News, 8 January 2020.

Critically ill children being rushed to units across England due to lack of intensive care bed Full story on The Guardian, 29 December 2019.

9/12/19:

The infamous ’40 new hospitals’: Hidden costs revealed

50 Failures in NHS outsourcing review (2013-2019)

manifesto check – NHS and social care

A mounting crisis in Australia’s private health insurance industry

Pieces of the puzzle on privatisation

Circle Health buying up Britain’s largest private hospital chain

Hillingdon Hospital – no special treatment for Boris Johnson’s local

Leaked documents confirm NHS has been on agenda of US trade talks

The infamous promise by Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Johnson deflects blame for A&E waits with ‘new government’ claim – The Guardian, 9 December 2019

NHS gives Amazon free use of health data under Alexa advice deal – The Guardian, 8 December 2019

NHS crisis: Four-year-old boy forced to sleep on hospital floor due to lack of beds –The Independent, 8 December 2019

Cancer patients face record waiting times – The Times, 8 December 2019

Woman’s vital cancer treatment delayed over £150k NHS charge – The Guardian, 7 December 2019

Long waits ‘leave mental health patients in limbo’ – BBC News, 5 December 2019.

Patient dies after being forced to wait an hour in an ambulance outside an overstretched A&E – The Mirror, 4 December 2019.

Tory minister admits US will be free to raise prices for drugs bought by NHS – The Independent, 4 December 2019.

Tory minister admits authoring pamphlet pushing for privatisation of NHS hospitals – The Independent, 3 December 2019.

Exclusive: Leaked NHSE/I workforce plan reveals reliance on nursing associates – HSJ, 3 December 2019.

PM to downplay ties to Donald Trump amid claims of ‘NHS sell-off’ – The Guardian, 3 December 2019.

US tech firms want access to £10bn NHS health data – The Times, 2 December 2019.

Exposed: 12 worrying links between Tories and private healthcare industry – The Mirror, 2 December 2019.

NHS care ‘slipping’ as UK lags behind other high income countries on health spending, outcomes and how much time doctors spend with each patient – The Independent, 30 November 2019.

Six mental health hospitals admitting people with autism or learning difficulties have dropped at least 2 ratings since May – HSJ, 29 November 2019.

28/11/2019

More fake promises in Tory manifesto

Desperate shortage of mental health care for young people

Death toll from social care cuts: over 3 people per hour

Pre-winter crisis in A&E

Frimley trust halts WOS plan

Warnings of the “technological wild west”

Simon Stevens: five years of failure that have plunged NHS into growing chaos

Ministers unveil new plans to deter health workers from coming to Britain

Private hospital chiefs stung by threat to their NHS income

Staffing crisis puts patients at risk

The three false claims that dominate election

Short term fix does not end pension tax fiasco

Public health cuts expose hollow claims of “one nation” approach

Latest figures confirm downward trend in NHS performance

Number of qualified full-time equivalent GPs falls by 1.2% in a year, Pulse, 28 November 2019

‘I cry every day’: Anorexia patient forced to live 400 miles from home because of NHS bed crisis, The Independent, 28 November 2019

Patients being put at risk as NHS substitute nurses for care staff with only a few weeks of training, The Independent, 28 November 2019

NHS spends least on patient health, The Times, 28 November 2019

Pensioner, 75, left lying on wet pavement in three hour wait for ambulance, Liverpool Echo, 27 November 2019

Older people dying for want of social care at rate of three an hour, The Guardian, 21 November 2019

NHS hospital declares ‘black alert’ as patients queue for hours in A&E corridors, The Mirror, 20 November 2019

Calls to scrap ‘immoral’ NHS fee for foreign staff, The Guardian, 20 November 2019

NHS on the cusp of collapse, The BMA, 14 November 2019

New inpatients banned at mental health unit rated unsafe, The Guardian, 14 November 2019

11/11/2019

Call for action to avert “corridor care”

Royal College of Psychiatrists maps a way towards less overcrowded mental health wards

American firms scooping up mental health contracts

Trusts bid to gag NHS staff

Fifth time around: Election pledge recycles old promise of more GPs

Wilfully misleading: Claims of £33.9bn extra spending inflate value by 65%

Checking up on Johnson’s fake forty new hospitals

Embarrassing NHS figures postponed till after polling day

Charges and the ‘Hostile Environment’ in the NHS

Beware unrealistic cancer promises as services are overrun

Health secretary’s GP claim is misleading, but he can’t hide the crisis

‘Cost of living’ main reason why student nurses drop out

Katerina Kolyva, executive director of the Council of Deans, told HSJ that, the lack of national funding to support the living costs of registered student nurses is the main factor behind the drop out rate from courses.

The Council of Deans, which represents UK universities that are engaged in education and research for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, want the reintroduction of a maintenance grant for student nurses.

Full story in The HSJ, 11 November 2019

Care home operators accused of extracting ‘disguised’ profits

The think tank the Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI) has estimated that £1.5bn a year – 10% of the care home industry’s £15bn income – “leaks” and often ends up enriching owners or other firms closely linked to them.

The £1.5 bn in profit that care home operators make each year includes fees to directors and an array of questionable financial arrangements, according to research undertaken by CHPI. Many of the firms that provide most of the UK’s 465,000 care home beds are owned or backed by hedge funds, while some of the biggest are based in overseas tax havens.

Full story in The Guardian, 7 November 2019

Nurses in Northern Ireland have voted to strike over staffing numbers and pay disputes

Following a ballot, nurses in Northern Ireland have for the first time in the history of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) voted to take industrial action.

Nurse’s pay in Northern Ireland has fallen behind pay in England, Scotland and Wales, according to the RCN, with the real value of nurses’ pay down 15% over the past eight years. The shortage of nurses has led to a high use of agency nurses, which cost over £32 million last year, according to the RCN.

The union now has four weeks to inform employers how they plan to proceed. If strike action goes ahead it could coincide with the election campaign.

Full story in BBC News, 7 November 2019

Tory Cuts mean 88 year old with dementia left on A&E trolley for hours

Jill Woolley an 88 year old with dementia taken by ambulance to A&E at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham spent more than five hours on a trolley in A&E. It took more than 90 minutes just to be transferred into the care of the hospital.

Her son-in-law Peter Tuck took photos that showed Jill Woolley with other frail and elderly patients waiting side-by-side on trolleys crammed into the department.

The photos were taken on Monday, days before the trust declared a “critical incident” due to pressure on A&E.

Full story from The Mirror, 7 November 2019

BMA demands safe-staffing legislation for all sections of the NHS

The BMA has published its election manifesto, which includes a demand for legislation that covers all sections of the NHS, to ensure that individual clinicians do not get the blame when the system puts them under unmanageable pressure.

Analysis by the BMA has shown this winter could be the “worst ever”, with over a million patients waiting over four hours in A&E departments, with almost a third of these waiting for treatment on trolleys.

The BMA also urges political leaders to increase spending by 4.1% each year; take stronger action on smoking, alcohol misuse, physical inactivity and poor diet; reform the punitive pension tax system for doctors; pay doctors fairly and address historic underpayments; and give the public the final say on any Brexit deal.

Full manifesto can be downloaded from The BMA here, 7 November 2019

Under-18s being denied urgent mental health treatment, say GPs

A survey of GPs across the UK show that they do not feel confident that a young person will receive treatment for mental health conditions. The GPs say that teenagers seeking urgent help from CAMHS (children and adolescent mental health services) are being denied treatment or facing months of delays.

In the survey of 1,008 GPs, conducted by the charity YoungMinds, 76% said they did not usually feel confident a young person they referred to CAMHS would receive treatment for their illness. Only 10% were confident that treatment would follow.

Full story in The Guardian, 7 November 2019

Hundreds of mental health beds needed to end out-of-area care

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is urging the NHS to open hundreds of extra beds for people with mental health conditions. It says that the cuts in mental health beds have gone too far, leading to the “shameful practice” of patients being sent hundreds of miles from home to be treated.

Although bed capacity should not exceed 85%, NHS data shows some mental health trusts are operating with all or almost all their beds full. Shortages of mental health beds have led to trusts sending patients out of their home area, often hundreds of miles away from home, in order to get a bed. Mental health experts agree it can harm patients by increasing their distress, separating them from their family and setting back their recovery.

Full story in The Guardian, 6 November 2019

‘Critical incident’ over A&E pressures declared by hospital trust

HSJ reported that Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has declared a “critical incident” due to pressures on its emergency services. The publication has seen a document that said the trust and wider system was experiencing “exceptional pressure”, with patient flow and discharges described as the biggest issue.

Mark Simmonds, NUH’s clinical director of urgent and emergency care, posted on Twitter that there were 160 patients in the emergency department and, at one point, 14 ambulances arrived within 15 minutes. A critical incident is a step up from a “black alert”. The trust reported black alerts over the summer.

Full story in The HSJ, 6 November 2019

Nurse sacked because of past whistleblowing activity

A judge of an employment tribunal ruled that St Andrew’s Healthcare, a large mental health provider, unfairly dismissed a nurse with a record of whistleblowing because it feared he was seeking to highlight care failures.

A judge decided Noel Finn was wrongly dismissed largely because of his roles in exposing scandals at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre and in the government’s Personal Independence Payments assessment centre.

Full story in The HSJ, 5 November 2019

Cuts to public health services hit the poorest the hardest

Research by the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research), reported in The Guardian, shows that England’s poorest communities have borne the brunt of almost £900m of cuts to public health spending, despite them having higher rates of disease.

One pound in every £7 of the £871.6m that has been cut from Whitehall’s public health grant to local councils in England over the last five years has been taken from budgets in the 10 poorest areas of the country. In contrast the 10 wealthiest places have lost public health funding equivalent to just £1 in every £46.

Overall the most deprived areas have lost £120m while the least deprived have seen their budgets contract by just £20m.

The report warns that such inequality good increase still further the difference in life expectancy between poor areas and well-off areas.

Full story in The Guardian, 5 November 2019

No ‘sunlit uplands’ from Tory NHS promises

Chris Hopson, the head of the organisation representing NHS trusts has called for parties to avoid “cheap political slogans” during the general election campaign. An example of a potentially misleading campaign, notes Hopson, is the Conservative promise of funding as the level of NHS funding increases promised by the Conservatives would do no more than maintain current provision, rather than take the NHS to “sunlit uplands”.

Full story in The Guardian, 4 November 2019

Labour promises to remove all traces of privatisation from NHS

The Guardian reported that the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has warned the public not to trust Donald Trump’s assurance that the NHS will not form part of post-Brexit trade deals. Labour, he said, is committed to eradicating all traces of privatisation from the service.

In the same article, the Guardian reports that Labour has uncovered new figures showing that thousands of operations have been cancelled due to staff shortages and equipment failures, according to data received in FoI requests. The number of operations cancelled because of staffing issues and equipment failures have each increased by a third in the last two years. In 2018-19, 10,900 were cancelled because of staffing issues, while 4,800 were cancelled because of equipment failures.

Full story in The Guardian, 3 November 2019

Midwife shortage at Yorkshire hospital shuts birth centre

The Friarwood Birth Centre at Pontefract General Infirmary, in west Yorkshire, will shut until October next year. A statement from Martin Barkley, chief executive of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Despite having been delighted to recruit 15 midwives from the cohort of newly qualified midwives that join the NHS at this time every year, it has not been enough to ensure we have an adequate number of midwives across three midwife-led units and our obstetric service based at Pinderfields Hospital.

Full story in the Evening Standard, 30 October 2019

US officials discussed the NHS with US officials at secret meetings

Channel 4’s Dispatches programme has revealed that senior British civil servants have met with representatives from a US companies to discuss the NHS in post-Brexit trade negotiations. US drug company representative were also reportedly given direct access to British officials in five meetings – two of which took place in Washington.

Full story in The Independent, 28 October 2019

Patients went blind after appointment delays

The Times has reported on an internal report into the treatment of glaucoma patients at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust that found that fifteen patients were left blind or with severe sight loss after staff shortages led to delays in their treatment.

The report follows an investigation at the Trust after a patient with glaucoma had to wait ten months for an appointment when they should have been seen in three months. The investigation found that 4,500 glaucoma patients had suffered delays. Of those, 34 were contacted for review and 15 were found to have been left blind or with severe sight loss.

Full story in The Times, 26 October 2019

24/10/2019

How I went private without realising

Spike in heart attacks, asthma attacks and strokes on high air pollution days

Saving our NHS: staff tell us the truth that ministers won’t

Why we need to repeal the Act

Fresh bid to force repeal of Health & Social Care Act

Why even Americans don’t want the US healthcare system

CCG mergers get the nod

Compass strikers take pay protest to company’s Surrey HQ

‘Not now’ says King’s Fund – but when would time be right?

Hospitals substitute nurses as staffing crisis worsens

The HSJ has published data showing that the number of hospitals falling short of their planned nurse staffing by 10 per cent or more has almost tripled in five years.

HSJ undertook an analysis of unpublished workforce data, which reveals that the gap between the number of nurses hospitals think they need, and what they are able to staff the hospital with, has grown since 2014.

The workforce data was obtained via a freedom of information request to NHS England as currently published data now combines nurse numbers with other nursing care professionals, thus masking the true numbers of trained nurses on a shift.

The number of hospital trusts reporting a shortfall of 10 per cent or more on their day shifts nearly tripled, up from 20 in June 2014 to 55 in June 2019. However, there was a small improvement over the year to June 2019, although HSJ notes that the reason for which is unclear.

Notably, in every single month from 2014 to June 2019, a majority of hospitals fell short of their planned nurse staffing number. Experts said the data showed that the NHS was “drifting into massive skill mix change” as hospitals overstaff with support workers, while having to run shortfalls of nurses, despite evidence, this has a “detrimental impact on patient outcomes including survival”.

Full story in The HSJ, 24 October 2019

Government’s pension proposals won’t stop doctors reducing hours, says BMA

The government’s proposed plan to make the NHS pension scheme work better for senior doctors is just a “sticking plaster”, according to the BMA, that will not stop doctors cutting back their hours or prevent them from retiring early.

The government set out plans in August to widen the options available in the NHS pension scheme, to encourage the most highly paid doctors in England and Wales not to reduce their hours for tax reasons. A consultation began on the new approach in September.

The changes proposed would allow doctors to control how much they pay into their pension when the new financial year starts next April, to avoid punitive tax charges. If a doctor cuts their pension contribution in any given year they can avoid breaching Treasury limits and eliminate “spikes” in contributions caused by promotion or increased earnings, spreading them instead over several years to avoid the extra charges. Current pension and tax rules, introduced in 2016, can lead doctors to avoid taking on extra work for fear of being hit by substantial tax charges.

The BMA’s response to the consultation said that the government’s proposed changes were a much needed but temporary mitigation of the present issue and that only fundamental tax reform would solve the problem.

Full story in the BMJ, 24 October 2019

Teenager dies after CAMHS rejection of GP mental health referral

A coroner has requested a change to mental health services in the Milton Keynes area, following the suicide of a 16-year old boy after a GP referral to CAMHS was rejected.

Sam Grant was referred by his GP after presenting with irritability and anger, plus a report that he was close to being excluded from school. CAMHS rejected the referral as he did not meet the threshold of ‘moderate to severe’ mental health issues. The GP followed up and suggested other services that Mr Grant could access voluntarily, but Mr Grant did not access any of these and later took his own life.

The coroner highlighted gaps within the local mental health provision, including a reduction in healthcare provision at Mr Grant’s school, and in particular the removal of a medically qualified person, meaning that health information is no longer shared between the school and GP surgery.

Full story in Pulse, 22 October 2019

GP practices will have less input after CCG mergers, warn LMCs

Local Medical Committee’s (LMC) in Essex have warned that the trend towards CCG mergers to form larger organisations will make the CCGs more distant from individual GP practices and they will have less input.

The Essex LMCs are concerned by the proposals to reduce the number of CCGs in England to one for each Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). The LMCs intend to ballot all Essex practices as to whether they are in favour of CCG mergers before Christmas.

The LMC believe that the changes will mean GP practices will have less influence and input into decisions that affect them and prevent the successful delivery of the NHS long-term plan.

In September CCGs in mid and south Essex announced their intention to consider to start the application process to merge their five CCGs into one by April 2021.

Full story in Pulse, 22 October 2019

Cancer patients at risk due to ‘unmanageable’ staff workloads

A survey by Macmillan Cancer Support has found that the NHS staffing crisis is putting cancer patients’ health at risk, with patients concerned about “over-worked” health professionals.

The survey of nearly 7,000 cancer patients found that around one in five people recently diagnosed or treated for cancer said health professionals who cared for them seemed to have “unmanageable workloads”.

The survey revealed that patients’ physical and mental health was negatively affected by current pressures on the NHS workforce. The charity warned that patients who felt health professionals were “over-worked” were around a third more likely to have unmet physical or emotional needs that were not being addressed.

The charity also reported that the Macmillan support line regularly heard from people with cancer who were concerned about staffing levels.

Full story in Nursing Times, 22 October 2019

NHS to fully digitise prescriptions under plan to save £300m

Next month will see the full digitisation of medical prescriptions under an NHS plan that could save £300 million over two years, according to Jo Churchill, the primary care minister.

EPS, the electronic prescription service, has been trialled in 60 GP practices and hundreds of pharmacies and will now be extended across England. The first practice to use the system was in Leeds in 2009.

With EPS patients either nominate a pharmacy that will then receive the prescription direct from the GP or they will receive a paper prescription with a digital barcode. All the medical information is held on a secure NHS database called Spine, which will allow a patient’s prescription to be accessed quickly by GPs and pharmacies.

The DHSC expects the £300 million in savings by 2021 to come from increasing efficiencies, and reducing the amount of paper processing and prescribing errors.

Full story in The Guardian, 19 October 2019

Backlog costs for maintenance increases to £6.5 bn

Data released by NHS Digital indicates that the total amount of money needed to eradicate the backlog of maintenance in the NHS has risen once more, up to £6.5 billion for 2018/19.

In 2017/18 the figure was £6.0 billion and in 2016/17 it was £5.5 billion. This amount is known as ‘backlog maintenance’ and is a measure of how much would need to be invested to restore a building to a certain state based on a state of assessed risk criteria. It does not include planned maintenance work, it is work that should already have taken place.

The figures are based on the results from the 2018/19 Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC), a mandatory collection for all NHS trusts including Ambulance trusts. It comprises information relating to the costs of providing and maintaining the NHS Estate including buildings, maintaining and equipping hospitals, the provision of services e.g. laundry and food, and the costs and consumption of utilities.

Full data can be found at NHS Digital, 17 October 2019

GP app Babylon tells women its hysteria not a heart attack

Babylon Health’s GP at Hand app has been accused of putting patients at risk, according to an article in the Sunday Times, after it emerged that if a woman entered identical heart attack symptoms to a man, the woman would be given a different diagnosis.

The GP at Hand app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify health problems, but an investigation by doctors found that the algorithm tells a 60-year-old female smoker who reports sudden onset chest pain and nausea that she is probably having a panic attack or pain caused by inflammation. A 60-year-old male smoker inputting the same symptoms is told that he may be having a heart attack. The man is advised to go to A&E, while the woman is told to contact her GP within six hours if the symptoms persist.

A British Heart Foundation report in September found that women having a heart attack are 50% more likely than men to receive a wrong initial diagnosis.

Full story in The Sunday Times, 13 October 2019

12/10/2019

Concerns over quality of CQC inspections

Truth behind Johnson’s “40 new hospitals” claim

Private GP service sets sights on further NHS expansion

Watchdog finds another care home company in trouble

Hints of a nursing bursary U-turn

Health visitors vote to continue Lincolnshire strike

It’s blue on blue conflict as Shropshire’s MPs quarrel over Telford hospital downgrade

HIP explained: infrastructure plan ‘retires’ PFI, but sidelines mental health

CCG mergers still avoiding any public consultation

28/9/2019

Stories from the Lowdown:

NHS England calls for new legislation to scrap compulsory tendering

Labour backs call to scrap NHS charges

£200m for scanners

Safe staffing: it’s not just about nurses and doctors

Beware the Irish model of healthcare!

Duty-free promise to distract us all from no-deal worries

Does integration of services work?

Now it’s official: CCG mergers aim to drive through “majority” plans

What’s happening to our A&Es?

Chamber of Commerce fights to stop Cheltenham downgrade

Manchester campaigners’ eyes are on private takeover of screening service

Battle for fair pay from contractors

NHS could lose thousands of staff under Brexit migration shake-up

More than 60,000 international NHS workers could be at risk of deportation if the government was to tighten immigration rules and increase the salary threshold for visas for skilled workers, analysis by HSJ has revealed.

These figures relate to the number of NHS staff, from the EU and rest of the world, who are not currently on the occupation shortage list and earn less than £36,700 a year.

This comes after Home Secretary, Priti Patel, announced at the Conservative Party conference the introduction of an ‘Australian points-based immigration system’ for the UK, after Brexit.

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “There are thousands of lower-paid staff who come from outside the UK on whom the NHS relies, such as care workers, as well as others performing vital services to the public but who are earning well below £36,700 a year, such as nurses.

He also warned increasing the salary threshold further would close the doors to “vital overseas colleagues”.

Full story on HSJ, 10 October 2019.

NHS risks missing out on thousands of young British doctors trained abroad

The NHS is running the risk of missing out on thousands of potential GPs due to the lack of support offered to British medicine students returning to the UK after studying abroad.

Increasing numbers of medicine students are choosing to study abroad in Europe, with 3000 studying in Bulgaria alone. This is a result of high tuition fees, increasing competition for UK medical school places and high living costs.

Top GPs are calling for more support to get these students into the workforce, in the face of the current staffing crisis. They add that this would be a more effective use of money than the millions spent on the international recruitment scheme that has brought in only 150 doctors.

One GP said: ‘I think the government has spent millions trying to recruit people from abroad with very little success. Imagine if, instead, the government said: “Let’s just sort out the problem of those Bulgarian students”. It shouldn’t, in theory, cost anything. It’s just a question of sorting out or making sure there are enough posts available and recognised as available.’

Full story on GP Online, 9 October 2019.

Over 150 overseas doctors join the NHS from international recruitment scheme

The International GP Recruitment Programme was set up in April 2016 with the aim of recruiting 500 foreign doctors by 2020. In 2017, NHS England increased the recruitment goal to between 2,000 and 3,000 GPs.

The International GP Recruitment (IGPR) Programme, set up in April 2016, initially aimed to recruit 500 foreign doctors by 2020. But a year later, NHS England increased its goal, aiming to recruit between 2,000 and 3,000 GPs.

GP leaders have expressed their disappointment over the slow take up of the scheme, which has fallen way short of its targets.

RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: ‘Any increase in the GP workforce is a good thing and should be celebrated […] However, it is clear that demand for this scheme hasn’t been as high as expected.’

Full story on Pulse, 9 October 2019.

NHS chiefs fear hospitals will not cope amid growing social care crisis

A damning report by NHS Providers has revealed that most NHS Trust leaders are worried about short-staffing and lack of investment in services to keep elderly patients out of hospital.

8 in 10 hospital chief executives fear that their wards will be unable to cope within the year. 6 in 10 said that a lack of doctors and nurses was endangering patient care.

The report describes the increasing demand faced by the health service because of a lack of investment in social services to look after elderly and disabled patients outside of hospital.

Full story on The Telegraph, 8 October 2019.

Psychiatrist vacancies ‘threaten’ NHS transformation

The Royal College of Psychiatrists warns that plans to transform mental health services in the NHS will fail if the rise in unfilled job vacancies continues.

The number of psychiatrist vacancies has doubled in the last 6 years, with 1 in 10 posts remaining unfilled. Vacancies are particularly high in children’s mental health services.

The figures are alarming as demand for services continues to grow and there are already lengthy waits for treatment.

College president Prof Wendy Burn said of the census: “These findings are very alarming. The government’s plans to improve mental health care are laudable, and we fully support them, but without the workforce to deliver them they will fail.”

Full story on BBC News, 7 October 2019.

Decrepit NHS mental health wards put lives at risk

NHS chiefs have said that mental health patients are at a higher risk of suicide because so many mental health wards are dangerously decrepit.

Old and crumbling buildings are dangerous for mentally ill patients as they provide the opportunity for them to try and hang themselves or fall from heights.

Seven “never events” – incidents which are supposed to never happen – occurred in mental health trusts in 2018 involving a shower or curtain rail that failed to collapse. In another, someone fell from a window.

The old buildings, some dating back to the 1800s, are also hampering patient recovery due to the cramped and noisy environment.

Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers’ deputy chief executive, said: “We have seen repeated warnings of the risks – sometimes fatal – arising from the long-term neglect of our mental health estate. […] How bad does the situation have to get before these warm words translate into practical steps to ensure a safe therapeutic environment that respects the dignity and privacy of patients who rely on these services?”

Full story on The Guardian, 6 October 2019.

Biggest NHS flu campaign underway

Around 30 million people, half the UK’s population, will be offered the flu vaccination in the biggest NHS winter flu vaccination programme.

For the first time, all primary school aged children will get the vaccination for free. Alongside pregnant women, over-65s and those with existing illnesses.

Extra supplies have been ordered from manufacturers to account for any disruption due to a no-deal Brexit.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan van Tam, said there had been “robust” planning and he was confident there would not be any problems for those who chose to be vaccinated.

Full story on BBC News, 4 October 2019.

No-deal brexit could lead to multi-million pound bill for Ambulance trust

South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust is expecting a multimillion pound hit to its bottom line if the UK crashes out of the European Union without a deal next month.

A source has told HSJ that the trust has held internal discussions focused on additional costs, which could run into millions of pounds, if no-deal brexit leads to severe traffic disruption.

The costs of a non-deal brexit are related to traffic disruption on the south coast, including increased overtime costs as journeys will be longer and having to put some staff up in hotels. The trust might also have to ask other ambulance trusts for help and hire more private ambulances.

HSJ understands that the trust has asked the government for financial support but, at the moment, the government’s offer does not fully cover the forecast costs.

Full story in The HSJ, 30 September 2019

National Audit Office says Ministers still do not know if NHS can cope with no deal

The National Audit Office has produced a critical report stating that there are still risks for the NHS if the UK leaves the EU without a deal next month.

The NAO said that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) still has to do a “significant amount” of work .

The government’s “reasonable worst case” assumption is that the flow of goods across the Channel could be reduced to 40-60% of current levels on day one. The NAO said the data available did not show that the department was ready, or would be ready, if the UK were to leave the EU on the planned date.

Full story in The Guardian, 27 September 2019

Home care service shut down amid investigation by CQC over ‘risk of harm’

A home care service has been shut down and an investigation launched into its practices over concerns it was putting clients at risk of harm.

Services at Curae Home Care in Cornwall have been suspended by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and inspectors have taken urgent enforcement action. The service looks after dozens of people in their own homes with a range of conditions, including dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health issues, physical disability and sensory impairment.

CQC inspectors said the concerns were raised about the standards and the risk to people receiving care following an inspection on 5 September. During the latest inspection, CQC found significant and ongoing issues of people being exposed to the risk of harm.

Full story in Cornwall Live, 27 September 2019

Labour pledges to increase GP training places to 5000 and scrap prescription charges

The Labour Party has said that, if elected, it will increase the number of GP trainees in England from 3500 to 5000 places, an extra 1,500 places, in order to relieve the strain on surgeries and reduce GP burnout.

The promise was announced by Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth at the party conference on 22 September. He also announced that The Labour Party would scrap prescription charges, a move that the BMA has said will stop people having to “choose between paying a bill and buying food or paying for their prescription.”

Full story in The BMJ, 23 September 2019

Cannabis-based drug for childhood epilepsy approved for use in UK

GW Pharmaceuticals has received EU-wide approval for Epidyolex, a cannabis-based drug for the treatment of childhood epilepsy. It is expected to be available soon in the UK and across the EU. The drug is already available in the USA.

The drug has been approved for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, two rare and severe forms of epilepsy. The approval is the patients aged two years and older. In the UK, GW Pharmaceuticals is awaiting approval by NICE for use of Epidyolex by the NHS.

Up to 50,000 children and young adults in Europe have one of the two syndromes, including about 10,000 in the UK.

Full story in The Guardian, 23 September 2019

Labour Party pledges to end NHS prescription charges in England

The Labour Party pledged to end NHS prescription charges in England, ahead of its party conference in Brighton. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, who will announce the policy at the Labour party conference, said: “We know that the cost of prescriptions puts people off taking the medicine they need.”

Prescriptions are already free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England NHS prescription charges set at £9 per item but patients living in low-income households or those with multiple long-term health conditions are often exempt.

The British Medical Association and charities like Asthma UK have supported the pledge.

Full story in Nursing Notes, 22 September 2019

NHS bed shortages cause late cancellation of cancer surgeries

The widespread problem of bed shortages was highlighted recently when the cancer surgery of a 78-year-old man was cancelled twice in a month at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. Each time the patient was ready to go into surgery for the operation to remove liver cancer and had waited in the hospital for six hours. The cancellation was due to the lack of a high-dependency bed for the patient if he experienced complications from the surgery.

The first operation was due 13 August and the rescheduled operation on 10 September. This case is an illustration of a NHS-wide problem, which specialists in intensive care say is worsening. People requiring other operations are also being delayed.

Full story in The Observer, 22 September 2019

£85 m Surrey contract awarded to Virgin Care and NHS partner

Frimley Health Foundation Trust and Virgin Care Services Limited have been awarded a five-year contract for adult community services worth £85 million by North East Hampshire and Farnham and Surrey Heath clinical commissioning groups; the organisations are the incumbent providers of the services.

Virgin Care has run the CCGs’ adult community services since 2012. The new contract runs from April 2020 until the end of March 2025, with two options to extend for one year.

Full story in the HSJ, 20 September 2019

Collapse of private ambulance firm hits NHS 999 care

Faltering promises to support cancer services costs lives

CCG mergers: efficiency drive, or something more sinister?

No Deal Brexit: How bad can it be?

Asked to make a cut too far, NHS Trust CEO resigns

Welsh bed closures have left hospitals short of capacity

Curse of PFI strikes again

Can trusts continue as a going concern?

Calls for care workers to be given the recognition of their NHS counterparts

Totting up the cost of interest payments

South Tyneside campaigners win right to appeal

GPs express concern over new NHS plans which would allow chemists to prescribe statins

Last week Simon Stevens announced new NHS plans aimed at reducing the number of people dying from heart attacks and strokes, by giving pharmacists new responsibilities.

If approved, the plans would allow pharmacists to provide an on the spot health check and statins to people suspected of “dangerously high” levels of bad cholesterol.

NHS England says the move “could prevent thousands more deaths and countless more heart attacks and strokes”.

However, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) voiced alarm at the proposed change, saying it could lead to people being misdiagnosed and wrongly treated by pharmacists.

Full story on The Guardian, 4 September 2019.

East Kent Hospital Trust books hotels for staff and extra ambulances in case of no-deal Brexit

Hotel rooms have been pre-emptively booked by the Trust in case there is difficulty travelling to work with severe traffic jams if a no-deal Brexit was to happen.

Two of the trusts main sites are near ports of Folkestone and Dover. If no-deal Brexit was to occur there would be a tailback of lorries awaiting customs declarations at the ports, which would cause major traffic disruption on the Kent roads.

Extra ambulances and ambulance staff are also being brought in from other areas to support the South East Coast Ambulance Service.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said: “Like the rest of the NHS, East Kent Hospitals is putting preparations in place to ensure essential services for patients would continue to be available if local traffic routes were disrupted […] We have booked a small number of hotel rooms close to our emergency hospitals as a precautionary measure, for an initial two-week period.”

Full story on BBC News, 5 September 2019.

Hospitals in England are being encouraged to sign up to staff passporting agreements, following successful pilot programmes

The new scheme would allow healthcare staff to seamlessly move between hospitals to cover staff shortages and improve patient care. Such passporting agreements would remove the need for inductions and other admin processes when staff move between NHS organisations.

The deployment of staff under this scheme has been successfully trialled at five London hospitals.

Jeeves Wijesuriya, Chair of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) Junior Doctors Committee admitted the scheme may bring about some positive changes but warned that patient care should not be compromised for convenience.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 7 September 2019.

Specialist referrals to be restricted under new controversial “rationing” plans in London

GPs are to be urged against specialist referrals and some outpatient services are to be axed altogether under new plans.

The plans will affect millions of Londoners. Health chiefs are hoping they can plug the huge hole in their healthcare budgets by saving £60 million in the next few months.

North West London collaboration of CCGs communicated the changes by letter and will affect around 2 million people. GPs will be urged to find “alternative ways” of dealing with patients in need of hospital care.

Dr Gary Marlowe, BMA London regional council chair and London GP, said that while the financial pressures that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were under was appreciated, “cost-cutting must not come at the expense of quality patient care or increased bureaucracy and workload for doctors”.

Full story on The Guardian, 8 September 2019.

Unison warns that a No-Deal Brexit will cause chaos for the NHS and push the service over the edge

Unison warn that the uncertainty and chaos of a no-deal Brexit could cause the NHS to reach breaking point, with patients being the biggest losers.

Such a situation could lead to severe drug and medical equipment shortages, cancelled operations and increased waiting times.

There are also concerns about the impact of Brexit on the recruitment and retention of staff in the NHS, exacerbating an already large problem for the health service.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The chaos and uncertainty a no-deal Brexit would bring could push an already under-pressure NHS over the edge. And patients will be the biggest losers.”

Full story on Huffington Post, 8 September 2019.

Seven in 10 hospital trusts failing to meet safety standards

Analysis of inspection reports shows that patient safety is at risk, with 70% of hospital trusts failing to meet national safety standards. Staff shortages are cited as the biggest problem.

The CQC found that managers at one trust failed to act on staff reports of abuse and violence. Another trust had such a shortage of critical beds that three serious incidents occurred, resulting in patient harm.

Of 148 acute and general hospital trusts, safety standards at 96 are rated as “requires improvement” by the CQC; six are rated inadequate, the lowest category. The others are rated good, with none outstanding.

Full story on The Guardian, 8 September 2019.

Midwives are calling for the Government to scrap NHS maternity charges for vulnerable migrants

Midwives are calling for the maternity charges for refugees, migrants or visitors from overseas, which can amount to tens of thousands of pounds, to be scrapped.

Health workers say that the “hostile environment” is making it more difficult to do their job, putting vulnerable women and their babies at risk.

Maternity Action and the RCM have called on the government to immediately suspend charges for NHS maternity care and also to stop debt built up from such services from affecting immigration applications.

Rosalind Bragg, the director of Maternity Action, told the Guardian: “NHS midwives provide brilliant care to the destitute women they see, but the policies of charging for maternity care make it hard for them to do effectively. The charges put them at risk of avoidable harm

Full story on The Guardian, 9 September 2019.

Private provider of autism services in South Staffordshire cancelling services amid a dispute with the CCG

Midland Psychology, who provide children’s autism services, have begun cancelling appointments and drawing back their services ahead of their contract ending at the end of September.

This move comes as the CCG made the decision to re-tender the services following an external review that was critical of autism and child and adolescent mental health services in the area. The procurement process is ongoing and due to end in January 2020.

The CCG argue that Midland Psychology are contractually obliged to continue their full services until the end of the month, when the CCG then plan to have an interim provider in place. However, the provider argues it is impossible to carry on ‘business as usual’ by continuing to see new patients when the service will not continue past September 30th.

Children in crisis appointments will continue to be provided up till this date. However, the CCG have not responded to HSJ questions regarding the specific timescale of the procurement process. This leaves children with autism in limbo as services are disrupted before an interim provider has even been established.

Full story on HSJ, 10 September 2019.

Discussions continue surrounding NHS pension ‘tax trap’ that is contributing to the staffing crisis

Earlier this year it was reported that medics have had to turn down extra hours in fear of falling into a ‘tax trap’ that could leave them with bills as high as £100,000. This has led to operations being cancelled, sometimes at the last minute, and cancer scans piling up unread for weeks.

The Department of Health and Social Care estimate that the current rules are leading to as many as 1 in 3 GPs and consultants turning down extra hours, in fear of their pension pot increasing too much in one year and leading to a large bill.

The Government has announced plans of a pension shake up in the hope of finding a solution to the problem. However, groups representing doctors affected have said the reforms need to go much further. There are also concerns that the current plans will make the already complicated pension arrangements even more complex.

Full story on The Guardian, 11 September 2019.

Hospice forced to close due to staff shortage

The St Mary’s hospice in Ulverston, Cumbria has been unable to find a doctor to oversee its services and will now have to close its doors to new patients.

Its senior doctor is due to leave, but after months of trying, the hospice has been unable to find a replacement. From mid-October dying patients will have to be cared for elsewhere and some inpatients may have to be moved. The nearest alternative is St John’s 39 miles or an hour’s drive away in Lancaster.

St Mary’s hopes that this closure will be temporary. The hospice cares for 1,350 people a year either as inpatients or via the hospice at home team.

Full story in The Guardian, 11 September 2019

NHS England makes partial U-turn on cancer scanning plans

The controversial decision by NHS England to award the PET-CT scanning contract for the Thames Valley to the private company InHealth has been partially reversed. The Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust, which lost the contract following a procurement process, will now continue to run the services at the Churchill Hospital after a partnership agreement was reached with InHealth.

The awarding of the contract to InHealth would have meant the service at the Churchill site closing and being relocated. The Churchill Hospital is a specialist cancer care centre. InHealth will now provide a mobile scanning service to the wider area in at Milton Keynes University Hospital, Royal Berkshire FT and Great Western Hospitals FT.

The decision to award the contract to InHealth resulted in an avalanche of complaints from councillors, politicians and the public. Concerns revolved around the break-up of the world-class scanning department at the Churchill Hospital and that patients at the hospital would have to be transported to a scanner elsewhere. HSJ reports that, co-chair of the Socialist Health Association Oxfordshire and member of the Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Nadine Bely-Summers welcomed the partial u-turn but said the “fight will continue” for the rest of the Thames Valley.

Full story in the HSJ, 12 September 2019

The Scottish government agreed deal for Orkambi for cystic fibrosis patients

The Scottish government has come to a deal with Vertex, the makers of Orkambi for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The price that the government has agreed to has not been disclosed, but 350 patients eligible for the drug will now receive the drug paid for by the Scottish NHS.

The deal, which is for five years, also includes access to the follow-up drug Symkevi. Vertex will collect data from patients to monitor its efficacy in a real-world situation outside of clinical trials.

In England no deal has been reached and patients and relatives continue to campaign for access. NHS England has offered £500m over five years for Orkambi and other upcoming cystic fibrosis drugs, but the manufacturer, Vertex, turned that down.

Full story in The Guardian, 12 September 2019

Government’s Operation Yellowhammer document confirms medicine delays

The leaked Operation Yellowhammer documents, which outline the ‘reasonable worst case’ scenario if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal include delays to a large number of medical supplies, both human and veterinary. The Government has also acknowledged that this will have a particularly bad impact at a time of year when flu rates are increasing.

The document states that medicine supplies would be ‘particularly vulnerable to severe extended delays.’ Stockpiling may also not be possible due to the short shelf lives of many products.

Full story in GPonline, 12 September 2019

The rise in patient numbers has not been matched by a rise in nurses

Research conducted by the Royal College of Nursing shows that the nurse workforce has increased by 4.6% in five years, however this has been eclipsed by the 12.3% rise in hospital admissions

The RCN notes that this highlights that more needs to be done to ensure safe staffing. According to the government the rising NHS budget will ensure high-quality care.

The shortage of nurses is well established, with latest figures suggesting one in nine posts is vacant. The government often counters this fact by pointing out the number of nurses working in the NHS is increasing.

Full story on The BBC, 17 September 2019

Campaigners challenge NHS shakeup without consultation

Johnson ‘cash-bombs’ the electorate – with fictional NHS funding increases

Latest research – Health inequalities, the Nordic health emergency and French hospital at home

IEA: a well-connected right wing think tank, paid to reject the NHS model

West Mids CCG ditches top quality patient transport service

Suspending parliament to push a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic for patients

Top-level censorship on NHS Brexit problems

CCG mergers spreading like a rash over England

Trading the NHS, what does US want on the table?

Both main parties call to bring NHS catering back in-house

The listeria sandwich scandal prompted Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Labour’s Jonathon Ashworth to call publicly for NHS managers to end their dependence on external private suppliers and bring cooking back in house, with hospitals once again employing their own chefs and relying on quality local food.

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Why are NHS hospitals and GP surgeries crumbling?

The NHS’s infrastructure is crumbling and disintegrating – 50% of GP surgeries are not fit for their current purpose, according to the BMA, and recent data shows that £6 billion is needed to complete the backlog of maintenance needed in hospitals and clinics.

LOWDOWN NEWS LONG READ

Hungry for action: the long fight to improve hospital food

In recent years celebrity chef James Martin has led the most determined attempt to get hospitals sourcing, preparing and serving fresh, locally produced food for patients, and for staff.

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Mental health trust is still unsafe

The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) is England’s worst performing mental health trust, and remains bogged down in ‘special measures,’ although these measures have done nothing to address the deeply flawed management regime, or prevent it receiving a third ‘inadequate’ rating from the CQC last November, and again being branded as unsafe.

LOWDOWN LONG READ

Leaky ship in choppy North West London waters

Signs of dislocation and chaos continue in North West London after the flagship “Shaping a Healthier Future” project – which had threatened to close A&E and acute services at Ealing and Charing Cross Hospitals – was belatedly scrapped by Matt Hancock in April.

LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

Privatising public involvement

While Matt Hancock claims there will be no privatisation on his watch, his own Department for Health and Social Care is proceeding to further privatise even the process of patient and public involvement.

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Cambridge and Peterborough cuts home in on community services

This week Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG announced a first round of £2.8 million in spending cuts affecting a range of services including brain injury rehabilitation, ophthalmology service, and dermatology with a further £1.3m expected later in the year.

LOWDOWN NEWS

Bradford staff go for second week of strikes

UNISON members at Bradford Hospital whose lively week-long strike has failed to secure any retreat from management could be set for further action.

LOWDOWN NEWS

_____________________________________________________________________________________

>> Editor’s choice from wider media

Capita admits to further cervical screening administration errors

BMA are demanding that Capita have their contracts to provide support to GP practices taken away after they have admitted to more mistakes in their cancer screening programme administration.

Full article in GP online, 18 July 2019

Child mental health unit referrals ‘up nearly 50%’

BBC News sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to NHS trusts and schools in the UK about children’s mental health, with responses from 46 NHS trusts and 155 schools. Results from the NHS trusts show that children being referred to mental health units have risen from 21,125 to 31,531 in 3 years.

Full story in BBC News, 18 July 2019

Campaign calls for Parliamentary inquiry into Oxford PET-CT scan service privatisation

Keep our NHS Public Oxfordshire (KONPOX) has written to the chair of Parliament’s Health Select Committee – Sarah Wollaston MP – requesting for Oxford University Hospitals Trust to keep the contract for the PET-CT scanning service. NHS England are showing preference for private provider INHealth as they offered mobile scanners for Milton Keynes and Swindon.

Full story in Banbury Guardian, 17 July 2019

‘One Stop Cancer Clinic’ will reduce worry and speed up diagnosis for patients

A new clinic for patients with suspected oesophageal or gastric cancer will assess patients and give them their results on the same day.

This new ground-breaking service at Nottingham University Hospitals is the first of its kind in the country. Prior to this clinic being set up patients would need three separate visits to the hospital before their results were presented. Currently the clinic is open just one day a week but will soon be extended to Monday-Friday opening hours, with patients able to have their first appointment within 7 days of referral from their GP.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 16 July 2019

Coroners link eleven deaths to glitches in NHS 111 and 999 systems

Eleven deaths, including two young children, have been linked to glitches in the algorithms in NHS 111 and 999 systems. Coroners have issued stark warnings about the systems over fears the tragedies may be repeated. They suggest swift action to improve the service to reduce the risk of fatal errors. The “prevention of future death” coroner reports suggest the pathway algorithms have failed to detect cases of very sick children, leading to deaths.

Full story in The Telegraph, 15 July 2019

Serious incident declared over cancer diagnostics backup

A serious incident has been declared at King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust after hundreds of cancer patients have missed the urgent two-week referral target for endoscopy.

Full story on HSJ, 15 July 2019

Lincolnshire health visitors stage 48-hour strike action

58 health visitors employed by Lincolnshire County Council began a 48-hour walk out on Monday 15th July, as part of an ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.

Unite the Union claims its members have lost the equivalent of £2,000 a year since the NHS handed their contracts over to the council in 2017. This strike action is said to be the first of several planned by the union over the next 2 weeks. It is believed to be the first action of its kind from health visitors in Lincolnshire.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 15 July 2019

Archived stories from the Lowdown and editor’s choices from across the news media:

23 June

Stories from the Lowdown and editor’s choices from across the news media:

Warrington warning – NHS says no, then offers private care

Under the supremely inappropriate label of “My Choice,” Warrington and Halton Hospitals Foundation Trust has decided to cash in on frustration at the growing list of treatments excluded from the NHS by cost-cutting CCGs in Merseyside and Warrington, and launch its own private NHS patient service.

LOWDOWN COMMENT

Bradford – staff vote for strike to stay in NHS

Over 200 UNISON members at a Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust – 97% of those voting – have voted to take strike action next month amid fears over “backdoor privatisation” of some of its services.

LOWDOWN NEWS

France – emergency staff fight for more beds, staff and better salaries

The French health care system is regularly touted by right wing commentators as superior in its performance to that in England – ignoring its considerably increased level of spending per head (€200 billion per year), superior availability of scanners and higher provision of beds.

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Move to privatise cytology screening for London patients

The result of an open tender competition to provide Laboratory services to the NHS will see one of the nine lots awarded this week likely to go to a private company.

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Privatisation: commercial secrecy is not in the public interest

RICHARD BOURNE argues that public bodies are not traders, and that most of their so-called business secrets should not be kept secret at all.

LOWDOWN COMMENT

NW London plan for mega CCG – ignoring the needs of 2.2 million people

Just weeks after Health Secretary Matt Hancock and NHS England finally scrapped their long-running efforts to reconfigure hospital services and close Ealing and Charing Cross Hospitals, North West London health chiefs might sensibly have stayed quiet for a while, or even better offered an apology to local people for the money and effort wasted since 2012.

LOWDOWN COMMENT

Solutions to NHS staffing crisis delayed for Tory leadership campaign

The NHS has been waiting for a workforce plan to layout the solution to its serious crisis in staffing. Interim plans have finally been published, but news that the government spending review is “unlikely” to take place this year will put a brake on further progress.

LOWDOWN ANALYSIS/LONG READ

Early mental health interventions for young people don’t go far enough

Record numbers of NHS cancer patients face ‘agonising wait’ to see a specialist

In April this year alone, nearly 20,000 patients had to wait more than the target 14 days to have their first appointment with a cancer specialist.

NHS England data reveals that trusts have failed to meet waiting time targets for 10 out of the previous 12 months.

Full story in The Guardian, 13 June 2019.

MP calls NHS summit on Portsmouth dentist closures

Portsmouth South MP, Stephen Morgan, has called NHS bosses to Parliament following the closure of three NHS dental practices that leaves thousands without care.

The closures could leave between 9,000 to 20,000 people without access to dental care.

Full story on BBC News, 17 June 2019.

Staff to strike over transfer to wholly-owned subsidiary
Porters, housekeepers, domestic assistants and maintenance staff at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust will strike on 24-26 June. They are being transferred from 1 July to a wholly owned subsidiary, Summerhill Services Ltd, a move that allows the Trust to avoid paying tax, employing a VAT ‘dodge’.

Public urged to complain about 25% cut in health visiting workforce
Suffolk residents are being urged to write to their MP in a bid to stop a proposed 25 per cent cut to the county’s health visitor workforce. Suffolk has seven MPs including health and social care secretary Matt Hancock who represents West Suffolk.

‘Chaos’ as PCN deadline approaches
GPs complain they are unable to meet the primary care network (PCN) registration deadline. NHS England hasn’t issued the promised guidance (a template data sharing agreement that all GP practices are expected to review and sign by 30 June). GPs point out that their workload has increased as a consequence of the new PCN services and there’s a lack of up-front funding to pay for it.

Lives ‘destroyed by NHS eating disorder failures’

Two separate reports have warned of the impacts that NHS specialist care waiting times could have on the 1 million eating disorder sufferers in England.

A report by the charity Beat, revealed that patients in some areas are waiting up to 5 months for specialist care. This leaves vulnerable patients relying on their GPs who lack the specific skills or training to help.

Full story on BBC News, 18 June 2019.

Children’s hospices ‘to shut if NHS does not increase funding’

Together for Short Lives, a charity that supports terminally ill children, has published a report reviewing funding for 27 out of the 34 children’s hospices in England.

Spending by children’s hospices has increased 4.5% since 2016/17. Meanwhile, the percentage contributed by the state has fallen from 27% to 21% in five years. Hospices are having to dip into their reserve funding to meet the shortfall.

Full story on BBC News, 20 June 2019.

Bursaries for student nurses and midwives have been extended in Wales until 2020

The Welsh Government has announced that student nurses and midwives will continue to receive bursaries until 2020. This relies on their commitment to two years’ work in Wales post-qualification.

Student nurses in Scotland and Northern Ireland also still have access to bursaries, with Scotland looking at plans to increase these. England scrapped the bursaries for students beginning their course from 2017 onwards.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 21 June 2019.

Long term plan will fail without an extra £8 billion
A Health Foundation report, endorsed by the NHS Confederation, says waiting times will continue to get worse and hospitals will be overstretched without a further £8000 million injection of cash.

Record number of cancer patients are waiting
In England almost 20,000 patients had to wait more than the 14-day maximum to have their first appointment with a cancer specialist, easily the largest number since records began. The target is that once referred, 93% of patients see a specialist within the 14 day period.

GPs forced into primary care networks?
London GPs think the area of that the network covers runs counter to‘…geography, council guidance on neighbourhoods, community organisations and [patients’] preferences ‘, purely to meet the bureaucratic requirements of the CCG.

Watch KONP doctor take “think tank” to task
Dr Sonia Adesara of KONP takes on the Institute of Economic Affairs, a right-wing lobbying organisation that purports to be a think-tank, over Trump and the threat to the NHS from US-UK trade deals.

GPs fill gaps left by public health cuts
Both the Health Foundation and The King’s Fund warn that the government ‘must make a clear and urgent commitment to restoring £1billion of real-terms per head cuts to the public health grant’. This, say GP leaders, is one of the causes of trainee doctors not choosing to be a GP, and more GPs working part-time, because public health funding cuts have driven up practice workload.

Read Latest Medical Research News Here.

9 June 2019

Trump is not the problem, ministers are
LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

NHS our best defence against big pharma profit grab
LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

Brum trust gambles on Babylon’s chatbot
LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

What’s the plan to help our GP services and will it work?
LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Billions are spent by the NHS on drugs every year, but how does it work?
LOWDOWN NEWS

Health Secretary required to justify refusal to disclose
LOWDOWN NEWS

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Sure Start saves NHS millions
Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has discovered that where Sure Start offered high levels of service in poor neighbourhoods in England, visits to hospital to treat injuries fell among all children of primary school age. As Many as 1000 could now be closed.
How Action for children works

Liverpool NHS trust inquiry launched amid concern over 150 deaths
The Guardian

Burnout and bullying causes NHS to quit
Disillusioned doctors and nurses are leaving the health service at all stages of their careers because they find working in it too stressful, the new workforce strategy drawn up by NHS leaders warns.
The Guardian

The NHS workforce plan in an off the scale fantasy
British Medical Journal

Private health firm loses NHS treatment centre contract
The Guardian

Public opposes exploitation of NHS data by large tech companies
Computer Weekly

NHS managers unhappy with instruction to cut capital spend
NHS Providers warns of rebellion over efforts from national bodies to cut their planned spending on building and maintenance projects. Providers have cash available to spend on capital schemes to address patient safety risks, but are prevented from doing so by Treasury accounting rules and the government’s national spending limit.
HSJ

GP crisis: we’re losing the idea of continuity of care
The headlines continue to tell the story of the decline in General Practice. Behind the figures is something less tangible but as important – the destruction of the general practice model based on personal continuing community-based care from a GP that you know and who knows you.
BBC news

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

26 May 2019

Circle is broken by High Court
LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

Fighting privatisation – far from a lost cause
LOWDOWN OVERVIEW

Why can’t you get a GP appointment?
LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

Mental health: A stronghold of the private sector
LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Debt ridden Eastern England STP shakes a collecting tin
LOWDOWN NEWS

Harlow hospital staff announce six days of strikes to stop privatisation
LOWDOWN NEWS

Why is there a crisis in our mental health services?
LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

_________________________________________________________

Private supplier drops NHS contract with just five days’ notice

Concordia Specialist Care Services have stated they are “no longer able to provide the service” of dermatology to 24,000 Essex residents this week. An NHS provider has been forced to pick up the service at short notice.

Commissioners have claimed there was no formal reason given for the termination of the contract.

Concordia is facing financial difficulties. The company’s liabilities exceeded their assets in the most recent accounts and an auditor has expressed doubt over their ability to continue trading.

Full story on HSJ, 20 May 2019.

District nurse numbers plummet leaving services under-resourced and unsafe

There are now only 4,031 “full-time” district nurses working for the NHS in England. The numbers have dropped by almost 43% in the last 10 years.

A joint report by Royal College of Nursing and Queen’s Nursing Institute warns that district nursing services are seriously underfunded, with sometimes unsafe staffing levels. Recruitment and retention are serious concerns, causing a direct impact on patient care.

QNI’s chief executive, Dr Crystal Oldman CBE, warned of the increased strain on GPs and hospitals as a result of lack of investment in district nursing.

Full story on Nursing Notes, 21 May 2019.

Exposing drug industry funding of UK patient organisations

Patient organisations carrying out policy and research work have come under question due to funding they are receiving from pharmaceutical companies.

Patient organisations are third party entities made up of patients and carers, providing support and advocacy for people with specific medical conditions.

The transparency of drug company funding for some of these patient organisations has been called into question. New analysis has begun to examine the bigger picture of industry funding of UK patient organisations.

Full article on BMJ, 22 May 2019.

Colluding drug firms ‘cost the NHS millions of pounds’

Four pharmaceutical firms have been accused of illegally colluding to drive up the price of an anti-nausea drug, prescribed to patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

The cost of Prochlorperazine rose from £6.49 per pack to £51.68, after suppliers agreed not to compete. Between 2013 and 2018 the annual cost of the drug rose from £2.7 million to £7.5 million, despite fewer packs being dispensed in that period.

The Competition and Market Authority made the findings. The CMA’s Ann Pope said:

“Agreements where a company pays a rival not to enter the market can lead to higher prices and deprive the NHS of huge savings that often result from competition between drug suppliers. The NHS should not be denied the opportunity of benefitting from an increased choice of suppliers, or lower prices, for important medicine.”

Full story on BBC News, 23 May 2019.

Free social care for over-65s ‘would save NHS £4.5bn every year’, new report claims

The Institute for Public Policy Research claims that free social care for this age group means elderly people would get more support in the community. This would lead to a more efficient health service with less pressure on hospitals and GPs.

Currently, patients with dementia have to pay for their care. If they were to receive free care, similar to cancer patients, the number of people with access to state-funded care would increase from 185,000 to 440,000.

The report predicts spending on adult social care for the over-65s will rise from £17bn a year to £36bn in 2030, it says £11bn of that increase would arise without the changes and the amount would be offset by benefits – including an extra 70,000 full-time jobs.

Full story on Sky News, 23 May 2019.

Orkambi: NHS makes new offer to manufacturer of cystic fibrosis drug

The NHS has made a revised offer to the manufacturer, Vertex Pharmaceutical, of a cystic fibrosis drug, Orkambi. This comes after the manufacturer rejected the NHS offer of £500 million over five years for three different treatments.

There are around 10,400 people suffering with cystic fibrosis in the UK. The drug treatment is thought to be able to help around 40% of these individuals.

The revised offer remains undisclosed but the manufacturer previously asked for £105,000 per patient.

Full story on Sky News, 23 May 2019.

Migraines: Calls for ‘life changing’ drug Aimovig on NHS in England

Aimovig is a preventative drug used for treating migraines with a monthly injection. Migraine sufferers who have trialled the new drug have described it as ‘life changing’.

Earlier this year, NICE rejected the drug for NHS England based on cost grounds. Since, NHS Scotland have approved the drug.

Migraines affect 1 in 7 people, typically more women than men. There is no current cure for migraines. The intense pain caused by the condition can be hard to treat with over-the-counter painkillers, leaving people with nausea, acute headaches and visual disturbances, sometimes for days.

The National Migraine Centre and sufferers are calling for the drug to be available on the NHS.

Full story on BBC Newsbeat, 24 May 2019.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

11 May 2019

Private provider/ Circle launches fresh court challenge over lost contract

LOWDOWN NEWS

Hancock’s tech drive/ the cross-wired evidence and whose behind it?

LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Privatisation/ Public mood hardens against private firms running the NHS

LOWDOWN COMMENT

Health tourism/ serious problem or tabloid creation?

LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

NHS England/ tight-fisted prescribing guidelines fail to make savings

LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Private providers/ to be given say on £2 billion mental health budget

LOWDOWN NEWS

Leicestershire/ Secret plans and dodgy figures

LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Sodexo strike/ workers win pay deal after 2-day action

LOWDOWN NEWS

South East mental health/ plan for public-private mental health link-up is scrapped

LOWDOWN NEWS

Virgin Care/ gives up on £270m Staffs NHS contract

LOWDOWN NEWS

_________________________________________________________

The full story of how GP workload is jeopardising patient safety

Pulse

Farage calls for private health firms to ‘relieve burden on NHS’

Guardian

10 English NHS hospital trusts overspend by £850m

The Guardian

Hundreds of millions cut from NHS job training despite dire nurse shortages

Daily Mirror

Female GPs far more likely to work beyond scheduled hours than male GPs

Pulse

Prostate cancer MRI scans: is the NHS ready?

Cancer research UK

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

28 April 2019

Understaffing/ Dangerous lack of nurses affects a quarter of hospital wards

LOWDOWN NEWS

Closures/ Lessons must be learned from an axed NHS project

LOWDOWN NEWS

Privatisation/ Failed private Sussex provider still owes £11m

LOWDOWN NEWS

STP plans/ Nottinghamshire health plan ditched to make way for THREE ‘Integrated Care Systems’

LOWDOWN NEWS

Long Term Plan/ Could this really be the end of hospital waiting?

LOWDOWN NEWS

Explainer/ Why is there a crisis in our mental health services?

LOWDOWN NEWS

Spin-off/ NHS hospitals still privatising staff with spin-off companies

LOWDOWN NEWS

Stroke centralisation/ Yorkshire stroke units to close as national reorganisation continues

LOWDOWN NEWS

_________________________________________________________

Staff stress/More than 300 overworked NHS nurses have died by suicide in just seven years

MIRROR

NHS pensions/ ‘Perfect storm’ brewing over NHS pensions [updated]

IPE

Access/ Mental health patients detained in hospital wards for up to 21 years

THE GUARDIAN

Public consultation/ How involved is the public in changes affecting the devolved NHS?

LSE BLOGS

NHS pay/ Government and NHS England in row over public health pay

IGCPLUS

Whistleblowing/ NHS to be banned from using NDAs to gag whistleblowers

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

23/3/2019

Privatisation/ Interserve in precarious state

Lowdown (news)

Policy solutions/ Labour party invites us all to help solve the big challenges for the NHS

Lowdown (Comment)

Care of the dying report/10,000 dying patients never receive the care package they need

Lowdown (news)

Privatisation/ MPs reject Government’s PET privatisation project

Lowdown (news)

Organ transplants/ New hope for patients needing organ transplants, but will there be enough staff to do the operations?

Lowdown (news)

Screening/ NHS strips Capita of screening contract

Lowdown (news)

Service failure/ Mental health patient left waiting in A&E for 5 days

Lowdown (news)

Mental health report/Mental health leaders point to resource gaps and broken system

Lowdown (news)

Cleaning report/ Cheap and Dirty

Lowdown (news)

Resticting access/ Rationing care – a slippery slope

Lowdown (news)

Oxford cuts/ Long journeys for Oxford gynae patients

Lowdown (news)

Price of austerity/ Government’s capital crimes

Lowdown (news)

Industrial action Southampton/ Hospital security staff to strike for eight days over lack of correct protective equipment

Lowdown (news)

_________________________________________________________

Staffing crisis/ NHS ‘no chance of training enough staff’

BBC

Targets/ NHS targets how do you keep patients out of A&E

Channel 4

Gagging orders/ Whistleblowing NHS worker challenge NDA test case gagging orders

Telegraph

Personal data/ NHS data sharing

The register

Access/ Dying mum feels like she’d not worth saving

Mirror

Digital GP/ One in four patients joined GP at Hand have chosen to leave

GP online

Science/ High-fructose corn syrup boosts intestinal tumor growth in mice

Science Daily

Dietary healthcare/ Could prescription vegetables be the future of healthcare?

Medical News Today

Science news/ Why your gut may hold the key to cardiovascular health

Medical News Today

Brexit/ Martin McKee: After “90 minutes of nothing” the EU has taken back control of Brexit

BMJ

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

9/3/2019

Funding/ Cash crisis leaves Shropshire plan in chaos
Lowdown (news)

Service centralisation/ Council joins challenge to Kent & Medway stroke centralisation
Lowdown (news)

Pathology/ PET-CT project privatised – and how many more?
Lowdown (news)

Long term plan/ The NHS is still trapped in Tory misadventure
Lowdown (comment)

Prescription charges/ Q&A: How do they work and are they necessary
Lowdown (explainer)

Charging/ Girl dies because she can’t afford inhaler, study shows thousands more at risk
Lowdown (news)

Brexit/ Fears of post Brexit tsunami of poor expat pensioners
Lowdown (news)

Outsourcing/ CCG hires “underperforming” firm
Lowdown (news)

UNISON/ Union mounts campaign against hike in professional fees
Lowdown (campaign news)

NHS law/ Labour prayer motion seeks to stop back door NHS change
Lowdown (news)

Inhealth/ – Who is this company?
Lowdown (explainer)

_________________________________________________________

Other health news from across the media – national / local and health journals

Public satisfaction over the NHS is lowest in a decade, despite £20bn ‘birthday boost’
Telegraph

Here’s why the NHS can’t just ditch the doomed £24milliom Altrincham health hub which has never seen any patients
Manchester Evening News

Sisters who may not live to teens given ‘death sentence’ after NHS rejects drug
Mirror

Doctors’ leader brands Glasgow hospital report ‘unacceptable in a modern NHS
Scotsman

The NHS apprenticeships offering a new route to health and social care
Guardian

Letter gives first glimpse at future nurse workforce strategy
Nursing Times

Private ambulances increasingly used by NHS ‘putting patients at risk’, damning report finds
Independent

Hundreds more deaf people eligible for ‘life-changing’ implants on NHS
BT.com

How man, 70, who had three heart attacks was brought back to life – second by electrifying second: Groundbreaking TV documentary shows life in a busy NHS trauma department
Daily Mail

Vaccine-deniers are gaining traction, warns NHS England chief
Guardian

Security staff at Southampton General Hospital could strike, say union chiefs
Daily Echo

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

28/2/2019

Privatisation/ “No privatisation” promise under strain from multi-billion NHS outsourcing proposals.

THE LOWDOWN – News

Workforce/ The government has all it needs to know, time to act

THE LOWDOWN – Comment

Competition/ CMA cry for more competition reminds us why it will never work

THE LOWDOWN – Comment

Outsourcing/ Biggest ever pathology contract will go to a private bidder

THE LOWDOWN – News

Urgent repairs/ Risk mounts from maintenance backlog

THE LOWDOWN – News analysis

Norfolk/ Report exposes Norfolk’s capacity and funding jeopardy

THE LOWDOWN – News analysis

Private closure/ Priory owned hospital closes after critical watchdog report

THE LOWDOWN – News analysis

Brexit/ Plea from Insulin users to avoid a no deal brexit

THE LOWDOWN – News

GP/ Private digital GP service given go ahead to attract more NHS patients

THE LOWDOWN – News analysis

Interserve/ Will interserve follow Carillion over the edge?

THE LOWDOWN – News

Babylon/ Q&A: Babylon Health

THE LOWDOWN – Explainer

_________________________________________________________

Homelessness/ Figures show soaring number of homeless hospital patients NHS Digital figures show admissions in England rose from 1,539 in 2008/9 to 10,259 in 2017/18

Guardian

Blood pressure/ Claims that daily exercise could provide a substitute to blood pressure lowering drugs have been slammed by the NHS for leading to “potentially dangerous conclusions.”

North Wales Live

Charges/ Your prescriptions are about to cost you more

Coventry Live

Artificial intelligence/ New code of conduct for artificial intelligence (AI) systems used by the NHS

GOV

Charges/ NHS charges a disabled girl with a mental age of 2

Times

Workforce/ I’m leaving social work but I wish it wasn’t this way

Community Care

Digital health/ What has an ‘open-door policy’ with industry and puts the X into NHS? Brits, let app-happy Matt Hancock tell you

The register

Access/ Cystic Fibrosis scandal: Drug firm in dispute with NHS ‘gave bosses £15m’

Express

Year long winter/ Warm winter provides cold comfort for struggling NHS

“If you look at the length of stay in emergency departments it’s gone up dramatically,” said Adrian Boyle, head of quality at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

15/2/2019

Anti-privatisation/ NHS protects GPs from digital privateer takeover

Private companies hoping to attract patients away from their current GP to sign on with digital GP services, were dealt a blow by a change to funding rules this week.

THE LOWDOWN – New analysis

Genetic issue/ Genome sequencing threatens core principle of the NHS

A plan to sell gene sequencing services performed by the NHS to healthy people has been condemned by experts

THE LOWDOWN – News analysis

Hidden cuts/ Under the radar

Despite the Long Term Plan, the drive to cut, downgrade and ‘centralise’ services continues and is explored by John Lister

THE LOWDOWN – Long read

Dentistry crisis/ Ouch – time to end the pain and injustice of NHS dentistry

When it comes to our teeth and oral health, getting the care you need is different to the rest the of the NHS, but why? By Paul Evans

THE LOWDOWN – Comment

Shropshire Apendices removed/ John lister on the meaning of the missing documents

Parts omitted from the controversial ‘Future Fit’ plan in Shropshire and Wrekin

THE LOWDOWN – Comment

Brexit/ Kent trusts plan for 6 months of no-deal disruption as NHS gears up for Brexit

THE LOWDOWN – News analysis

Targets/ Angry consultants slam review of 4-hour A&E target

THE LOWDOWN – News

_________________________________________________________

Our weekly round up of other health news…

Diagnostic delays/ NHS England cervical screening backlog of 150,000 samples revealed by National Audit Office

Guardian

Midwifery/ Groundbreaking Neighbourhood maternity service in London closes at short notice

Guardian

Brexit/ Brexit will severely impact Government’s 20-year vision for antimicrobial resistance, warns BMA

BMJ

Online GP services/ Which report on NHS 10-year plan promise that every patient in England will be able to access online GP consultations within five years. But are you ready for a digital doctor, and is the NHS?

Which

A&E downgrade/ Weston area to Health Trusts to down grade A&E.

The service will be permanently closed overnight and only handle less complex surgery. Local consultants have put forward a plan to keep a 24 hour sevrice open. The move comes after the unit was temporarily closed due to safety concerns stemming from staffing shortages

BBC

A&E closure/ Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCG are to close the emergency department at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford as part of a reconstruction plans

Healthcare Leader

A&E crisis/ Ambulances queuing outside Grantham A&E and demand for services but unit is still closed overnight despite of campaigners for a solution

Lincolnshire Reporter

GP recruitment crisis/ Plan to recruit 2000 foreign GPs fails as reports says on 34 have been recruited in 3 years

Daily Mail

Behavior campaign/ NHS England have launched a public campaign to nudge patients towards pharmacists for minor conditions and ailments to reduce the pressure on GPs

Campaign

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

22/1/2019

Only hope for Essex man to live normal life, but NHS won’t pay

An Essex father has become the latest casualty of the funding crisis in the NHS, which is leading to rationing of treatments, according to a report in January 2019 in the Essex Standard.
THE LOWDOWN look at this and other recent rationing stories

THE LOWDOWN – ANALYSIS

Denied vital NHS cancer care and sent away with a bag of medicines

This week The Guardian reported on a story of an Eritrean asylum seeker who was denied further chemotherapy treatment at a hospital in West London in line with rules which expand charging for NHS treatment. The Lowdown looks at the challenges to the ethos of the NHS and who is campaigning about it,

THE LOWDOWN

_________________________________________________________

Stroke units could close under new NHS England plans

A planned major reorganisation of stroke services could see the number of acute units in England cut by more than a third, with patients going to more specialised centres, HSJ understands.

Experts have said this will reduce the number of deaths and disabilities from the condition.

The NHS long-term plan said it wants “sustainability and transformation programmes and integrated care systems to reconfigure stroke services into specialist centres” within the next five years.

No numbers were attached to the proposals, but the Stroke Association charity, which supports and is involved in development of the plan, told HSJ that independent modelling suggested the number of stroke units should be cut from 126 to around 80 “hyper acute” and specialist units. These would be composed of around 30 neuroscience centres and 50 hyper acute stroke units

HSJ

Bristol MP tries to block £1bn community services procurement

Karin Smyth, the Labour MP for Bristol South has asked the Health Secretary Matt Hancock to halt the procurement of a ten year contract worth over £1 billion for adult community services in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Bristol South MP Karin Smyth calls on the Secretary of State for Health to pause the potentially disastrous NHS commissioning plans for Bristol

MORE – THE LOWDOWN

Worse healthcare if you live in the country?

A report published by The Nuffield Trust has revealed that people living in rural regions of the country are getting worse hospital services than those in urban areas.

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/the-costs-of-delivering-health-care-in-rural-areas

MORE – THE LOWDOWN

Just one trust has 50pc BME board share

NHS England data on 231 trusts reveals that 96 trusts have no BME representation within their board members. BME representation with the NHS workforce as a whole is around 20 per cent. BME representation across all 231 trust boards was 7.4 per cent.

HSJ

Dying man hit with £32k bill for end of life care at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Dad-of-two Nasar Ulllah Khan was denied life-saving treatment after overstaying visa

BIRMINGHAM MAIL

75,000 patients stuck with ambulance crews as winter at A&E bites

With the extra pressure of winter, A&Es have been too busy to accept patients from ambulance crews. This has meant that over 75,000 people have remained under the care of the ambulance service for over 30 minutes whilst waiting.

GUARDIAN

NHS England hospitals overspend by up to £141m a year

Underfunding and staff shortages are among reasons for deficit, says watchdog
Some English hospitals are overspending by as much as £141m a year due to NHS underfunding, staff shortages and demand for care, according to Whitehall’s spending watchdog.
King’s College healthcare trust, which runs two hospitals in London, ended last year £141.4m in the red – the biggest deficit among England’s 232 trusts that provide services.

THE GUARDIAN

NHS to prescribe ‘app therapy’ for children with mild depression

Children as young as five will be able to get help for mild depression through apps on their smartphones after the NHS’s treatment advisers recommended the use of such devices in their care.

GUARDIAN

NHS long term plan: three new models of care that could be replicated across England

One of the flagship pledges in the NHS’s eagerly awaited long term plan,1 published on 7 January, was to create joined up integrated care systems in every area of England by April 2021. Local organisations from the NHS and local government will be expected to work more closely “in a pragmatic and practical way” to deliver the “triple integration” of primary and secondary care, physical and mental health services, and health and social care.

BMJ

‘NHS Long-Term Plan’ integration efforts hindered by funding systems, says NAO

The National Audit Office says the ‘NHS Long-term Plan’ is “prudent” but a full assessment of its targets will depend on funding for social care and other, non-NHS England parts of the health service.
NHS funding systems “do not support” partnership working and integration, the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.

PHARMA JOURNAL

NHS aims for 15% cut in antibiotics use to tackle drug-resistant bugs

Health secretary Matt Hancock says the drugs will be used only “when absolutely necessary”

GUARDIAN

Doctors fear ‘vulnerable groups will not get free NHS healthcare anymore’

NHS medics have warned that the ‘free at point of delivery’ NHS cornerstone is under threat. Since October 2017, non-EU migrants have been charged upfront before receiving hospital treatment. A meeting is being held tonight in Liverpool for medical staff concerned at the consequences of charging migrants for healthcare. Critics say it leads to more people being infected by disease and debt collectors being sent to patients’ homes.

METRO

NHS Wales agency staff costs spiral to cover vacancies

pending on agency staff to cover NHS vacancies has risen markedly over the last few years in Wales, according to a financial watchdog. Spending on agency staff had risen 171% over seven years, peaking at £164.4m in 2016-17, the auditor general Adrian Crompton said.
He called for strong leadership to manage the situation.

BBC

AIDSfree appeal: ‘The NHS must focus on the fringes of society to keep up fight against HIV’

The NHS in London must focus on “those on the fringes of society” or risk a “reversal” in fighting HIV, a leading doctor said today. Professor Glenda Gray said the capital needs to continue to focus on its “vulnerable population” in order to drive down transmission rates of the virus.

EVENING STANDARD

Patients facing six-month waits on NHS will be offered alternative

Any patient waiting six months for hospital treatment must be contacted and offered faster treatment elsewhere, under NHS plans.
The Health Secretary pledged to give patients “more power and greater choice” over where operations such as hip and knee surgery are carried out, while forcing down record waiting lists.
Latest figures show more than 4.15 million patients are on waiting lists – including more than half a million patients waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment.

TELEGRAPH

This is what the NHS has to say about aspirin bleeding risk claims

A recent study warned against the side effects of the popular painkiller but the health service has now responded

NORTHWALES DAILYPOST

Early cancer diagnosis equals ‘high’ survival rate for many cancers

Data published by the Office for National Statistics and Public Health England indicates that one year after diagnosis adults with Stage-1 prostate, skin and breast cancer have the same survival rate as the general population.

BBC

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Weekly round up – archive

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Lowdown stories (12 May 2020)

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Lowdown stories (15 April 2020)

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Stories from the Lowdown:

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Lowdown stories from 29/12/2019 – 16/01/2020

28/9/2019

Stories from the Lowdown:

Why are NHS hospitals and GP surgeries crumbling?

Stories from the Lowdown and editor’s choices from across the news media:

LOWDOWN COMMENT

Bradford – staff vote for strike to stay in NHS

LOWDOWN NEWS

France – emergency staff fight for more beds, staff and better salaries

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Move to privatise cytology screening for London patients

LOWDOWN NEWS COMMENT

Privatisation: commercial secrecy is not in the public interest

LOWDOWN COMMENT

NW London plan for mega CCG – ignoring the needs of 2.2 million people

LOWDOWN COMMENT

Solutions to NHS staffing crisis delayed for Tory leadership campaign

LOWDOWN ANALYSIS/LONG READ

Early mental health interventions for young people don’t go far enough

Record numbers of NHS cancer patients face ‘agonising wait’ to see a specialist

MP calls NHS summit on Portsmouth dentist closures

Lives ‘destroyed by NHS eating disorder failures’

Children’s hospices ‘to shut if NHS does not increase funding’

Bursaries for student nurses and midwives have been extended in Wales until 2020

Read Latest Medical Research News Here.

Tough choices for NHS saddled with local deficits

Fresh round of strikes against privatising Colchester services

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (8 May 2022)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (21 February 2022)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (6 February 2022)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (19 January 2022)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (30 October 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (18 October 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (2 October 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from local media across the UK (13 September 2021)

Lowdown stories (5 September 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (30 July 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (12 July 2021).

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (27 June 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (14 June 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (29 May 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (18th May 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (18th April 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (20th March 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (7 March 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (21 February 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (9 February 2021)

Lowdown stories and the editor’s pick from the rest of the media (7 December)

National News

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Lowdown stories (12 May 2020)

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Lowdown stories (15 April 2020)

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Stories from the Lowdown:

Editors pick of stories from the last two weeks:

Lowdown stories from 29/12/2019 – 16/01/2020

28/9/2019

Stories from the Lowdown:

Why are NHS hospitals and GP surgeries crumbling?

Stories from the Lowdown and editor’s choices from across the news media:

Bradford – staff vote for strike to stay in NHS

France – emergency staff fight for more beds, staff and better salaries

Move to privatise cytology screening for London patients

Privatisation: commercial secrecy is not in the public interest

NW London plan for mega CCG – ignoring the needs of 2.2 million people

Solutions to NHS staffing crisis delayed for Tory leadership campaign

Early mental health interventions for young people don’t go far enough

Record numbers of NHS cancer patients face ‘agonising wait’ to see a specialist

MP calls NHS summit on Portsmouth dentist closures

Lives ‘destroyed by NHS eating disorder failures’

Children’s hospices ‘to shut if NHS does not increase funding’

Bursaries for student nurses and midwives have been extended in Wales until 2020

Trump is not the problem, ministers are LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

NHS our best defence against big pharma profit grab LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

Brum trust gambles on Babylon’s chatbot LOWDOWN EXPLAINER What’s the plan to help our GP services and will it work? LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Billions are spent by the NHS on drugs every year, but how does it work? LOWDOWN NEWS

Health Secretary required to justify refusal to disclose LOWDOWN NEWS

Liverpool NHS trust inquiry launched amid concern over 150 deaths The Guardian

Burnout and bullying causes NHS to quit Disillusioned doctors and nurses are leaving the health service at all stages of their careers because they find working in it too stressful, the new workforce strategy drawn up by NHS leaders warns. The Guardian

The NHS workforce plan in an off the scale fantasy British Medical Journal

Private health firm loses NHS treatment centre contract The Guardian

Public opposes exploitation of NHS data by large tech companies Computer Weekly

_________________________________________________________

________________________________

Circle is broken by High Court LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

Fighting privatisation – far from a lost cause LOWDOWN OVERVIEW

Why can’t you get a GP appointment? LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

Mental health: A stronghold of the private sector LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Debt ridden Eastern England STP shakes a collecting tin LOWDOWN NEWS

Harlow hospital staff announce six days of strikes to stop privatisation LOWDOWN NEWS

Why is there a crisis in our mental health services? LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

_________________________________________________________

Private supplier drops NHS contract with just five days’ notice

District nurse numbers plummet leaving services under-resourced and unsafe

Exposing drug industry funding of UK patient organisations

Colluding drug firms ‘cost the NHS millions of pounds’

Free social care for over-65s ‘would save NHS £4.5bn every year’, new report claims

Orkambi: NHS makes new offer to manufacturer of cystic fibrosis drug

Migraines: Calls for ‘life changing’ drug Aimovig on NHS in England

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Private provider/ Circle launches fresh court challenge over lost contract

Hancock’s tech drive/ the cross-wired evidence and whose behind it?

Privatisation/ Public mood hardens against private firms running the NHS

Health tourism/ serious problem or tabloid creation?

Trump is not the problem, ministers are
LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

NHS our best defence against big pharma profit grab
LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

Brum trust gambles on Babylon’s chatbot
LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

What’s the plan to help our GP services and will it work?
LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Billions are spent by the NHS on drugs every year, but how does it work?
LOWDOWN NEWS

Health Secretary required to justify refusal to disclose
LOWDOWN NEWS

Liverpool NHS trust inquiry launched amid concern over 150 deaths
The Guardian

Burnout and bullying causes NHS to quit
Disillusioned doctors and nurses are leaving the health service at all stages of their careers because they find working in it too stressful, the new workforce strategy drawn up by NHS leaders warns.
The Guardian

The NHS workforce plan in an off the scale fantasy
British Medical Journal

Private health firm loses NHS treatment centre contract
The Guardian

Public opposes exploitation of NHS data by large tech companies
Computer Weekly

Circle is broken by High Court
LOWDOWN NEWS ANALYSIS

Fighting privatisation – far from a lost cause
LOWDOWN OVERVIEW

Why can’t you get a GP appointment?
LOWDOWN EXPLAINER

Mental health: A stronghold of the private sector
LOWDOWN ANALYSIS

Debt ridden Eastern England STP shakes a collecting tin
LOWDOWN NEWS

Harlow hospital staff announce six days of strikes to stop privatisation
LOWDOWN NEWS

Why is there a crisis in our mental health services?
LOWDOWN EXPLAINER