NHS reforms

Nearly 4m GP appointments could be freed up by 2022 under newly extended NHS pilot scheme

15.04.19: NHS England has extended a scheme which has freed up half a million hours for patients in the last year and could now see four million appointments saved by 2022. The Time for Care scheme encourages practices to try innovations to cut burea...

Mixed reviews for ‘full of jargon’ NHS App pilot ahead of summer rollout

12.04.19: NHS Digital has published the results of the pilot phase of the NHS App, finding that users were “enthusiastic” about using the app to order prescriptions but appointment bookings were “full of jargon.” A number of c...

Surgeons call for stronger oversight and protection for patients at private hospitals

10.04.19: The leader of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has called for private hospitals to do more to keep patients safe and improve transparency in order to prevent another rogue surgeon like Ian Paterson. Derek Alderson, the president of the R...

Extent of NHS’s declining financial health and staffing crisis being masked, MPs warn

04.04.19: Staffing shortages represent “the biggest threat” to financial stability in the NHS and to delivering the Long-Term Plan, as MPs warn that the health service is on course to “rapidly reach crisis point.” The Public A...

Multi-million-pound cuts approved as Derbyshire CCGs enter merger

03.04.19: Derbyshire CCGs have agreed unprecedented £70m cutbacks as they sealed a landmark merger of the region’s health bodies. The four CCGs in Derbyshire – Erewash, Hardwick, North Derbyshire and Southern Derbyshire – have...

North Tyneside care provider stripped of registration by CQC after police prompted investigation

01.04.19: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken enforcement action and cancelled the registration of a special measures home care provider in North Tyneside following a tip-off from a police investigation. Inspectors at Allcare Community Servic...

Wide array of NHS figures named as the new NHS Assembly announced

28.03.19: A diverse group of leading NHS figures, disability advocates and charity bosses have been named in the new NHS Assembly including trust chief executives, ex-government advisors, patient representatives and a Guardian columnist. The NHS has...

‘Monstrous’ £500m scheme to close London A&Es scrapped after Hancock U-turn

27.03.19: A £500m plan to axe nearly half of the A&E departments in west London has been scrapped by the health secretary after a seven-year campaign against the “monstrous” shake-up. Matt Hancock made the announcement to MPs in...

Sir Robert Francis says new regulator needed as ‘fit and proper person test’ not fit for purpose

26.03.19: The chairman of the Mid-Staffordshire Public Inquiry has said the NHS’s fit and proper persons test is “not fit for purpose” anymore and recommended a new regulator to oversee NHS managers. Sir Robert Francis, in written e...

Department of Health announces day surgery shake-up in Northern Ireland

22.03.19: The Department of Health (DoH) has announced “radical plans” to shake up day surgery across Northern Ireland. Thousands of routine operations will be transferred to dedicated sites known as day case surgery hubs, with the hubs o...

NHSE to strip Capita of ‘shambolic’ cervical screening contract and bring it in-house

21.03.19: NHS England (NHSE) has stripped Capita of its cervical screening administration services following “shambolic” errors made in failing to deliver over 50,000 letters to patients. The chief executive of NHSE, Simon Stevens, told t...

NHS staffing crisis to double without radical change in ‘vicious cycle of growing shortages and declining quality’

21.03.19: The NHS could have a shortfall of 70,000 nurses and 7,000 GPs within the next five years and the crisis is so now so severe it “cannot be filled,” according a new report from health think tanks. The report found that the NHS has...

NHS chiefs accuse NHSE of scrapping flagship targets because it can no longer meet them

20.03.19: Plans to scrap the flagship four-hour A&E targets have been criticised by NHS chiefs, with some accusing NHS England of trying to abandon key targets because they can no longer meet them. The NHS unveiled plans to overhaul its four-hour...

Private hospital in Dundee announces closure with 50 jobs to go

20.03.19: A private hospital in Dundee has announced that it will close in the summer because of falling numbers of local people paying for private insurance. Fernbrae Hospital will shut down in May and a consultation is underway to work out what wil...

£3m Shrewsbury hospital ward opening delayed by fire regulations

15.03.19: A new £3m ward designed to help ease winter pressures at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is not currently in use because it does not meet fire safety and building regulations. The ward, announced last September, was planned to relieve press...