NHS reforms

North West Ambulance Service: assessing our latest performance review

14.02.19: Michael Forrest, interim chief executive of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), discusses how his team has implemented best practice methods to achieve its ‘good’ CQC rating awarded last year.  I am delighted with our...

NHS workforce lacks digital literacy as Tesco knows more about its customers than the health service, warns Matt Hancock

12.02.19: Tesco knows more about its customers than the NHS does about its patients, and staff need far greater digital literacy, Matt Hancock has said, announcing a review on how to prepare the NHS workforce for a digital future. A major review just...

Senior managers to face new competency standards as Hancock pledges to protect NHS whistleblowers

06.02.19: New competency and ethical standards to clamp down on NHS managers have been announced as Matt Hancock promises to change the “morally abhorrent and operationally foolish” approach to whistleblowers in the NHS. Senior managers o...

NHSI appoint joint King’s College chair in new strategic relationship with major NHS trust

05.02.19: King’s College Hospital NHS FT (KCHT) has appointed its new interim chair, meaning Sir Hugh Taylor will share the position across two of England’s largest foundation trusts. Taylor, who currently leads Guy’s and St Thomas&...

NHS to get 20,000 more support staff in major GP contract reform banning promotions of private healthcare

01.02.19: The number of non-GP staff in general practice – including physios, pharmacists and paramedics – will grow by 22,000 under a five-year GP contract in a deal which will also see a banning of GPs advertising private healthcare services...

Maximising opportunity with NHS Open Space

30.01.19: NHS Open Space is an innovative new bookable NHS scheme centred on flexibility and getting the most value out of the NHS’s estates. With the project due to open in Spring 2019, Christopher King, NHS Property Services' (NHSPS) senior strate...

Substantial deficits across NHS ‘do not paint a picture of sustainability’ and threaten long-term plan, warns spending watchdog

18.01.19: The NHS is not financially sustainable and substantial deficits at NHS bodies, year-on-year increases in waiting lists and waiting times, and staffing shortages are threatening the government’s £20bn long-term plan, the National Audi...

‘Extreme concern’ for NHS staffing crisis over ‘unrealistic’ immigration white paper threshold

20.12.18: NHS leaders have spoken out against the new immigration laws over fears that the NHS’s staffing problems will descend into crisis following the announcement of a new white paper. Home secretary Sajid Javid announced the new post-Brexi...

Keogh to lead new independent hospital oversight framework in wake of Ian Paterson case

20.12.18: The former national medical director for NHS England, Sir Bruce Keogh, is to lead the development of a new framework on the oversight of consultants in independent hospitals. The framework – part of the NHS’s response to the Bis...

Blanket winter bans could happen again as DHSC accounts mask ‘underlying’ NHS deficit locally

19.12.18: Hospitals could face another winter of blanket operation cancellations and MPs have warned that “urgent action” is needed in the long-term plan as the finances of NHS providers are even worse than the reported statistics. A repo...

Hundreds of patients a year harmed due to lack of safety directives as staff face ‘unmanageable’ pressures

19.12.18: ‘Never events’ and avoidable harm to patients continue to happen across the NHS because doctors and nurses are too busy to enforce safety directives, a scathing report by the health inspectorate has found. The CQC’s nation...

Government referral of Dorset hospitals’ reorganisation backed by local authorities

18.12.18: The referral of plans to the government over the reorganisation of hospital services in Dorset as part of a merger of NHS services have been backed by Poole council. The health scrutiny committee of the Borough of Poole Council unanimously...

One in 10 CCG’s ‘failing or at risk’ as NAO calls for long-term plan to deliver ‘stability’ in restructure

18.12.18: A review from the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed that many NHS CCGs are failing to function effectively, hire or retain staff, or operate within their budgets. Five years after the former health secretary Andrew Lansley’s ov...

NHSE and NHSI appoint leaders for its seven integrated region teams

11.12.18: Seven integrated regional teams that will “play a major leadership role” in the new joint structure between NHS Improvement (NHSI) and NHS England (NHSE) have been named. The joint directors of the new regional teams have been c...

New joint leadership team unveiled by NHS England and NHS Improvement

11.12.18: NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Improvement (NHSI) have revealed the first appointments to the NHS Executive Group, a new joint senior leadership team announced as part of “closer working arrangements” between the two bodies. The new...