QIPP, Efficiency & Savings

‘Damaging’ NHS targets ‘have had their day’ claims Lord Prior

15.02.19: NHS targets “have had their day” according to Lord Prior as the head of the health service launches an attack on 25 years of flawed health policies. On the same day A&E performance slumped to the worst level on record, NHS E...

88-year-old NHS secretary become oldest ever person to win age discrimination case

07.02.19: An 88-year-old hospital secretary has become the oldest person to ever win an age discrimination case after she was marched out of her office by security and sacked when colleagues complained about her age and “frailty.” Eileen...

Operating room inefficiencies costing the NHS 300,000 operations a year

04.02.19: Nearly 300,000 more operations could be carried out through better management of surgical lists and holiday booking, an NHS watchdog report has found. In a review commissioned by NHS Improvement (NHSI), it was found that theatres regularly...

‘Fatally flawed’ revamp of Shropshire hospitals given green light

31.01.19: Shrewsbury will house the only A&E centre in Shropshire after plans to restructure a special measures trust’s services were approved by commissioners, but were branded “wholly wrong” and “fatally flawed” by MPs...

Clinical waste scandal: HES collapse ‘put NHS at risk’ as waste backlog still being cleared

24.01.19: The Scottish health minister has told MSPs the collapse of the clinical waste firm behind the body part stockpiling scandal put Scotland’s health service at risk. In a statement to parliament, Jeane Freeman said that the bags of clini...

NHS wins legal battle over largest ever medicines procurement for hepatitis C drug

21.01.19: NHS England (NHSE) has seen off a legal challenge to its largest ever medicines procurement from an American pharmaceutical firm after the High Court backed the health service’s procurement process for a ground-breaking hepatitis C treatme...

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...

Private giant Spire cuts expected earnings again amid NHS funding squeeze

16.01.19: Private hospital group Spire has cut its expected core earnings forecast for the second time in a year, driven by increasing waiting times and funding pressures across the NHS and prompting many investors to sell their shares in the FTSE-listed...

Trust sets £320m cap on finishing Birmingham hospital hit by Carillion collapse

10.01.19: The NHS trust behind the Midland Metropolitan Hospital hit by the collapse of Carillion last year has launched its search for a replacement contractor, and set a £320m cap on any bids to finish the hospital. Sandwell and West Birmingh...

Campaigners ‘desolate’ after Home Office doubles charge for migrants to use the NHS

08.01.19: The Home Office has doubled the charge migrants must pay to use the NHS in a move criticised for the impact the payment will have on migrant NHS workers and young people who have been in the UK since childhood. Doubling the standard Immigra...

Missed GP appointments costing the NHS £216m a year

02.01.19: The NHS is losing £216m each year due to wasted GP appointments after patients missed more than 15 million sessions last year, according to NHS England. Of the 307 million sessions scheduled with GPs, nurses, therapists, and other pra...

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...

Staffordshire CCGs to halve hospital beds and sell sites as part of integrated care plans

05.12.18: Four of North Staffordshire’s five community hospitals will lose their beds under controversial proposals for an overhaul of local health services as CCGs look to move to a new model of integrated care. Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffo...

New voluntary drug pricing deal could cut NHS medicine bill by almost £1bn

28.11.18: A new voluntary scheme to control the pricing of branded medicines could provide patients with earlier access to new medicines and save the NHS almost a £1bn on its annual medicine bill. It will introduce an annual 2% cap on the growt...

NHS to save record £300m on biosimilar drugs deal

26.11.18: The NHS is set to make its biggest saving from a single drug negotiation in its history after negotiating deals on low cost versions of its most expensive drug. As announced by Simon Stevens today, the NHS has negotiated deals with five man...