HSJ Health Check

NHS leaders are being told they must prioritise balancing the books above all else, with some trusts even being asked to keep staff numbers down to save money.    We discuss the tricky relationship between ‘productivity’ and recruitment and the impact an intensified focus on finance could have on other important priorities.

A legal battle has erupted between a hospital trust and bank-backed PFI company over fire safety and payment refusals. We discuss why the case has potentially wider implications for other NHS trusts.  Also this week, we find out why NHS England had to apologise to staff impacted by problems during its restructure, and hear about the latest twist in an ICS dogged by troubling leadership issues. Featuring Nick Carding, Ben Clover and Dave West. Send views and questions to annabelle.collins@hsj.co.uk. You can listen to HSJ Health Check on this page, or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and all the other popular podcast platforms.

A consortium of British companies have been knocked out of the hotly contested competition to win a £480m contract to provide the NHS with a new data platform.    We discuss who is left in the running, including a number of American tech firms with little or no experience of working with the NHS.    Also this week - an update on how the NHS has coped with the junior doctors’ strikes this week, and a quick look at the latest performance data, which for the first time has revealed the extent of the 12 hours waits in A&E.

Patricia Hewitt’s much-anticipated review of ICS autonomy was published this week. We discuss its recommendations, the politics behind it, and what meaningful, lasting impact it could have. With Alastair McLellan, James Illman and Annabelle Collins.

NHS Blood and Transplant has been embroiled in allegations of racism that stretch back several years.   On this episode Annabelle is joined by Lawrence Dunhill who has been reporting on the agency’s failure to address these systemic problems.    The story spans secret recordings, a bitter employment tribunal and high profile resignations, with the organisation seriously struggling with blood stocks and staff shortages.

This week we discuss a quirk in last week’s pay deal between health unions and the government, which could see staff at the top of Agenda for Change paid more than senior managers.   We also dig into the “shameful” planned cuts to social care budgets to the tune of £550m, as revealed by HSJ last week.

This week we analyse the Spring Budget and what it means for the NHS, in particular the pensions tax overhaul. We cover why Jeremy Hunt has gone for such an expensive fix and what impact it will have on the health service and its ability to retain experienced doctors. Also this week, our insights into three days of junior doctors’ strikes and more on the ongoing BMA ‘rate card’ controversy.

This year’s NHS staff survey results have landed, so on this episode, we bring you the need-to-know findings and insights into how the NHS workforce are feeling. Our team is joined by Chris Graham, the chief executive of the Picker Institute –  the charity that organises the survey – and we discuss everything from the worrying drop in staff feeling safe to report clinical errors, to the shocking results once again reported by ambulance trusts. Also with Annabelle Collins, Alison Moore and Emily Townsend.

Could foundation trusts be hindering the success of integrated care systems? Chair of Bolton FT Donna Hall thinks so, and argues its time to scrap them. We discuss the merits of this and also whether integrated care systems’ strategies are too much “motherhood and apple pie” and not enough substance. Also this week, an update on ICS finances, after its revealed 14 systems are now in the red.

Fresh from starting work as NHS Providers' new chief executive, Sir Julian Hartley joins HSJ Health Check to talk about collaboration, strikes, reform and more. We ask the former Leeds Hospitals chief why he moved to a national role, and what building a successful provider collaborative looks like in practice. He also discusses the long haul of improvement facing the service, arguments for fundamental reform, and why we need NHS Providers. With HSJ's Annabelle Collins, Dave West and Ben Clover.