HSJ Health Check

Many NHS technology programmes are facing an uncertain future following revelations NHS England’s tech budget is being drastically cut. This week we discuss the impact these funding cuts could have on NHS trusts’ ambitions and whether the sector has the leadership to guide it through this tricky patch. Also this week, a major pathology merger in Lancashire has effectively been scrapped following years of work and millions of pounds spent, after being left in limbo by those who encouraged the project in the first place.

This week bureau chief Ben Clover fills in for Annabelle Collins. Ben is joined by mental health correspondent Emily Townsend and HSJ's urgent care lead Matt Discombe to discuss new targets (and the lack of them), discharge and how involved the police should be in mental health services.

The debate over single patient rooms has raged for many years, but emerging news from Liverpool’s new hospital suggests it could be a game-changer for cutting patients’ length of stay. We discuss the impact of the much-maligned city trust’s new hospital on patient flow. Also this week – we hear about the growing frustration in Manchester over the delay to the New Hospitals Programme, and we analyse our exclusive interview with the CEO of scandal-hit Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust. Featuring Lawrence Dunhill, Nicholas Carding, Zoe Tidman and Emily Townsend.

An HSJ Investigation has revealed trusts are denying staff employed by their wholly owned subsidiary companies the pay and conditions offered to other staff. We discuss more about how and why this forgotten group of the workforce are missing out. Also this week – the trust that sacked a whistleblower who warned them about potential patient harm has been told to pay out more than £200,000. We talk in more detail about this case and the questions it raises about whistleblowing in the NHS.

Bids are open for NHS England’s new £480m national data platform – will it make the NHS better connected and more efficient, or is it a national vanity project? We also discuss who the successful bidders might be. And in recent weeks the NHS has been given its marching orders for the next financial year, in the form of the planning guidance and integrated care systems’ financial allocations. We discuss what this tells us about ministerial ambitions for the health service and how the guidance connects with the ongoing Hewitt Review. Featuring Nick Carding, Dave West and Annabelle Collins.

NHS trusts have been given 20 days by NHS England to book in all patients who have been waiting longer than 78 weeks for their elective appointment. We discuss the thinking behind this and how trusts might tackle this new challenge without any more money or resources. Also we unpack the latest performance data, which confirmed December was the worst on record for multiple key measures.

The HSJ team make their predictions for what the New Year could bring for the health service, including a return to deficits, tough times for the hospital building programme and a big year for mental health reform. Thanks for listening to the Health Check podcast this year and Happy Holidays from all at HSJ.What 2023 has in store for the NHS

On this episode our team brings you the very latest news and analysis of the strike action hitting the NHS this week. We cover how we got to this point, what NHS leaders are doing to mitigate patient harm and why some are even more worried about next week’s ambulance strike. Send views, questions, and confidential tips about the strikes to our journalists via annabelle.collins@hsj.co.uk.

This week we bring you the latest on the hospital building programme, including confirmation that all new buildings must have single patient rooms. We discuss the staffing and safety challenges this will bring for trusts. Also this week, more on NHS England’s plans to cut £1bn from maternity, cancer and primary care funds, plus Steve Barclay’s latest “attack” on NHS managers in the form of organograms.

“Rubbish” communications have been blamed by senior NHS leaders for causing a flood of people going to A&E with Group Strep A concerns, with calls to NHS 111 hitting record levels so far this winter. We discuss the impact this is having on access to treatment and medicines and what should have been done to stop it. Also we talk more about the creation of an elective recovery taskforce and a bigger role for the private sector in taking NHS patients. Plus, the latest on nursing and ambulance staff strikes due to start next week. Hosted by Annabelle Collins and featuring Ben Clover and Nick Kituno. Got a question for our expert team? Let us know on Twitter @HSJAnnabelle and we’ll answer it next week.