HSJ Health Check

We discuss the NHS’ performance against emergency, elective and  cancer care targets with new figures this week showing performance is  worsening despite efforts to reverse this. We also hear about national  leaders’ concerns that long waiting times are creating a worrying shift  in attitude from the public, and examine an unusual financial dispute  between two NHS bodies which harks back to the days of the internal  market. Featuring Nick Carding, Ben Clover and James Illman.

This week we track the progress of the Health and Care Bill as the tricky April 2022 deadline closes in. We discuss why the House of Lords could be the most challenging bit of its journey so far and delve into the power-struggle between strong provider trust collaboratives and fledging systems. With Ben Clover, Annabelle Collins and Dave West.

HSJ revealed NHS England has written to all trusts and integrated care systems this week telling them to stop ambulance handover delays “immediately” after serious patient safety concerns. This is far easier said than done and we discuss the reaction to the letter and more on what is fuelling some of the worst ambulance pressures ever experienced by the health service. Also the outcome of the spending review and which bits of the NHS have got lucky, and which have missed out.

The health service is clearly in a jam in the wake of covid - so why have Sajid Javid’s plans for ‘a year of reform’ antagonised some managers, GPs and other staff?’ We get into some of the challenges faced by the health secretary, how to balance ambition with NHS recovery and why the NHS doesn’t want to go back to how things were before covid hit. This week Annabelle and Dave are joined by Helen Buckingham, director of strategy at the Nuffield Trust, Richard Sloggett, programme director of the Future Health Research Centre.

Health inequalities for those with a mental illness, learning disability or autism have existed for decades and the coronavirus pandemic has made them even worse. We dedicate this episode to talk about why patients in this group have worse global health outcomes than the rest of the population, why “sticking-plaster solutions” don’t cut it anymore and if the move towards integrated care is a reason to feel positive. Annabelle Collins and Rebecca Thomas are joined by Andy Bell, deputy chief executive of the charity ’Centre for Mental Health’.

We discuss Sajid Javid’s first Tory conference as health secretary and try and pin down the “fundamental and far-reaching reforms” he pledged to make. Also – the biggest review of NHS leadership in 40 years has been announced by the government. We discuss why now, when healthcare leaders are under more pressure than ever,  what it hopes to achieve and why managers are an easy target.

On the podcast this week we look ahead to winter and ask whether NHS England’s ten-point A&E action plan could prevent a crisis. We also discuss important changes to infection control guidance and whether this could make a difference to the ever-growing elective backlog.

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the knock-on impact covid has had on staffing and services, after medical consultants at a major acute trust warned its leadership that specialist staff shortages are causing services to become unsafe. Also, Greater Manchester’s coroner’s office has opened an unusually high number of inquests into patient deaths — higher than all the other coroners in Yorkshire, Humber and the North East combined. Should this raise concerns that hundreds of other deaths around the region are not being properly investigated? We discuss the coronial system and the legacy of Harold Shipman in Greater Manchester and beyond.

The government has announced £15.6bn extra funding for the NHS — but NHS England is having to curb its ‘long-term plan’ ambitions and considering which of its budgets to shave. This week’s HSJ Health Check podcast explores why. We also cover how NHS England’s commitment to publish core performance data broken down to identify health inequalities, among other “urgent actions” to tackle inequalities, is nearly a year overdue. Featuring Dave West, Nick Kituno and Rebecca Thomas. 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. Send feedback to annabelle.collins@wilmingtonhealthcare.com.

This week’s HSJ Health Check podcast discusses the warnings made by a Greater Manchester coroner over the risks of remote GP appointments, following the deaths of five people. Is it fair to blame general practice for the safety concerns? We also talked about the government’s big health and care funding announcement and what it means for the NHS. Featuring Lawrence Dunhill, Jasmine Rapson and Rebecca Thomas.