HSJ Health Check

The sharp increase in shared NHS trust chairs and CEOs has been notable in recent months, with more key appointments made in London and the North West just this week. We discuss why the appointment of joint chairs matters, how boards cope when overseeing more organisations and what this means for the integration agenda. Also, this week NHS England has sent a striking letter to trusts in the Midlands warning them they may be entering the most difficult period of the pandemic for more than a year. We ask why this region has specifically been warned, when many parts of the country are under pressure, and what the next few weeks holds for the NHS. Featuring Lawrence Dunhill, Annabelle Collins and Dave West.

Trusts received an unpleasant surprise last Friday when they were told they must do more elective procedures to receive money from the national £1bn ‘elective recovery fund’. The demand for more activity comes with pressure on providers rising as covid levels soar. We discuss how local systems feel the move has left their elective recovery plans in tatters and the politics behind the row. Also, trusts in the north east have told staff contacted by the covid app they do not need to self-isolate. Will this become a countrywide trend considering NHS staff shortages?

The NHS Health Bill has finally been published. We discuss the most eye-catching measures and the controversies surrounding what was supposed to be straight-forward legislation. We also look into what it all means for integrated care systems and why a lot still needs to be thrashed out if the bill is to be enshrined in law by April 2022 as planned. And we update listeners on what is proving to be a worryingly busy summer for the NHS.

With a new health secretary appointed days before the Health Bill was due to be published, we discuss what’s next for the legislation. We analyse the impact on the NHS if Sajid Javid decides to delay, amend or go ahead with it as it is, and why so much about the new health secretary’s modus operandi is still unknown. Featuring Sharon Brennan, Alastair McLellan and Annabelle Collins.

Harnessing an opportunity to use the ‘full power of data’ to improve patient care, or a worrying ‘data grab’? The government has published its draft data strategy and we discuss what this could mean for transparency, care quality and how it links to the ongoing GP record-sharing debacle. Also, the latest and most significant integrated care system legislation updates, including more on the ICS design framework and how ongoing boundary disputes are limiting some systems’ progress. Featuring Nick Carding, Annabelle Collins and Dave West.

Monday marked the deadline for applicants wanting to be the next NHS England CEO to throw their hat in the ring. In this podcast HSJ editor Alastair McLellan talks to the former health secretary and current chair of Commons Health and Social Care committee about how the most powerful person in the NHS will be chosen.

Dr Waheed Arian escaped from Afghanistan and came to the UK as a child refugee in 1999. Since then, he has become an A&E doctor and founded global telemedicine charity ‘Arian Teleheal’. In this episode Annabelle Collins is joined by Dr Arian, who discusses why simplicity was key when it came to launching a successful telemedicine charity, how his formative experiences in Afghanistan inspired its creation and why the NHS must do more to improve global health inequalities. We also discuss the impact of the pandemic on the NHS workforce and why it is ill-equipped to deal with staff suffering from PTSD – a condition Dr Arian has personal experiences recovering from. Dr Arian’s memoir ‘In the wars’ is published on June 17th.

Under the cover of Cummings’ headline-grabbing testimony last week, NHS England gave plans to scrap the landmark 4-hour A&E target the greenlight. We discuss how the ‘ten metrics’ intended to replace it could work in practice. Will they result in safer patient care or be too unwieldy to work in reality? Also this week – NHS chief executive Yvonne Ormston has written powerfully about her experience both as an NHS leader and a cancer patient during the pandemic; we compare her frontline view to that of a government insider, as set out by Dominic Cummings last week.

With Cumming’s setting the health select committee on fire, serious allegations were raised about Matt Hancock’s handling of the pandemic. In this week’s podcast we investigate what the biggest allegations were, what new information was revealed and what it really means for the health secretary’s career. Featuring Sharon Brennan, Lawrence Dunhill and Nick Carding.

HSJ revealed in an investigation this week that serious concerns were raised by patients at a mental health hospital for children in the years before it was rated ‘inadequate’ by the national regulator in March 2021. We ask why it took so long for action to be taken and whether there is an enduring problem with care quality at private mental health hospitals? We also shine the spotlight on autism care in South West, where spiralling waiting lists hint at the scale of a national crisis which needs fixing. Featuring Nick Carding, Rebecca Thomas and Annabelle Collins.