HSJ Health Check

This week for the first time a study has revealed the number of patients on PIFU pathways has not translated into a significant reduction in follow up appointments.  Also, a governance row across some of the biggest trusts in east London, while a major teaching hospital on the other side of the Thames sees its finances explode. With Ben Clover, Annabelle Collins and James Illman

Dental budgets are being raided by ICSs to fund other services in the middle of an unprecedented access crisis. We cover a broken financial system, a discredited contract and increasing political pressure to fix NHS dentistry. Also we review how NHS England is faring on its pledge to increase overall primary care investment. 

HSJ recently revealed the dramatic differences in access to specialist medical treatments around the country.    We discuss what’s driving this inequality, who is missing out and what big-city trusts are doing to improve access.   Also, an update on how the NHS coped during the longest ever junior doctor strikes over Christmas and the New Year and why the planning guidance for 2024 is still yet to be published. 

In our final episode of the year we make our predictions for what 2024 could hold for the NHS, including the first integrated care system merger, how the strikes will pan out and manager regulation.    Thanks for listening and we’ll be back in January! 

Three years ago the NHS was the first healthcare system in the world to set an ambition to become net zero, but it struggles to prioritise this in the face of daily operational and financial pressures. This week we discuss in depth the green targets, progress already made and why, despite competing priorities, they should still be high up leaders’ agenda.  Also, an update on what systems are being told to do to cope this winter.

This week we’re joined by Thea Stein, who recently moved into think tank world after nine years running an NHS trust.   We cover her reflections on her time at Leeds Community Healthcare Trust, why she is fed up of “visions” of integrated care and much more interested in the tricky detail, and the radical policies needed to recruit and retain more staff. 

Leaders at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust have been heavily criticised in an independent inquiry into the actions of former maintenance supervisor David Fuller. We cover the mistakes made by the trust that enabled him to abuse hundreds of bodies in its mortuary over 15 years and what the rest of the NHS must do in response to this horrific case. Also, an update on the government’s pay offer to consultants and why its made the Royal College of Nursing so angry.

US firm Palantir has officially been awarded the lucrative federated data platform deal, which is one of the biggest NHS data projects in recent years.   This week Nick Carding, Joe Talora and Annabelle Collins discuss the controversy surrounding the deal, what the risks and benefits are for the NHS and what’s next in its implementation. 

A trust that gave its name to a controversial A&E policy has seen performance improve significantly, so this week we discuss how North Bristol Trust handled the risks and how quickly its model could spread throughout the NHS.    Also, NHSE chief Amanda Pritchard told MPs this week there has been a ”misunderstanding” about productivity in the NHS - we discuss what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

This week Annabelle and James are joined by Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers. We’re looking ahead to winter and an election year, in which the NHS faces ongoing strikes, stalling progress on waiting lists and challenging finances.  We also cover the damage done by ’short-termism’ and why turnover of trust CEOs is getting worse.