Interesting story today on calls to scrap the NHS league tables because they "obscure" trust performance www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

Amos report has been near farcical: - Influential advisor quits because normal birth lines taken out of report - Donna Ockenden says it doesn't say anything new - Families not satisfied and pushing for inquiry - Health sec can't put a date on new maternity commissioner

The government has confirmed its defence spending plan will be funded by 1% cuts to departments' capital budgets - including health. This will be found through "efficiencies [and] cancelling or delaying lower priority programmes" - starting this year www.gov.uk/government/p...

This, coupled with the declining support for the NHS among young people, should concern policymakers. One 23 year-old went private after struggling to get help through the NHS: “After this experience, I don’t think I’d really go to the NHS any more" www.ft.com/content/c26a...

The meter is always running: AI’s true cost - David Newey HSJ - www.hsj.co.uk/technology-a...

Interesting snippet from yday's IPPR health conference from Tory health shadow Stuart Andrew, whose party is backing the bill to abolish NHS England Andrew agreed that that abolition is a "necessary journey" and admitted it was "probably" a mistake to create NHS England back in 2012

Conservative shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew calls for clarity on unreported removals from the waiting list. "Patients deserve to know whether waiting list are falling because people receive treatment they need or ... if it's a sleight of hand"

Mackey also damning on confused oversight for maternity: "I was a chief exec for 20 odd years… I would have personally failed a test to describe all of the organisations and bodies that have a role in maternity services. "I would still probably fail that test, there’s far too many.”

NHS CEO Jim Mackey says he is looking at changes to trust leaders' employment contracts to ensure they can be held accountable. Comes after some execs refused to speak to Nottingham review into maternity failings. Mackey made the comments at IPPR conference

Excl: Consultants at Northern Lincolnshire hospitals said they had "no confidence" in leaders - and said a partnership with Hull trust had "failed" their patients It's the latest episode in a saga that has seen both trusts placed in special measures www.hsj.co.uk/northern-lin...

Interesting from @samfr.bsky.social: Labour's attacks on Reform over NHS funding (claiming Farage wants to move to an insurance model) were the "only attack that boosted Labour’s vote share" in polling. samf.substack.com/p/how-to-bea...

NHS England says trusts should pay suppliers on time. But there are numerous cases of businesses being owed millions in late payments. Who's to blame? My latest: www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-...

NEW: The NHS has been accused of using suppliers as a "free overdraft" One industry body said its members were owed £40m in late payments but had received no response from NHS England. One trust paid just one in ten invoices on time. www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-...

Victory laps at NHS England board meeting over 2025-26. Achievements include: - No claim on Treasury reserve funding - Balanced NHS budget overall - 8 in 10 organisations delivered their financial plan But, two months into the year, no detail on what the plans are for 2026-27

NEW: A trust group is still paying the salary of its former boss. Jonathan Lofthouse left Humber Health Partnership, amid claims of board disagreements, for an NHS England job. It has emerged he is still being paid by HHP - which has refused to comment www.hsj.co.uk/hull-univers...

NHS England says 16 NHS organisations are yet to submit a "compliant" financial plan. The trusts have been called in for personal meetings in London and asked to set out which "services [they] are operating at a loss" and they will resolve this

A tribunal has thrown out a former chair's whistleblowing claim against the trust CEO A damning judgement says the former chair "misrepresented and exaggerated" concerns in bid to oust Bradford Teaching Hospitals' CEO

Dozens of NHS staff accessed the medical records of Southport attack victims without permission. The trust was not planning to inform patients until contacted by HSJ exclusive from @zoetidman.bsky.social www.hsj.co.uk/liverpool-un...

Some irony in Healthwatch England's findings being cited in the case for the government's proposed NHS Modernisation Bill - the bill that will also scrap HWE

Listening to ministers and NHS leaders, the narrative is very much that health service finances are on the mend - but new figures show cash bailouts to local hospitals are on the rise. from @zoetidman.bsky.social www.hsj.co.uk/cash-bailout...

Interesting analysis of local elections: - Labour results bad but not as bad as feared - Reform has peaked - BUT could benefit from left vote splitting between Labour and Greens - Greens support spread too evenly to pick up lots of seats kellnerp.substack.com/p/yesterdays...

South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board has called in a neighbour to review its restructure. One staff member said: "Staff are unhappy, the unions are unhappy, and people who try to raise concerns to help get it right are ignored.” w Annabelle Collins www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/ic...

Last year the NHS balanced the books without injections from the Treasury reserve, common in recent years, prompting victory laps from national leaders. But we're now a month into the financial year and the picture is far from clear. Why the silence? www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-...

Health committee chair @laylamoran.bsky.social has written to Dept of Health asking for more detail on the UK-US pharmaceuticals deal and whether NHS will be "fully compensated" for higher costs committees.parliament.uk/publications...

Enough to employ *80 million* nurses! www.hsj.co.uk/mental-healt...

Latest development in the Humber Health Partnership saga: Governors at one of the trusts voted to block the appointment of the current interim as permanent CEO. They claimed the move - backed by NHS England - would "bypass due process"

Green party leader Zack Polanski calls on Wes Streeting to scrap the NHS's contract with Palantir www.hsj.co.uk/technology-a...

A damning internal review has criticised leadership at two NHS trusts in Hull and North Lincs. It said: - There was “inadequate rigour in the management of never events" - patient safety risks “normalised over time" - Culture described as “them and us” - Board is "fragmented"

A senior MP has called an investigation into a £300k exit payment to an ex-integrated care board CEO. Clive Betts and Lord Blunkett have also raised concerns over South Yorkshire ICB's restructuring exercise. w/ Annabelle Collins

NHS England executive Glen Burley said today that plans for 1k extra medical training places would "not be moving forward" This would be a significant development as training posts are meant to be filled from August - not mentioned by Wes Streeting in his statement earlier...

War of words as NHS boss accuses BMA of timing strikes to cause "maximum harm" Glen Burley also said he was "really shocked" the govt offer had not been put to resident doctors for a vote, and said a planned expansion of 1,000 training posts would now not go ahead.

Bosses at NHS South Yorkshire have reopened a consultation on restructuring following concerns raised by unions They say “other ICBs are in a similar space" - are more set to follow?

"What performance improvements? Where the heck are they? Can you see them?" www.hsj.co.uk/emergency-ca...

Key NHS supplier down to two weeks' stock following Iran-linked cyber attack from @jackserle.bsky.social www.hsj.co.uk/technology-a...

Fascinated to see who the "NHS officials" Farage has promised for his shadow cabinet turn out to be

In more positive news, it looks like York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals has started to turn a corner (despite financial and other challenges) - one of the most improved trusts on % of staff recommending it as a place to work

Just 24% of staff at Humber and North Yorkshire ICB would recommend their organisation as a place to work - one of the lowest in the country. Last year was a tough one, with major leadership turnover on top of the cuts other organisations are going through

Interesting comment on story by @jamesillman.bsky.social that highlights the human cost of a push for productivity that is focused on sweating existing assets (as opposed to investing in processes and removing bottlenecks).

"Doctor, I have trouble sleeping." "Go and see the great singer Morrissey, you'll be asleep in no time." "But Doctor..."

Number 10 / Treasury / DHSC clearly staking everything on delivering fairly small improvements in elective waiting list (which actually doesn't even cover all physical health care) Risk is other services continue to decline or don't improve www.hsj.co.uk/mental-healt...

Undoubtedly positive news, but at this rate it will take *25 years* for the elective waiting list to be eliminated Huge numbers of people waiting for care is now normalised and not going to go away anytime soon

It's small change in the NHS, but Wes Streeting claimed the Further Faster 20 programme (to boost elective work in economically deprived areas) brought success "without spending more in those trusts". Yet NHS England's evaluation of the scheme says it cost £1.2m 🤔

News from NHS in Hull and Northern Lincs: - Group model between two trusts became "de-facto merger" and brought problems, says interim CEO - New chair appointed - Two more non-execs leave trusts www.hsj.co.uk/hull-univers...

Powerful article and comments sharing experiences of anti-semitism in the NHS www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/hi...

Baroness Casey (leading review of social care) says system needs reforms "equivalent to Beveridge" in 1948. With health (particularly electives) the big priority and budgets tight, is govt really going to go for radical reform a few years out from general election? www.hsj.co.uk/policy-and-r...

After four months travelling around Asia, I'm back in Merrie England and back to work. Thanks to @zoetidman.bsky.social for holding the finance fort on HSJ news. Pls get in touch with tips / coffee requests / ideas for what I should be looking into!

One of the government's plans for the NHS is "left shift", taking services from hospitals and placing them in the community. Closer to the residents, more responsive to their needs, cheaper, and faster services. What's not to like? This is not as easy as some think. A short thread: 1/

Speaking to HSJ, the NHS's finance boss has set out first steps to a "much fairer" financial system: - Deficit support to be phased out in three years for most providers - Funding to move back to "fair shares" in same timeline - Allocations issued on a three-year basis www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-...

Great to host this week's HSJ podcast speaking to @hsjeditor.bsky.social about Labour's "chaotic" first year for health policy and their big bet that patient power will (somehow) save the NHS: open.spotify.com/episode/3NDb...

Two hospital trusts brought in a HR firm to investigate the behaviour of their chair and CEO: www.hsj.co.uk/hull-univers...