This is very worrying - East Kent is a trust under unbelievable pressure and things are going wrong. www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

Oh how sad........<smiley face emoji>

Rising fuel prices are a signal that supply is constricted, compared with demand. So why are nearly all parties saying the answer is to subsidise prices so that damand remains high? (I know some people say they can't cut back use but most of us can, given the right prie signals).

Intrigued by NHS bodies which publish press releases on their websites but refuse to send them out to journalists. But infuriated by those that normally send them out on everything under the sun but have recently not sent out those about major board changes including resignations.

Seeing a lot of staff announcing their last day/s working for the NHS on LinkedIn today. Expertise and organisational memory being lost and large sums in redundancy being paid out. I wonder how long it will be until the NHS realises it needed them?

And works in Kent and Medway.....

Love teh way the woman are all being squeezed out by the bros

If you have to cycle behind a bus - as I end up doing regularly - you really notice the difference between one of these and older diesel ones.

Bold move which comes after decades of newspapers moving out of high street offices in favour of out-of-town hubs and working from home.

It's far more concenring that people who have not lived in the UK for years are allowed to vote. PS limiting voting rights to British citizens will really hack off the Irish.

Using the taxes paid by those who remained here.

At @stcatz for a course. I wonder if @duncanrobertson.bsky.social is around?

How many other constutuencies have demographics like Gorton and Denton - large Muslim minority plus significant number of students and youngish grads but also white working class - and where are they? Does East Oxford look like one of them?

The collapse in recruitment of nurses from overseas laid bare.

What's happening with the Amos review? Here's the HSJ podcast with Annabelle Collins, @emilyltownsend.bsky.social and myself talking about progress so far... www.hsj.co.uk/hsj-health-c...

Are you Cyclox' new treasurer? Could you volunteer with our team of friendly trustees? We're not looking for an accountant, just someone with a head for figures who wants to see more people cycling more often and more safely in Oxford, more info here www.cyclox.org/index.php/wo...

Currently waiting for a fourth date for Thames Water to install a meter - 3 attempts failed because the engineers had not been informed it was external to the hosue and required digging. Unbelievably inefficient organisation.

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Is the gov about to drop the commitment to 15K medical students by 2031-32? Many people believe so - and the numbers are already below trajectory unless additional international students are counted. My piece for the BMJ www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils

Odd point about the ICO: it asks if it can share your arguments for release of info with the public body which is refusing to release it. But it won't share their arguments with you. Not a level playing field?

We will penalise women who don't have <more> children is one of the most chilling statements I have ever heard from a politician.

Forget the successive govs hype about investment in more ambulances - many trusts are not able to replace an ageing fleet within their own target times and are seeing greater downtime as existing ambulances need repairs/maintenance www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

FFS - does this mean the opening of the service is being pushed back further? What is it with Oxford and rail infrastructure - a key bridge closure for rail improvements has cut the city in half since 2023 and now this?

This is undoubtedly the right decision: Medway needs a CEO who can concentrate on its problems and not havew to worry about another trust. Brave to make that decision though...https://www.hsj.co.uk/leadership/trusts-pause-shared-ceo-plan/7041062.article

Didn't realise it was April already.

Do I smell toast?

Enjoyed H is for Hawk but a little surprised that Cambridge gives research fellows nice spacious houses in the middle of the city......

Is it appropriate that councils should spend council tax monies on promoting the local government reconfiguration they want to see (which usually involves more power for them)?

If Nipah spread more easily between people, we would have a major problem....if nothing else, this is a reminder of how a few mutations could lead to a pandemic.

An astonishing amount to overspend by (or be underfunded by?). Things are really beginning to come out of the woodwork as we get toards year end. A lot of cost improvment programmes are backweighted so the failure to achieve them is becoming clea. www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-...

Could we see a major shake up in how ambulance trusts are measured? AACE wants to see outcome indicators given more of a role rather than simply response times, as ambulance crew and control room staff increasingly do more than just taking people to A&E. www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

Interesting position in Oxfordshiure where local media reported on a politician's arrest after allegations of coercive behaviour. Police have dropped the case - no charge. But potentially he could have a privacy case against the media for naming him....will he pursue it?

Oxford dodged a bullet when it failed to elect Mandelson as Chancellor (he came fourth)

If this is the case, America is in a very dark place indeed.

My daughter, a resident doctor with a worsening condition which has not responded to self-care and an initial telephone consultation with a GP and prescription, has just been told she can't see a GP - it has to be a "physician associate who can do everything a doctor can."

From me this morning: independent provider of ADHD services suspended over concerns. It says they relate to an administrative issue at Companies House: the ICBs seem to think otherwise. www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

Crumbs. This is a heck of a story for a student newspaper to uncover and be bold enough to publish. cherwell.org/2026/01/21/o...

Handover times for ambulances stuck outside hospitals gradually moved back to normal last week - they had been very high the week before. But some notable patches of poor performance - East of England, parts of the Midlands and RUH in Bath.

Three Kent trusts in this list of savings plans for 2025-26. A lot of people would say this level of savings is not achievable without very significant changes to services/workforce/processes - can that be achieved?.

Wasn't aware of this campaign but I am sure it will resonate with many ambulance staff. Issue is the same issues of pressure and manual work probably apply to many NHS staff.who would also like to retire early. www.unison.org.uk/our-campaign...

A major story from me this afternoon - a medical director sacked (a rate event) after "irreparable breakdown" in relationships, www.hsj.co.uk/leadership/d...

Used several sites with multi-actor authentication today - mostly with a code sent to my phone which often has to be used within a few minutes (5 in some cases). I just wonder how older, less digital literate, people, potentially with poor sight, manage this without getting timed out?

Today I am off to a study afternoon about John Locke, who developed the idea of a social contract between citizen and state. How this plays out in relation to the NHS and other services seems to me to be key: people give up something (mainly money) in return for healthcare etc. Bur are we at a 1/2

It will not surprise you to learn that Toby Youngs 'Free Speech Union' has obtained a High Court injunction banning the publication of a list of its donors open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

The number of times I have read this as Al Murray......

Once in a while you wonder what is really going on in the NHS.

This was incredibly sad....

This is a fascinating graph: ambulance trusts are managing to increase the % of hear and treat cases but this seems to be partly replacement of see and treat. However, the % taken to A&E is slowly declining - great news for pressurised A&Es!.

December was a mixede mnth for ambulance trusts - response times were generally a bit worse but against the backdrop of the highest every number of incidents per day. But good performance on hear and treat and relatively low percentage of patients taken to A&E. Handover times creeping up though....