This - from my story in the HSJ this morning - is horrifying beyond belief. There seems to be growing concern at national level about the disruption that an EPR installation can bring - especially at times when trusts are already under severe pressure from increased demand. .

We have the first week of "sits rep " reporting - 9580 ambulances waiting over an hour for handover last week. I think that is about a third down on the previous year's first week of reporting. Some very worrying long waits in the West Midlands and also East of England.

Advert out for the group chair of SCAS/SECAmb - the first ambulance group. Anyone fancy a punt?

So the flu peak was very temporary. Test numbers say influenza in the UK has just jumped back into huge growth this week: +76% up. Sustained, that would be very bad news. Measles cases have suddenly stepped up too. Don't like either of those. www.gov.uk/government/p...

What happened to the prospect of a multi-year pay agreement between the BMA and government? That seemed to be on the table in September but was it spiked by the Treasury? Frankly, it's one of the few ways out of an increasingly bitter dispute. www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/ex...

The tension in NHS policies laid bare: provider has capacity to treat more patients and reduce waiting lists/time but ICB does not have the money to commission more work. DHSC silent. www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-...

This was very much the basis of a talk @torstenbell.bsky.social gave at Mansfield College, Oxford, on Friday night - he used some of the same charts and examples. It was well-communicated and he was passionate about inequalities - why can't politicians talk like that all the time?

Yes, like LOUVRE

Downturn in performance = upturn in average response time!

Downturn in amb response times last month - not unusual for October but I would be surprised if the sector met the gov's 30 min target for category calls this year. Oct's performance was 32m 37s and year to date is now 29m 11s. This is a graph of performance since April 2023

My interview with NHS Providers CEO Daniel Elkeles for Healthcare Manager - he's optmistic about the NHS (at least in the medium term) but his members are very worried about strikes.

I saw The Choral last night. Underneath the humour, it's a very poignant portrayal of what happens to communities when large numbers of young men go off to war.

This morning's bike ride to the swimming pool was by the light of the beaver supermoon. No beavers on my part of the Thames, sadly.

This is a profoundly stupid idea if you want people to swap to electric cars. They already pay more to buy or lease one than a petrol car and road tax has recently been introduced for them. This is incentivising people to do the wrong thing (agree electric cars not perfect).

A new era starts for Oxford today with a congestion charge on 6 main routes, mainly around the city centre. The misinformation around it - and the animosity shown towards councillors who support it - has been remarkable.

Very quick update on Covid in England from latest UKHSA hospital data. Looks like current Covid wave *might* have peaked, and also that flu season is starting a little earlier than normal. If you can get vaxxed for either, I'd do it! christinapagel.substack.com/p/very-quick...

Come and join us! Being a trustee is very rewarding and you can help shape a better future for cyclists in Oxford.

Pausing this support until the Amos review is puiblished feels like a rolling back if the Ockenden recommenations for maternity...some ring-fenced training monies already lost. www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

Hopefully some of these councillors will now question the sincerity and motivations of those who told them that. You don't need much familiarity with local gov to know it has been cut to the bone over the last few years.

Eligibility for an NHS Covid booster has been HUGELY restricted this Autumn. Studies show that both acute & long-term impacts of Covid are substantially WORSE than flu on almost every measure. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... So why are the government offering so much LESS protection for Covid?

Probably not a surprise, as many pets will spend more time outside than theor owners, but adds weight to the case for reducing pollution at source.

So far as I can tell, to-date she is the only HSJ contributor to be made Archbishop of Canterbury.

Meanwhile no passenger trains run on the completed rail link between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

We are just rewriting our surgery timetable, cancelling GP F2F appts so we can process all the requests that come in online - because our contract now demands we keep online access open all of core hours. This is silly and inefficient and means we will offer a worse service to pts who needs us most.

I've written a bit recently on the slow roll out of thrombectomy and some of the inequalities arising. Here's a BMJ paper which looks at some of the underlyign causes.

Need to improve train links from Heyford Park as a priority. Heyford station has one train an hour and apparently none on Sunday.

Any lawyers working in NHS trusts out there? Would you be happy to have a quick chat about the proposed Hillsborough Law and how it might affect you? Can be anonymous. I'm on [email protected] Thanks!

I asked an ICB which had refused to release info under the FoI but did not appear to have applied the public interest test for evidence of when this test was applied. This is what they said. There is, basically, no evidence. @mrosenbaum.bsky.social

Can't vouch for the veracity of this (as was second hand from facebook) but worth thinking about what the march in London 10 days ago must have felt like for NHS staff.

Ahead of the announcements about which trusts will be in the Amos maternity review, I wonder how many of these will feature? All had higher than expected neonatal deaths/stillbirths over the last few years (details from MBRRACE)

Some typos are worse than others….

Whoops...the man who has just funded a new centre for the humanities in Oxford. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Anyone going to the emergency services show next Wednesday and fancy a coffee and chat? Drop me a line!

A very concerning story - just what priority is given to mental health in the NHS at the moment? www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/ex...

Oxford congestion charge, clean air, less noise, faster bus journeys...what's not to like? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You know the govt's "landmark NHS league tables" are next to useless when North Bristol trust could be ranked anywhere between 11th and 107th "best" performing trust in the country

It's also full of vague, unsubstantiated claims about safety. I don't think this adds anything to the debate about how we fulfil our duties to both asylum seekers and local communities.

Could a deal with resident doctors be on the cards? A multi-year deal might escape the Treasuty's ire but resident doctros would want certainty about some level of pay restoration.

Sounds as if the GMC are still pursing this case? @drrachelclarke.com www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We're recruiting for an Operations and Infrastructure lead. This could be you if you're the kind of person who cares about sustainable travel (and particularly cycling) in Oxford and is keen to support the running of Cyclox so we can be even more effective. www.cyclox.org/index.php/wo...

Hey everyone - are you / do you know a budding or early career *freelance journalist*?? I'm offering 8 *free* calls with folks during Sept / Oct to share my experiences and advice on how to make freelance journalism work professionally. Contact me if you're interested. First come, first served.

The letter raises deep concerns about the rise in hostility towards people seeking asylum in the county. It condemns the use of dehumanising language and the intimidation faced by asylum seekers living in local hotels.👇

What was going on here? It is profoundly strange - are the parents paying for this service and what sort of access was she allowed to the maternity/neonatal wards before restrictions were introduced? And does she need help herself? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Having seen the draft terms of reference for the national investigation into maternity services, I'm now convinced it looks like a year's work, not four months.

Very pleased to have been shortlisted for an award

I have so many questions....why has it taken this long to appoint a chair and how long will it take for her to appoint her team and identify the "up to 10 trusts" to face investigations? How will she choose? What can realistically be delivered "by December"?

What possible good will come of this? I get the concern about misinformation in a small number of cases but police will be pressured to release details in every high profile case. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Shocking story from my colleague Matt Mathers. This should give pause for thought among those who have opposed further centralisation of paediatric cardiac surgery. Small units look very vulnerable.

I'm wondering whether these patients were automatically removed from the waiting list after 180 days if an appt date had not been given: a policy devised when waits of many months were rare & patients without a confirmed date were assumed to be a mistake in inputting.

A neighbour alerted me to this: if you are concerned about what has happened to medical services in Gaza, help bring exceptional medical students to Oxford for short courses designed to boost their knowledge and skills. But it needs funding.