Health and care sector latest developments
Health secretary condemns latest strike plans
Health secretary, Wes Streeting, has condemned the British Medical Association's (BMA) plans for another resident doctors' strike in April, calling it ‘enormously disappointing for NHS patients and staff’ that the union rejected the government’s latest offer.
The government said that a new deal was put to the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC), which would have reformed the pay structure, ‘baked in’ pay rises over three years, and expanded specialty training places.
Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Streeting urged the RDC to reconsider, and he pledged to meet again with their officer. He said the BMA has until next Thursday to reconsider, after when the government’s focus will turn to minimising the impact of strikes.
Meanwhile, NHS England chief executive, Sir Jim Mackey, has warned that the health service is set for a ‘long distance’ run of industrial action following the latest announcement.
Government rolling out first 27 neighbourhood health centres
The government has announced that it is rolling out the first 27 neighbourhood health centres to bring more services into the community.
According to ministers, patients will immediately be able to access a greater range of health services from these centres - all under one roof and closer to their homes - including urgent treatment, GP and pharmacy services.
Eventually, the centres, which are intended to open by 2027, will include wider services like debt advice, employment and family support and other voluntary sector support, and will be open 12 hours a day, six days a week.
The government has pledged to open 250 neighbourhood health centres by 2036, with the first 120 open by 2030.
Ruth Rankine, director of primary care and neighbourhood health at the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers (which will become the NHS Alliance from April), said ‘the creation of a neighbourhood health service has the potential to further empower the NHS to deliver truly patient‑first, joined‑up care’ and she called for ‘innovative use of existing estate across the NHS and local authorities (which) will be essential to delivering neighbourhood‑based services and ensuring that people can access the support they need closer to home’.
Streeting says ICBs should ‘take a bit longer’ to get reorganisation right
Wes Streeting has said that the rationalising and refocusing of integrated care boards has not gone smoothly, and that ‘taking a bit longer to get it right (is) a good thing’.
The health secretary added that cutting ICBs’ staffing costs in half was ‘the right thing to do’, but that he was ‘not indifferent to the fact that this is having an impact on people and their jobs and livelihoods’, or that it was asking ‘a lot’ of ICB leaders.
His comments came during an interview with the Health Service Journal in which he also spokeabout the government’s announcement that the next chairs of Manchester and South Yorkshire integrated care boards would also act as ‘health commissioners’, reporting ‘directly’ to the elected mayors Andy Burnham and Oliver Coppard.
He said that the approach will be the first strand of ‘two theories of change that I want to put to the test’. The other is the roll-out of integrated health organisations, which will see NHS organisations take charge of ‘health budgets for a whole place’.
Mr Streeting added: “The virtue of what we’re doing is we’ll be able to see which model works more effectively, or indeed, whether both work, or indeed whether we find we may need to refine and neither work, which I hope is not the case.”
NHS England reports record GP access figures
Figures published today show that 83 million online consultation requests were made over the last 12 months.
In February alone, there was a record 8.6 million online consultation submissions – up 85 per cent on February 2025.
Meanwhile, GP teams carried out a record 388 million appointments in the last year – up 8.3 million on the previous year.
Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care and community services at NHS England, said ‘GP teams are working harder than ever’ and that ‘increasing online access is helping get rid of that 8am scramble.’
GP backlash over contract reforms
An overwhelming majority of GPs in England voted against new contract changes, with the BMA urging the government to reopen negotiations rather than impose reforms.
Doctors argue that the proposals would significantly increase workload without sufficient funding, forcing practices to handle more demand.
The BMA claim that this reflects wider pressure in primary care, including workforce losses and dissatisfaction with pay, with GP leaders now considering further action in response.
Pharmacy staff facing ‘escalating abuse’ from patients
A new survey by Community Pharmacy England has revealed that pharmacy staff across the UK are enduring ‘escalating abuse’ from patients, including verbal assaults, racist attacks and physical violence.
The survey of more than 3,000 pharmacy premises found that 55 per cent of pharmacies had experienced verbal abuse in the preceding six months, with 75 per cent of those experiencing it at least weekly, 21 per cent reporting it as a daily occurrence.
6 per cent of pharmacies reported physical assaults in the preceding six months, ranging from strangulation, pushing, punching, objects being thrown to attacks after closing time.
Doctors waiting on asylum decisions can work in NHS
Doctors waiting for asylum decisions will now be able to work in the NHS while they wait for the outcome of their case after the Home Office lifted a ban.
It follows a high court challenge by two specialist doctors – a radiologist and a neuro-rehabilitation specialist – who had the relevant qualifications to work for the NHS but were prevented from taking up work opportunities.
The change comes into force today (Thursday).
