Health and care sector latest developments

New GP contract to be unveiled this week 

The 2026/27 GP contract will be unveiled this week. 

As part of the new contract, additional support will be provided to strengthen vaccination delivery, as the government aims to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, such as the current measles outbreak in Enfield. 

Ruth Rankine, director of the primary care network and neighbourhood lead at the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, welcomed the announcement as a ‘fair and supportive approach for general practice’ and said that ‘primary care leaders are committed to working with communities to reduce inequalities in vaccination coverage and protect more children from life-threatening illnesses’. 

GPs will also be required to share data with the Lung Cancer Screening Programme. Care minister, Stephen Kinnock, has said that this would lead to an additional 50,000 cancers being detected by 2035. 

PM urged by allies to sack health secretary as part of No. 10 reset 

Allies of Sir Keir Starmer have said that the health secretary, Wes Streeting, should be sacked as part of a reset in Downing Street. 

It has been reported that Mr Streeting is becoming increasingly unpopular with government colleagues following months of briefing wars with No. 10, as one source called the situation ‘clearly unsustainable’.

Government pledges to improve outcomes for children with SEND 

The government has announced ‘generational reforms’ that it says will improve outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). 

Currently, over 70 per cent of children in England’s schools with additional needs, more than a million, don’t have any legally enforceable rights. However, in a radical expansion in rights and support for every child, there will be a new legal requirement for schools to create individual support plans (ISPs) for all children with SEND. 

Every ISP will draw from a national framework of high-quality interventions that lead to the best education and life chances, personalised by the teachers and specialists who know children best. 

The reforms are part of the new schools white paper which was the subject of a ministerial statement in the House of Commons this afternoon, a transcript of which will be available on the parliament.uk website later this evening. 

Education, health and care plans (EHCPs) will be retained and improved under the plans, offering a wider legal entitlement beyond the ISP to more intensive or complex support than schools can routinely provide. 

Government promises patients better access to NHS dentistry 

The government has said that it is on track to deliver millions more dental appointments this year, with 1.8 million additional treatments already delivered in just seven months. 

Ruth Rankine, director of the primary care network and neighbourhood lead at the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, welcomed the news, describing it as ‘an important step forward’. She also called for the designing of contracts and care pathways that ‘prioritise prevention and enable earlier intervention, helping to reduce the escalation of dental disease and support more sustainable services for patients and the NHS’. 

Health secretary to meet families affected by Leeds maternity deaths 

Health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said that he takes the concerns of bereaved families ‘extremely seriously’ after acknowledging trust had been ‘damaged’ around a promised Leeds maternity care inquiry. 

He announced the investigation into Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in October, after a BBC investigation revealed that the deaths of at least 56 babies over the past five years may have been prevented. 

However, nobody has yet been appointed to chair the inquiry. 

At the time of writing, Mr Streeting was expected to meet some of families affected by the deaths on Monday afternoon. 

Care minister reaffirms care funding boost and new tobacco curbs 

In a statement today, care minister, Stephen Kinnock, reiterated plans to strengthen social care support and extend tobacco controls. 

He confirmed that from April 2026, adult social care allowances will rise with inflation, while the minimum income guarantee for working age adults will increase above inflation for the first time in over a decade, delivering a cash boost to many disabled people. 

Mr Kinnock said the uplift would ensure people ‘retain sufficient income to cover essential living costs’, and form part of efforts to build a ‘stronger, fairer national care service’. He also confirmed £723 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant in 2026-27, alongside reforms to distribute funding more fairly between councils. 

Mr Kinnock also spoke on the launch of consultation on extending smoke-free laws to certain outdoor areas, arguing that smoking remains the ‘number one preventable cause of death’ and signalling further regulatory steps later in this parliament. 

RCGP and Patients Association urge end to ‘NHS maze’ 

The Royal College of General Practitioners and Patients Association have argued that the NHS is too complex to navigate, calling for clearer information, better designed care pathways and systems that let patients track referrals and access their own records. 

GPs report heavy time spent on bureaucracy and chasing referrals due to poor IT links between services, reducing time for clinical care, while many patients face communication failures and uncertainty about waiting times. 

The groups warn that there are too few GPs to ensure timely, continuous care and urge the government to deliver funded plans to recruit, retain and properly support more family doctors. 

Public inquiry into 2023 Nottingham attacks begins 

Formal hearings have begun in the public inquiry into the 2023 Nottingham attacks, which tragically claimed the lives of three people and left three others seriously injured in Nottingham city centre. 

The inquiry is chaired by Her Honour Deborah Taylor and is expected to continue until early June. 

Puberty blockers trial paused 

The Puberty Suppression and Transitional Healthcare with Adaptive Youth Services (PATHWAYS) trial exploring the use of puberty blockers by young people with gender incongruence has been paused after concerns were raised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). 

NHS Confederation publishes report on neighbourhood health centres 

The NHS Confederation has today published a report in conjunction with Community Health Partnerships titled Accelerating Estate Solutions for Neighbourhood Health Centre Delivery. 

The report contains a number of recommendations for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and highlights several national levers that could be used to accelerate successful delivery of NHCs through use of the existing estate. 

It also features a number of case studies showcasing successful approaches to optimising estates and highlights the need for strategic alignment between service redesign and estate planning, supported by flexible funding models and strong local partnerships. 

You can read the report in full on the NHS Confederation website.