Health and care sector latest developments
Home secretary signals backing for assisted dying law change
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has signalled her backing for proposals to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people ahead of a Commons vote next week.
The Standard has reported that she was in favour of the ‘principle of needing change’ to the law and pointed to her previous support for different but similar draft legislation when it came before parliament several years ago.
It comes after care minister Stephen Kinnock confirmed he would back Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on November 29.
Worst trusts on A&E experience revealed by CQC
A Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey published this week has identified the trusts where the most patients report a bad experience in A&E.
According to the Health Service Journal, the CQC surveyed more than 45,500 people who used NHS urgent and emergency care services in 2024.
It found that while many were broadly positive about their interactions with staff, there were often complaints of long waits for assessment, and some patients were not given enough help to manage their pain or control symptoms.
The survey identified six acute providers that achieved ‘worse’ or ‘much worse than expected’ results when compared with all other trusts across the full range of survey questions. Even these did have more areas where patients were ‘positive’ than those which were negative, however.
Experts hired to review service with huge waits
NHS England has named 11 members of an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce, eight months after it first announced the group.
The Health Service Journal said people are facing waits of several years for diagnosis and treatment for ADHD, amid a steep rise in awareness and demand, and staff shortages. It is also placing major pressures on the education and care systems, and there are medication shortages.
The taskforce will be chaired by Professor Anita Thapar, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a clinician scientist and a professor at Cardiff University, who was previously announced as co-chair.
Notably, there are currently no council, education or wider national government representatives on the taskforce, but NHSE said it would be working closely with a new Department for Education “neurodivergence task and finish group”. It also said someone from the education sector would be appointed shortly.
NI rise ‘will wipe out budget increase for care homes’
The Daily Telegraph has reported that the National Insurance (NI) rise will wipe out any budget increase for care homes, according to an analysis by Nuffield Trust.
Experts warned of ‘catastrophic’ consequences, with homes increasingly going bust or putting up their fees because of the extra costs they face.
The analysis by the Nuffield Trust found that the extra NI contributions for employers set out in the Budget will cost the adult social care sector more than £900 million next year. The figure dwarfs the £600 million extra promised to local authorities for social care.
Regional director told to ‘rehabilitate’ Letby trust chief executive
Lyn Simpson, the senior manager in charge of finding a new role for the chief executive of the trust where Lucy Letby worked, has said she was “disappointed” not to be told of the full reasons behind the move.
The Health Service Journal said that Simpson was NHS Improvement’s regional director for the north of England at the time when concerns about baby deaths were being raised at the Countess of Chester Hospital (COCH), and later were being investigated by the police.
Yesterday, she told the Thirlwall public inquiry into the Letby murders that she was not given enough information about the problems at the trust when she was asked to arrange for the then-COCH chief executive Tony Chambers to be moved elsewhere.
