Health and care sector latest developments

Government to end cancer postcode lottery for patients

The government has set out plans for cancer specialists to be trained in rural and coastal areas, as it aims to end the postcode lottery in cancer care.

This announcement, being made in advance of next month's National Cancer Plan, also sets out changes to how new tests, devices, and digital tools are approved for use on the NHS.

In terms of plans for training, the government has pledged to work with the Royal Colleges to boost doctors specialising in clinical and medical oncology.

Meanwhile, cancer diagnostic tools will, from April 2027, go through the same approval processes as medicines, meaning they will be used in the NHS sooner.

The health secretary emphasised that he was ‘determined to end the health inequalities that have grown across England over the last 15 years.’

Presenteeism failing the NHS, finds BMA

A silent epidemic of presenteeism and burnout is undermining the NHS and putting doctors’ health and wellbeing at risk, a study by the BMA warns. 

Fear of letting down colleagues or patients and concerns with discrimination or unfair treatment are among the factors driving many doctors to continue working at the expense of their own health, an association survey of more than 3,500 doctors and medical students finds. 

The findings, which can be found in the report The Cost of Carrying On published today, highlight the shocking scale to which presenteeism is jeopardising medical staff’s wellbeing and potentially undermining patient care.

ADHD waiting lists ‘clogged by patients returning from private care to NHS’

NHS trusts report growing numbers of patients returning from private ADHD services to NHS care after treatment stalls, often because private providers cannot meet clinical standards or support ongoing prescribing.

As The Guardian notes, this is lengthening NHS waiting lists, reducing capacity for new cases, and causing treatment gaps, with some patients facing high private prescription costs or sudden withdrawal of medication.

The issue reflects wider system strain, with record demand for ADHD assessments, heavy reliance on private providers through the right to choose pathway, and concerns about limited regulation and fragmented care.

Breakthrough for prostate cancer patients as NHS now offers life-extending drug

Thousands of men in England living with advanced prostate cancer are poised to benefit from a new life-extending drug, talazoparib, which has been approved for NHS use.

The Independent has reported that the once-daily pill, with its brand name Talzenna and produced by Pfizer, offers a crucial at-home treatment option after receiving a recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

This medication is prescribed for individuals whose cancer has spread and is taken in combination with enzalutamide, another tablet that works by blocking the impact of testosterone on prostate cancer cells.

UK grapples with widespread aspirin shortage as medicine added to export ban list

Britain is grappling with widespread shortages of aspirin, a vital medication for preventing strokes and heart attacks in vulnerable patients. The government has responded by adding aspirin to its export ban list, aiming to safeguard supplies for UK patients, with manufacturing delays cited as a primary cause.

Both the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), representing approximately 6,000 pharmacies, and the Independent Pharmacies Association, with over 5,000 members, report significant difficulties in sourcing the drug.

The NPA confirmed that pharmacists across the UK are being forced to tightly ration existing stock, prioritising patients with the most severe heart conditions or those requiring emergency prescriptions.

High risk service paused dozens of times at ‘inadequate’ unit

A service offering elective caesarean sections for women considered ‘high risk’ and unable to labour was paused 32 times, according to inspectors who have rated the department ‘inadequate’ for the second time in a row.

Maternity care at Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trust, which offers services across Luton and Dunstable and Bedford hospitals, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission in June and July last year.

Inspectors said in a report published today that many services were being paused or altered due to ‘staff shortages’, including elective caesarean sections at Bedford Hospital being paused on several occasions in the six months to June 2025.

Another ICB CEO announces departure

The leadership of another integrated care board has been thrown into doubt after its CEO unexpectedly announced he is leaving next week.

Staff at Devon ICB were told in an email today that chief executive Steve Moore will step down in a week.

HSJ reported in the summer that Mr Moore was expected to be appointed as CEO of the Cornwall and Devon ICB cluster before Cornwall and Isles of Scilly CEO Kate Shields left in September.

However, no formal appointment had been made, and today’s staff email said the ICB would now work with NHS England to ‘initiate the process for appointing an interim, and then permanent successor, leading to the appointment of our Cornwall & Isles of Scilly and Devon cluster CEO’.

It means that 11 CEOs across 42 ICBs have announced their departures during the past year, excluding those whose roles have been replaced through clustering – including half a dozen in the past few months.

Hospitals face ‘catastrophic’ threat from losing resident doctors

A rural hospital trust is worried about a ‘catastrophic effect’ on its staffing from the possibility of NHS England withdrawing its resident doctors.

According to the HSJ, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Foundation Trust’s board was warned of the threat last month, triggered by regulatory concerns about support for the trainees.

A report from its workforce, education and culture committee said it had ‘minimal assurance’ that it would improve, with a warning the hospitals would need to ‘do something radical to support resident doctors’.

National maternity review will not ‘sideline’ Nottingham probe, pledges chair

The high-profile chair of a major maternity review into care failures in Nottingham has pledged to ensure its results ‘will not be sidelined’ by the government’s national investigation.

Concerns Donna Ockenden’s findings could be sidelined, followed ministers announcing in September that the national maternity review’s recommendations would ‘supersede the multiple existing actions and recommendations already in place’.

While Ms Ockenden’s Nottingham University Hospitals Trust inquiry began in 2022, it is not due to report until June. And a spokesman for the Nottingham families told HSJ this week that they had heard ‘credible rumours of an attempt to minimise and overshadow’ the review.

The government’s national review, led by Baroness Valerie Amos – which this week published a call for evidence – is due in the spring.