Health and care sector latest developments
Government says half a million appointments and operations saved by ending resident doctor strikes
An estimated half a million appointments and operations avoided being cancelled in the second half of last year, according to the government, as a result of resident doctor strikes being resolved within four weeks of the general election.
Figures showed that more than 500,000 appointments and operations were cancelled and rescheduled between July 2023 and February 2024 during periods of strike action, adding an extra 140,000 to waiting lists.
Since July, over two million extra appointments have been delivered – seven months early – and the waiting list slashed by 193,000.
Through its recently published Elective Reform Plan, the government says that patients will begin to have more control over their care, ‘to end the needless suffering of those stuck on a waiting list.’
Over half a million hospital beds taken up by patients with seasonal viruses this winter
NHS data has shown that almost 600,000 beds were taken up by patients with COVID-19, flu, RSV or norovirus this winter (594,937 from 25 November 2024 – 30 March 2025).
Figures also revealed that COVID-19 cases in hospitals last week jumped to the highest level this year – there were 1,174 patients in hospital with COVID last week, the highest number since December and up by 11.9 per cent on the week before.
Hospital capacity remains constrained, with 94.1 per cent of adult beds occupied and a total of 90,475 adult patients in hospital each day.
Also this winter, there were more than 1.6 million NHS bed days lost to patients who were medically fit to leave hospital.
Emergency services continue to respond to high levels of demand with 94,578 ambulance handovers last week, although time lost to ambulance handover delays was down 13 per cent on the same period last year (16,205 hours vs 18,628).
Doctors urge government to fight poverty after rise in patients with Victorian diseases
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has urged the government to do more to fight poverty, as doctors reported a rise in the number of patients with Victorian diseases such as scabies.
A survey of 882 doctors by the RCP found 89 per cent were concerned about the impact of health inequalities on their patients, while 72 per cent had seen more patients in the past three months with illnesses related to poor-quality housing, air pollution and access to transport.
46 per cent of respondents to the survey said that at least half of their workload involved illnesses linked to social factors.
People with mental health issues still not getting the support they need – CQC
People are waiting too long for mental health care and not able to access the care they need when they need it, a survey from the CQC has revealed.
The survey of more than 14,000 people who accessed community mental health services found that four-in-ten people are waiting too long for care.
A third of people waited three months or more for their first treatment and four-in-ten people said they did not receive any support while they waited.
42 per cent of people said their mental health deteriorated while waiting for care. While this is a slight reduction from last year (44 per cent in 2023), this still means nearly half of people reported becoming more unwell while waiting for care. And people who waited longer were more likely to report that their mental health got worse (71 per cent for those who waited more than six months).
£150 million ‘wasted’ planning for ‘paused’ new hospitals
More than £150million spent planning ‘new hospital’ projects which are now in the long grass may need to be written off, according to the HSJ, which has obtained estimates of the financial impact of the major delays announced early this year to the building timetables of 18 projects.
The ‘potential impairment costs’ totalled at least £154 million in these early estimates, which have been submitted to the New Hospital Programme, and were released via Freedom of Information requests.
It includes spending on planning and preparatory work – such as business cases, consultancy and architects – which is no longer required, often because the work will need to be redone or is now redundant.
The largest figure was £35 million from Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, which said it covered planning, preparatory and enabling works. It was followed by University Hospitals of Leicester Trust with £24 million and Barts Health Trust with at least £16 million.
GPs struggling with missing pension data, BMA finds
The British Medical Association has found that over 56 per cent of GPs in England are missing crucial pension records, with nearly 19,000 GPs affected, making it impossible for them to plan their workloads or retirement effectively.
The missing data is causing significant mental and emotional stress for GPs, with 40 per cent of those surveyed reporting negative impacts on their health, and a third speaking of their decline in job performance due to pension uncertainties.
The BMA has criticised the failures of NHSBSA and PCSE in keeping pension records up to date, urging NHS England to personally contact affected GPs and fix the issues with the pension portal to prevent future problems.
New chair for NHS Confederation’s Primary Care Network
Dr Duncan Gooch has been appointed as the new chair of the NHS Confederation’s Primary Care Network.
Dr Gooch is a GP and clinical director of Erewash Health Partnership, a consortium of practices that provides healthcare services to more than 100,000 people in Derbyshire. He has sat on the Primary Care Network’s advisory group since June 2024.
The appointment comes after previous chair Professor Aruna Garcea’s appointment to a role in University of Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust.
Dr Gooch said that he is ‘honoured and excited to take forward and represent the wonderful leadership of our members at such an important time in the health and care system.’
Last-minute ICS bailouts ‘fuel distrust with NHS England’
The HSJ is reporting that ICSs across the country have received last-minute bailouts to improve their financial positions at the end of 2024-25.
Around £200million has been distributed to at least ten systems across all regions, according to public documents, but the true total is likely to be much higher, the HSJ said.
One trust finance director said the bailouts were a ‘credibility issue…We spend all year saying how bad it is and then cash arrives at the last minute. People in the organisation just don’t believe us.’
Another said: ‘It’s symptomatic of the lack of transparency in the current finance regime in the NHS and it fuels distrust with the centre…It makes the engagement and messaging with clinical teams much harder than it needs to be as they already believe that there is money held back and so the problem isn’t as big as it’s made out to be.’
NHS England, meanwhile, said: “NHS England routinely releases funding throughout the year to support local systems to cover the cost of both planned investments and in some cases unexpected expenses outside of their control, for example the unprecedented levels of industrial action seen last year.”
Union in standoff with new NHS England chief over subcos expansion
New NHSEngland chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has said new NHS subsidiary companies (subcos) must pay NHS terms and conditions for current and future staff, while UNISON has written to trusts to try to prevent the expansion of subcos.
While calling on all trust leaders to explore the formation of subcos, Mackey said NHS terms and conditions including the NHS pension should be extended to staff recruited by trust subcos in future, as well as those transferring from trusts on Agenda for Change terms.
Many of the dozen or so subsidiary companies that have been set up by trusts in the past do not grant NHS terms of pensions, which can significantly reduce costs. Typically, they run support services, with many low-paid non-clinical staff.
UNISON, for its part, has written to trust CEOs warning against the move, saying: “Regardless of whether initial assurances are given, this would ultimately represent a deliberate attempt to create a two-tier workforce that runs directly contrary to the stipulations of the government’s Employment Rights Bill.”
Hospitals to cut 800 jobs
A pair of hospital trusts has outlined plans to reduce its workforce by 7 per cent in 2025-26, in order to cut costs.
Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust (PHU) and Isle of Wight Trust (IWT) need to cut their combined workforce by 798 whole-time equivalent roles as part of measures to achieve the group’s 2025-26 savings targets, according to recent board papers.
It is thought that the cuts relate to both temporary and substantive roles in clinical and non-clinical settings.
PHU and IWT estimate this move will equate to total savings of £39 million across the financial year, against a total combined savings target of £82 million.
