Health and care sector latest developments
New Hospital Programme update
The new hospital programme has been separated into five-year waves, with an average of £3 billion a year being allocated to the new timeline, MPs heard.
Delivering a statement on the new hospital programme review, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting, said that the Conservative Party was not truthful about plans to build 40 new hospitals and highlighted that the National Audit Office said that 40 new hospitals could not be built by 2030, but that the Conservative Party continued to claim that they would be.
He explained the money for the programme is set to run out in March and said the NHS is ‘literally crumbling’, highlighting the Darzi review’s findings on the poor condition of the NHS estate.
Streeting further announced that the programme will be given sustainable funding so that all projects can be delivered and that a realistic timeline needs to be set out.
Wes Steeting said that wave zero projects will be completed in the immediate future. Wave one projects will begin construction between 2025 and 2030, including the rebuilding of RAAC hospitals. Wave two projects will begin construction between 2030 and 2035, including Whipps Cross Hospital. Wave three projects which will begin construction between 2035 and 2039.
Further details can be found on gov.uk
Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson Helen Morgan argued that delivering this ‘bad news’ on Monday, when media attention will be drawn to Donald Trump’s inauguration, would show ‘an outrageous disregard for patients.’
NHSEngland commends ICBs for ‘strong leadership’
The quality of leadership at 13 integrated care boards has been praised by NHS England in its latest formal assessment of their performance.
The ICBs recognised for their ‘strong system leadership’ are Birmingham and Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire, Dorset, Frimley, Humber and North Yorkshire, Lancashire and South Cumbria, North East and North Cumbria, Sussex, and West Yorkshire.
In addition, Cambridge and Peterborough is described as having a ‘high-quality executive team’, Suffolk and North East Essex is praised for its ‘positive leadership culture’, and North West London is commended for its ‘robust leadership and vision across the system’.
Revealed: Roof leaks and derelict buildings at hospitals with most empty space
More than 10,000 square metres of hospital space is being left vacant across some of England’s largest hospitals because of disrepair and decay.
HSJ asked the 15 acute hospitals with the most empty space what areas were vacant and why.
The analysis reveals for the first time why so much space is going unused in the worst-affected hospitals.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said entire floors of a wing were closed at Leeds General Infirmary because of a faulty roof. The site has the most vacant space of any nationally.
Matthew Taylor said: “It is sadly unsurprising to see that hospitals have so much void space, and these figures are yet more evidence of the sorry state the NHS’s buildings have fallen into.”
Covid-19 Inquiry
Professor Sir Chris Whitty appeared in front of the Covid inquiry today, as Module 4 of the probe, focusing on the vaccination programme, continues.
The chief medical officer praised the UK's ‘volunteer spirit’ for the success of the vaccine programme, highlighting that ‘over a million people in the UK volunteered for clinical trials and other studies’.
However, Professor Whitty said that he believes that the UK is now in a ‘less good place’ when it comes to health data. He explained that fragmented data was brought together during the pandemic, but that this has now ‘slipped backwards’.
He has called for the NHS to ‘routinely join up data across the system’ to allow for ‘a much more quick and effective understanding’ in the event of any further pandemics or healthcare emergencies.
The inquiry also heard evidence today from former deputy chief medical officer Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, director general of science, innovation and growth at DSIT Alexandra Jones, and chief executive of UKHSA Professor Dame Jenny Harries.
Heather Iqbal Returns to Westminster as Streeting’s SpAd
After stepping away from frontline politics for maternity leave, Heather Iqbal, who previously served as director of communications for Rachel Reeves when she was Shadow Chancellor, will now be joining Wes Streeting’s team as a Special Adviser.
‘Fragile’ IT blamed for critical incidents and patient harm
Outdated clinical IT systems at a large Midlands hospital trust are harming patients and causing delayed diagnoses and cancelled appointments, its CEO has said.
University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust’s chief executive Simon Constable warned the trust was continuing to experience ‘significant challenges with our digital clinical systems’ and described an ‘excessive number of ‘priority 1’ [serious] incidents over the last 24 months.’
He said the incidents — linked to a long-term lack of funding for upgrades — had been escalated to the Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire Integrated Care Board and NHS England.
Mr Constable, who took over as CEO in the autumn, said the digital services team had worked to troubleshoot and create short-term fixes, but the trust’s systems were ‘highly complex and extremely fragile’, with one platform, called iPortal, more than a decade old and running on ‘unsupported code’.
Peers urge welfare reform to curb rising health benefit costs
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has warned that welfare system flaws are driving the UK's health-related benefit costs from £64.7 billion to a projected £100.7 billion by 2030.
Peers highlighted weak incentives to return to work and disparities between jobseeker and incapacity benefits, with chair Lord Bridges criticising the government’s slow reform timeline.
The committee has called for urgent changes to tighten claims processes and support employment ahead of the forthcoming Spending Review.
