Health and care sector latest developments
WorkWell programme announced
The government has announced that WorkWell will be rolled out across England. WorkWell is a health and employment support programme to help people with health conditions stay in or return to work.
Chief executive of the NHS Confederation Matthew Taylor responded to announcement stating:
“The national rollout of the government’s new health and employment support programme, WorkWell, across every ICB is welcome news. Health leaders know all too well that good work and good health are two sides of the same coin, and supporting people to stay in or return to work is an important step in helping to reverse the rates of health-related economic inactivity in England and in turn reducing pressure on the NHS as well as the economy.
“We know that through the NHS Work and Health Network – a joint government and NHS Confederation initiative – progress is being made to strengthen the health service’s role in tackling economic inactivity. The national WorkWell programme will further help systems to build on this momentum and deliver on the government’s ten-year health plan commitment for every ICB to establish outcome targets to reduce economic inactivity.”
Mental health funding undermined by local decisions, lead clinician says
National investment in mental health has failed to consistently improve services because spending decisions are driven by the “whims and fancies” of local commissioners, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrist’s president, Lade Smith.
As HSJ reports, she says NHS leaders have a “limited understanding” of mental illness, resulting in inadequate commissioning, despite mental health making up around 20 per cent of the disease burden while receiving only about half that share of funding.
Smith warns that weakening the mental health investment standard will make matters worse, leaving services “pared back” to the point where people must be in crisis to access care.
She also criticised the absence of national access and waiting time targets, saying mental health should be held to the same standards as physical healthcare.
NHS England orders review into home birth services
NHS England has ordered trusts to review their home birth services.
HSJ has revealed that the chief midwifery officer wrote to trust and integrated care board chief executives late last year, following the findings that there had been ‘gross failures’ in the deaths of Jennifer and Agnes Cahill during a home birth in 2024.
The letter urged trusts to consider the availability of care, the preparedness of staff, senior clinical support, and the potential for hospital transfers.
Separate research from HSJ has highlighted concerns from multiple coroners about home birth services.
An NHS England spokesperson emphasised that "it is a fundamental requirement of maternity teams to inform and listen to every woman, respect their views, and help them to achieve the type of birth they would like."
Council planning disputes ‘costing trust millions’
A major trust has warned it will have to spend ‘millions’ of pounds to address planning issues at one of its hospitals as it ‘struggles to find money for basic safety’.
Barts Health Trust has been refused retrospective planning permission for one building project and issued with costly conditions for another, according to board papers.
Both schemes are based at Newham General Hospital in east London, which has one of the largest repair backlogs in the country at £235 million.
The trust was refused retrospective planning permission for a car park due to concerns from council planners over biodiversity loss and sustainable travel, according to a report on the hospital fire safety programme to the January board.
It has also been told by Newham Council to fit cladding to ‘improve the external appearance’ of a modular building which houses the hospital’s intensive care unit and a 26-bed general and acute ward.
NHS to expand eating disorder training
The NHS will offer support for teachers, school nurses and GPs to spot the early signs of eating disorders.
New guidance on eating disorder published today also clamps down on the use of BMI to determine whether or not someone needs eating disorder treatment.
Dr Ashish Kumar, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' eating disorders faculty, welcomed the guidance, saying that community eating disorder services "should use this guidance to establish day care and outreach initiatives that can prevent young people from becoming unwell and help others recover more quickly."
Prostate cancer now most common cancer in the UK
Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK.
New figures from Prostate Cancer UK, reported in The Guardian, found that 64,425 cases of the disease were diagnosed in 2022, compared with 61,640 new cases of breast cancer.
Chiara De Biase, director of health services, equity and improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, highlighted the "deeply unfair inequities across the country" in diagnosis, calling for "an early detection programme" to address this.
