Health and care sector latest developments

Boost to nurse graduate pay and job progression

The government has announced a major package to properly recognise the vital work that nurses do.   

Following engagement with all nursing unions including UNISON, Unite, and GMB, and a dedicated period of intensive engagement with the Royal College of Nursing, the biggest nursing union, the government has agreed a series of measures which it says will transform the profession and make sure that nurses get the pay and support they deserve.   

Measures include: 

• Prioritising increasing graduate pay.
• Reviewing the roles and pay bands of every band 5 nurse.
• Establishing a single national nursing preceptorship to create a national framework to support newly qualified nurses.   

Dean Royles, interim chief executive for NHS Employers, welcomed what he described as an “important commitment from the government to develop a national approach to preceptorship for newly qualified nurses”. He added that it is “only right that nurses are paid fairly for the invaluable work they do across the NHS”. 

The announcement comes ahead of discussions with health unions on improving the Agenda for Change pay structure, which the government has committed to fund following NHS Pay Review Body recommendations in both 2024 and 2025. 

BMA urges action on medical student funding gap 

The British Medical Association (BMA) has backed a national ‘Stop the Drop’ campaign day at universities across England, highlighting how reduced maintenance support in later years of medical degrees is leaving students facing significant financial shortfalls and hardship. 

Drawing on a survey, the BMA says financial pressure is pushing four in ten to consider leaving their course, with many cutting back on essentials or taking on extra work.

The BMA is calling on the government to restore full maintenance funding for the entirety of medical degrees, arguing that the £29 million cost would protect the future workforce.

Lord Redwood warns of £20 billion productivity shortfall 

A new Centre for Policy Studies report by former Conservative minister, Lord Redwood, argues that Britain’s productivity slump is most severe in the public sector, with growth averaging just 0.4 per cent a year since the financial crisis. He has warned that current spending plans rely on growth rates far higher than those being achieved. 

Lord Redwood cautions that if NHS productivity does not recover to pre-pandemic levels, the Treasury could face a £20 billion shortfall by 2028/29, risking significant tax rises. 

He sets out reforms to improve efficiency without compulsory redundancies, and argues that better use of technology, smarter staffing and stronger performance incentives could raise quality while cutting costs. 

Select committee hears evidence on vaccinations 

The Health and Social Care Select Committee this morning held a one-off evidence session on vaccinations. 

The session was split into two panels. In the first panel, MPs heard from Dr Ben Kasstan-Dabush (assistant professor of global health and development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and lecturer in global health policy at the University of Edinburgh), Dr Amit Aggarwal (executive director at Medical Affairs and Strategic Partnerships), Greg Fell (president of the Association of Directors of Public Health) and Fin McCaul (chair of Community Pharmacy England’s Service Development Subcommittee) 

On the second panel were Annie Traynor (head of immunisation and screening at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB), David Lamberti (director for health protection and public health systems at the Department of Health and Social Care), Dr Mary Ramsay (director of public health programmes at UK Health Security Agency) and

Michelle Kane (director of vaccination, screening delivery and transformation at NHS England).

Topics covered included:

• ICB preparedness to take over commissioning.
• Delivery of the vaccine strategy.
• Vaccine hesitancy.
• Access points for vaccination.
• Staff vaccination uptake.
• Children’s immunisation programmes (particularly the complexity of these in relation to the different providers and partners involved). 

Healthwatch releases report on corridor care 

A damning review into NHS corridor care by Healthwatch has revealed that a person died while waiting on a trolley in a hospital corridor, while diabetic patients were left for hours without food. 

Others were left on broken beds in pitch-black corridors for 24 hours with no privacy, according to the review which looked at patient care in emergency departments in December. 

Advertising watchdog cracks down on weight loss jab advertising 

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) watchdog has cracked down on posts sharing discount codes for weight loss jabs. 

It is illegal to promote prescription-only medications, and the ASA has banned 13 online posts doing so.

Investigations manager at the ASA, Catherine Drewett, pledged to “continue to take swift action in this area to make sure the rules are followed and that people are protected from harmful and irresponsible ads”.