Health and care sector latest developments
Industrial action led to winter crisis being mitigated, argue health leaders
Some senior doctors have suggested that industrial action led to a winter crisis in the NHS being mitigated.
As the Financial Times reports, this is because senior medics who covered for striking resident doctors were quicker to discharge patients. The article cites Nick Hulme, recently retired chief executive of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, who told Health on the Line that although the strike was challenging, it had effectively acted as ‘a bit of a fire break.’ He explained that senior decision-makers responded by ‘discharging patients a bit earlier, not ordering so many diagnostic tests, not admitting as many patients through the front door.’ Hulme added that ‘walking into Colchester Hospital on Christmas morning with 100 empty beds is something I hadn’t done for probably five years.’
Another hospital leader echoed this sentiment, remarking that A&E departments ‘work so much better when there is a strike,’ attributing the improvement to more decisive clinical judgement.
The report also included a comment from Rory Deighton, director of the Acute Network at the NHS Confederation, who noted that only a small number of hospitals had declared ‘critical incidents’ so far. ‘In a bad winter,’ he said, ‘we may well have seen two, three, four times that number.’
National system held up by ‘limitations’ of Federated Data Platform
Development of a national ‘system control centre’ tool for monitoring healthcare demand and capacity is being held up by ‘limitations’ of the Federated Data Platform, an integrated care board has said.
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) ICB is working with FDP supplier Palantir and NHS England to develop a system control centre tool that will be made available for any ICB to use as part of the FDP’s solutions exchange, according to board papers.
But the ICB has had to extend an existing contract with another supplier due to ‘current limitations in the Palantir product’.
BNSSG ICB signed a four-year contract with UK firm Faculty in 2023 to provide what it then called a care traffic control centre to provide an overview of healthcare demand and capacity and predict future demand.
Pharmacies demand compensation after vaccine booking error
Pharmacists are demanding millions of pounds in compensation after an NHS booking error led to large numbers of ineligible patients to book Covid booster appointments, causing financial losses and abuse towards staff.
As The Telegraph notes, eligibility was tightened last year to over 75s and clinically vulnerable people, but poor communication meant many others were still invited to book jabs.
The National Pharmacy Association says pharmacies wasted staff time and vaccine resources, estimating losses of at least £2 million a day, and reports that most pharmacies faced intimidation from frustrated patients.
While NHS England says guidance was updated, pharmacists argue that the problem was avoidable and are calling for compensation.
Postnatal care failing new mothers, report finds
A report by the National Childbirth Trust finds that postnatal care in the UK is underfunded and understaffed, leaving many new mothers feeling unsafe, unsupported and overwhelmed after giving birth.
As The Guardian reports, survey data shows widespread strain on mothers’ wellbeing, with many lacking regular contact with NHS staff, reporting loneliness, constant overwhelm and significant concerns about their mental health.
The findings have prompted calls for urgent reform and investment, as politicians and experts warn that women are being left without adequate support at a critical and vulnerable stage.
Trust ends joint chair arrangement
Baroness Julia Neuberger will stand down as chair of University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust and Whittington Health Trust when her term finishes at the end of September.
UCLH and Whittington have said they will recruit two new separate chairs to succeed Baroness Neuberger, ‘given the exciting and demanding agendas of both organisations’.
The decision ‘[follows] careful consideration, and [is] with the support of NHS England’, they said. Both trusts added that they would continue to work together in a ‘collaboration agreement’. A process to appoint the two new chairs will begin shortly.
UCLH told HSJ: “It was decided that, with the collaboration agreement in place and number of established joint clinical posts and services, we are in a strong position to take forward our partnership while reverting to separate chairs.”
