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Head of NHS England ‘really worried’ about medicine supplies

The head of the NHS in England has said he is “really worried” about medicine supply issues.

A number of experts have raised concerns about cost implications and supply disruption linked to the war in Iran.

The NHS England chief executive, Jim Mackey, was asked during a phone-in on LBC Radio on Tuesday what contingency planning was in place because “the UK imports 75% of its medicine”. He said: “We are really worried about this. We’ve already had a couple of supply shocks in the last 12 to 18 months of key supplies.”

He said a team was in place to “focus on where the risks might be through the supply chains”.

Asked how much supply there was, he replied: “It depends what you’re talking about. In every area, we’ve got enough to get through for a reasonable period … so generally, a few weeks.

“Because things perish and it costs money to store and various other things go out of use, you can’t hold years and years of supply. Generally, dependent on the product, we keep a reasonable period. Some of that is held centrally, some held locally.”

Questioned whether, in some instances, it would be “weeks’ worth of supply”, Mackey said: “Yeah, it could be days for some products.”

His remarks surprised drug and pharmacy organisations, which said they were not yet seeing any shortages related to the conflict.

Henry Gregg, the chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “We’re not currently seeing shortages of medicine directly linked to the conflict in the Middle East, but pharmacies are seeing disturbing spikes in prices, which can be an early indicator of challenges.

“The Department of Health have issued unprecedented numbers of price concessions designed to cope with price surges, which are likely exacerbated by this current situation.”

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Source: The Guardian, 31 March 2026

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Teenager died after asking ChatGPT for ‘most successful’ way to take his life, inquest told

A 16-year-old boy killed himself after asking ChatGPT for the “most successful” way to take your own life, an inquest has been told.

Luca Cella Walker, a private school pupil from Yateley, Hampshire, died on 4 May last year.

An inquest at Winchester coroner’s court heard on Tuesday that, hours before his death, Walker had asked the generative AI chatbot for the “most successful” way for someone to kill themself on a railway line.

At the time of his death, he was studying at Sixth Form College Farnborough. He had recently graduated from Lord Wandsworth College near Hook, Hampshire. The court heard that the school had a “bully or be bullied” culture, which had been a “formative” factor in his mental health struggles.

His parents, Scott Walker and Claire Cella, told the inquest they had had no idea about their son’s mental health struggles and described it as an “invisible battle”.

DS Garry Knight from the British Transport Police, who investigated Walker’s death, told the inquest: “They found he had been on ChatGPT the night before, at about 12.30am, asking for advice on the most successful ways to commit suicide on the railway. It makes quite chilling and upsetting reading.”

Knight added: “It is built in to say you can contact organisations for help such as Samaritans, but Luca had sidestepped that, which ChatGPT accepted and gave the most effective ways people can [kill themselves] on the railway.”

Coroner Christopher Wilkinson told the inquest of his concerns about the impact of AI software but added he felt unable to act due to its growing scope.

Wilkinson said: “It’s clear from what I’ve read that he was asking for specifics. Thankfully, perhaps the only good thing is that ChatGPT does seem to be applying an element of worry about why these questions are being asked, but it certainly doesn’t stop the conversation.

“It’s sidestepped by the individual saying he’s not looking for himself but he’s looking for research purposes.”

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Source: The Guardian, 31 March 2026

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Procurement for ‘groundbreaking’ cancer service delayed

NHS England has had to cancel the procurement of a “groundbreaking” cancer screening programme due to “procedural issues”.

The NHS wants to roll out a new self-testing service to improve uptake of cervical cancer screening, which remains persistently below the NHSE target.

The aim was to enable people in under-screened groups to order self-sampling test kits via the NHS App from June 2026 onwards.

However, this target has now been put in doubt after NHSE announced on 12 March it had terminated the procurement.

This came nine days after it had announced its intention to award the three-year contract worth £15.6m to supply and deliver the kits to diagnostics and digital health provider Chronomics.

Last summer, the government announced the new HPV self-sampling service would be a “ground-breaking initiative” intended to “revolutionise cervical cancer prevention rates by tackling deeply entrenched barriers that keep some women away from potentially life-saving screenings”.

Those barriers include “a fear of discomfort, embarrassment, cultural sensitivities and the struggle to find time for medical appointments”, the government said. Screening uptake remains at 68.8% against a target rate of 80%.

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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‘Inadequate’ provider threatens CQC with legal action

A patient transport company rated “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said it is taking legal action against the watchdog because it claims the judgement was based on factual inaccuracies and inspectors “going rogue”.  

Inspectors gave the company poor scores for both safety and leadership and identified “systemic shortfalls that placed people at risk and did not meet the standards of a safe or well‑led service”, including what they described as substandard training and “poor management”.

But the parent firm of HTG-UK East – Norwich, which was inspected last September, said it rejected the watchdog’s “highly damaging” findings. HTG-UK chief Neil Berry told HSJ that inspectors chose “hearsay over hard evidence” and dismissed 34 “factual inaccuracies” raised by the team.

He said HTG-UK had successfully overturned a warning notice issued after the inspection – but accused inspectors of “going rogue” and still proceeding with an “inadequate” rating.

This is not the first time a patient transport company has taken legal action against the CQC over an “inadequate” report.

At a tribunal hearing in March 2023, Specialist Medical Transport successfully appealed the CQC’s notice of decision at a First-tier Tribunal, which found the regulator’s decision “was not necessary, reasonable or proportionate”. 

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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Poor IT a ‘critical’ threat to breast cancer service

Poor IT represents a “critical” threat to patient safety and service delivery in a trust’s breast cancer unit, a report has warned.

A Royal College of Radiologists review of County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust’s breast cancer service found cases where the wrong women were scanned, while others had the incorrect side of their body examined.

Problems with the trust’s picture and communication service (PACS) meant that clinicians were sometimes unable to access critical prior imaging – particularly from independent sector providers – leading to delays, system overload and reliance on incomplete records.

There were also reports of misdirected or lost findings, risking time-critical results not being acted upon.

The RCR report is the latest investigation into breast cancer services at CDDFT, where major failings were identified last year after a review of cases.

While previous reviews have looked at surgical practice, leadership and governance, the RCR review focuses on the imaging and reporting aspect of the symptomatic breast service. However, leadership and governance problems were also found in radiology, the RCR said.

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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Doctors ‘intimidated and belittled by colleagues’

Resident doctors face “intimidating” communications from nurses and have been reduced to tears by consultants in a hospital service with long-standing medical training concerns.

Acute internal medicine at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust is one of a small number of services nationally under “enhanced monitoring” by the General Medical Council because of concerns over the training and treatment of resident doctors.

BHRUHT has been subject to this status for seven years. But HSJ can reveal that an education quality review by an NHS England team last year found there were still major problems.

The report, which was released to HSJ this month after a Freedom of Information request, said the NHSE team observed trainees working in acute internal medicine – known as the acute medical take – “crying as a direct result of inappropriate communication with emergency department consultants”.

Corridor care was becoming “somewhat normalised”, according to the findings, with corridors set up like wards. There were cases of patients “going missing” or being transferred before being reviewed by a consultant, and there was poor communication between trainees and consultants.

Some patients did not get a consultant review even if they had been there for 24 hours, and workload in the same day emergency care unit “felt unsafe and chaotic”.

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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UK patients told ‘not to worry’ over medicine supply amid Iran war

Patients have been advised "not to worry" about medicine supply concerns despite potential links to the conflict in Iran.

While reassurances are offered, pharmacy bodies are noting early warning signs.

The Independent Pharmacies Association warned the UK faces a "perfect storm of factors exacerbating medicine shortages."

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) adds that pharmacists are seeing "evidence of escalating price rises" for medicines, a potential early warning for supply constraints.

Chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said: “The UK pharmacy sector depends heavily on imports, particularly from India and China, and ongoing pressures, from rising energy costs to constrained raw ingredients from the Middle East conflict, are already disrupting supply and risk worsening shortages without decisive action.”

Olivier Picard, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association said: “The medicine supply chain is complex and fragile and global trends and events in the Middle East have the potential to cause disruption, as it does with other products.

“We have already seen evidence in recent weeks of escalating price rises for medicines for pharmacies in the UK, as the cost of ingredients goes up, and this can be an early sign of supply pressures.

“Medicine supply issues vary from month to month, and pharmacies do all they can to ensure patients get the medicines they need."

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Source: The Independent, 31 March 2026

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Milburn: Hold CEOs accountable on cyber security

Trust chief executives should face stronger “personal consequences” if their organisation’s cyber security fails, according to a senior government figure.

Alan Milburn, who is the Department of Health and Social Care’s lead non-executive director, today endorsed a report that said there was “insufficient accountability or personal consequences for senior executives who fail to fulfil their responsibilities to ensure a minimum level of cyber security and resilience”.

King’s College London published the report on “building NHS resilience to ransomware”, calling for a new “cyber leadership framework” for the NHS.

The report acknowledges that resources for cyber security in the NHS are meagre, unevenly distributed and not centrally tracked. But it says that, despite this, cultural changes could make it more resilient.

It recommends more centralised and consistent standards – to be enforced by regulators – and adding a cyber security rating to existing NHS England provider league table rankings.

In a foreword to the report, Mr Milburn argues: “We need to reduce the risk, especially as we press forward with better leveraging patient data and AI.

“I very much welcome… the focus on how governance and cultural fixes can reduce the risk – rather than simply throwing more resources at the problem. There are few, if any, areas where achieving clarity of accountability and consistency matters more than in cyber security and resilience.”

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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Four deaths prompt ICB to rethink crisis care

An integrated care board is rethinking its approach to crisis mental health care after “confusion” contributed towards the deaths of four people.

Multiple trusts in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB raised concerns about the “Right Care Right Person” (RCRP) policy, a national agreement between police and the NHS, which means that police should not need to attend a mental health-related incident unless there is a risk to life.

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust and Midlands Partnership University Foundation Trust told the ICB that police support was “not forthcoming” on several occasions and that “harm was potentially being caused because of this”.

Last year, coroners issued multiple warnings following a series of deaths linked to the controversial national policy, which was introduced despite concerns in the NHS and from patient groups.

The ICB commissioned a joint thematic review of four cases between October 2024 and March 2025, where people were found dead, and the RCRP process may not have been followed.

The review was finished at the end of last year and has only now been released to HSJ under the Freedom of Information Act.

Findings included that “system challenges” contributed to delays in gaining access to patients’ properties to check on them when there was a concern for their safety.

The review found that while RCRP had been launched by the trusts involved, “there were a number of healthcare staff in the community and in hospitals who were not fully aware or had a full understanding of the process and its needs and requirements”.

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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Drug warnings review after some patients 'misled' over impulsive behaviour side effects

Warnings about common medications that can cause impulsive behaviours, such as sex and gambling addictions, are being officially reviewed after BBC News identified an error in drug leaflets.

Side effects of a family of drugs used to treat Parkinson's, Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and other conditions have led to huge debts, broken marriages, criminality and suicide, our year-long investigation found. More than 350 affected people have contacted the BBC during that period.

One in six Parkinson's patients taking the drugs are affected by impulse control disorders, the clinical term for these behaviours, according to one study cited as the largest of its kind.

Yet those side effects are described as "uncommon" in leaflets for one of the drugs, suggesting they only affect fewer than one in a hundred patients.

After being alerted by the BBC, the UK's drug safety regulator said that "an error has been identified" and it would be changing that label to "common".

In response to our findings, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has also begun reviewing warnings for all eight of these medications, which are known as dopamine agonist drugs.

Boehringer Ingelheim, the developer of Pramipexole - the Parkinson's drug with impulsive behaviours listed as "uncommon" - said the regulator had approved its leaflets and that it was committed to improving patient safety.

Neither it nor the MHRA were able to say how long the error had existed for, but the BBC has discovered its inclusion in a leaflet from 2021 - meaning patients have been misled for at least five years.

The MP who heads the Health Select Committee has told us she "wants answers" from the MHRA and believes it should apologise to families for the mistake.

"I just can't even begin to imagine hearing what they've been through - abuse, financial ruin, all that you've uncovered - and then to find out that they could have been so much better forewarned," said Layla Moran.

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Source: BBC News, 28 March 2026

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'Alarming' report reveals number of UK meningitis deaths - with warning over falling vaccination rates

An "alarming" report has linked meningitis to 159 deaths in the UK in one year - as pharmacists warn that childhood vaccination rates are falling.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has called for an immunisation catch up service to be rolled out for teenagers who have missed out on being vaccinated against meningitis and other diseases.

NPA chair Olivier Picard said declining immunisation rates for illnesses, including meningitis and measles, highlighted that the current strategy was "not fit for purpose" in the face of growing "vaccine hesitancy".

It comes after a deadly outbreak of the disease in Kent earlier this month claimed the lives of two students.

Mr Picard said: "It's clear there are gaps in the original national vaccination strategy for meningitis and pharmacies want to reach those in need of protection.

"The NHS should urgently commission pharmacies to provide a catch-up vaccination service for teenagers who did not receive their MenACWY immunisations, as well as commissioning pharmacies to support NHS colleagues with wider childhood vaccinations."

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Source: Sky News, 28 March 2026

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Pregnant women and cancer patients at risk from sonographer shortage

Pregnant women and cancer patients could face “life-threatening” delays because of a worsening shortage of sonographers, experts warn.

The vacancy rate for sonographers is 24.2% across England, rising to 38.2% in some areas, according to the Society of Radiographers (SoR).

In addition, 1 in every 13 (7.6%) sonographers are planning to retire within the next year, the census found.

Sonographers carry out ultrasound scans which are essential to pregnancy care and are also used to diagnose cancer.

Pregnant women undergo scans when their baby is 12 weeks old and again at 20 weeks.

Katie Thompson, SoR president and a practising sonographer, said shortages forced hospitals to pull in practitioners from other areas to keep the antenatal services going at the "expense of those other services".

"Hospitals try their very best to get the three-month and five-month antenatal screening scans done on time," she said.

"But when there aren't enough staff, prioritising those scans has a knock-on effect on more urgent later foetal growth scans, which in some cases need to be done within 24 or 36 hours.

"Departments end up struggling to fit in patients who need these emergency scans."

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Source: Sky News, 28 March 2026

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NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in England

The NHS is set to miss key targets to shorten waiting times for help at A&E, cancer care and planned hospital treatment, leaving millions of patients facing persistently long delays.

The health service in England will not deliver a series of milestone improvements in its performance that ministers demanded it achieve by the time the fiscal year ends on Tuesday, a Guardian analysis of the NHS’s most recent data has found.

The lack of progress raises questions about pledges made last week by Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to get key waiting times back on track by the end of the parliament in 2029.

The findings will concern Keir Starmer, the prime minister, given Labour’s commitment to “get the NHS back on its feet” and the public’s strong desire to see an end to the routinely long waits for care that crept in from 2015.

The gloomy picture on waiting times also comes despite the NHS handing hospitals an extra £120m in recent weeks to fund a pre-deadline “elective sprint” – of extra appointments and more operations – intended to bolster its chances of delivering the necessary improvements by 31 March.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 March 2026

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Digital health equity gaps remain, finds WHO research

People with greater health needs and language barriers still struggle to use digital health services and technologies, according to research led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Public Health Wales.

The scoping review found that these groups experience difficulties accessing technology because of limited access, low digital literacy and services being poorly adapted to diverse needs.

It also identified that inequities in digital infrastructure between regions risk creating uneven access to innovation.

Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, director of health systems at WHO/Europe, said: “One of our main objectives with this new review was to understand what exactly drives inequity in digital health, and how equity is incorporated into regulation, implementation and evaluation processes globally.

“One of the key takeaways is that equity in digital health cannot be achieved through isolated actions but requires a coordinated, whole-system approach to ensure equitable regulation, implementation and evaluation of digital health.”

The scoping review covers literature published between 2015 and 2024, assessing 154 articles to identify where good practices and persistent gaps exist.

While equity is increasingly referenced in digital health strategies, it often lacks operational standards to guide its inclusion or mechanisms enabling governments to provide oversight, risking the benefits of digital health and AI being unevenly distributed.

Dr David Novillo Ortiz, regional adviser for data, AI and digital health at WHO/Europe, said: “Equity should never be treated as an afterthought in the development and implementation of digital health technologies.

“If someone in a rural area cannot access a telehealth consultation because it requires high-speed internet that is unavailable in their village, then innovation is failing the very people it should serve.”

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Source: Digital Health, 23 March 2026

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SPHERE-PPL NHS Severe Patient Harm Forecasting Contest

The SPatial, Health & Environmental REsearch using Probabilistic Programming Languages (SPHERE-PPL) team are excited to announce the launch of the SPHERE-PPL NHS Severe Patient Harm Forecasting Contest.  

SPHERE-PPL is a community of researchers and data scientists focused on advancing the use of AI forecasting in health and environmental science.   

Every four hours of delay in Emergency Department (ED) admission is associated with an 8% increase in 30-day mortality risk — roughly 25 potentially avoidable deaths per month. Accurate forecasting can help hospital managers take pre-emptive actions to reduce this risk.  

The goal of the contest is to develop an algorithm that accurately forecasts the number of estimated avoidable deaths over 1–10 day horizons.  

Data: Estimated avoidable deaths as the outcome variable, alongside 220 explanatory healthcare variables, covering March 2023 – September 2025 (development set) and October 2025 – March 2026 (assessment set).

Timeline:

  • Final algorithms due: 5 June
  • Assessment dataset released: 6 June
  • Final submissions (including performance on assessment dataset) due: 20 June

Tools:

  • Models should be implemented in R or Python.

Evaluation:

  • Accuracy assessed via Mean Squared Error (MSE) over short-term (1–5 day) and medium-term (6–10 day) horizons.  

For full contest details and participation instructions, please visit the GitHub repository: https://github.com/SPHERE-PPL/NHS-EAD-forecast

This is a unique opportunity to make a real-world impact. The winning model will be used daily by Bristol NHS managers to provide advance warnings and support proactive decision-making.  

Further information:

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UK patients ‘denied joint replacement operations because they are obese’

Nearly one in five NHS organisations are "rationing" crucial joint replacement surgeries based on patients' weight, a new report has claimed.

Arthritis UK has warned that this practice is creating a "postcode lottery" of care across the country, leaving individuals in urgent need of operations at risk of enduring prolonged pain.

The charity also expressed concerns that these policies are being implemented "in a bid to cut waiting lists and costs".

An analysis conducted by Arthritis UK found that 31 out of 42 NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) currently have policies linking body mass index (BMI) to hip and knee replacements.

Specifically, eight ICBs, representing 19% of the total, are "rationing" procedures by setting defined BMI thresholds as a criterion for surgical referral.

A further 23 have policies that encourage or mandate weight loss to become eligible for these operations, the report said.

According to Arthritis UK, ICBs justify the use of BMI policies by highlighting risks.

However, it said research only shows a significant risk for people with a very high BMI, and these policies have “been inappropriately used” to cut off patients with lower BMIs, such as 35.

This move has affected thousands of people “who would have received the significant improvements in their joint pain and function,” the charity said.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) advises against using BMI to exclude patients from referral to surgery.

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Source: The Independent, 26 March 2026

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Why NHS 111 call handlers are quitting their jobs in large numbers

Staff operating NHS 111 calls are leaving in significant numbers, a union has warned.

Heavy workloads, chronic staff shortages and abuse from callers have been listed as reasons for their departures from the service.

Unison revealed figures from six ambulance services in England and Wales, showing almost half of their workforce left their jobs in the three years leading up to April 2024.

The study also highlighted a severe impact on well-being, with 300,000 days lost to ill health across these six organisations during the same period.

The report also includes a survey of more than 200 staff, who said the volume of calls, staff shortages and aggressive and abusive callers were the worst challenges they faced in the job.

Unison’s national ambulance officer Sharan Bandesha said: “NHS 111 is a lifeline for patients and their families.

“The service provides vital advice and access to care when they urgently need it.

“But staff are under immense pressure and it’s no surprise many don’t stay in the role.

“Bringing 111 services back in-house, paying staff properly for their work and employing enough staff to alleviate pressure would help ensure NHS 111 is fit for the future.”

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Source: The Independent, 27 March 2026

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NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’

NHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs.

Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years.

The British Medical Association’s decision to withdraw from talks with the government and NHS chiefs aimed at settling the long-running dispute has sparked a war of words.

Glen Burley, NHS England’s financial reset and accountability director, said during NHS England’s board meeting on Thursday that the BMA’s decision was “really disappointing for patients. I mean, this is a point where we know we’ll be at a busy stage again. So it feels like it’s trying to push maximum harm and we will try and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2026

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Hundreds stuck in ‘inadequate’ hospital

The majority of patients in a hospital at the centre of a safety scandal are yet to be moved – despite orders nearly three weeks ago to transfer them, HSJ understands.

NHS England ordered the removal of nearly 300 patients from St Andrew’s Northampton, the mental health provider’s flagship hospital, on 9 March. The national organisation called on local commissioners to “act now” to transfer them.

This follows a string of serious concerns about care and conditions over the past year, which NHSE said was not improving as required. 

However, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation today told HSJ the majority of the 300 patients were yet to be moved. 

Several national mental health sector sources said they were concerned about the pace so far.

NHSE said the transfers would take place “in phases”, which it is understood to be based on the complexity of needs.

Local managers are likely to be grappling with shortages of alternative inpatient beds, as these are already often in high demand.

The hospital is also the subject of three police investigations, with 15 staff members arrested following abuse and neglect allegations.

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Source: HSJ, 26 March 2026

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US left without functioning vaccine panel as adviser says ‘drama distracts’

Amid upheaval to the US vaccine advisory committee Robert Malone, the former co-chair and controversial figure who has opposed vaccines, says he has been pushed out and will not be involved in any future decisions. The move comes after a federal judge stayed the appointment of 13 members of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), essentially invalidating their roles on the committee and the decisions they have made.

Those new advisers were all hand-picked by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, after he fired the previous 17 members of the ACIP in June – but the judge ruled they were unqualified and not selected properly.

The US now has no functioning advisory committee, and several key vaccines are no longer recommended, including the latest version of flu and Covid shots and the inclusion of the RSV shot for infants in the federal Vaccines for Children program, which covers immunisations for more than half of US children.

Malone has incorrectly claimed that vaccines are dangerous and ineffective; at one point, he was banned from Twitter for allegedly spreading misinformation. In the most recent ACIP meeting in December, he frequently interrupted other advisers and outside experts, and he raised doubts about the vaccination schedule.

“The specific elephant, in this case, has to do with cumulative risk across the entire childhood vaccine schedule, and that is a risk for which we do not have adequate data,” he said – a claim disputed by the CDC’s own data.

“It is good that Dr Malone wishes now to decrease drama regarding vaccines,” which “contrasts” with his prior statements, said Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and nutritional neuroscientist who was also appointed to the committee in June.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 March 2026

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Communities to benefit from health centres on their doorstep

Tens of thousands of patients in England will benefit from improved healthcare on their doorstep, as the government rolls out the first 27 neighbourhood health centres – bringing more services into the community.

Once completed, patients will immediately be able to access a greater range of health services from these centres - all under one roof and closer to their homes - including include urgent treatment, GP and pharmacy services.

The 27 will be open by 2027 and are the first of 50 neighbourhood health centres backed by a total of £200 million in government investment to upgrade existing buildings.

In total the government has pledged to open 250 by 2036, with the first 120 open by 2030.

Neighbourhood health services will benefit patients by providing end-to-end care and tailored support, looking beyond the condition at wider causes of health issues to the specific individual, helping avoid unnecessary trips to hospital, prevent complications and end the frustration of being passed around the system. This will have particular benefits for people with complex conditions, such as those at the end of their lives.

A range of services under one roof will mean more conditions can be treated swiftly locally - allowing people to talk through their health conditions as well as their lifestyle and quality of life and any other relevant contributing factors, enabling a rapid referral to the appropriate care and support where this is needed.

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Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 26 March 2026

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Shocking survey reveals pharmacy staff facing ‘escalating abuse’ from patients

Pharmacy staff across the UK are enduring "escalating abuse" from patients, including racist attacks, verbal assaults and physical violence, a new survey has revealed.

The findings from Community Pharmacy England indicate that around one in five pharmacy owners report verbal abuse as a daily occurrence.

The organisation is now urging for enhanced protection for these frontline healthcare workers, alongside the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of violence or threats.

A poll of 289 pharmacy owners, collectively representing over 3,000 pharmacies, found that more than half (55%) had experienced verbal abuse within the last six months. Of these, three-quarters faced such incidents weekly, with approximately one in five (21%) reporting daily occurrences.

Respondents detailed a range of discriminatory abuse directed at staff, including racist, religious, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and xenophobic remarks. One particularly stark account described a patient refusing service from a pharmacist wearing a headscarf.

A poll of 289 pharmacy owners, collectively representing over 3,000 pharmacies, found that more than half (55%) had experienced verbal abuse within the last six months. Of these, three-quarters faced such incidents weekly, with approximately one in five (21%) reporting daily occurrences.

Respondents detailed a range of discriminatory abuse directed at staff, including racist, religious, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and xenophobic remarks. One particularly stark account described a patient refusing service from a pharmacist wearing a headscarf.

While less frequent, physical assaults were reported by 6% of pharmacies over the same six-month period.

These incidents ranged from strangulation and pushing to punching, with some attacks even occurring after closing hours. Pharmacy owners recounted instances of knife attacks, chairs being thrown at staff, and pharmacists being strangled by patients who had come behind the counter.

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Source: The Independent, 26 March 2026

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Don’t ask for ‘unhelpful’ national mandates, warns NHSE director

NHS England’s national medical director has warned health campaigners against demanding “unhelpful” new national rules and mandates, as power was moving to local integrated care boards.

Claire Fuller told the Pathways from Homelessness conference in London that she was against central mandates because “we have never really made anything better by making anything rigid”.

She said the shift of ICBs to becoming strategic commissioners will give them a “greater understanding of their population” need and empower them to “commission services more appropriately, and in theory, move the money around to match it”.

Dr Fuller, who was chief executive of Surrey Heartlands ICB before joining NHSE, said: “The way you increase your voice is by coming together with a single message… the more we connect you through the national [neighbourhood health] pilots, the national programmes that are going on, the stronger it gets.

“But you have to remember: as passionate as the people are in this room, there are probably twelve other rooms meeting around the country today [that are] equally passionate about what they care about and [concerned about] causing harm because we are getting it wrong…

“The more we can not lobby as individual groups, and the more we can lobby for the things that make care better because we know that is true, the more we will get to… reducing the inequalities that go around.”

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Source: HSJ, 25 March 2026

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Resident doctors in England to begin six-day strike after rejecting offer in pay dispute

Resident doctors in England to begin six-day strike after rejecting offer in pay dispute

British Medical Association blame government for longest proposed walkout so far, with NHS leaders warning it could cost £300m

Resident doctors in England will strike for six days after Easter after rejecting what they said was the final offer by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to end the long-running pay and jobs dispute.

The British Medical Association blamed the government for its decision to undertake its longest stoppage so far, from 7am on Tuesday 7 April to 6.59 on Monday 13 April.

This will be the 15th industrial action that resident doctors have staged in their campaign for “full pay restoration” and means they will strike for the fourth year running.

NHS leaders warned the strike would cost the health service an estimated £300m, lead to appointments being cancelled, and force patients to wait longer for tests, treatment and surgery.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 March 2026

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Four trusts rated ‘red’ on baby deaths

Four hospital trusts have been assessed as having higher than expected rates of both stillbirth and neonatal deaths, according to HSJ analysis of a national safety audit.

Only one of those trusts scoring highly on both measures is part of the ongoing national government maternity inquiry. That is University Hospitals of Leicester Trust.

Three other trusts that are not part of Baroness Valerie Amos’ review were also rated “red” for these measures: South Tyneside and Sunderland, East Suffolk and North Essex, and Royal Devon University Healthcare Foundation Trusts.

A red rating means their adjusted death rate was at least 5% cent higher than peers. 

The four trusts are also red rated for “extended perinatal mortality” - which combines the two other metrics - including stillbirths after 24 weeks of pregnancy and “neonatal” deaths up to 28 days after birth.

MBRRACE study author Brad Manktelow, from Leicester University, told HSJ the mortality rates reported are not definitive measures of care quality.

But he added: “However, given the information that is available, the rates reported by MBRRACE-UK are robust and make an important contribution in highlighting those organisations where extra investigations should be targeted [to] improve the quality of perinatal and neonatal care in the UK.”

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Source: HSJ, 26 March 2026

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