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NHS England to replace cancer targets

The two-week wait cancer target should be scrapped and replaced with a different measure, as part of an overhaul of cancer standards, NHS England has said.

After piloting a new measure which aims to see 75% of patients given the all-clear or a diagnosis within 28 days of referral, NHS England has recommended .The new “faster diagnosis target” would replace the current ‘two-week wait’ target, which is for 93% to have seen a specialist within two weeks, but not necessarily had a diagnosis.

This proposal, and other changes to the way cancer waiting time targets are organised, will be consulted on until 6 April.

The nine current cancer targets were created in 2000. The current headline measure along with the two-week wait — a two-month wait from urgent GP referral to first treatment — has not been hit since December 2015.

The document containing the proposals said the current two-week standard saw some patients given an appointment at which no test was taken, purely to hit the target. For some suspected cancers, “many trusts… offer outpatient appointments to ensure they hit the target”, without improving diagnosis.

The move to scrap the two-week wait was welcomed – with significant caveats — by Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “The new Faster Diagnosis Standard is a more meaningful target than the current two-week wait that will hopefully improve early diagnosis. If all trusts met the 75 per cent target, it would be an improvement to where we are now. However, in the long-term to improve cancer survival, we’d like to see a 95 per cent target originally proposed in the 2015 cancer strategy in Sajid Javid’s upcoming 10-year plan for cancer.

“We recognise the target was set lower because of a shortage of cancer specialists, critical to diagnosing cancer across the NHS. The government must provide the extra investment they have promised to grow the NHS workforce. Every moment of delay risks more people waiting for diagnosis and treatment.”

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Source: HSJ, 10 March 2022

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NHS England to investigate why dead people invited for Covid and flu jabs

The NHS has launched an investigation after it sent “priority” letters to people who died years ago, in some cases decades, urging them to book flu and Covid-19 jabs to reduce their risk of serious illness.

The health service is asking eligible patients to arrange appointments for both vaccines to avoid a potential “twindemic” of flu and coronavirus this winter, which would pile further pressure on hospitals and GP surgeries.

“You are a priority for seasonal flu and Covid-19 vaccinations,” the two-page letter tells recipients. “This is because you are aged 65 or over (by 31 March 2024).

However, some of the letters, which contain personal information such as NHS numbers, have been sent to people who died years ago. Others have been sent to people who are not eligible for the vaccines, with no connection to the addressee.

In a statement, NHS England told the Guardian it was investigating. It declined to answer questions about when the error was first discovered, what had caused it and how many people had been affected.

“We have been made aware of some letters sent in error and appreciate this may have been upsetting for those who received it – we are working as quickly as possible to investigate this,” a spokesperson for NHS England said.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 October 2023

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NHS England to cut workforce by half as Streeting restructures

NHS England will lose half its staff and a huge swathe of its senior management team as part of a brutal restructuring under its new boss.

Its workforce will shrink from 13,000 to about 6,500 as entire teams are axed to save money and avoid “duplication” with officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

NHS England staff said they were “in shock and awe” at the scale of the job cuts, which go far beyond the loss of 2,000 posts to save £175m announced just weeks ago.

The DHSC will also become smaller as a result of a process that will see it working much more closely from April with NHS England, though it will shed far fewer staff than the latter. The changes will give Wes Streeting, the health secretary, far more control over the organisation that is responsible for the operational performance of the health service in England.

“These changes represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a decade,” said Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts in England.

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Source: The Guardian, 10 March 2025

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NHS England to cease funding clinical information standards body

Concerns have been raised that plans to cease funding for the body which develops clinical information standards for health and social care could stall digital ambitions in the 10 year health plan.

Digital Health News has learned that the contract for the Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB), which was founded in 2013, will not be renewed when it ends in December 2025 because NHSE intends to develop and maintain clinical standards in-house.

In a statement on behalf of its members, PRSB said: “We believe that removing independent clinical and technical expertise and dis-establishing a trusted, cross-sector community network will reduce the momentum behind digital transformation, and the consequences will be felt across the health and care system, by doctors and nurses, allied health professionals, social care professionals and, most importantly, by patients and service users.”

It adds: “If it ceases to exist, we risk losing both critical capability and the hard-won trust that underpins successful, joined-up digital care for the 10 year plan.”

PRSB is writing to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to see if it would be willing to fund the organisation going forward.

Oliver Lake, chief executive of PRSB, told Digital Health News: “Our widely implemented standards, backed by clinical expertise and strong partnerships across the sector, are helping to improve patient records and patient safety.”

He added that despite uncertainties around funding, PRSB hopes to “work collaboratively with NHSE and the DHSC to improve data quality”.

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Source: Digital Health News, 1 September 2025

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NHS England suspends one-to-one nursing for critically ill Covid patients

Nurses will be allowed to look after two critically ill COVID-19 patients at the same time after NHS bosses relaxed the rule requiring one-to-one treatment in intensive care as hospitals come under intense strain.

NHS England has decided to temporarily suspend the 1:1 rule as the number of people who are in hospital very sick with Covid has soared to 11,514, of whom 986 are on a ventilator.

The move comes amid concern that intensive care units, which went into the pandemic already short of nurses, are being hit by staff being off sick or isolating as a result of Covid. It follows a warning last week by Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, that the Covid resurgence could overwhelm the NHS.

Dr Alison Pittard, the dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care, which represents doctors in ICUs, welcomed the shift to a more “flexible” nurse/patient staffing ratio in critical care. But she said it must be used only for as long as the second wave is putting units under serious pressure.

“Covid has placed the NHS, and critical care in particular, in an unenviable position and we must admit everyone for whom the benefits of critical care outweigh the burdens. This means relaxing the normal staffing ratios to meet this demand in such a way that delivers safe care, but also takes account of the impact this may have on staff health and wellbeing."

“The 1:2 ratio is a maximum ratio, to be used only to support Covid activity, [and] not for planned care, and is not sustainable in the long term. This protects staff and patients”, she said.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 November 2020

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NHS England should scrap many of its national targets, review says

The NHS should abolish many of its national targets while shifting its focus towards preventive healthcare, according to a review by a former Labour health secretary.

The study by Patricia Hewitt, commissioned by the government said that, while targets can help concentrate the minds of those responsible for a service, having too many makes them less effective.

It comes at a time when record numbers of people are on NHS waiting lists and as the health service in England continues to miss targets on A&E waits, the speed of ambulance responses, and cancer treatment times.

The review sets out new targets and failing to provide adequate funding for new initiatives makes it far harder to plan new services and recruit staff.

It  adds that an excessive focus on hitting targets by managers can lead to “gaming” of the targets and a “disastrous neglect of patients themselves”.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 April 2023

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NHS England seeks advice amid ‘shielded’ patient concerns

NHS England has set up an advisory group to look at how physical and mental health services can be delivered to patients who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 and have been asked to shield themselves from the pandemic.

There are now around 2.5 million patients on the list of people considered to be at the highest clinical risk, including solid organ transplant recipients and patients on chemotherapy, who have been told to cut themselves off from society as far as possible.

They are going to have to stay that way beyond the end of June, with suggestions that their isolation could continue for many more months hence, and there is significant concern about the impact of this on their ongoing physical and mental health.

The NHS has therefore set up an advisory group to examine how care can be provided to these patients.

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Source: HSJ, 13 May 2020

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NHS England reviewing bed capacity

The NHS has a low bed base, and NHS England is reviewing ‘how we right-size our capacity’ across hospital, community and ‘virtual’ services, Amanda Pritchard has said.

The NHSE chief executive addressed the annual NHS Confederation this week and said: “The NHS has long had one of the lowest bed bases among comparable health systems. And in many respects this reflects on our efficiency and our drives to deliver better care in the community.

“But it was true before the pandemic, and it remains true now that we have passed the point at which that efficiency actually becomes inefficient.

“So the point has come where we need to review how we right-size our capacity across the NHS. That will of course look at the whole picture of hospital, community and virtual capacity.”

Ms Pritchard also highlighted the current pressures on the emergency care system, which has widely been linked to slow discharges from hospital and insufficient social care provision.

She cited the “unacceptable rise in 12-hour waits for admission from [accident and emergency]” which “underlines that the issue is flow”, and said “we know we will need to make more progress before winter”. 

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Source: HSJ, 15 June 2022

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NHS England reinstates central control powers as covid risk rating is increased

The NHS has been returned to the highest level of risk on its emergency preparedness framework, a move which allows national leaders tighter control over local resources and decision making.

NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens announced the decision at a press conference this morning.

He said: “Unfortunately, again we are facing a serious situation [due to rising coronavirus infections and hospital admissions]. That is the reason why at midnight tonight the health service in England will be returning to its highest level of emergency preparedness, EPPR level 4, which of course we had to be at from the end of January to the end of July.”

Placing the NHS on level 4 of Emergency Preparedness Reslience and Response framework allows system leaders to take control of decisions over mutual aid and other local priorities.

Sir Simon was joined by NHSE/I medical director Steve Powis and Alison Pittard, dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. They used the press conference to stress the threat the NHS faced from the second covid peak, but also set out more positive news on the covid vaccine programme.

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Source: HSJ, 4 November 2020

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NHS England publishes fresh guidance on safe use of ambient scribes

NHS England has published new guidance on the use of AI-powered ambient scribing tools in health and care settings, setting out how organisations can safely adopt the technology while meeting data protection and patient rights requirements.

Ambient scribes are AI tools that passively listen to clinical conversations and automatically generate outputs such as consultation notes, summaries or letters. The technology helps reduce administrative burden and allows clinicians to spend more time with patients.

The guidance, developed with input from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the National Data Guardian (NDG), includes sections for patients, healthcare workers, and IG professionals.

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Source: Digital Health, 2 April 2026

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NHS England plans not compatible with current GP funding model, says primary care director

The current GP funding model ‘does not sit comfortably’ with NHS England’s plans for primary and community care integration, according to a senior NHS England director.

In a Lords Committee hearing today, NHS England’s national director of primary and community care services Dr Amanda Doyle said a ‘rethink’ was required with regards to the primary care estate, with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) tasked to draw up local plans.

Asked whether the GP partnership model was compatible with integration, Dr Doyle told the committee that this was ‘one of the challenges’ they are facing.

She said: "One of the challenges that the current predominant ownership model in general practice gives us is that both investment and revenue flows support that model [of] an individual, practice-sized building.

"And lots of the things we want to do as we move forward into co-located primary care services and scaled-up primary care delivery drive the need for bigger premises with a wider range of capacity, and those two models don’t sit comfortably together."

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Source: Pulse, 19 June 2023

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NHS England plans high street 'one-stop' diagnostic centres

People awaiting a CT or MRI scan will be able to have one on the high street under NHS plans to improve access to diagnostic tests.

NHS England plans to set up a network of new “one-stop shops” where patients will be able to have scans closer to home rather than having to go hospital. They are intended to reduce the risk of patients getting COVID-19 in hospital and speed up the time it takes to undergo diagnostic testing by having more capacity.

NHS England’s governing board approved a plan on Thursday by Prof Sir Mike Richards to create “community diagnostic hubs across the country over the next few years”.

It is part of a planned “radical overhaul” in the way patients access a range of diagnostic tests, screening appointments and other services.

The hubs, which would open six days a week, may also perform blood tests, lung function checks and endoscopies, in which a camera is put down the throat.

The new facilities would be sited in disused shops or in shopping centres. They are part of the NHS’s drive to make it easier for people to be tested without having to go to hospital, amid concern that reluctance to do so is part of the reason fewer people are undergoing cancer screening. It is already undertaking lung cancer tests in 10 mobile centres that are parked at supermarkets and shopping centres.

Bigger hubs could also offer mammograms, eye health checks, scans for pregnant women, hearing tests and gynaecological services.

Hospital bosses welcomed the plan, which they said should reduce waiting times. Miriam Deakin, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: “Doing these checks in the community rather than in hospital could support trusts as they grapple with a second wave of Covid-19, winter pressures and tackling backlogs of care.”

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Source: The Guardian, 1 October 2020

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NHS England plans dental ‘treatment blitz’ to tackle appointments backlog

Hundreds of thousands of dental patients in England are to be offered weekend and evening appointments under NHS plans to tackle the backlog exacerbated by the pandemic.

More than 350,000 extra dental appointments are to be made available in February and March, NHS England said, with a new £50m funding pot aimed at fuelling a dentistry “treatment blitz”.

However, senior dentistry sources said the cash was a “drop in the ocean”, with tens of millions of NHS appointments cancelled as a result of Covid-19 and the resulting backlog set to take years to clear.

Some also expressed doubts about whether there would be enough staff to offer the additional appointments, since hundreds of dentists have quit the profession in the last year amid warnings that NHS dentistry is increasingly “hanging by a thread”.

Millions of patients have struggled to access dental care since 2019. Some have spent weeks or months in pain as a result, and others believed they had no option but to conduct “DIY dentistry” while waiting for treatment, or felt coerced into “going private”.

Under the new plans to tackle the backlog, NHS England said dentists involved in the scheme would “be paid more than a third on top of their normal sessional fee” for delivering care outside their core hours.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 January 2022

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NHS England plans cyber risk rating platform

NHS England is planning to develop a platform for assessing and managing the cyber risk in healthcare organisations.

It has indicated that it is preparing to publish a tender document for a cyber risk rating platform, and has ran a market engagement event with potential suppliers on its plans.

It said the platform would enable NHS organisations to better understand their security posture and how to mitigate potential threats that could impact on their operational activities, including the availability and management of patient data.

The move reflects the increasing focus on cyber security in the NHS.

In September NHS England announced a plan to adopt the Cyber Assessment Framework as its main mechanism for assuring relevant standards, and in October the Government’s Budget provided £2 billion for technology in the health service with an indication that this should include spending on cyber security.

NHS England also publishes cyber alerts for organisations in the sector.

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Source: UK Authority, 27 November 2024

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NHS England pauses new referrals for masculinising or feminising hormone treatment in under-18s

The NHS is pausing new referrals for masculinising or feminising hormone treatment for 16 and 17-year-olds after an in-depth review found there was insufficient evidence to support its continued use.

Prescriptions for hormones had been available in England for under-18s with a diagnosis of gender incongruence or dysphoria who met certain criteria.

But after the Cass review, NHS England commissioned its own review of all the available clinical evidence. That review has now concluded and found the evidence did not back the continued use of the treatment for 16 and 17-year-olds.

In her review of children’s gender care, Hilary Cass had recommended “extreme caution” in providing such treatment and a “clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18”.

NHS England said patients under 18 currently receiving cross-sex hormones may continue to receive treatment. However, that treatment must now be reviewed individually with clinicians.

On Monday, NHS England launched a 90-day consultation on plans to remove the treatment as a routine procedure. New referrals for the treatment will be paused during the consultation period.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 March 2026

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NHS England patients wait up to two-and-a-half years for an MRI

Some patients in England are waiting up to two-and-a-half years for important diagnostic tests such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scans, according to figures seen by the Guardian.

The longest waits were two-and-a-half years for an MRI scan, almost two years for an ultrasound and a year for a CT scan, responses to freedom of information requests by the Liberal Democrats show.

People with heart problems are among the worst affected. Examples from NHS trusts included a 49-week wait for an echocardiogram and a 475-day wait for an angiography.

Under the NHS constitution, patients should wait less than six weeks for diagnostic tests. The target is for only 1% to wait more than six weeks, but now 25% of all patients do so, according to research from the House of Commons library, commissioned by the Lib Dems.

Ed Davey, the leader of the Lib Dems, said: “What this Conservative government has done to the NHS is nothing short of a national scandal. Millions are forced to wait in pain and discomfort, anxiously wondering when they will get a diagnosis, let alone treatment.

“We cannot fix our economy without fixing our NHS. People can’t get back to work when they’re stuck waiting to see a GP, get a diagnosis or start treatment. The longer they wait, the worse their health gets and the greater the stress for themselves and their loved ones."

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Source: The Guardian, 24 September 2023

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NHS England names new executive team to lead transition

NHS England has announced the incoming team who will help lead the organisation’s transition into the Department of Health and Social Care.

The team – called the NHS Transformation Executive Team – will replace the current NHS England Executive Group and will support ongoing business priorities, statutory functions and day to day delivery.

Except for the deputy chief executive officer, all colleagues will be in post on 1 April 2025 to support this critical work.

The new team – drawn from the existing executive and the wider NHS on secondment – has been appointed following discussion with the Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care senior officials, incoming chair Dr Penny Dash and NHS England’s Board. All appointments are subject to the approval of the Board. Permanent recruitment and appointments will be made when the future form and structure is more clear.

The roles of chief operating officer and chief delivery officer will no longer exist in the transformation structure, and under the new team there will be two co-medical directors, alongside new posts – a financial reset and accountability director and elective care, cancer and diagnostics director.

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Source: NHS England, 17 March 2025

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NHS England maternity services may need overhauling to ensure safety, say experts

At a virtual event held by The Independent last night, experts agreed maternity services needed to be overhauled. The panel discussion, NHS maternity scandal: Inside a crisis, laid out the facts surrounding the problems around maternity care and concerns around safety amid repeated examples of poor care in multiple cases. 

Donna Ockenden, a senior midwife who has been leading the inquiry into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals explained "I think one of the major issues around maternity services is that we’re not treated in the same way as A&E. I think that people fail to see that actually, maternity is a woman’s A&E department, you can start a shift in any maternity unit, you can plan what you think you’re going to do. But actually you don’t know what is going to come in the front door.”

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Source: The Independent, 12 August 2021

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NHS England leaders welcome £6bn budget boost but say much more is needed

NHS leaders have welcomed the £6bn budget boost Jeremy Hunt handed the beleaguered service to help it meet rising demand, tackle the care backlog and overhaul its antiquated IT system.

The chancellor gave the NHS in England an extra £2.5bn to cover its day-to-day running costs in 2024/25, after the Institute for Fiscal Studies had warned that it was set to receive less funding next year than this.

Julian Hartley, the chief executive of hospital body NHS Providers, said the money would offer “much needed – but temporary – respite” and “some breathing space” from the service’s acute financial difficulties, which have been exacerbated by inflation and the costs incurred by long-running strikes by NHS staff.

However, there was little to stabilise England’s creaking adult social care system, and Hunt’s budget delivered an ongoing squeeze on resources, said the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).

“Millions of adults and carers will be disappointed,” said Anna Hemmings, joint chief executive of ADASS. “Directors can’t invest enough in early support for people close to home, which prevents them needing hospital or residential care at a greater cost.”

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Source: The Guardian, 6 March 2024

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NHS England launches independent review of teen death

A leading expert on learning disability services will work with the NHS to review the circumstances and lessons of the death of Oliver McGowan, a young teenager with learning disabilities. NHS England has announced that Dr Celia Ingham Clark, England’s Medical Director for Professional Leadership and Clinical Effectiveness, will oversee the completion of the learning disability mortality review (LeDeR) of Oliver’s death. 

Fiona Ritchie, an independent consultant, will chair the review which aims to ensure there is the necessary learning from deaths of people with a learning disability, working with the McGowan family. Ms Ritchie, the independent chair, will now take forward – with the family and Dr. Ingham Clark – finalising the terms of reference for review and overseeing the completion. Following agreement with Oliver’s family, further experts will join an oversight group, which will provide specialist clinical input and advice as needed to Ms Ritchie ensuring that the review process is thorough and the final findings are robust.

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Source: NHS England, 7 August 2019

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NHS England launches first advertising drive to boost breast cancer screenings

Women in England will be encouraged to attend potentially life-saving screenings for breast cancer in TV, radio and online adverts as part of the first NHS awareness campaign for the disease.

Women in the UK are invited for their first routine mammogram between the ages of 50 and 53, with further invitations arriving every three years until they reach 71, after which they can request screening.

It is estimated that the programme – which is aimed at people without symptoms – prevents 1,300 deaths each year in the UK, and figures suggest it picked up cancers in 18,942 women across England last year alone. Without screening, the NHS says, such cancers may not have been diagnosed or treated until a later stage.

While breast screening levels in England are rising, they remain lower than before the pandemic, with data from NHS England released in October revealing uptake was 64.6% in 2022-23, compared with 71.1% in 2018-19. Among those invited for the first time, the most recent figure was just 53.7%.

Now NHS England is attempting to increase attendance through a campaign supported by charities including Breast Cancer Now and Cancer Research UK, with celebrities, TV doctors, NHS staff and cancer survivors sharing open letters to women.

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Source: The Guardian, 17 February 2025

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NHS England instructs GPs to avoid hospital admissions this winter

GP practices should be working with complex patients to "actively avoid hospital admissions" this winter, according to NHS England.

In a letter to ICBs and trusts, NHSE set out the actions necessary to ensure delivery of "safe, dignified and high-quality care" this winter, which must be an "overriding priority".

There was a particular focus on the winter vaccination campaign, with NHS England urging providers to "make every possible effort" to boost vaccine uptake among patient-facing staff.

The letter also stressed the importance of promoting the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, which from this month practices began administering to over-75s and pregnant women as an essential service under the GP contract.

"This is a year-round offer but its promotion ahead of winter by health professionals is vital, particularly to those at highest risk," NHSE said.

NHS England also urged local commissioners to take a "whole-system approach to managing winter demand". 

The letter asked ICBs to "ensure the proactive identification and management of people with complex needs and long-term conditions so care is optimised ahead of winter". 

"Primary care and community services should be working with these patients to actively avoid hospital admissions," NHSE added.

These patients should also be offered ‘alternatives to hospital attendance’ as they may be "better served with a community response".

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Source: Management in Practice, 19 September 2024

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NHS England hospitals having to rely on ‘obsolete’ imaging equipment

About a third of NHS trusts in England are using “technically obsolete” imaging equipment that could be putting patients’ health at risk, while existing shortages of doctors who are qualified to diagnose and treat disease and injuries using medical imaging techniques could triple by 2030.

According to data obtained through freedom of information requests by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, 27.1% of trusts in NHS England have at least one computerised tomography (CT) scanner that is 10 years old or more, while 34.5% have at least one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in the same category. These are used to diagnose various conditions including cancer, stroke and heart disease, detect damage to bones and internal organs, or guide further treatment.

An NHS England report published last year recommended that all imaging equipment aged 10 years or older be replaced. Software upgrades may not be possible on older equipment, limiting its use, while older CT scanners may require higher radiation doses to deliver the same image, it said.

Dr Julian Elford, a consultant radiologist and medical director at the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), said: “CT and MRI machines start to become technically obsolete at 10 years. Older kit breaks down frequently, is slower, and produces poorer quality images, so upgrading is critical."

“We don’t just need upgraded scanners, though; we need significantly more scanners in the first place. The [NHS England report] called for doubling the number of scanners – we firmly support that call, and recommend a government-funded programme for equipment replacement on an appropriate cycle so that radiologists can diagnose and treat their patients safely."

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Source: The Guardian, 18 October 2021

 

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NHS England gives green light to scrap four-hour A&E target

NHS England is pushing ahead with plans to replace the NHS’s four-hour emergency target with a new set of 10 metrics, it has announced today.

The announcement follows a consultation launched in December on its latest proposals, although any final plans will still require government signoff (see box below for the 10 new metrics).

NHSE/I said in a press release: “In an NHS consultation four out of five respondents said they would welcome a bundle of measures. The specific proposals were endorsed by two thirds, 67%, of respondents and opposed by just 13%.”

However, NHSE/I said in a report on the proposals that it had not yet been established how the new basket of metrics would be used as a performance measure and that the proposals still needed government sign-off.

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Source: HSJ, 26 May 2021

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NHS England faces lawsuit over patient privacy fears linked to new data platform

The NHS has been accused of “breaking the law” by creating a massive data platform that will share information about patients.

Four organisations are bringing a lawsuit against NHS England claiming that there is no legal basis for its setting up of the Federated Data Platform (FDP). They plan to seek a judicial review of its decision.

NHS England sparked controversy last week when it handed the £330m contract to establish and operate the FDP for seven years from next spring to Palantir, the US spytech company.

The platform involves software that will allow health service trusts and also integrated care systems, or regional groupings of trusts, to share information much more easily in order to improve care.

Rosa Curling, director of Foxglove, a campaign group that monitors big tech and which is co-ordinating the lawsuit, said: “The government has gambled £330m on overhauling how NHS data is handled but bizarrely seems to have left off the bit where they make sure their system is lawful.

NHS England says the platform will help hospitals tackle the 7.8m-strong backlog of care they are facing and enable them to discharge sooner patients who are medically fit to leave.

But this may be the first in a series of legal actions prompted by fears that the FDP could lead to breaches of sensitive patient health information, and to data ultimately being sold.

“You can’t just massively expand access to confidential patient data without making sure you also follow the law.”

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Source: The Guardian, 30 November 2023

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