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NHS doctors face bullying and reprisal for speaking out

Fewer than a fifth of doctors are satisfied with their organisation’s response to whistleblowing, a survey by BMA Scotland suggests.

The poll found some doctors fear being bullied by managers as well as being blacklisted or marginalised if they speak out.

BMA Scotland carried out an online survey with 436 responses.

Just over half (51%) of doctors surveyed had experience of whistleblowing, with patient safety the most common reason for doing so.

Only 17% said they were satisfied with their organisation’s response to whistleblowing.

Some said they were aware of repercussions from whistleblowing – with 56% saying this took the form of bullying and 39% saying doctors’ mental states were questioned.

One doctor responded to the survey saying their health board had made up false complaints, referred them to the medical regulator and blacklisted them in response to raising concerns.

Another said complainants had been “interrogated while in tears”.

Meanwhile another doctor from an ethnic minority background said international graduates were rarely taken seriously.

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Source: Medscape, 30 August 2024

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NHS doctors could ‘spend more time with patients’ thanks to AI helper

An AI assistant which frees up doctors so they can spend more time with their patients is being trialled in the NHS.

The technology enables medics to listen to patients instead of typing up documents and letters – which the AI does for them.

The generative AI tech is being trialled across London, led by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), with possible expansion to other regions.

Funded by NHS Frontline Digitisation, the trial will include about 5,000 patient assessments in hospitals, GP surgeries, A&E departments and mental health services.

The AI, called Tortus, uses ambient voice technology (a combination of speech recognition and artificial intelligence) to pick up relevant medical information from a conversation, while filtering out background noise and irrelevant chat.

It aims to cut down the amount of time medics spend on administrative tasks by drafting notes, follow-up letters and suggests clinical codes, which are then checked by the doctor.

GOSH paediatric immunology consultant, Dr Maaike Kusters, told the PA news agency the technology was a “massive gamechanger in how I do my consultations”.

She added: “The patients I see in my clinics have very complex medical conditions and it’s so important to make sure I capture what we discuss in our appointments accurately.

“However, often this means I am typing rather than looking directly at my patient and their family.

“Using the AI tool means I can sit closer to them face-to-face and really focus on what they were sharing with me, without compromising on the quality of documentation.”

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Source: The Independent, 11 November 2024

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NHS Doctors bullied to the brink

The Doctors’ Association UK has compiled stories from 602 frontline doctors which expose a startling culture of bullying and overwork in the NHS.

The stories include:

  • a pregnant doctor who fainted after being forced to stand up for 15 hours straight and being denied water. The junior doctor was subsequently shouted at in front of colleagues and patients on regaining consciousness and told it was her choice to be pregnant and that ‘no allowances would be made’.
  • a doctor who told us that a junior doctor hung themselves in a cupboard whilst on shift and was not found for 3 days as no-one had looked for them. His junior doctor colleagues were not allowed to talk about his suicide and it was all ‘hushed up’.
  • a doctor who was denied a change of clothes into scrubs after having a miscarriage at work despite her trousers being soaked in blood.

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NHS disruption driving rise in heart deaths, charity says

Extreme disruption to NHS services has been driving a sharp spike in heart disease deaths since the start of the pandemic, a charity has warned.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said ambulance delays, inaccessible care and waits for surgery are linked to 30,000 excess cardiac deaths in England.

It has called for a new strategy to reduce "unacceptable" waiting times.

Doctors and groups representing patients have become increasingly concerned about the high number of deaths of any cause recorded this year.

New analysis of the mortality data by the BHF suggests heart disease is among the most common causes, responsible for 230 deaths a week above expected rates since February 2020.

The charity said "significant and widespread" disruption to heart care services was driving the increase.

Its analysis of NHS data showed that 346,129 people were waiting for time-sensitive cardiac care at the end of August 2022, up 49% since February 2020.

It said 7,467 patients had been waiting more than a year for a heart procedure - 267 times higher than before the pandemic.

At the same time, the average ambulance response time for a suspected heart attack has risen to 48 minutes in England against a target of 18 minutes, according to the latest NHS figures.

The BHF said difficulty accessing face-to-face GP and hospital care may have also contributed to the rise.

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Source: BBC News, 3 November 2022

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NHS Digital receive approval for the pathology information standards

In a positive step towards the future of pathology, NHS Digital has received approval from the Data Alliance Partnership Board (DAPB) for a new set of pathology information standards, and as part of NHS England CCIO7 workstreams, NHS Digital are delivering the ability to share pathology results across health and care.

This move will enable clinicians to share and access critical information about pathology tests and results and receive the right information when they need it, which will help support improved clinical decision making and patient safety. 

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Source: Wired Gov, 19 August 2021

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NHS Digital gives patients easier access to who uses their data

A new tool by NHS Digital has recently been launched that will allow patients to see which organisations can access their data. The Data Uses Register has revealed which organisations can access the data, such as public sector bodies and charities. Each organisation wanting to use the data must have a legitimate and legal reason such as health and care planning and research purposes. 

Simon Bolton, NHS Digital’s interim CEO, said: “The new Data Uses Register is an important improvement to make our data sharing agreements more transparent and user-friendly. We take our responsibility as the guardians of NHS data very seriously and we are committed to being transparent so that people can see exactly who their data has been shared with and why. It is important that the public can see openly and clearly how NHS data is shared to build confidence and trust and this new tool will help to ensure that.” Simon Bolton, NHS Digital’s interim CEO, has said. 

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Source: Digital Health, 27 July 2021

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NHS Digital and PHIN launch consultation on next phase of Acute Data Alignment Programme

NHS Digital and the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) have launched a consultation as part of the next phase of a programme to align private healthcare data with NHS recorded activity.

The consultation sets out a series of changes to how data is recorded and managed across private and NHS care, along with a series of pilot projects, based upon feedback from a variety of stakeholders. It aims to seek the views of private and NHS providers, clinicians, the public and other organisations with an interest in private healthcare and will be used to help shape the future changes.

The consultation, which has been launched following the publication of the Paterson Inquiry, will be hosted on the NHS Digital Consultation Hub.

Under the changes proposed in the Acute Data Alignment Programme (ADAPt), PHIN will share the national dataset of private admitted patient care in England with NHS Digital, creating a single source of healthcare data in England.

This recommendation has been supported by recommendations in the Paterson Inquiry to create a single repository for practice of consultants in private and public healthcare across England.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Regardless of where you’re treated or how your care is funded, everybody deserves safe, compassionate care. The recent Paterson Inquiry highlighted the shocking failures that can occur when information is not shared and acted upon in both the NHS and independent sector. We are working tirelessly across the health system to deliver the highest standards of care for patients. Trusted data is absolutely critical to this mission and the ADAPt programme will help improve transparency and raise standards for all.”

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Source: NHS Digital, 19 February 2020

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NHS Digital and NHSX to merge with NHS England

It has been revealed that both NHS Digital and NHSX are to be incorporated into NHS England and Improvement.

In a letter to staff, NHS England and Improvement’s chief executive, Amanda Pritchard said: “As a single organisation, we can further accelerate the digital transformation of the NHS and redouble our efforts to address health inequalities...”

Pritchard praised NHSX and NHS Digital for their critical role throughout the pandemic delivering the NHS Covid Pass, Covid vaccine systems, virtual wards and many other innovations.

Going forward she said: “Our Transformation Directorate will continue to lead the digital transformation agenda for the NHS and social care at national and ICS level, alongside colleagues from Improvement and Innovation, Research and Life Sciences.”

In other major changes, Pritchard also announced that Health Education England is to merge with NHS England and Improvement.

Secretary of state for health and social care, Sajid Javid, said:  “To ensure our record NHS investment makes a lasting impact, I am bringing workforce planning and digital transformation into the heart of the NHS."

“These reforms will support our recovery from Covid-19 and help us tackle waiting lists to give patients excellent care in years to come.

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Source: Digital Health, 22 November 2021

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NHS dentistry as we know it 'gone for good'

The traditional model of NHS dentistry is gone for good, experts are warning.

The Nuffield Trust think tank said the service had been cut back so much it was now at the most perilous position in its 75-year history in England.

It said restoring services would probably need an unrealistic amount of money and called for radical reform, suggesting NHS support may need to be completely scaled back for some adults.

The Nuffield Trust said funding for NHS dentistry had suffered huge cuts in recent years. Some £3.1bn was spent in 2021-22 - a drop of £525m since 2014-15 once inflation is taken into account.

It said the number of treatments being done each year was now six million lower than it was before the pandemic.

The Nuffield Trust said tough policy choices needed to be made, suggesting one option could be to start charging adults for the full cost of treatment beyond emergency work and check-ups.

Shawn Charlwood, chairman of the British Dental Association's general dental practice committee, said the report "reads like the last rites for NHS dentistry" and that "patients and this profession deserve some honesty here".

He added: "The government say NHS dentistry should be accessible for all who need it.

"The plain facts are we're not seeing any evidence of the reforms or the resources to realise that ambition."

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Source: BBC News, 19 December 2023

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NHS denies elderly people were refused care during early Covid

NHS bosses have denied claims that thousands of frail elderly people were denied potentially life-saving care at the peak of the pandemic in order to stop the health service being overrun.

NHS England took the unusual step on Sunday of issuing a 12-page rebuttal to allegations in the Sunday Times that patients deemed unlikely to survive were “written off” by being refused intensive care.

Prof Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said: “These untrue claims will be deeply offensive to NHS doctors, nurses, therapists and paramedics, who have together cared for more than 110,000 severely ill hospitalised Covid-19 patients during the first wave of the pandemic, as they continue to do today."

“The Sunday Times’ assertions are simply not borne out by the facts. It was older patients who disproportionately received NHS care. Over two-thirds of our COVID-19 inpatients were aged over 65. “The NHS repeatedly instructed staff that no patient who could benefit from treatment should be denied it and, thanks to people following government guidance, even at the height of the pandemic there was no shortage of ventilators and intensive care.”

The newspaper claimed the high coronavirus infection rate in the UK before lockdown began on 23 March and the NHS’s limited supply of mechanical ventilators going into the pandemic meant that “the government, the NHS and many doctors were forced into taking controversial decisions – choosing which lives to save, which patients to treat and who to prioritise – in order to protect hospitals”.

The Sunday Times said its claims were the result of a three-month investigation that involved speaking to more than 50 sources in the NHS and the government about the health service’s response to the pandemic.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 October 2020

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NHS delays mean ‘death sentence’ for some patients, says Wes Streeting

Some NHS patients have received a “death sentence” due to delays within the health service, Wes Streeting has said, as Keir Starmer stressed the need for more use of AI and technology.

The health secretary was speaking alongside the prime minister at the launch of what they described as the “biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since it was founded 76 years ago”.

But while Keir Starmer tried to take an optimistic tone, alluding to the benefits and opportunities that could arise from a public conversation, Streeting warned the NHS is in “such a poor state, I’m amazed we’re not still using carrier pigeons”.

Streeting said: “The NHS is going through what is objectively the worst crisis in its history, whether it’s people struggling to get access to their GP, dialling 999 and an ambulance not arriving in time, turning up to A&E departments and waiting far too long, sometimes on trolleys in corridors, or going through the ordeal of knowing that you’re waiting for a diagnosis that could be the difference between life and death.

“Worse still, receiving a prognosis that amounts to a death sentence that could have been avoided, because the NHS didn’t reach you in time.

“That is, I’m afraid, the daily reality in the NHS today.”

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Source: The Guardian, 21 October 2024

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NHS defends plan to not cancel non-urgent care if resident doctors strike

The NHS has hit out at the doctors’ trade union for alleging that it is putting patient safety at risk by not cancelling planned treatment during a forthcoming strike.

NHS Providers, a membership organisation for NHS Trusts, says it is in fact the British Medical Association (BMA) putting patient safety at risk by staging a strike.

Up to 50,000 resident doctors in England, formerly known as junior doctors, are expected to join the industrial action from 7am on Friday 25 July to 7am on Wednesday 30 July. They are demanding a 29% pay rise.

Days before the strikes are due to start, the BMA, the trade union for doctors, has criticised changes to the way the health service is preparing.

During previous strikes, urgent and emergency services have been staffed by senior hospital doctors, including consultants, and pre-planned work was largely postponed. But the BMA said hospital leaders had been told to continue with scheduled non-urgent care during the forthcoming dispute.

In a letter to the NHS chief executive, Sir Jim Mackey, the BMA council chair, Dr Tom Dolphin, and the deputy council chair, Dr Emma Runswick, said: “Your decision to instruct hospitals to run non-urgent planned care stretches safe staffing far too thinly, and risks not only patient safety in urgent and emergency situations, but in planned care, too.

“Consultants cannot safely provide elective care and cover for residents at the same time. We therefore strongly urge you to reconsider your instructions to hospitals, which should be preparing now to postpone non-urgent planned activity in order to provide a safe urgent and emergency service in keeping with the levels of staff available.”

But NHS Providers, which represents NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services that treat patients and service users in the NHS, hit back at these allegations.

Daniel Elkeles, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “The NHS, not the BMA, is putting patient’s interests first. Given that some patients will be caused undoubted harm if the short-notice strike goes ahead, NHS trusts are doing the responsible thing by not cancelling people’s care whilst talks to avert the strike are ongoing.

“Now is a time for cool heads in the BMA because it’s not too late to avoid a damaging, costly strike. NHS trust leaders hope for a breakthrough from talks between government and the union.

“If the strike goes ahead then NHS trusts will do everything they can to avoid any harm to patients and are planning for as many patients as possible to be cared for.”

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Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2025

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NHS declares first-ever ‘amber alert’ over critically low blood supplies

The NHS has declared its first-ever amber alert over blood supplies, which have fallen to critically low levels.

The alert means some non-urgent operations that require blood are likely to be impacted, with hospitals advised to swap in other surgeries which do not require blood.

A letter is due to go out to hospitals on Wednesday, The Independent was told.

Hospitals will be asked to make individual decisions over whether to postpone surgeries such as hip replacements but will continue to carry out urgent surgeries and blood transfusions for those with long term conditions.

The “amber-alert” will last for four weeks initially, NHS Blood and Transplant has said.

Wendy Clark, interim chief of NHS Blood and Transplant said: “Asking hospitals to limit their use of blood is not a step we take lightly. This is a vital measure to protect patients who need blood the most.

“Patients are our focus. I sincerely apologise to those patients who may see their surgery postponed because of this."

“With the support of hospitals and the measures we are taking to scale up collection capacity, we hope to be able to build stocks back to a more sustainable footing."

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Source: The Independent, 12 October 2022

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NHS data stolen in cyber attack published on dark web

A ransomware group has carried out its threat to NHS Dumfries and Galloway and released a "large volume" of patients' data on the dark web.

A small amount of details were released in March as "proof" that the cyber criminals had accessed confidential information, with a warning that more would be published if a payment was not made to stop it.

The new chief executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway health board, Julie White, called the release an "utterly abhorrent criminal act".

She said work was now beginning to with other national agencies including the Scottish government, police and National Cyber Security Centre to assess what has been published.

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Source: BBC News, 7 May 2024

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NHS data sharing failure ‘exasperating and could cause error’

Significant concerns about the NHS’ refusal to share data with councils have emerged in a letter from a leading council chief executive and clinical commissioning group accountable officer. 

Steven Pleasant, chief executive of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and accountable officer of Tameside and Glossop CCG, said the failures are “becoming increasingly exasperating”, in a letter intended for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s shielding sounding board.

Steven said he understands NHS Digital has decided the most recent version of the list cannot be shared with councils even though it is being shared with police, fire, voluntary organisations and companies offering logistical support.

“I am sure that you will appreciate that this is counterproductive and frustrating given that local authorities are leading and coordinating the response to the most vulnerable in communities,” he wrote.

He also raised concerns about how the NHS’ shielded patients team is passing on to councils information about people needing additional support — for instance, if the recipient’s food parcel stock is running low, requiring the council to step in. Welfare concerns and medication information could also need to be passed on. Mr Pleasant said although his council had asked for this information to be provided via email, staff “have been told by the NHS shielding team that they do not have permission to do this and that details can only be provided verbally over the phone”.

“We believe this significantly increases the chances of error and presents significant risk… around incorrect information being captured,” he wrote.

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Source: HSJ, 21 April 2020

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NHS data reveals A&E ‘Uber ambulance crisis’ in England, say Lib Dems

Growing numbers of patients are making their own way to A&E instead of taking ambulances with nearly 2.7 million people taking alternative transport to emergency departments last year.

The figure is a 14% increase from 2.36 million in 2019 and highlights the number of people losing faith in ambulance services, the Liberal Democrats have said, after gathering the data from NHS trusts.

“These figures lay bare an Uber ambulance crisis, where people do not think they can rely on ambulance services even in the most serious of circumstances. This could have deadly consequences if people have lost faith that ambulances will be there when they need them,” said Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson.

The Lib Dems called on the government to invest £50m each year into an emergency fund to ensure community ambulance stations do not close and to recruit and train paramedics.

The numbers of people taking taxis or other forms of transport to a hospital did rely on the severity of their condition. Code 1 incidents – the most severe category for those needing immediate medical attention – saw a 24% drop in the number of people arriving without an ambulance compared to 2019.

There was a rise however of 54% in code 2 incidents, where patients require urgent attention.

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said there can be times when it was appropriate for patients to make their own way to hospital, so that those with the most severe conditions could be prioritised.

“Current data proves that NHS ambulance services have never been busier answering 999 calls and responding to more patients than ever before, something that is testament to our incredibly hard-working frontline staff, as well as those handling the calls and dispatching the most appropriate clinical response to patients in greatest need,” said Anna Parry, the managing director of the AACE.

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Source: The Guardian, 18 August 2025

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NHS data reveals 'huge variation' in COVID-19 death rates across England

A wide disparity in coronavirus mortality rates has emerged in English hospitals, with data seen by the Guardian showing that one hospital trust in south-west England had a death rate from the disease of 80% while in one London trust it was just 12.5%.

The figures, which NHS England has compiled but never published, show the age-standardised mortality rates that all of the country’s 135 acute hospital trusts have recorded during the pandemic. Doctors regard age as the single biggest predictor or risk factor for dying from COVID-19.

They cover the period from the start of the coronavirus crisis in March, through its peak in late March and April, up until 15 May, by which time 42,850 (85%) of the 50,219 deaths so far in all settings had occurred in England and Wales.

It is the first such data to emerge about how many people have lived or died in each trust after being treated there because they had been left critically ill by the disease. They are based on patients who were treated in an intensive care or high-dependency unit or on a ward.

Senior doctors said the dramatic gap in death rates of 67.5 percentage points between the trusts with the highest and lowest rates was notable and may mean that some hospitals needed to learn lessons from others.

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Source: Guardian, 14 June 2020

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NHS data breach: trusts shared patient details with Facebook without consent

NHS trusts are sharing intimate details about patients’ medical conditions, appointments and treatments with Facebook without consent and despite promising never to do so.

An Observer investigation has uncovered a covert tracking tool in the websites of 20 NHS trusts which has for years collected browsing information and shared it with the tech giant in a major breach of privacy.

The data includes granular details of pages viewed, buttons clicked and keywords searched. It is matched to the user’s IP address – an identifier linked to an individual or household – and in many cases details of their Facebook account.

Information extracted by Meta Pixel can be used by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, for its own business purposes – including improving its targeted advertising services.

Records of information sent to the firm by NHS websites reveal it includes data which – when linked to an individual – could reveal personal medical details.

It was collected from patients who visited hundreds of NHS webpages about HIV, self-harm, gender identity services, sexual health, cancer, children’s treatment and more.

It also includes details of when web users clicked buttons to book an appointment, order a repeat prescription, request a referral or to complete an online counselling course. Millions of patients are potentially affected.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 May 2023

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NHS cyber attack hits patient care with records left in ‘chaos’ three months on

Patient care is still being undermined at NHS mental health trusts and social care providers that were hit by a major cyber attack in August, doctors have warned.

Three months after the major attack wiped out NHS systems, patients’ records are missing, safety has been compromised, and medication doses are at risk of being missed amid ongoing “chaos”, i News has been told.

Dr Andrew Molodynski, mental health lead at the British Medical Association, said the prolonged systems failure has damaged care because records are “integral to patients’ safety”.

Mental health patients’ records and safeguarding alerts have not been available in some trusts since 4 August, when NHS software provider, Advanced, was hit by a ransomware attack which targeted its Carenotes records system.

A total of 12 NHS mental health trusts have been impacted by the cyber attack, potentially impacting tens of thousands of patients as well as social care providers.

According to Advanced’s own hazard log spreadsheet, seen by i News, the risks associated with disruption to its server include “medication doses missed”, “required number of carers not met”, “basic needs not met, such as nutrition and personal care”, and “health needs not met, such as wound care and physical support”.

Advanced said: “We recognise that the restoration process has taken longer than we had initially anticipated and we have sought to communicate as clearly and transparently as we have been able.”

It said planned dates for restoring the system for each client has been communicated directly and that the “overall restoration programme remains on track”.

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Source: i News, 4 November 2022

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NHS cuts use of physician associates over ‘substitute doctor’ fear

The NHS has reduced the use of physician associates after a government review found that they were being used as a “substitute” for doctors, a survey has suggested.

The number of physician associates (PAs) averaging more than 11 patient interactions — including consultations, follow-ups, results and referrals — per shift, has dropped since publication of the Leng review in July. More than three-quarters (76 per cent) of PAs said their scope of practice had been restricted in recent months.

The findings come from a survey of 457 associates by United Medical Associate Professionals (UMAPs), the physician associates union.

Read full article (paywalled).

Source: The Times, 29 January 2026

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NHS cuts to cover Covid costs may hit patient care, Labour warns

Patient care may suffer as a result of cuts to the NHS budget to fund the continuing costs of Covid, NHS leaders and Labour have said, after Sajid Javid refused to say where the axe would fall.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)  is trying to make savings from its budget to fund free lateral flow tests for elderly people, Covid surveillance studies and genomic sequencing, after the Treasury refused its request for £5bn in extra funding.

Although the government announced an end to most free mass testing and contract tracing on Monday, remaining Covid measures are expected to cost more than £1bn.

The Treasury and the DHSC refused to say exactly how much cash would be needed or which services would have to be cut back, prompting fears that the NHS could have to find savings at a time of a huge waiting list backlog.

It is understood that DHSC officials are working on identifying savings in the department’s £178.5bn budget for 2022-23, to fund the measures agreed on Monday, including maintaining a “baseline” testing capability that can be scaled up if necessary.

They have ruled out hitting Javid’s plan for tackling waiting lists, but a government source would not rule out any other areas being affected, saying a “significant amount of money” would have to be found by “reprioritising”.

Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, warned the government against abandoning its commitment to give the NHS “whatever it needs” to tackle Covid and called for transparency about “where the impact of these extra costs will fall”.

“Trust leaders are understandably anxious over reports that the ongoing and significant costs of living with Covid will be met by ‘reprioritising’ the NHS’s existing budget,” she said. “There is a very real risk of trade-offs affecting the quality of patient care – something no one wants to see.”

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Source: The Guardian, 23 February 2022

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NHS cuts could lead to another Baby P or Victoria Climbie as safeguarding staff face axe, doctors warn

NHS cuts to key safety roles could trigger more abuse and child deaths, such as those of Baby P and Victoria Climbié, doctors and experts have warned.

Medical staff responsible for safeguarding in their area are legally required to flag concerns about vulnerable patients, but their roles are at risk of being axed as local NHS bodies scramble to make government-imposed cost savings, doctors have told The Independent.

Almost two dozen healthcare professionals, medical royal colleges, alongside children’s charity the NSPCC, have written to health secretary Wes Streeting urging him to protect the roles.

The letter to Mr Steeting, shared with The Independent, said: “The NHS has a crucial role to play in protecting children.

“Given the scale and pace of reform, we ask you to urgently send a clear message to the public and all those who work to protect babies. This should guarantee that keeping children safe will remain a priority for the NHS and that ICBs will be fully resourced to carry out their child safeguarding duties.”

Dr Peter Green, chair of the national network of designated health professionals and doctors for child safeguarding, told The Independent there was a risk that cases such as Baby P and Victoria Climbie will occur more frequently as a result of any cuts.

Dr Green said: “There is a clear risk of those cases significantly increasing. The risk of those cases is obviously going to increase by not having the [NHS’] oversight and learning when things go wrong.”

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Source: The Independent, 16 July 2025

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NHS cuts 18-month waits but concerns over key target remain

NHS trusts again recorded a month-on-month reduction in the number of patients waiting over 78 weeks for treatment, although the flagship target to eliminate this cohort by March remains a tall order, with winter pressures set to crank up.

The overall waiting list rose from 6.7 to 6.8 million between June and July, a record high, with the number of those who have waited over a year rising from around 356,000 to around 378,000.

However, the 78-week breach figure fell from 53,911 in July from 51,838 in June. It had stood at nearly 60,000 in May.

This represents a significant achievement given the unprecedented pressures currently on the system.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 8 September 2022

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NHS criticised for sending patients to children’s hospital despite 1,600 ‘sexual safety incidents’

The NHS has been criticised for sending vulnerable patients to a children’s hospital despite receiving reports of more than 1,600 “sexual safety incidents” at the 59-bed unit.

A series of investigations by The Independent have exposed allegations of systemic abuse across a group of children’s hospitals run by the former Huntercombe Group. The latest revealed that a total of 1,643 “sexual safety incidents” had been reported in four years at its hospital in Maidenhead – accounting for more than half of all sex-related investigations reported in the 209 children’s mental health units across the country since 2019.

Despite the majority of these reports being made prior to 2022-23, the NHS did not take any action and only stopped using the hospital, also known as Taplow Manor, this year.

Gemma Byrne, head of health policy and campaigns at Mind, said in response to The Independent report on sexual incidents: “These horrific reports reveal the systemic scale of abuse and neglect in inpatient mental health settings. Even when patients bravely came forward to share their stories, some of which took place more than 10 years ago, young people continued to be sent to a unit which was known to have catastrophic failings in physical and sexual safety.”

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Source: The Independent, 18 April 2023

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NHS critical ambulance calls in East of England has the longest wait times in the UK

Ambulances called to serious emergencies in the East of England, which encompasses Essex, have the longest waiting times of anywhere in the UK, according to new data. The East of England Ambulance Service, which serves the county of Essex, has the longest wait times for life-threatening injuries of anywhere in the country.

Ambulances took an average of 11 minutes and 12 seconds to respond to category one calls - those for life threatening injuries - in the Essex region in October. That’s up from 10 minutes 49 seconds in September, and far longer than the 7 minute target set by the NHS.

This means it’s also the longest category one response time of any ambulance service in England, as compared to the average wait time for ambulances across England as a whole, category one calls were responded to in an average of 9 minutes and 56 seconds.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: "Our service is under extreme pressure with many ambulances delayed outside hospitals and high call volumes.

"To help us respond effectively we have increased our escalation state across the Trust. We urge the public to please support us by using our services wisely and only calling for life-threatening illnesses and injuries."

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Source: Essex Live, 10 November 2022

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