Jump to content
  • articles
    9,950
  • comments
    84
  • views
    12,714,846

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

Shared NHS patient records could cut 20,000 A&E visits a year, ministers claim

Sharing access to patients’ health data across NHS providers in England could result in 20,000 fewer A&E visits a year and save £20m annually, the government has claimed, before the second reading of the NHS modernisation bill on Monday.

The bill, which would also abolish NHS England, sets out measures including single patient records (SPR) for every person receiving health and social care in England, requiring GPs and hospitals to securely share data as part of the government’s 10-year health plan.

Combining SPRs with virtual care would reduce A&E attendances for frail patients by about 10,000 a year, with another 10,000 fewer visits as a result of fewer misdiagnoses. This would save doctors about 500,000 hours a year, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

The DHSC also predicts 6,000 fewer hospital admissions a year based on the avoided A&E attendances, better heart failure management and improved mental health care. The £20m savings would come through reducing medication errors, adverse drug reactions and duplicate prescribing.

All NHS providers, including hospitals and GPs, would share data so medical professionals could see a patient’s medical history without the need for patients to keep repeating their issues unnecessarily. The change would join up community services and help people manage their conditions.

Patients would have more control over their care, with clear safeguards, audit trails and choice over how their data was used. Social care records and those from private healthcare providers working on behalf of the NHS would also be included.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 1 June 2026

Read more

Health Bill proposal an ‘attack on patient safety’

Scrapping the legal guarantee that a nurse sits on every foundation trust board is a “brazen attack on patient safety”, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

The Health Bill, published this month, would remove the requirement in primary legislation for foundation trust boards to include a registered nurse or midwife and a registered medical practitioner or dentist among their executive directors. Under a new schedule to the NHS Act 2006, the only board roles guaranteed in law would be the chief executive, finance director and chair.

The reason for the change is not given in the bill’s explanatory notes, which describe the new board composition without acknowledging that the clinical requirement has gone. It is also absent from the government’s fact sheet on the legal changes affecting providers, and from its impact assessment on foundation trust reform.

The Department of Health and Social Care, which did not respond to requests for clarification before publication, has since contacted HSJ to say that it plans to recreate the requirement for clinical members in secondary legislation (see below).

Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive Nicola Ranger told HSJ that removing the legal requirement – which has been in place since the creation of FTs in the early 2000s – would “allow for hospitals to make decisions about services for entire populations with no clinical oversight whatsoever”.

She said she was “genuinely worried that we could return to those dark days where leaders look to cut nursing staff to make savings, putting financial targets above safety”. Nursing was “the safety-critical, 24/7 presence for patients”, Professor Ranger said, and removing its guaranteed board voice “would be a recipe for disaster”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 29 May 2026

Read more

ICBs facing clash between PCNs and neighbourhood health

Dozens of primary care networks in some areas may need to be reorganised to take on neighbourhood contracts, because they do not cover a coherent geographic area.

Of 1,210 multipractice primary care networks nationally, between 166 and 392 (14% to 32%) have member GP practices that are intermingled with others, and/or do not serve a single joined-up area, HSJ analysis has found. They make up 900-2,000 of the 6,100 total practices nationally.

Five integrated care board areas – mainly in London and inner West Midlands – are particularly affected, with more than half of PCNs not serving a single joined-up patch (see below).

The pattern reflects how PCNs were formed in 2019. GPs were allowed to determine networks, with little challenge from NHS England. Many were decided based on factors such as pre-existing practice relationships or common working methods.

In contrast, ICBs and councils have set boundaries for neighbourhood teams largely based on municipal or other natural boundaries.

For now, ICBs are mainly working around the mismatch with PCNs. In urban areas, they have set “neighbourhood” or “locality” footprints with large populations, which they say will function with multiple intermingled PCNs within them.

Read full story

Source: HSJ, 28 May 2026

Read more

More pharmacies in England to prescribe medication from autumn

More pharmacists in England will be able to prescribe medications as part of an effort to speed up care and ease pressure on GP surgeries and hospitals.

As part of the Pharmacy First scheme, pharmacists can currently prescribe medication for a sore throat, earache, sinusitis, shingles, impetigo, infected bites and urinary tract infections.

From the autumn, the new £340m investment will see five common ailments added to this list, although it is not yet clear what these will be.

The Pharmacy First scheme in England was first launched in 2024, and allows patients to see their pharmacist for advice, over-the-counter treatments and prescription-only medicines.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care, more than 3.3 million consultations under the scheme were carried out between March 2025 and February 2026.

Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said the government is "making the most of our highly skilled pharmacists, while boosting access to services and giving patients more care right on their doorstep".

"Independent prescribing will play a major part in delivering this shift, easing pressures on GPs, cutting unnecessary red tape and helping patients get the right care closer to home," he said.

The NPA said that while the deal "points in the right direction", it did not address the "crippling" new costs hitting pharmacies.

"We remain concerned that it does very little to close the £2.5bn funding gap that the NHS itself identified a year ago," said NPA chairman Dr Olivier Picard, adding that the expanded scheme was "nowhere near ambitious enough to transform patient access to care, nor make full use of pharmacists' skills".

He went on: "We are also concerned that the current funding levels mean that many pharmacies will struggle to take this development forwards, risking its success. Pharmacies cannot sustain yet more loss-making work."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 29 May 2026

Read more

Trusts begin EPR rollouts after NHSE-imposed delays

Three trusts have begun rolling out their electronic patient record systems months later than planned after NHS England forced them to delay.

HSJ reported in early March that a major go-live of the Nervecentre electronic patient record at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust was suspended, following intervention by NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey. Elements of Sherwood Forest Hospitals FT’s phased rollout of Nervecentre had also been halted.

Later that month, HSJ broke the news that North Cumbria Integrated Care FT had been told by NHSE to delay its planned rollout of the Alcidion EPR as the NHSE was “unable to approve any go-lives at the time”.

This followed reports that Sir Jim was requiring personal sign-off for all major EPR launches  due to concerns about their impact on performance and productivity – particularly during winter performance pressures, and with government very keen to hit year-end waiting list targets. 

James Hawkins, chief digital information officer at York and Scarborough FT, said the rollout was “one of the most significant and complex transformations” undertaken by the trust.

Mr Hawkins said the EPR had been introduced across multiple sites and in “some of our busiest clinical environments with zero downtime and without compromising the quality of care we provide to our patients”.

“That is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the professionalism, resilience, and teamwork of colleagues right across our organisation,” he added.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 28 May 2026

Read more

Hospital accused of delaying ambulances to eliminate corridor care

 MaA hospital trust has been accused of delaying the offloading of ambulance patients so it can maintain zero “corridor care”.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust had no patients being treated in corridors, while ambulance crews were providing care in its car parks, according to a West Midlands Ambulance Service board paper last week.

Minutes of the ambulance trust’s quality governance committee said UHCW had “better flow” than most local hospitals, but “the problem is our staff are still providing ‘car park care’”.

Paramedic and senior staff side representative Stephen Thompson told the committee that staff were frustrated about the situation. He said bringing even a small number of patients inside the hospital, which is on the outskirts of Coventry, would free up several ambulances to respond to other emergencies.

WMAS medical director Richard Steyn pointed out that acute trusts were now under pressure from NHS England to report on corridor care, and claimed there was less focus on ambulance handover delays.

“They [UHCW] will not tolerate corridor care, but they are responsible for the patient outside in the ambulance, but [they] are tolerating that,” he said.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, May 2026

Read more

Prostate cancer screening only for "a few thousand" high risk men

Only "a few thousand" men who have a dangerous genetic variant and a family history of cancer should be screened for prostate cancer with a blood test, according to the final recommendations of scientific advisers.

The UK's National Screening Committee says the harms of screening outweigh the benefits in all other groups.

A major review by the National Screening Committee said for every 1,000 men screened in their 50s, it would save two lives from prostate cancer over the next 15 years.

But it would also lead to 20 men being told they have a cancer that would never need treatment.

Some prostate cancers grow so slowly you would have to reach 120 to 150 years old before they were a threat. However, they would have to live with that psychological burden of a cancer diagnosis for the rest of their lives.

Out of those 20 men, 12 would end up having treatment they don't need, but that damages the prostate – potentially damaging their sex lives and causing some incontinence, meaning they would need a pad to catch leaking urine.

"Once a prostate cancer is found, we still can't reliably tell which cancers need treatment or which do not – and the treatments available for prostate cancer can cause long-lasting harm," said Prof Sir Mike Richards, who chairs the screening committee and has prostate cancer himself.

The only group where the benefits were greater than the harms is men with a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer.

The final decision though rests with health ministers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 28 May 2026

Read more
 

'We knew somebody would die': Teenage patients 'ignored' before fatal NHS trust failures

"We knew somebody would die… and nobody listened."

Laura Kenny is remembering her friend Christie Harnett.

Both were patients at a mental health unit in Middlesbrough when Christie took her own life.

Laura says she and other patients had expressed worries about their treatment at the unit - later described in an independent report as "chaotic and unsafe" - but she says nobody listened.

"We'd been warning everyone," says Laura. "We wrote letters to everyone we could think of saying one of us is going to die."

In fact, 17-year-old Christie was one of three young women who, within a few months of each other, took their own lives while patients in hospitals run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) - which covers the whole of North Yorkshire, County Durham and Teesside.

In recent weeks The Independent has spoken to more than a dozen former patients, admitted as young people or as adults, who say they experienced failures in the standard of care at TEWV.

All have similar stories - describing a lack of compassion among staff and an absence of any meaningful treatment or therapy. Many fear mistakes are still being made.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 26 May 2026

Read more

Scandal-hit nursing regulator still failing to address problems, watchdog warns

The UK’s scandal-hit nursing regulator is still failing to address problems years after a “toxic” culture was first revealed by The Independent.

A review of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2023-24, by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) which regulates the body, found it had wrongly approved more than 350 “fraudulent” or “underqualified” nurses to work in the UK.

That followed an expose by The Independent, which uncovered whistleblower allegations of a “toxic” and bullying culture within its ranks that had allowed rogue nurses were free to work in the NHS unchecked, prompting an overhaul of its leadership.

Despite the changes at the top of the organisation, and pledges by its new chief Paul Rees to do better, the PSA’s annual review of 2024-25 said it had not seen evidence of “substantial and sustained improvement”.

The damning assessment comes a day after the NMC admitted more than a dozen rogue nurses who should have been struck off had been free to work in the NHS for up to 12 years after a major vetting failure.

Read full story

Source: Independent, 28 May 2026

Read more

‘I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy. Six years later, I’ve yet to receive any follow-up care’

Rates of type 2 diabetes are surging at twice the pace in younger women compared to their older counterparts, according to new analysis.

Charity Diabetes UK suggests this alarming trend could stem from "little or no follow-up care" for individuals who develop the condition during pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes (GD), characterised by insufficient insulin production leading to high blood sugar during pregnancy, typically resolves after childbirth.

However, those affected face a significantly elevated risk of subsequently developing type 2 diabetes.

Data compiled by Diabetes UK reveals a 47% increase in type 2 diabetes diagnoses among women under 40 between 2017/18 and 2023/24.

The charity has voiced concerns that inadequate postnatal care for GD, which impacts between 10 and 20% of pregnant women, is a significant contributor to these escalating rates.

Women with GD should be offered HbA1c blood tests to check for diabetes between six and 13 weeks after birth, and then once a year to measure average blood sugar levels.

The first annual gestational diabetes audit, which was published last year by NHS England, showed that only 57% of women had an annual HbA1c test after having GD.

It also showed that more than one in 10 (11%) of women with GD developed prediabetes within a year, while 15% developed type 2 diabetes within 10 years.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 28 May 2026

Read more

Young people in UK facing ‘mental health emergency’ as referrals reach record high

New figures have revealed a record surge in referrals to children and young people’s mental health services in March, alongside unprecedented waiting times.

The charity YoungMinds, analysing NHS England data, reported 932,822 under-18s had an active mental health referral during the month.

YoungMinds warned the data highlights the "sheer scale of the mental health emergency" facing youngsters.

New referrals climbed 11% from February and were up 2% compared to the same time last year.

The analysis also found that the average waiting time topped 300 days for the eighth consecutive month.

Abigail Ampofo, interim chief executive at YoungMinds, said: “These alarming figures highlight the sheer scale of the mental health emergency.

“While waiting lists for the treatment of physical health problems are going down, the time young people are spending trying to access specialist support for their mental health continues to rise.

“So many pressures are harming young people’s mental health, including academic demands, rising living costs and inequality.

“We need more investment in mental health services, but we also need to tackle these root causes of poor mental health.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 28 May 2026

Read more

NHSE project to put FDP into primary care

NHS England is exploring how to push the federated data platform into primary and community care.

A document seen by HSJ reveals the FDP, of which controversial US firm Palantir is the main contractor, was last month being scoped for use in integrated neighbourhood teams.

Shifting care to the community is one of the government’s priorities for the health service.

It said the “minimum viable product capabilities that address user challenges and are technically feasible to build” were:

  • A triage patient list to prioritise patient by urgency, complexity or eligibility for interventions
  • Tracking and coordinating tool to “assign and track actions with explicit ownership and escalation routes, supported by targeted alerts”
  • Tool to monitor patient outcomes. This would “compare patient progress to baseline and intervention goals and iterate model of care”

The British Medical Association last year called for the NHS to move to a publicly owned alternative to Palantir.

Asked about the move to involve the FDP in neighbourhood health, a BMA spokesman said: “It is essential that patients can trust that their data is safe and being used responsibly by institutions across the NHS.

“To have that trust, patients need confidence not only in the technical safeguards but also in the regulations governing these organisations. If that trust is eroded, there is a real risk that patients who fear their personal health information may be misused could delay seeking care, withhold important information from clinicians, or avoid engaging with vital services altogether."

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 27 May 2026

Read more

Don’t let this heatwave affect your medicines: Three important tips from the MHRA

As the UK braces for another scorching day of high temperatures today, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is reminding people that these hot conditions can affect medicines and how well they work. Hot weather changes how your body responds to medications, which could impact people managing long-term conditions – but a few simple steps can help avoid problems.

Alison Cave, Chief Safety Officer at the MHRA, said:

“Let’s face it – when there’s a heatwave, most of us are focused on getting outside and enjoying it while it lasts. But it’s easy to forget that medicines left in the heat – in cars, bags, or on sunny windowsills – might not work properly when you need them.

“Some medicines can also make you more likely to burn in the sun, feel dizzy, or get dehydrated, especially if you’re taking diuretics or have a condition like asthma, heart disease, or diabetes.

“To stay safe in the heat:

  1. Store medicines somewhere cool, dry and out of direct sunlight – especially if you’re out and about
  2. Know the signs of heat-related illness – stay hydrated and listen to your body
  3. Take extra care in the sun if your medicine makes your skin more likely to burn

“And remember, for all medicines it’s important to read the leaflet and speak to a healthcare professional if you have any questions.” 

Read full press release

Source: MHRA, 26 May 2026

Read more

Regulators demand answers on advice and guidance

Answers are needed from NHS England and others on 11 issues to make sure its controversial expansion of advice and guidance is safe, the Care Quality Commission has declared.

Advice and guidance allows GPs to seek pre-referral advice from specialist clinicians working in secondary care, and is designed in part to reduce referrals. 

NHS England has planned to substantially ramp up its use this year, including by making its use mandatory – rather than initial referral – in at least 10 locally-chosen specialties. This has proven controversial with many clinicians, particularly GPs. 

NHSE last month issued a letter seeking to clarify some aspects of the policy, including stepping back from a target that in the chosen specialties there would be a “diversion rate of at least 25 per cent by March 2027”.

British Medical Association GP Committee chair Katie Bramall had also written to the Care Quality Comission in March to raise concerns express the BMA’s reservations relating to the national implementation of mandated A&G.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 27 May 2026

Read more

NHS watchdog launches inspection of troubled trust after The Independent exposed failures

The NHS care watchdog has launched an inspection of a troubled trust after The Independent exposed delays in diagnosing and treating dozens of patients, including some with cancer.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has sent inspectors to review care at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester, just days after The Independent revealed that there were serious concerns about the safety of its gynaecological services.

The trust launched an audit of the care of hundreds of women at Salford Royal Hospital’s gynaecology department in 2024, prompted by concerns that the necessary follow-ups were not carried out.

It found that dozens of patients, including cancer patients, all under the care of Dr Jim Wolfe, were harmed when their diagnosis and treatment were delayed as a result of “admin failures”.

Whistleblowers from the hospital’s gynaecology service came forward to The Independent with further concerns, alleging that the trust’s leadership was ignoring safety issues.

At the same time, an unpublished NHS England review of the service from 2024 warned that it had a “significant backlog” of more than 2,000 patient letters, including test results and referrals for treatment, that hadn’t been sent to GPs as required. This resulted in some patients’ treatment being delayed by at least five months.

The report also warned that the service was “heavily” reliant on agency doctors, and that its ability to provide on-call doctors had been affected by “significant sickness absence and suspension” among its consultants.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 26 May 2026

Read more

UK nurses and midwives who should have been banned have worked for last 12 years

Nurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients have practised over the last 12 years because of “potentially dangerous” failings by a medical regulator.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has admitted that its “completely and utterly unacceptable” mistakes meant it failed to protect the public from about 15 professionals whom it should have banned from ever working in healthcare in the UK because they had broken the law.

The nurses and midwives told the NMC about their criminal convictions when they applied to join or stay on the regulator’s register, which they need to be on in order to practise in Britain. However, NMC staff who assessed their applications did not then refer them on to an assistant registrar at the regulator to investigate and decide if they could treat patients, which they should have done.

The 15 or so nurses and midwives involved now face being struck off because their law-breaking is so serious that they should not be allowed to keep having contact with patients.

The Patients Association warned that the NMC’s failure to properly look into the background of those concerned undermines patients’ trust that health staff are safe to care for them.

The Royal College of Nursing accused the regulator of an “astounding failure of its primary purpose to safeguard the public, as well as to provide assurance to the nursing workforce that they and their colleagues had all undergone the necessary checks to practise”.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 27 May 2026

Read more

Regulator ‘missing many AI incidents’

Safety concerns linked to AI voice tech are not being properly reported because many providers are unaware of the regulation system or too busy to use it, experts have told HSJ.

The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority is responsible for ensuring ambient voice technology products, in which the NHS is about to invest heavily, are safe.

Data shared with HSJ showed there had only been five reports under the regulator’s “yellow card” system covering the 12 months to the beginning of May.

The regulator said the five reports covered “a range of issues relating to the system capturing incorrect information; file save errors; and concerns relating to patient consent of use of the product”.

However, experts said five reports was fewer than they would have expected, considering AVT systems are already being used widely in primary care, and in secondary care under what providers are describing as pilots.

HSJ checked each of the 23 AVT providers registered with NHSE against the MHRA’s “yellow card” reporting website, and only three were recognised.

An MHRA spokesperson said in this case, complainants could fill out a separate form. However, after being asked by HSJ about the missing 20, the regulator said it had now added all of them.

But Hugh Harvey, founder of healthtech consultancy Hardian Health, told HSJ: “The yellow card system is the recommended way for users to report issues with medical devices, but it is currently underused, partly due to a lack of awareness, and partly due to the friction involved in doing so.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 26 May 2026

Read more

Australia confirms first diphtheria death amid worst outbreak in decades

Australia has recorded its first diphtheria death in almost a decade as the country grapples with the worst outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease in decades.

In March, the Northern Territory (NT) declared an outbreak of diphtheria with cases also in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. Cases started rising in late-2025 with a sharp increase in February.

This year, there have been 245 cases, marking the largest outbreak in Australia since 1991, mainly in remote Indigenous communities.

On Tuesday, NT's health minister said autopsy results from an overseas lab found diphtheria was the cause of a man's death in April at Royal Darwin Hospital, the first such case since 2018.

In recent weeks, the government has ramped up vaccination efforts in areas most at risk and the number of new cases was now falling, health officials said on Tuesday.

"Our government has taken this situation very seriously, and we are working hard to understand the causes and working to contain the situation," NT Health Minister Steve Edgington said.

Since 30 March, there have been 10,407 vaccinations, he said.

Authorities are urging affected communities to update their vaccinations, especially teenagers and adults who need to get booster shots.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 26 May 2026

Read more

Supermarket lung cancer checks find 10,000 cases in England

Mobile NHS scanning units, strategically placed in supermarket car parks, sports stadiums, and high streets across England, have detected lung cancer in over 10,000 individuals, new figures reveal.

Crucially, more than three-quarters of these cases were identified at early stages one and two, significantly boosting treatment success rates, NHS England confirmed.

This vital initiative forms part of the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme, which began in 2019, specifically targeting areas most affected by the disease. Early detection is paramount, with officials stating that patients diagnosed in the initial stages are 13 times more likely to survive for five years compared to those whose cancer is found later.

Mobile NHS scanning units, strategically placed in supermarket car parks, sports stadiums, and high streets across England, have detected lung cancer in over 10,000 individuals, new figures reveal.

Crucially, more than three-quarters of these cases were identified at early stages one and two, significantly boosting treatment success rates, NHS England confirmed.

This vital initiative forms part of the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme, which began in 2019, specifically targeting areas most affected by the disease. Early detection is paramount, with officials stating that patients diagnosed in the initial stages are 13 times more likely to survive for five years compared to those whose cancer is found later.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said: "Lung cancer checks and scans save lives, so it’s fantastic the NHS has now diagnosed over 10,000 people – the majority at an early stage, when treatment is most effective. The Lung Cancer Screening Programme has been designed around where people already are, bringing scanners into their local communities to make it easier for people to get checked."

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 25 May 2026

Read more

Misinformation about perimenopause on social media ‘putting women at risk’

Misinformation about perimenopause is putting women at risk of unintended pregnancies, unnecessary medication and missed diagnoses, experts have said.

Awareness of menopause and treatments such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been raised by efforts including a prominent documentary by Davina McCall.

But as a growing number of women encounter misleading information on social media, there are concerns that some could be led to false conclusions that can obscure real underlying health difficulties.

“Everyone thinks they’re menopausal,” said Dr Paula Briggs, a consultant in sexual and reproductive health. “So we are seeing younger and younger women asking for HRT when what they need is hormonal contraception, as they’re still fertile.

“I work in an abortion service and we’re seeing more women over 35 now who believe themselves to be menopausal and are gobsmacked when they become pregnant.”

Briggs said misinformation around perimenopause is concerning.

“I look at things like Instagram to see what they are exposed to and I am horrified,” she said, citing examples of women in their 30s being told to demand HRT if they are unable to sleep or are struggling with migraines – and to switch GPs if denied. Or women being told they should seek testosterone treatment.

“I’m not anti any of these things in the right person, but females produce their own testosterone lifelong, even women without ovaries, so the idea that everybody has to demand testosterone is bonkers,” Briggs said.

Dr Channa Jayasena, an expert in reproductive endocrinology at Imperial College London, also raised concerns.

“It’s great that there’s better [public] awareness [about perimenopause]. And I think many doctors are completely unaware about how debilitating the symptoms of perimenopause can be,” he said. “But the flipside of that, I think there’s a risk that some women are being mislabelled as having perimenopause when they have other things that are wrong.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 25 May 2026

Read more

NHS spends record £241m outsourcing scan analysis to private firms

The NHS is paying private firms record sums to analyse diagnostic scans because hospitals are too busy and understaffed to do the work themselves, research has revealed.

The amount being spent on outsourced the interpretation of CT and MRI scans is “spiralling out of control” and reflects a short-sighted failure to train enough doctors, ministers are being told.

Scans are vital for diagnosing diseases such as cancer and for monitoring patients’ responses to treatment, so they need to be done quickly. Many hospitals, however, rely on non-NHS health companies reading some scans to ensure they get the results promptly.

NHS trusts and health boards across the UK gave £241m to private firms to undertake such work last year. As demand increases, spending has doubled in five years from £120min 2021 and tripled from the £81m spent in 2018.

The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), which collated the figures in its annual workforce census, said health service spending on private scan reading was “ballooning”. The NHS-wide shortage of radiologists has left hospitals with too little capacity to read all scans, meaning the service is “haemorrhaging” cash to independent firms, it said.

The RCR also raised concerns that the analysis done by private firms was sometimes so poor that NHS radiologists had to read scans again, raising questions about the benefit of outsourcing.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 25 May 2026

Read more

21 trusts ‘delivered year’s elective recovery in single month’

Twenty-one trusts delivered their entire 2025-26 elective improvement in March alone, analysis shows, prompting concerns about the “fragility and sustainability” of the NHS’s waiting list recovery.

The NHS’s overall performance on the 18-week standard rose by 2.7 percentage points in March – a very large month-on-month improvement – to secure its 65% year-end target.

HSJ analysis of official data reveals that 21 providers (nearly 20%) of general acute trusts that were able to report improvement in their 18-week performance between April 2025 and March 2026 were in fact entirely reliant on steep gains in the final month.

Between April 2025 and February 2026, the share of their patients treated within 18 weeks had fallen.

Waiting list expert Barry Mulholland told HSJ  that where trusts had “effectively delivered their entire annual recovery in March alone… that is extremely hard to achieve through ‘normal’ improvement activity”.

Mr Mulholland, CEO of consultancy MBI Health, said: “It does not mean the gains are fake, but it does suggest fragility, risk, and raises questions about the overall sustainability.

“Similarly, I would want to understand the changes that have been made by the trusts which made large structural improvements, to see what enabled the consistent improvement and if those changes can be replicated more widely.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 26 May 2026

Read more

Surgeon removed wrong part of bowel after tattoo mix-up

A cancer patient had the wrong part of their bowel removed during an operation after a surgeon mistook a tattoo for the site of a tumour, a report has said.

It is one of 10 "never events" in the past 12 months, according to a report for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which manages the NHS in north Wales.

Five were listed as "wrong site" procedures, two involved incorrect implants, two involved retained objects such as swabs left inside patients, and one involved medicine administered by the incorrect route.

In one case, a surgeon at Bangor's Ysbyty Gwynedd located what was said to be a very visible tattoo or marking and operated assuming it indicated the site of the patient's tumour.

"This led the surgeon to take out the segment of bowel that did not have the cancer in it," said the report.

A patient at Wrexham's Maelor Hospital attended a dermatology one-stop clinic after being referred through an Urgent Suspected Cancer clinical pathway, and underwent cryotherapy treatment in which cancer cells undergo extreme cold treatment.

The patient was also listed for a minor operation the same day and it was after that procedure they told the clinic nurse that the incorrect area had been treated so further surgery was carried out the same day.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing, said the report which is due to be considered at a meeting on Thursday.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 24 May 2026

Read more

Streeting’s NHS home-working revolution ‘puts patients at risk’

Patients risk having serious conditions missed by doctors working from home under an NHS revolution championed by Wes Streeting.

Doctors will deliver millions of virtual hospital appointments at their convenience – and from their own homes – as part of plans to tackle the NHS backlog that Mr Streeting set out when he was health secretary.

However, health leaders and patient groups are concerned about patients falling through the cracks and the risk that serious conditions such as cancer could be missed.

They also fear the creation of a “two-tier” health system in which the digitally capable are “fast-tracked” while others who are older or more vulnerable are forced to wait longer for care.

The new “Online NHS Trust” will be officially formed on 1 June and start seeing patients from October 2027, The Telegraph can disclose.

Patients facing some of the longest waits will be the first to test the new service, with the virtual hospital to be piloted on gynaecology, urology, gastroenterology and ophthalmology.

Patients referred to a consultant will have the option to connect remotely to one of the specialists across the country via the NHS app – with more specialities and conditions added over time.

But concerns gathered by Healthwatch, an official health service body that represents patients, have warned that serious conditions such as cancer could be missed in video calls.

And one patient advocate said it was “described as being optional, but in reality, if there is a long waiting list for an in-person appointment, the patient may ‘choose’ the online appointment instead, eg if the GP says it’s a shorter waiting time to get seen online, it is not a fair choice”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Telegraph, 18 May 2026

Read more

Family wants 'Alice's Law' after mother's BBL death

The family of a mother of five who died after getting a Brazilian butt lift (BBL) has written to the government to demand it brings in a new law to regulate the cosmetic industry.

Alice Webb, 33, became unwell and later died in hospital after the treatment given by Jordan James Parke at his Gloucester salon in 2024.

Webb's sister, April Palmer, and her former partner Ben Kingscote have written to health secretary James Murray calling on him to introduce Alice's Law, which would restrict liquid BBL procedures to qualified surgeons.

Webb's family have said they are "disgusted" at the "extremely troubling" lack of progress since she died. The government insisted that it is "taking action".

The family has previously backed the campaign launched by Save Face three years ago calling for greater regulation.

The government has announced proposals to restrict BBLs and other high-risk procedures, but the family's letter criticised ministers for not acting soon enough, despite knowing the dangers.

"Had the Government acted on those warnings when they were raised, Alice might still be with us," the letter from the family said.

"Alice's Law is very important to us as a family, as we believe it could prevent avoidable harm and spare other families the same heartbreak," they said.

"Every month of inaction risks further, entirely preventable fatalities."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 22 May 2026

Read more

© 2026 Patient Safety Learning. All rights reserved.

Patient Safety Learning is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission Registration number 1180689.

×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.