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Content ArticleIn January 2025, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives’ Budget Committee offered a list of possible spending reductions to offset revenue losses from proposed tax cuts. In May, the Committee advanced a bill incorporating several reductions on the list. The Committee estimated that the 6 largest potential Medicaid cuts (for example, work requirements for some Medicaid enrollees) would each reduce the federal government’s Medicaid outlays by at least $100 billion over 10 years. On the basis of the Committee’s estimates of savings; Congressional Budget Office analyses; and peer-reviewed studies of the coverage, financial, and health impacts of past Medicaid expansions and contractions, the authors project the likely effects of each option and of the House bill advanced by the Budget Committee in May. Each option individually would reduce federal Medicaid outlays by between $100 billion and $900 billion over a decade, increase the ranks of the uninsured by between 600 000 and 3 900 000 and the annual number of persons forgoing needed medical care by 129 060 to 838 890, and result in 651 to 12 626 medically preventable deaths annually. Enactment of the House bill advanced in May would increase the number of uninsured persons by 7.6 million and the number of deaths by 16 642 annually, according to a mid-range estimate. These figures exclude harms from lowering provider payments and shrinking benefits, as well as possible repercussions from states increasing taxes or shifting expenditures from other needs to make up for shortfalls in federal Medicaid funding. Policy makers should weigh the likely health and financial harms to patients and providers of reducing Medicaid expenditures against the desirability of tax reductions, which would accrue mostly to wealthy Americans.
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News Article
RFK Jr. names new slate of vaccine advisers after purging CDC panel
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unveiled eight people he has chosen to serve on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel – just two days after taking the unprecedented step of removing all 17 sitting members. On Wednesday, Kennedy listed the names and short bios of the new advisers who will join the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, at its upcoming meeting in late June. "All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense," Kennedy said in a post on X, "They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations." The new members are Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Cody Meissner, Dr. Michael A. Ross, Dr. James Pagano and Vicky Pebsworth. "This is a huge win for the medical freedom [m]ovement," David Mansdoerfer, former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services in the first Trump administration, wrote in a post on X, "they did everything by the book to put together this excellent slate of appointees." Public health advocates are wary. "Kennedy did not pick people with strong, current expertise in vaccines," says Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Law, San Francisco, who studies vaccine policy. "It tells me that Kennedy is setting up a committee that would be skeptical of vaccines, and possibly willing to implement an anti-vaccine agenda." Read full story Source: NPR, 11 June 2025 -
Content ArticleThe US government’s decision to end programmes that treat and prevent communicable diseases will have serious consequences—not just for vulnerable communities that depend on this aid but also for public health in the US and beyond. Cutting funding to global health programmes isn’t just about withdrawing aid. It increases the risk of infectious disease outbreaks that could impact everyone. Without prevention and treatment efforts, diseases are more likely to spread unchecked, mutate and become harder to control. This creates a higher risk of future global health crises that could threaten lives worldwide. Investing in global health isn’t just humanitarian. It’s essential for protecting public health everywhere.
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Content Article
Doctors for America Annual Report (2024)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in International patient safety
Doctors for America advocates are involved in activities at the local, state and federal level. Doctors for America's 2024 Impact report showcase their achievements, challenges, and milestones improving access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. -
Content ArticleThe government’s decision to abolish NHS England while simultaneously halving the operational budgets of integrated care boards is ambitious, but it lacks detail on how the plans will be implemented. The announcement coincided with evidence presented to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, showing major weaknesses in England’s public health system. Any reorganisation must strengthen the public health function in the NHS rather than further weakening it, write Chad Byworth and colleagues in this BMJ opinion piece. Structures emerging from the reorganisation must include a strong, independent public health function for the NHS that can provide high quality advice to the government, to support the health secretary’s goal of shifting from treatment to prevention.
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News ArticleDoctors have reported a rise in the number of patients with Victorian diseases such as scabies, as the Royal College of Physicians urged the government to do more to fight poverty. The survey of 882 doctors found 89% were concerned about the impact of health inequalities on their patients, while 72% had seen more patients in the past three months with illnesses related to poor-quality housing, air pollution and access to transport. The Royal College of Physicians found 46% of respondents said that at least half of their workload involved illnesses linked to social factors. One doctor said that they had seen patients with two Victorian skin diseases, erysipelas and scabies, over the past three months. Another said they were seeing more people “with poor nutritional status due to poverty”, eventually leading to “prolonged and impaired recovery from acute illnesses”. Several patients had contracted hypothermia. One doctor said it was due to the patient not being able to afford heating at home. The Royal College of Physicians has called on the government to set out how its health mission will address these illnesses. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 April 2025
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News Article
States sue HHS over $12B in cancelled health funds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against HHS over the Trump administration’s abrupt cancellation of billions in public health grants to state health departments. The suit, filed April 1 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, alleges HHS’ discontinuation of more than $11 billion in funding to state health departments violates federal law and jeopardises public health. The eliminated funds supported efforts to track infectious diseases, improve pandemic preparedness, expand mental health services and modernize outdated systems. If funding is not restored, states allege key public health programs will be disbanded and thousands of employees could lose their jobs. State health departments began receiving notices late March 25 that $11.4 billion in grants from the CDC and roughly $1 billion in funds from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were being rescinded immediately. “Slashing this funding now will reverse our progress on the opioid crisis, throw our mental health systems into chaos, and leave hospitals struggling to care for patients,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a news release, adding that the state is set to lose nearly $400 million as part of the cuts. The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately prevent the funds from being rescinded, as well longer-term injunctions. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 1 April 2025 -
News Article
NHS ‘should give councils more grief’ on health
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The 10-Year Plan’s focus on the NHS risks sidelining the need for more effective action by national and local government on prevention, public health directors are warning. Association of Directors of Public Health president Greg Fell also told HSJ integrated care boards should “give us [councils] more grief” to take more action on prevention, rather than prioritising NHS upstream interventions that are not as effective as primary prevention. Mr Fell, director of public health at Sheffield City Council, said policy makers, NHS leaders and media too often looked to growing “preventive” treatments – such as weight management treatment, and weight-loss drugs – as the solution to problems like growing obesity and falling healthy life expectancy. He said the routine “framing” of prevention as something the NHS can solve with upstream treatments risked diverting from national and local government actions that could make a much bigger difference. Mr Fell said such interventions – and the high-profile GLP-1 drugs for obesity – may be worthwhile, but for overcoming the big health threats were “like emptying an ocean with a teaspoon or, being kind, a soup ladle”. He said: “The answer is way upstream of better treatment. [It] is effective regulation of junk food industries, and that isn’t primarily a Department of Health and Social Care thing, and certainly not an NHS problem. It’s a problem across the government.” Mr Fell said he expected the 10-Year Plan “would be pretty good” but means “the bandwidth has been taken by the NHS”. He called for government to outline its plan for preventive cross-government action as part of its health mission, beginning a “debate about the right mix of policies” across multiple government departments, local government, and others. “We haven’t yet seen much on the health mission,” the director of public health said, adding that it would need to cover tobacco control, alcohol, air quality, obesity, and “how does all that hang together across the totality of government?” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 31 March 2025 -
News ArticleA California coastal destination is telling visitors to leave the measles virus at home this spring break, as cases continue to crop up across the country. San Diego County’s communications office said that while no cases have been reported there this year, the potential for new infections could rise with “many people taking advantage of spring break.” “If you have traveled internationally or nationally near an outbreak area and are experiencing the symptoms of measles, call your healthcare provider immediately,” Medical Director of County Epidemiology and Immunization Services Dr. Seema Shah said in a Monday statement. “Measles isn’t just a fever and rash. It can be a very dangerous illness, especially for young children and babies.” The county has also released a Public Service Announcement on social media to warn people of the potential spread and the vaccination. The warning comes as a deadly outbreak in West Texas grew even larger, with 327 cases identified since late January, officials announced Tuesday. That’s up by 18 since Friday. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 March 2025
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EventuntilThis conference is being run by the Local Government Association (LGA) in partnership with the Association of Directors and Public Health (ADPH). This key annual conference in public health will offer delegates the opportunity to hear from leading expert speakers on the very latest thinking on health inequalities, as well as gaining insights from those delivering on the ground. It will provide a much-needed opportunity for the public health community to come together, share learning, take stock and plan for the future. This year’s virtual conference will focus on addressing health inequalities, with a keen eye on local government and system-wide perspectives. It will provide practical insights and strategic discussions to inform and address the changing needs of our communities. Over three days, delegates will be able to put their questions and comments to a line up of speakers and will have the opportunity to participate in sessions sharing good practice from local areas and to discuss issues that matter to them. The afternoon will also feature a virtual Innovation Zone, kindly sponsored by NIHR, providing an opportunity for councils, partners and stakeholders to showcase their public health practice and innovations. Confirmed speakers Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director UCL Institute of Health Equity Anne Longfield, Founder and Chair, Centre for Young Lives Alice Wiseman, Vice President, ADPH Sarah Muckle, Director of Public Health, Essex County Council and ADPH Policy Lead for Children and Young People Alison Hadley OBE, Director Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange, University of Bedfordshire James Woolgar, Sexual & Reproductive Health & HIV Commissioning Lead, Liverpool City Council and Chair, English HIV & Sexual Health Commissioners Group (EHSHCG) Carol Harris, Teenage Pregnancy Operational Lead, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Christopher Rocks, Lead Economist and Head of Secretariat, The Health Foundation Sally Cartwright, Director of Public Health Cambridgeshire Council Glenn Halliday, Strategic People Lead – Work and Health Integration Ruth Tennant, DPH Solihull and ADPH Board Member Katherine Merrifield, Assistant Director of Healthy Lives, The Health Foundation Dr Mubasshir Ajaz, Head of Health and Communities, West Midlands Combined Authority David Buck, Senior Fellow, Public Health and Inequalities, Kings Fund Vicky Head, DPH Milton Keynes Natalie Turner, Deputy Director for Localities, Centre for Ageing Better Greg Fell, President, ADPH This is a virtual event run on the Zoom platform. Register for the conference
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Content ArticleFor some years, the World Health Organization and other international bodies have urged countries to take wide-ranging measures to reduce the spread of AMR. In the UK, such action involves multiple public bodies including the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), where AMR policy is led by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), and the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These and other public bodies have been coordinating their activities using five-year national action plans. The National Audit Office are investigating the government’s response to AMR because it is a serious public health threat, and because the UK’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic showed the country was not as resilient to such threats as it expected to be. This report sets out information on the risk posed by AMR and the UK government’s response. It focuses on the response in England, where the UK government has responsibility for the NHS and key aspects of animal health and environmental policy.
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Content ArticleThe Self-Care Forum and Imperial College London's Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) collaborated on a major research project to study people’s perspectives on self-care. The ‘Living Self-Care Survey’ collected data from 3,255 UK residents including 227 health & care professionals. This infographic shows five key messages from the research.
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News ArticleLife expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity. The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal. Of the 20 countries studied, every one apart from Norway saw life expectancy growth fall. England suffered the largest decline in life expectancy improvement, with a fall in average annual improvement of 0.18 years, from 0.25 between 1990 and 2011 to 0.07 between 2011 and 2019. The second slowdown of life expectancy growth in Europe was in Northern Ireland (reducing by 0.16 years), followed by Wales and Scotland (both falling by 0.15 years). Sarah Price, NHS England’s director of public health, said: “This important study reinforces that prevention is the cornerstone of a healthier society, and is exactly why it will be such a key part of the 10-year health plan which we are working with [the] government on. “The slowdown in life expectancy improvements, particularly due to cardiovascular disease and cancer, highlights the urgent need for stronger action on the root causes – poor diet, physical inactivity, and obesity.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 February 2025
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Content ArticleDecades of steady improvements in life expectancy in Europe slowed down from around 2011, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, for reasons which remain disputed. We aimed to assess how changes in risk factors and cause-specific death rates in different European countries related to changes in life expectancy in those countries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The countries that best maintained improvements in life expectancy after 2011 (Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden) did so through better maintenance of reductions in mortality from cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, underpinned by decreased exposures to major risks, possibly mitigated by government policies. The continued improvements in life expectancy in these five countries during 2019–21 indicate that these countries were better prepared to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic. By contrast, countries with the greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements after 2011 went on to have some of the largest decreases in life expectancy in 2019–21. These findings suggest that government policies that improve population health also build resilience to future shocks. Such policies include reducing population exposure to major upstream risks for cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, such as harmful diets and low physical activity, tackling the commercial determinants of poor health, and ensuring access to affordable health services.
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Content ArticleIt has long been known that a focus on early intervention and prevention in the early years can prevent ill health in the future. With the mental and physical health outcomes of children in England on a downward spiral, the new government’s commitment to raising ‘the healthiest generation of children ever’ has been warmly welcomed by the children’s sector. This blog by Jessica Holden, Policy Adviser at the King's Fund, looks at whether this sentiment will be met with the action needed to address the scale of the challenge.
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EventuntilThe new government has stated its ambition to create a prevention-first health and social care system and a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer. With this in mind, it is an ideal time for the nursing team to update its knowledge on public health and discover how it can play a role in preventing illness, protecting health, promoting well-being and reducing health inequalities. This webinar, delivered in collaboration with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, will give you strategies to maximise your impact whether you work in hospitals, social care or the community, the NHS or independent sector – and whatever your specialty. Find out how you can underpin your practice with the free All Our Health bite-sized e-learning modules on more than 30 public health topics, including obesity, climate change and mental health. And be inspired by nurses who will share helpful hints and tips on how to address some of the major public health issues affecting the population’s health - such as immunisation, screening and supporting smoking cessation, Plus, your questions answered by our panel of experts. Register
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News ArticleEngland’s top doctor has warned the equivalent of half the country’s population will be attending emergency departments every year within a decade unless more work is done to move healthcare out of hospitals. NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said if the health system wants to avoid a situation of overcrowded A&Es by 2034 then it “must go for broke” by moving more care into communities. A&Es in England faced the busiest year on record in 2024, with 27.42 million attendances across the year, 7.1 per cent higher than in 2023, according to NHS England. In a speech at Liverpool Medical Institution on Wednesday evening, Professor Powis said caring for more patients outside of hospitals was key to reducing pressure on accident and emergency departments long term. “Because we know that if A&E attendances increase at the same rate as they have over the past 10 years – NHS staff will need to manage six million more A&E attendances every year from 2034,” he is expected to say. “That would mean the equivalent of almost half the population attend A&E at least once every year – that is simply not feasible for a 21st-century health system. “If the NHS is to avoid a situation of overcrowded A&Es in 10 years’ time – we must go for broke in moving care from hospital to the community.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 January 2025
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Event
Do With: making the movement happen
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
untilIf you’ve been inspired by the Do With vision and want to work with others to shift the public sector away from its current ‘do to’ mindset and practices towards a ‘do with’ approach, please join this King's Fund online meeting. The event is free and open to anyone working in or with the public sector who wants to move towards a more humane, democratic and impactful way of working. Do With is not a new organisation or formal campaign. Instead, it hopes to be a grassroots movement for change led by the people who are part of it. As such, the event will be a space for attendees to share ideas on how they would like to deliver change and to connect people together who want to work on specific ideas. Those ideas could operate within public sector teams and organisations or within communities or both; and could operate at local, regional or national level. It is up to you and all those inspired by the Do With vision to take it forward. Register -
News Article
Large UK-wide pandemic preparedness tests planned this year
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Emergency service teams, local councils and government officials will take part in a full, multi-day pandemic preparedness exercise, to help the UK prepare for potential future threats. The test, which is likely to take place in the autumn, will involve thousands of people across different parts of the UK, minister Pat McFadden has announced. The plans come in response to the first set of recommendations made by the Covid-19 Inquiry - the ongoing public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic. The chair of the inquiry, Baroness Hallett, found the UK was "ill-prepared" for the coronavirus pandemic, and "failed" its citizens. The national pandemic response exercise will be the first of its kind in nearly a decade, designed to test capabilities, plans and procedures in the face of new threats, the government says. The government has also committed to training 4,000 people a year to be better prepared for crises such as pandemics, through a UK resilience academy, planned to open in April. The Covid-19 inquiry report found the pandemic had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups. A new national "vulnerability map" will be produced, Mr McFadden says, to highlight populations who may be vulnerable in a crisis, using data on age, disability, ethnicity and whether someone is receiving care. It is designed to help people get more targeted local support. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 January 2025 -
News Article
What you need to know about HMPV as China sees rise in cases
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Chinese health officials are reportedly monitoring an increase in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV). There is currently no evidence that the outbreak is out of the ordinary or that a new respiratory virus or illness has emerged in China. HMPV is a virus that can cause upper and lower respiratory disease, according to the CDC. It was discovered in 2001 and is in the Pneumoviridae family along with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the CDC said. A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) said data from China indicates "there has been a recent rise in acute respiratory infections" but that "the overall scale and intensity of respiratory infectious diseases in China this year are lower than last year." Cases of HMPV have been steadily increasing in the U.S. since November 2024 with 1.94% of weekly tests positive for HMPV as of Dec. 28, 2024, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By comparison, 18.71% of weekly tests were positive for flu and 7.10% were positive for COVID during the same week, the data shows. Public health experts told ABC News that HMPV is well-known to health care professionals and commonly circulates during respiratory virus season. MORE: Cases of RSV, flu ticking up among young children in US as respiratory virus season begins "This is that winter respiratory virus season, indeed," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, told ABC News. "So, all of these respiratory viruses -- influenza, COVID, RSV, human metapneumovirus -- they all increase this time of the year, in part because we get so close to each other." Read full story Source: ABC News, 7 January 2025 -
Content ArticleCardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels, including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other arterial and aortic diseases. The British Heart Foundation estimates that there are approximately 6.4 million people in England living with CVD (as at September 2024). In 2022, CVD contributed to a quarter of deaths in England. Local authorities have a statutory duty to commission NHS Health Checks – used to help prevent CVD – for their local eligible population. While DHSC provides funding to local authorities for Health Checks through the public health grant, and retains policy responsibility, local authorities. This report examines the effectiveness of the government‘s approach to identifying, preventing and managing CVD in England. It sets out: levels and trends in CVD in England the role of primary care in detecting and preventing CVD commissioning, delivery and performance on Health Checks wider public health work on preventing CVD.
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News ArticleLess than half of people over the age of 40 in England are getting the heart health checks they are entitled to, according to the government’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office called for a review of how NHS health checks are provided in England, after it found that only 44% of eligible adults attended one in the past five years. The checks, known as a midlife MOT, were introduced in 2009, to help identify those at higher risk of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and offer tailored advice and treatment to help them manage their risk more effectively. Heart disease is estimated to affect 6.4 million people in England, costing the healthcare system £7.4bn a year and the wider economy an estimated £15.8bn a year. It contributed to a quarter of all deaths in England in 2022. In 2019, NHS England’s long-term plan set a target to prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases by 2028-29. The report, “Progess in preventing cardiovascular disease”, calls on the government to assess whether local authorities are best placed to deliver health checks. The Department of Health and Social Care should also “set clear targets for the numbers or percentages of the eligible population who should attend health checks, so they are attended and not just offered”, the NAO said. And there should be incentives to ensure those at highest risk of cardiovascular disease, receive their checks. Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Each year thousands of lives are lost to cardiovascular disease, with billions of pounds spent tackling it. “Health checks can play a crucial role in bringing these numbers down, but the system isn’t working effectively, resulting in not enough people having checks. This is an unsatisfactory basis for delivering an important public health intervention. “The Department of Health and Social Care needs to address the weaknesses in the current system for targeting and delivering health checks if it is to achieve the preventive effect it wants.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 November 2024
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Content ArticleA King's Fund long read reflecting on the UK's Autumn Budget. Headline announcements Real-terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2%, including £600 million of new grant funding to support social care (for both adults and children’s services) and a £86 million increase to the Disabled Facilities Grant. Total health spending increases by 3.8% a year on average in real terms between 2023/24 and 2025/26. This includes a 3.4% increase to day-to-day (resource) spending on items like staff salaries and medicines, and a 10.9% increase in capital investment on items like buildings and equipment over this period. Disincentivising activities that cause ill health by renewing and increasing duties on tobacco-related products and the Soft Drinks Levy. Increases to the National Living Wage and National Insurance Employer Contribution costs, which will particularly affect non-public sector employers.
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Content ArticleSafety is a public health issue that affects not only the well-being of our patients, but also the integrity of our entire industry. Over the years, we've made incredible strides in improving safety standards. Yet challenges remain. And, as we broaden our understanding of what constitutes "harm," we begin to realise that emotional damage to patients can be just as impactful as the physical. This article looks at how can we address safety challenges in healthcare.
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Content ArticlePeople with frailty, particularly severe frailty, are at risk of some of the poorest outcomes from hospital care; their care also consumes the highest resource. How can research help? This National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Collection looks at how research could improve care for people with frailty in hospitals and in the community.
