Tag: Department of Health and Social Care

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 28 August 2024.

World-first public-private collaboration launched to kickstart economic growth and build an NHS fit for the future.

• Up to £400 million of investment will support faster patient access to cutting-edge treatments, strengthen clinical trials and improve medicines manufacturing in the UK
• 18 new clinical trials hubs will be created across UK to accelerate research

NHS patients will have earlier access to new treatments and the UK will become the home of cutting-edge health research as the UK government launches a joint public-private investment programme worth up to £400 million.

The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicine Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) Investment Programme opens today. It will channel significant investment into the UK’s health and life sciences sector over the next 5 years, boosting economic growth and the global competitiveness of the UK’s life sciences sector.

It is the first major public-private collaboration of this scale in the world and will strengthen the NHS through supporting innovative research, creating 18 new clinical trial hubs to fast-track the development of new medicines to patients. By streamlining processes, it will ensure that new treatments move swiftly from labs to wards, providing patients with faster access to cutting-edge treatments.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

This private investment is a significant vote of confidence in the UK and will fast-track the next generation of treatments to NHS patients.

It will enhance the UK’s global competitiveness and transform the country into the epicentre of health research, supporting an NHS fit for the future.

By cutting waiting lists and fixing our NHS, we can make it an engine for growth and build the healthy society needed for a healthy economy.

The funding will be channelled into key health and life sciences projects across the country to:

• increase opportunities for patients to participate in commercial clinical trials: the programme will allocate 75% of its investment to expand the UK’s capacity and capability for commercial clinical trials. Up to 18 new Commercial Research Delivery Centres (CRDCs) will be established across the 4 nations to enhance and build upon the UK’s commercial clinical trials infrastructure and support patient recruitment into trials. Researchers will also have increased access to the latest equipment and technology to enable innovative trials to be designed across hospital and primary, community and residential care settings, bringing research closer to communities across the UK
• create sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation: around 20% of the funding will be directed towards sustainable manufacturing initiatives, promoting efficiency and reducing waste and emissions within the pharmaceutical sector. These efforts align with government and industry net zero goals, supporting the sector’s environmental commitments while enhancing the UK’s global competitiveness
• support innovative Health Technology Assessment (HTA) approaches: the final 5% of the investment will focus on modernising HTA processes – a way to assess the cost and clinical effectiveness of new treatments – facilitating improved access to innovative medicines. This includes support for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) HTA Innovation Laboratory and a new horizon scanning database – UK Pharmascan which provides information on new medicines coming to market-benefiting both patients and the wider health system

VPAG is a voluntary agreement between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), designed to improve patient outcomes, manage the NHS medicines bill, and support the life sciences industry. Launched as part of the scheme, additional investment from pharmaceutical companies will support implementation of the investment programme.

Richard Torbett, ABPI Chief Executive, said:

The life science industry has the potential to deliver so much more for the UK – but to do this we need to fix the NHS, improve patient access to medicines and invest more in our critical science and regulatory infrastructure.

This world-first investment programme puts industry money behind the government’s vision to make better health and science a driver of economic growth.

The investment programme supports the government’s missions to kickstart economic growth and improving the UK’s clinical trials will also help attract further global investment.

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

We are determined that the most effective new treatments are made available to NHS patients by ensuring the UK is the best place to discover and deploy new medicines, from early research through clinical trials to manufacture.

Investing in cutting-edge medicines research both boosts our economic growth potential and the prospect of new treatments and technologies for modern patient care. Support for clinical trials is integral to both.

Professor Lucy Chappell, DHSC Chief Scientific Adviser and CEO of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), said:

I am delighted that the Chief Scientific Advisers for Health across the UK are working closely together to bring potential new treatments from companies in the life sciences sector to patients.

The NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centres in England will be a vital part of the UK research delivery infrastructure to drive improvements in patient treatment and enable the NHS to deliver clinical research most effectively.

Neil Gray, the Scottish Government’s Health Secretary, said:

It’s more crucial than ever that patients in Scotland can safely access the most clinically and cost-effective medicines, as quickly as possible, and the VPAG Investment Programme will support our NHS to rapidly deliver truly innovative medicines and therapeutics to the people of Scotland.

There are also clear economic benefits with the life sciences industry, which is one of the growth sectors in the Scottish economy. I welcome the benefits that this type of public-private collaboration, through the VPAG Investment Programme, will bring in supporting growth of the life sciences industry in Scotland.

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said:

This investment programme is an exciting opportunity to further enhance the UK life sciences sector. We are delighted to play our part in this to advance the cutting-edge of pharmaceutical and technological developments, which will ultimately deliver real benefits to healthcare and patient care.

Mike Nesbitt, Northern Ireland’s Health Minister, said:

I warmly welcome the launch of the VPAG Investment Programme as a world-first partnership between government and the pharmaceutical industry that will support life sciences across the UK.

The programme will help to tackle health inequalities in Northern Ireland by helping to improve equitable access to clinical trials and supporting access to new medicines that are both clinically and cost effective in improving patient outcomes.

Nicola Perrin, Association of Medical Research Charities Chief Executive, said:

Clinical trials save and improve lives. They enable early access to innovative therapies and provide a lifeline to patients, particularly where no other treatment options are available.

Given the significant challenges to embed research in the NHS, this new funding to build additional clinical trial capacity is welcome. The investment has the potential to make the NHS a more attractive place to undertake clinical research and trials, for the benefit of patients and the UK.

Background information

DHSC and the Office for Life Sciences in collaboration with the devolved administrations, NIHR, Innovate UK, NICE, ABPI and companies who are members of the VPAG scheme, have been working for months to prepare for the launch.

These initiatives closely align with the government’s life sciences plan, net zero targets, and the O’Shaughnessy review of commercial clinical trials.

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 22 August 2024.

The government has today (22 August 2024) renewed a temporary ban on the sale and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones, known as ‘puberty blockers.’

The continuation of the ban applies to the sale or supply of these drugs, prescribed by private UK-registered prescribers for gender incongruence or dysphoria to under 18s not already taking them.

It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.

The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.

The legislation is The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024.

If people are unsure how the ban applies to their circumstances, further information is available from the National Referral Support Service for NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services (see patients and parents: letter from NHS England regarding the implications of new government policy).

The service also provides details of organisations that people can contact for help and support.

The General Pharmaceutical Council has published a resource for pharmacy professionals (PDF, 225 KB) to support them in providing information, support and services to children and young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria.

Anyone in need of urgent support can contact NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. Advice on getting mental health support is also available on the NHS website

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 13 August 2024.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting responds to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report outlining failings in Valdo Calocane’s care.

• NHS England has already started actioning CQC recommendations, with every provider of mental health services reviewing serious mental health care
• Valdo Calocane killed 3 people and injured 3 others in Nottingham in June 2023

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting has today (13 August 2024) called for the recommendations made by an independent review to improve mental health services to be implemented across the country following the tragic death of 3 people in Nottingham.

Valdo Calocane was known to police and mental health services prior to the attack in June 2023 where he killed Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and seriously injured 3 others with a van. He had previously been treated by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for mental health issues.

Earlier this year, the government commissioned CQC to carry out a rapid review into the local NHS trust and mental health services provided, in order to get answers for the victims’ families and ensure any failings are urgently addressed. The report published today is the final strand of that review, which has found that failings in Calocane’s care may have contributed to the tragic events after he was discharged from the trust’s mental health services.

The NHS has already accepted all of CQC’s recommendations from strands 2 and 3 of CQC’s review and initiated a series of measures, including ensuring every provider of mental health services across the country reviews the care that people with serious mental illness receive.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

My thoughts are with the families and friends of Barnaby, Grace and Ian. This report makes for distressing reading, especially for those living with the consequences of their loss in the knowledge that their untimely deaths were avoidable.

Action is already underway to address the serious failures identified by CQC and I expect regular progress reports from the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

I want to assure myself and the country that the failures identified in Nottinghamshire are not being repeated elsewhere. I expect the findings and recommendations in this report to be considered and applied throughout the country so that other families do not experience the unimaginable pain that Barnaby, Grace and Ian’s family are living with.

Other measures the NHS has already undertaken include:

• ensuring every provider of mental health services has clear policies and practice in place to treat patients with serious mental illness
• issuing guidance to trusts reiterating instructions not to discharge patients with serious mental health issues if they do not attend appointments
• commissioning an independent investigation into the incident, which will be published by the end of 2024
• increasing funding to community mental health services by £2.3 billion per year to transform services
• continuing to improve data on community mental health services including developing metrics around access to psychological therapies for severe mental health problems and outcomes for people accessing community mental health services
• establishing an expert advisory group to oversee the development of core standards for safe care in community mental health services

While there is no single point of failure identified in the report, part 2 of CQC’s review, published today, identified serious shortcomings in Valdo Calocane’s care including being discharged too early and failings in follow ups when he evaded contact with the community mental health team.

The findings of the first part of the section 48 review, which were published in March 2024, assessed the progress made at Rampton Hospital as well as patient safety and the quality of care provided by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The Health and Social Care Secretary recently met with NHS England to discuss how they and the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are taking all the recommendations from all 3 strands of the CQC review forward and how they will work together to make swift, sustained improvements to mental health services.

Specific actions the local trust has taken include:

• putting a new crisis telephone system in place, attending to the issues with responsiveness
• reviewing the approach to managing beds – there are early positive signs of a reduction in patients being placed in incorrect care settings as a result
• the patients waiting to access community support have been reviewed and the waiting list has reduced from 1,500 to 1,092

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 2 August 2024.

Minister Andrew Gwynne has accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The government has accepted advice from the JCVI for an autumn COVID-19 vaccination programme this year.

Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew Gwynne, said:

We are committed to protecting those most vulnerable from COVID and have accepted the independent advice from the JCVI for the autumn 2024 vaccination programme.

We will also continue to offer COVID vaccination to frontline NHS and social care workers and those working in care homes for older people this autumn.

I encourage anyone invited for a vaccine to get one as soon as possible to protect yourself and reduce pressure on the NHS during winter, helping to cut waiting times and get the health service back on its feet.

Background information

On the advice of the expert JCVI all those aged 65 or over, all those in care homes for older people, and those aged 6 months or over who are in a clinical risk group will be eligible for vaccination this autumn.

Vaccination offers the best protection for those at risk of serious outcomes through older age or clinical condition. Protection against serious disease wanes over time so it is important to top it up by getting an autumn dose if you are eligible.

The UK has one of the most extensive immunisation programmes in the world, with vaccine confidence and uptake rates among the highest globally.

The JCVI has not advised offering the vaccine to frontline health and social care workers, staff in care homes for older adults, unpaid carers and household contacts of people with immunosuppression as part of the national programme. The advice suggests health and social care service providers may wish to consider setting up an occupational health vaccination programme for frontline health and social care workers – as is the current situation for flu vaccines.

As setting up a new occupational health programme will not be possible before autumn this year, JCVI suggested health departments may choose to continue offering vaccination through the national programme this autumn. The government has decided to continue to offer vaccination to frontline health and social care staff, as well as staff working in care homes for older people in the autumn 2024 programme.

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 1 August 2024.

Wes Streeting’s visit was part of a series of planned engagements across regions in England.

• Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, visited St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping, West Essex, as part of an ongoing series of engagements with NHS trusts across England
• Integrated teams of NHS, social care and voluntary sector staff demonstrated their work to bring acute care into the community through the use of virtual ‘hospital at home’ wards and a specially equipped ‘falls car’
• Following the visit, Wes Streeting also visited a GP surgery in Harlow before holding a town hall event with health leaders in the region

The Health and Social Care Secretary today (1 August 2024) visited St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping to see how NHS staff are using innovative technology to monitor patients at home and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. He was also joined by NHS Chief Executive, Amanda Pritchard.

Prior to the tour of the hospital, Wes Streeting met the trust’s falls response team, which travels in a specially equipped ‘falls car’ to patients who have fallen at home – preventing visits to A&E. They ensure an emergency care package is put in place if needed before leaving the patient, and will also make a follow-up call 48 hours after visiting.

During his visit, Mr Streeting met staff from the hospital’s Care Coordination Centre and the ‘hospital at home’ hub, which reduces unnecessary A&E admissions and helps people to be discharged home quickly and safely. Different teams within the department work together to decide whether out-of-hospital care could be more appropriate for a patient’s needs, further reducing the pressures on A&E.

Mr Streeting then visited the Ross Practice GP surgery in Harlow to meet with staff following the government’s announcement to recruit hundreds of newly qualified GPs as part of immediate action to fix the front door of the NHS.

The visit to Epping was part of a series of planned engagements across regions in England over the coming weeks, with today’s visit focused on the government’s ambition to bring care back into the community.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

The NHS is broken but it’s not beaten. The new government can’t fix it alone, we need to work together with frontline NHS staff to turn it around. It was great to visit St Margaret’s Hospital and the Ross Practice today to see what’s working well, so we can take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.

We recognise the scale of the challenge and know there is a lot more to do, and we continue to work closely with trusts to address the biggest issues gripping our health services.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said:

It was great to meet staff at St Margaret’s Hospital and the Ross GP Practice today to hear about the vast range of work they are doing to improve patient care.

Helping more people to stay well at home needs strong and well-connected health and care services in every community, and our visit today provided a valuable insight as we develop a 10-year plan to make the NHS fit for the future.

Dr Jane Halpin, Chief Executive of the Hertfordshire and West Essex integrated care board (ICB), said:

We were delighted to welcome the new Health and Social Care Secretary to Epping today. He was able to meet the dedicated teams of health, social care and voluntary sector staff, all working together in innovative ways to ensure patients get the expert care they need at the right time and in the right place.

We are proud of our groundbreaking approach which supports often frail or elderly patients and their families through a mixture of face-to-face care in their own homes, the latest health monitoring technology and the practical help they need to recover.

Paul Scott, Chief Executive of Essex Partnership University NHS foundation trust, said:

We were delighted to meet the new Health and Social Care Secretary and share with him our work with a range of partners in West Essex to deliver safe, hospital equivalent care at home.

Putting patients at the heart of everything we do is central to our approach, and our integrated teams work closely together to give them the holistic, personalised care they need to get well and maintain their independence.

During the staff engagement at St Margaret’s Hospital, the Health and Social Care Secretary had the chance to speak to a junior doctor, following the new pay deal that was announced on Monday. If accepted, this offer will deliver an additional pay rise of between 3.71% and 5.05%, averaging 4.05%, on top of their existing pay award for 2023 to 2024. This will be backdated to April 2023.

The Health and Social Care Secretary has made it a top priority since taking up his role to reach an agreement to bring an end to strike action – speaking to the BMA junior doctors committee (JDC) on his first day in government and meeting with them regularly over the last 3 weeks.

Mr Streeting added:

Strikes have cost patients 1.4 million cancelled appointments and taxpayers £1.7 billion. That’s why I’ve been speaking to junior doctors since I became Health Secretary and our newly agreed pay offer that paves the way for an end to the industrial action that has affected so many people. We cannot have any more disruption and cancelled appointments.

I’m committed to resetting the relationship between junior doctors and their government, so we can work together to rebuild our NHS.

Closing off the visit, Mr Streeting held a town hall event at Harlow College with health leaders across the region.

Today’s visit is the latest example of the government’s determination to get to the bottom of the issues facing our broken health service. The Health and Social Care Secretary has already ordered a full investigation by Lord Ara Darzi to uncover the state of the NHS and recently announced a full review of the New Hospital Programme, which he stated was ‘unfunded’ and ‘set to a fictional timeline’. The government has committed to producing infrastructure improvements that are fully costed and deliverable.

The Health and Social Care Secretary’s engagement with staff and patients across the NHS will help shape the government’s 10-year plan to fix the NHS, due to be published next year.

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 1 August 2024.

The government will recruit more than 1,000 newly qualified GPs thanks to action to remove red tape.

• Government acts to fix front door to NHS and deliver more appointments
• Slashing burdensome red tape to boost capacity in surgeries and hire over 1,000 more newly-qualified doctors
• Government listening to sector to help end scandal of patients struggling to see a doctor

More than 1,000 newly qualified GPs will be recruited thanks to government action to remove red tape currently preventing surgeries from hiring doctors.

Bringing back the family doctor is central to the government’s plan to rebuild the health service, and the changes being made to cut through the current rules will help more patients get access to GPs and ensure more GPs are able to find roles, so that people in communities across England will receive the timely care they deserve this year.

Currently, under a scheme known as the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, primary care networks (PCNs) can claim reimbursement for the salaries (and some on-costs) of 17 new roles within the multidisciplinary team – meaning more specialists are available to treat patients.

They are selected to meet the needs of the local population, but are currently prevented from using this to recruit additional GPs. The changes announced today (1 August 2024) mean that newly qualified GPs can quickly be recruited into the NHS through this scheme in 2024 to 2025.

It’s thought hundreds of newly qualified GPs could be without a job this summer in England. But thanks to this intervention, they will be able to be hired by the end of the year.

The government is listening to GPs, and this has been hard fought by the British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of General Practitioners and many other groups who petitioned for it, receiving over 11,000 signatures.

It comes as the government accepts recommendations of the pay review bodies in full, increasing GPs’ pay by 6% – their first meaningful pay rise in years.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

It is absurd that patients can’t book appointments while GPs can’t find work.

This government is taking immediate action to put GPs to work, so patients can get the care they need.

This is a first step, as we begin the long-term work of shifting the focus of healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to fix the front door to the NHS.

I want to work with GPs to rebuild our NHS, so it is there for all of us when we need it.

Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, said:

With hard-working GP teams delivering millions more appointments a month compared to before the pandemic, it is vital they are given the resources to manage this increase in demand.

Adding GPs to the scheme is something that the profession has been calling for in recent months to make it easier for practices to hire more staff – so I welcome this measure which is an important first step to increasing GP employment in the long term.

We will continue to work with GPs, the BMA and the government to avert any potential action, but in the meantime the NHS has a duty to plan for any possible disruption to ensure services continue to be provided for patients – so the public should continue to come forward for care in the normal way if collective action does go ahead.

This is an emergency measure for 2024 to 2025 to ensure patients are able to access GPs and GPs are able to find roles, while the government works with the profession to identify longer-term solutions to GP unemployment and general practice sustainability as part of the next fiscal event.

The government will ensure the NHS has the funding it needs to deliver this, paid for by £82 million from the existing department budget.

In expanding general practice capacity, the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme improves access for patients, supports the delivery of new services and widens the range of offers available in primary care.

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 29 July 2024.

The BMA will recommend members accept the offer following the negotiations, which could bring an end to 15 months of devastating strike action.

• End to junior doctor strikes in sight as union recommends members accept government offer
• The first meaningful pay rise for years marks reset in relationship and shared mission to fix broken NHS
• From September junior doctors will be referred to as ‘resident doctors’ to reflect expertise

The government and the British Medical Association (BMA) have reached an agreement to put a new pay offer for junior doctors to members.

The BMA will recommend members accept the offer which could bring an end to 15 months of devastating strike action.

If accepted, this offer will deliver an additional pay rise of between 3.71% and 5.05%, averaging 4.05%, on top of their existing pay award for 2023 to 2024. This will be backdated to April 2023.

The Health Secretary has made it a top priority since taking up his role to reach an agreement to bring an end to strike action – speaking to the BMA junior doctors’ committee on his first day in government and meeting with them regularly over the last 3 weeks.

The government will also accept the recommendations of the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) for 2024 to 2025 and uplift each part of the pay scale by 6%, plus £1,000 on a consolidated basis, averaging an increase of over 8%, with an effective date of 1 April 2024.

Both rises combined mean a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see their basic pay increase to £36,600, compared to around £32,400 before this offer was made. A full-time doctor entering specialty training will see their basic pay rise to over £49,900 from around £43,900 before this offer was made.

The impact of strikes has had a significant impact on the NHS, where patients have seen nearly 1.5 million appointments cancelled or rearranged, and striking doctors will have lost many days of pay. Under the previous administration, the cost to the taxpayer totals almost £1.7 billion since April last year.

The government has received a fiscal inheritance from the previous government that necessitates difficult decisions be made. The government has set out plans for managing unfunded pressures, including pay, and further fiscal plans will be set out in the usual way at the Budget.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

I am delighted that we have agreed an offer that finally paves the way to ending industrial action which has caused untold misery to patients and staff.

Everyone agrees we can’t have more disruption, more cancelled appointments, which is why my priority from day one has been to end this dispute.

This has been a tough negotiation, but we have worked rapidly to reach a fair offer. I have been honest about the terrible economic inheritance left for this government, while the junior doctors’ committee has been clear that nothing less than the offer on the table will bring these strikes to an end.

This is a fair offer. Fair to junior doctors, fair to patients and fair to the NHS. It also represents an opportunity to truly reset relationships so we can begin working together to bring waiting lists down and fix the broken NHS.

The government will ask the DDRB to consider the overall reward package and career progression for resident doctors as part of its recommendations for 2025 to 2026. This will help ensure that medicine remains an attractive and rewarding career choice to deliver consultants and GPs of the future.

Recognising how disruptive the system of rotations can be for junior doctors, their partners and families, the department will lead a review of the current system, with the intention of reforming the number and frequency of rotations. It will also review and, where needed, redesign curriculums. NHS England will review training numbers, working to address training bottlenecks and make sure the NHS has enough doctors, consultants and GPs for the future.

As part of the ambition to reset the relationship between the government and NHS doctors, the government will refer to them by their chosen title, ‘resident doctors’, which better reflects their expertise.

This change will happen in September.

Background information

The combined impact on the 2024 to 2025 pay scales of the adjustments to the 2023 to 2024 scale are outlined in table 1 below.

Table 1: combined impact of adjustments on the 2024 to 2025 pay scales for 2016 junior doctor contracts

Nodal point	2022 to 2023 pay scale	Uplift on 2022 to 2023 pay scale (%)	Uplift on 2022 to 2023 pay scale (£)	2024 to 2025 pay scale
Nodal point 1	£29,384	24.61%	£7,232	£36,616
Nodal point 2	£34,012	23.51%	£7,996	£42,008
Nodal point 3	£40,257	23.98%	£9,652	£49,909
Nodal point 4	£51,017	21.19%	£10,808	£61,825
Nodal point 5	£58,398	20.59%	£12,027	£70,425

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 19 July 2024.

Secretary of State Wes Streeting spoke to staff and patients before meeting regional health leaders.

• Wes Streeting met staff and patients on visit to Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot
• The site is helping tackle backlogs of planned operations with dedicated surgical services
• Secretary of State also met with regional health leaders at ‘town hall’ event

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting underlined his mission to cut NHS waiting lists as he visited staff and patients at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot today (19 July 2024).

Mr Streeting toured the Berkshire hospital to see first hand how its work is helping patients get quicker access to planned surgery, cutting local waiting lists.

The Health and Social Care Secretary also hosted a town hall meeting with health representatives from across the region to discuss the issues facing services. It comes after he ordered an independent investigation into the NHS last week, pledging to be honest about the state of the health service and serious about fixing it.

Heatherwood Hospital exclusively performs planned surgery, diagnostics and outpatients’ services mainly focusing on high volume, low complexity surgery such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, gynaecology and urology. The hub also performs surgery for cancer and plans to expand the specialties performed in its theatres.

It is set up to ensure patients have shorter waits for surgery, are more likely to be able to go home on the same day, and have a better patient experience – a model Mr Streeting wants to see emulated across the country.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, said:

The NHS is broken. Millions of patients are waiting too long for treatment, often in pain and discomfort.

But services like those I’ve seen today at Heatherwood Hospital show that there are still great things happening in the health service. My job as Health Secretary is to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS. I’m talking to patients, frontline staff, and NHS leaders about what needs to change.

We are determined to turn around the NHS so it can be there for all of us when we need it, once again. The NHS saved my life when I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and I can’t think of a better way to repay my debt than to help save the NHS.

Caroline Hutton, Interim Chief Executive for Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Heatherwood Hospital, said:

We are very proud of what we have been able to achieve for our patients through new ways of working and innovation using, for example, artificial intelligence (AI), digital patient records and collaboration with health and care partners to provide better care more efficiently.

We were delighted to have the chance to share with the new Secretary of State how our dedicated planned care hospital is enabling us to reduce waiting lists, including maintaining planned surgery and procedures during winter challenges and how we are sharing our learning throughout the NHS as a Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) surgical elective hub.

Today’s visit comes exactly 2 weeks since Mr Streeting was appointed Health and Social Care Secretary.

In that time, he has:

• met with representatives of the British Medical Association and announced the start of formal negotiations to end strikes
• met with the British Dental Association to discuss contract reform
• ordered an independent investigation into the state of the NHS
• visited a London GP surgery where he pledged to “fix the front door to the NHS”

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 11 July 2024.

Professor Lord Darzi appointed to establish the state of the nation’s health service.

• Report will provide ‘raw and honest assessment’ of issues facing health service
• Work will be led by Rt Hon Professor Lord Darzi, OM, KBE, a lifelong surgeon and innovator, independent peer and former health minister
• Findings will feed into government’s 10-year plan to radically reform the nation’s health service

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, has ordered a full and independent investigation into the state of the NHS, to uncover the extent of the issues facing the nation’s health service.

Mr Streeting says he wants a ‘raw and honest’ assessment that will deliver ‘the hard truths’.

Today (11 July 2024), he has appointed Professor Lord Darzi, a lifelong surgeon and innovator, independent peer and former health minister, to lead the rapid assessment, which will be delivered in September.

Its findings will provide the basis for the government’s 10-year plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:

Anyone who works in or uses the NHS can see it is broken. This government will be honest about the challenges facing the health service, and serious about tackling them.

This investigation will uncover hard truths and I’ve asked for nothing to be held back. I trust Lord Darzi will leave no stone unturned and have told him to speak truth to power.

I want a raw and frank assessment of the state of the NHS. This is the necessary first step on the road to recovery for our National Health Service, so it can be there for us when we need it, once again.

Professor Lord Darzi said:

As every clinician and every patient knows, the first step to addressing any health problem is a proper diagnosis.

My work will analyse the evidence to understand where we are today – and how we got to here – so that the health service can move forward.

This is an important step to re-establishing quality of care as the organising principle of the NHS.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said:

Frontline NHS staff are doing an incredible job, despite the huge pressures they face, to deliver care to over a million people every day, but we know that they face huge struggles and patients are not always getting the timely, high quality care they need.

We will work closely with the government, independent experts and NHS staff to take a detailed look at the scale of the challenges and set out plans to address them – this comprehensive analysis will be an important step in helping us to build an NHS fit for the future.

The Health and Social Care Secretary’s promise to fix the broken NHS was backed by action this week as he met with key figures across the health service.

This included meetings with junior doctors to discuss ending the strikes, and talks with the British Dental Association about rebuilding NHS dentistry. He also visited a GP surgery in north London to see first-hand how the practice is delivering a patient-led service providing continuity of care – a key pillar of the government’s ambition to improve primary care.

Mr Streeting also set out his wider commitment to support the government’s growth mission by improving the health of the nation.

The aims are based on 3 key steps:

• cutting waiting times to get people back to work
• making the UK a life sciences and medical technology superpower
• creating training and job opportunities through the NHS to deliver growth up and down the country

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 29 May 2024.

New regulations restrict the prescribing and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones to children and young people under 18.

The government has today introduced regulations to restrict the prescribing and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones, known as ‘puberty blockers’, to children and young people under 18 in England, Wales and Scotland.

The emergency ban will last from 3 June to 3 September 2024. It will apply to prescriptions written by UK private prescribers and prescribers registered in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.

During this period no new patients under 18 will be prescribed these medicines for the purposes of puberty suppression in those experiencing gender dysphoria or incongruence under the care of these prescribers.

The NHS stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker treatments to under-18s following the Cass Review into gender identity services.

In addition, the government has also introduced indefinite restrictions to the prescribing of these medicines within NHS primary care in England, in line with NHS guidelines.

The new arrangements apply to gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues – medicines that consist of, or contain, buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin.

This action has been taken to address risks to patient safety.

Patients already established on these medicines by a UK prescriber for these purposes can continue to access them. They will also remain available for patients receiving the drugs for other uses, from a UK-registered prescriber.

Patients seeking more information should speak to their clinician.