HSJ Health Check

This week we discuss a quirk in last week’s pay deal between health unions and the government, which could see staff at the top of Agenda for Change paid more than senior managers.   We also dig into the “shameful” planned cuts to social care budgets to the tune of £550m, as revealed by HSJ last week.

This week we analyse the Spring Budget and what it means for the NHS, in particular the pensions tax overhaul. We cover why Jeremy Hunt has gone for such an expensive fix and what impact it will have on the health service and its ability to retain experienced doctors. Also this week, our insights into three days of junior doctors’ strikes and more on the ongoing BMA ‘rate card’ controversy.

This year’s NHS staff survey results have landed, so on this episode, we bring you the need-to-know findings and insights into how the NHS workforce are feeling. Our team is joined by Chris Graham, the chief executive of the Picker Institute –  the charity that organises the survey – and we discuss everything from the worrying drop in staff feeling safe to report clinical errors, to the shock...

Could foundation trusts be hindering the success of integrated care systems? Chair of Bolton FT Donna Hall thinks so, and argues its time to scrap them. We discuss the merits of this and also whether integrated care systems’ strategies are too much “motherhood and apple pie” and not enough substance. Also this week, an update on ICS finances, after its revealed 14 systems are now in the red.

Fresh from starting work as NHS Providers' new chief executive, Sir Julian Hartley joins HSJ Health Check to talk about collaboration, strikes, reform and more. We ask the former Leeds Hospitals chief why he moved to a national role, and what building a successful provider collaborative looks like in practice. He also discusses the long haul of improvement facing the service, arguments for fundame...

Many NHS technology programmes are facing an uncertain future following revelations NHS England’s tech budget is being drastically cut. This week we discuss the impact these funding cuts could have on NHS trusts’ ambitions and whether the sector has the leadership to guide it through this tricky patch. Also this week, a major pathology merger in Lancashire has effectively been scrapped following y...

This week bureau chief Ben Clover fills in for Annabelle Collins. Ben is joined by mental health correspondent Emily Townsend and HSJ's urgent care lead Matt Discombe to discuss new targets (and the lack of them), discharge and how involved the police should be in mental health services.

The debate over single patient rooms has raged for many years, but emerging news from Liverpool’s new hospital suggests it could be a game-changer for cutting patients’ length of stay. We discuss the impact of the much-maligned city trust’s new hospital on patient flow. Also this week – we hear about the growing frustration in Manchester over the delay to the New Hospitals Programme, and we analys...

An HSJ Investigation has revealed trusts are denying staff employed by their wholly owned subsidiary companies the pay and conditions offered to other staff. We discuss more about how and why this forgotten group of the workforce are missing out. Also this week – the trust that sacked a whistleblower who warned them about potential patient harm has been told to pay out more than £200,000. We talk...

Bids are open for NHS England’s new £480m national data platform – will it make the NHS better connected and more efficient, or is it a national vanity project? We also discuss who the successful bidders might be. And in recent weeks the NHS has been given its marching orders for the next financial year, in the form of the planning guidance and integrated care systems’ financial allocations. We di...

NHS trusts have been given 20 days by NHS England to book in all patients who have been waiting longer than 78 weeks for their elective appointment. We discuss the thinking behind this and how trusts might tackle this new challenge without any more money or resources. Also we unpack the latest performance data, which confirmed December was the worst on record for multiple key measures.

The HSJ team make their predictions for what the New Year could bring for the health service, including a return to deficits, tough times for the hospital building programme and a big year for mental health reform. Thanks for listening to the Health Check podcast this year and Happy Holidays from all at HSJ. What 2023 has in store for the NHS

On this episode our team brings you the very latest news and analysis of the strike action hitting the NHS this week. We cover how we got to this point, what NHS leaders are doing to mitigate patient harm and why some are even more worried about next week’s ambulance strike. Send views, questions, and confidential tips about the strikes to our journalists via  annabelle.collins@hsj.co.uk...

This week we bring you the latest on the hospital building programme, including confirmation that all new buildings must have single patient rooms. We discuss the staffing and safety challenges this will bring for trusts. Also this week, more on NHS England’s plans to cut £1bn from maternity, cancer and primary care funds, plus Steve Barclay’s latest “attack” on NHS managers in the form...

“Rubbish” communications have been blamed by senior NHS leaders for causing a flood of people going to A&E with Group Strep A concerns, with calls to NHS 111 hitting record levels so far this winter. We discuss the impact this is having on access to treatment and medicines and what should have been done to stop it. Also we talk more about the creation of an elective recovery taskforce and a bi...

NHS England’s protracted bid to scrap the four-hour A&E target has finally been shelved by ministers, as we exclusively revealed last week. Now the dust has settled, we unpick what happened, why it matters and whether there is still hope for reform in the future. Also - why ICSs will have to wait until 2024 to receive commissioning budgets worth billions of pounds, amid con...

Former Labour health secretary Patricia Hewitt has been charged with reviewing the role of integrated care systems by Jeremy Hunt. Alastair McLellan predicts what changes the Hewitt review could bring and why its so important. Also this week, Jack Serle explains how the NHS supply chain is failing staff and patients, a problem that has escalated this week with a joint letter sent from procurement...

This week we bring you our reaction to Steve Barclay’s first major speech since returning as health and social care secretary, during which HSJ questioned him about his view on NHS funding.  Mr Barclay struck a more conciliatory tone than in the past, but he dismissed the health unions’ pay asks as “not realistic”. We also discuss the difficult decisions some trusts leaders could fa...

This week Annabelle and Dave are joined by Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, and we discuss what could be in store for the NHS in next week’s spending review. We cover the huge financial and performance challenges facing leaders and politicians this winter and also how disinvestment in other public services is having a knock-on effect on the NHS. Also...

The fate of the “40 new hospitals” hangs in the balance with trusts hoping for a decision on funding by the end of the year. This week we discuss the impact of the delays to the programme on the day-to-day running of NHS hospitals, and what chiefs must do to persuade the Treasury to allocate enough funding for all the planned projects. We also take a closer look at the newly-built hospital in...

New health secretary Steve Barclay is back, and he joins the NHS at a time when the health service faces its worst funding squeeze in many decades. We discuss Mr Barclay’s initial priorities – which he revealed in his first stint as health secretary just two months ago – amid a worsening financial backdrop. Also this week – a senior procurement chief claims life has never been this hard for his co...

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt is now the most powerful person in the country. We discuss what some of his mini-budget reversals mean for the NHS and if the health service is safe in his hands. Also this week – the NHS faces £7bn in additional inflation costs and something has got to give. But what? Featuring Alastair McLellan, Ben Clover and Annabelle Collins.

Two out of three integrated care systems are already reporting sizeable deficits in their first year of existence. On this episode we discuss why so many systems are behind on their budget plans. We also cover other financial woes facing the NHS including tighter government controls on spending and the pressures of inflation. Also this week we discuss revelations that patients face being removed f...

On this week’s episode we bring you the highlights from the Tory party conference, where the NHS felt like a “sideshow”. We discuss whether Therese Coffey can pull off being a part-time health secretary and whether there was any substance to the latest dose of manager-bashing. Also this week, ambulance response times have deteriorated dramatically over the last week, with staff across the country...

With warnings the public sector could be forced to bear the brunt of last week’s tax cuts, we discuss the dire impact this will have on the NHS’ finances, its ability to retain staff and deal with the covid backlog. Also, an update from this year’s Labour Party Conference, during which shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to fund “one of the largest NHS workforce expansions in history”. Featuri...