Health and care sector latest developments
NHS Confederation and NHS Providers announce new merged membership organisation
The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers have announced the name of the new national membership organisation created from their merger in January, which will represent and support the health system across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
From April 2026, The NHS Alliance will bring NHS leadership together, represent their views to government, and support them to improve their services at a time of significant pressure and transformation for the NHS.
The merger, which was confirmed in January, marks a significant milestone, bringing together two established national bodies to strengthen the collective influence, insight and support for NHS trusts, primary care, integrated care boards and independent and voluntary sector providers.
Lord Victor Adebowale, chair of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers (and soon-to-be inaugural chair of The NHS Alliance), said:
“As the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, we have not come together to be bigger: we have come together to be braver, more influential and to provide greater support to our members.
“Our members told us clearly and consistently that the NHS needs a stronger and more unified voice, which can be used to speak with authority across the whole system. That is what I am determined The NHS Alliance will be.
“We will aim to provide outstanding support and value for money for our members, while bringing the collective weight of our membership in pursuit of a higher performing NHS and healthier nation.
“The NHS needs collective leadership right now and I am excited by what The NHS Alliance will deliver for all parts of the health and care system.”
Leadership includes Lord Victor Adebowale as chair, Sir Terence Stephenson as vice chair, and Sir Ciarán Devane as chief executive.
NHS launches 'tap the app' campaign
The NHS has launched a new campaign to help patients not miss appointments.
The 'tap the app' campaign will encourage people to turn on alerts from the NHS App so they can be reminded about upcoming appointments and rearrange ones they cannot make.
Latest figures have shown that 12 per cent of patients have missed an appointment in the past, and around 4 per cent of GP appointments end with a no-show from the patient.
National director for primary care and community services at NHS England, Dr Amanda Doyle, emphasised the importance of letting the service know when one cannot make an appointment, "so we can offer the appointment to someone else."
Government ditches ‘700,000 appointments’ manifesto pledge
The government has admitted that a manifesto pledge was badly designed and is on course to be missed, a year after telling integrated care boards to deliver it.
Labour’s 2024 manifesto said it ‘will tackle the immediate [dental] crisis with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments’. A year ago, integrated care boards were told to commission their share of the ‘additional urgent appointments’ to take place during 2025/26.
But this week, NHS England wrote to integrated care boards saying: ‘The government has now confirmed that the 700,000 commitments will be broadened with immediate effect to all dental appointments measured through courses of treatment.’
Several sector sources confirmed to Health Service Journal that the original target was effectively being scrapped.
Minister undergoing cancer treatment to stand down
The health minister who led on the government’s new cancer plan has stepped down, as she undergoes chemotherapy.
Public health and prevention minister, Ashley Dalton, who will remain MP for West Lancashire, has metastatic breast cancer. She says she needs to make “reasonable adjustments” to allow her to manage her condition and focus on being a constituency MP.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she said introducing the national cancer plan had been a ‘privilege’ and she felt honoured to have led something that would save lives and help people living with cancer to live and work well.
BBC investigation finds 50,000 people waited over 24 hours in A&E corridor care
More than 52,000 patients waited longer than 24 hours to be admitted to hospitals across north-west England last year, a BBC investigation has revealed.
Known as ‘corridor care’, patients are lining up on trolleys or sitting on chairs, stuck in A&E because there are no beds for them in the wards.
The Royal College of Nursing has described the situation as a "national emergency" and called on the government to end the practice.
NHS England said the NHS was currently experiencing its busiest winter on record and hospitals around the country had been "experiencing rising demand for a number of years".
Dr Michael Gregory, regional medical director for NHS England in the North West, said: "Providing care in corridors is not what we want for our patients, and we are working hard to reduce the use of corridor care and tackle long waits."
Rare Diseases Action Plan published
The 2026 England Rare Diseases Action Plan has been published.
The plan sets out progress that has been made across the four priorities set out in the UK Rare Diseases Framework, which has been extended to January 2027.
Public health and prevention minister Ashley Dalton has set out some of the details in a written statement to the House of Commons, highlighting that the MHRA has set out a position paper on major reform in the regulation of rare therapies.
She also mentioned the ongoing development of a framework for individualised genetic therapies by NHS England, and new funding being allocated to pilot two centres for people with undiagnosed rare conditions.
Government announces rollout of new bone scanners
The government has announced that 20 new bone scanners will be rolled out across England.
This includes six new scanners and 14 replacement machines, adding to the first wave of 13 scanners announced last year.
The health secretary said the new equipment "will help thousands of patients get tested sooner, start treatment earlier, and avoid the trauma of life-changing breaks."
