Health and care sector latest developments
DHSC appoints interim tech chief
DHSC has appointed Jules Hunt as interim director general for technology, digital and data.
As revealed by HSJ, Hunt will join DHSC's joint executive team with NHSE, meaning he will lead on tech across the health service.
Staff were told that Hunt, who previously led health services at PWC, will work ‘to ensure our resources are best matched to ministerial priorities, including the focus on delivering the analogue to digital shift.’
Streeting’s ‘neighbourhood health’ lead steps down
Wes Streeting’s neighbourhood health and primary care lead is stepping down, after less than a year in the role and having recently launched an implementation programme.
Former GP Sir John Oldham has been senior adviser to the health and social care secretary since December, although his appointment was not announced until March.
He said he informed government in the summer that he would be leaving the role, after launching the national neighbourhood health implementation programme. He is also stepping down as chair of the taskforce which is overseeing that work.
Conservative conference NHS Confederation fringe event - Funding the future: the potential for private investment in the NHS
Speaking at a Conservative Party conference fringe titled Funding the Future: The Potential for Private Investment in the NHS, were Stuart Andrew, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers and Laura Rooney, deputy chief executive of Health Innovation Manchester. The event was chaired by Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation and hosted by the NHS Confederation.
The importance of leveraging some form of private finance for the NHS was the topic of the fringe event where panellists looked at the history of private finance in the NHS and its continued role.
Panellists argued that learning lessons from PFI hospitals were crucial, with Matthew Taylor explaining that PFI had delivered some benefits and should not be dismissed out of hand.
The difficulty of the current political situation with limited funding appeared to have crystalised focus on sources of NHS funding, with panellists recognising the need to look at alternative sources.
Capital improvements were highlighted as a key area for focus, particularly around improving IT infrastructure.
New head for innovation network
Ben Bridgewater has been appointed executive chair of the Health Innovation Network, the umbrella body for the 15 regional health innovation groups.
Alongside the role, Professor Bridgewater will continue as chief executive of Health Innovation Manchester, one of the regional constituents under the HIN.
Richard Stubbs, his predecessor, has stepped down following the end of his two-year term. Mr Stubbs will continue as chief executive of Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber.
Comparing trusts on new productivity metric is misleading, experts warn
Recent productivity improvements will be hard to sustain in future years, experts have warned, as they said newly published NHS England data fails to show which trusts are the most productive.
The Department for Health and Social Care announced last month that productivity at acute and specialist trusts had grown by 2.7 per cent in 2024-25 compared to the previous year – exceeding the 2 per cent target set by government.
The productivity measure, which compares cost-weighted activity growth against real-terms resource growth to give a ‘productivity growth estimate’, is also one of three finance measures used to determine which segment of the NHS Oversight Framework providers are assigned.
The data, which compares 2023-24 with 2024-25, has last month published what effectively amounts to a productivity ‘league table’.
NHSE has published the headline figure in previous years, which was just under 1 per cent in 2023-24 and 2.8 per cent the year before, but this is the first time trust-level data has been published.
National registry for ambient voice technology to launch this week
A new national registry for ambient voice technology providers to combat the ‘wild west’ of suppliers is due to launch this week, England’s national chief clinical information officer has announced.
Alec Price-Forbes told delegates at the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology (HETT) conference today that the new register was a ‘tactical response’ to the rapid rollout of AVT across the NHS.
The AI software automatically transcribes patient-clinician conversations into structured medical notes, freeing up clinicians from manual documentation and allowing them to focus more on patient care.
The NHS 10 Year Health Plan pledged a mass rollout of AVT to deliver productivity gains among clinicians and improve their engagement with patients.
Pharmacies disrupted with new COVID booster rules
Pharmacies across England are dealing with significant problems as patients arrive for COVID vaccinations only to discover they no longer qualify under new, stricter eligibility rules.
According to The BBC, the criteria now limits free boosters to those aged 75 and over, alongside immunocompromised individuals.
Pharmacy representatives report that between one-third and half of appointment bookings result in turned-away patients, leading to frustration and even staff abuse.
