Health and care sector latest developments
NHS Confederation publishes new report on integrated health organisations (IHOs)
The NHS Confederation has today published a new report, Towards Integrated Health Organisations: Considerations for Policy and NHS Leaders.
Part of a project undertaken with health and care legal experts Browne Jacobson, the report explores what integrated health organisations (IHOs) are and how to make them a success.
One of the key recommendations of the report is that NHS England updates the NHS Oversight Framework and the financial and performance metrics for 2026/27 to support a shift from metrics focused on organisational recovery to those that better incentivise transformation and collaboration between organisations.
The report also recommends that the government amends Section 44 of the National Health Service Act 2006 to redefine foundation trusts’ income thresholds to enable the inclusion of social care and public health services in IHO contracts.
NHS England ramps up waiting list cleaning drive
NHS England has doubled its doubled its estimate of how many cases can be wiped off the waiting list through validation this year to 600,000, HSJ reveals.
The substantial increase follows system leaders injecting more money into the scheme – which HSJ has established is now supported by a £30 million fund to pay trusts to do the validating.
The programme, and its expansion, has provoked some concerns: partly because of a lack of public figures on the part it is playing in the highly political drive to cut lists, and partly because the approach could lead to patients being wrongly removed.
But an NHS England clinical leader argued the programme was ‘not only good for patients, but good for the taxpayer too’.
NHSE had forecast at the start of 2025-26 that validation could only remove around 300,000 cases from the list. Trusts have been paid £33 per ‘clock stop’, the point when a patient’s waiting time period has finished and they deliver by validation.
However, following a series of ‘validation sprint’ exercises earlier this year, NHS England decided there was scope to significantly expand the programme.
Government sets out plan to improve end-of-life care
Minister for Care, Stephen Kinnock has announced that the government is creating a new palliative and end of life care modern service framework for England, due in spring 2026, saying it will help ensure care is ‘personalised’ and ‘compassionate’ and shift more support into communities.
He stressed that rising numbers of people with complex conditions and an ageing population make action essential, and acknowledged major problems such as delays in identifying people nearing the end of life, workforce pressures and gaps in provision.
Kinnock said the framework will provide a ‘clear and effective mechanism’ for improving standards by promoting earlier identification, better integrated specialist and generalist teams, and stronger out-of-hours support.
He added that ongoing work with sector partners aims to build a system where everyone receives high-quality, personalised care ‘from diagnosis through to the end of life’.
Nurses call for urgent investment to revive the NHS
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is urging the Chancellor to use the upcoming Budget to restore hope in an NHS workforce struggling with low morale, heavy workloads and widespread vacancies.
New RCN survey data shows nurses feel unable to provide the standard of care patients deserve, with many overwhelmed, dissatisfied with pay and considering leaving the profession.
With only a small proportion recommending nursing as a career and 25,000 posts unfilled, the RCN argues that investing in pay, career progression, and student nurse support is essential to stabilise staffing, improve patient care and deliver the government’s wider economic goals
NHS staff shortages leave families waiting months for answers
A severe shortage of paediatric and perinatal pathologists is causing bereaved parents to wait six months or more for post-mortem results, adding to their distress and leaving consultants overstretched and burnt out.
According to The Telegraph, there has been no growth in paediatric post-mortem services over the past five years, with entire regions lacking any consultants, highlighting a workforce crisis.
The Royal College of Pathologists are calling for urgent investment in training up to 37 new posts by 2030, and resources for advanced training to build capacity.
NHS budget hopes boosted by changing view on impact of health investment
The chances of greater NHS investment are growing due to a change of mind at the UK fiscal watchdog, according to a former chancellor and others who have played influential roles in deciding the service’s budget.
The health sector has been campaigning for several years for the Office for Budget Responsibility to include investment in the health sector in its economic growth forecasts. These are very influential on government public spending decisions.
A new report on these issues has been released ahead of Wednesday’s budget. It is written by former Number 10 health adviser Bill Morgan, with contributions from the previous NHS England chief finance officer Julian Kelly and former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and suggests the OBR and government are close to being persuaded of the evidence.
Doing so would largely require the OBR to accept evidence that the interventions would lead to more people working and therefore increase economic growth. If this became the case, the report explains, the Treasury is more likely to support the spending – because it effectively improves the government’s fiscal position.
Hospital chief to become only ICB CEO with minority ethnic background
A hospital chief executive is leaving to lead an integrated care board, where she will become the only ICB CEO from a minority ethnic background.
North East London Integrated Care Board has confirmed Nnenna Osuji as its new chief executive.
Dr Osuji is joining from Royal Free London Foundation Trust, where she serves as hospital chief executive for North Middlesex University Hospital and community services.
She will become the only current ICB CEO with a minority ethnic background.
