Health and care sector latest developments
How ADHD became a multimillion-pound industry for private equity
Private equity firms are making vast profits from investing in ADHD clinics which provide assessment and treatment for tens of thousands of NHS patients.
According to the Times, the NHS has become dependent on privately-run services to diagnose ADHD and autism, leading to an ‘exponential’ growth in ADHD spending which is ‘blowing NHS budgets’.
More than half a million people in England are on NHS waiting lists for ADHD assessments. Under an initiative called Right to Choose, they have a legal right to get assessed privately and the NHS will pick up the bill.
This has led to a proliferation of private providers, several of which have attracted private equity investors looking to generate quick profit.
Rebecca Gray, mental health director speaking on behalf of NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation, said that financial pressures meant NHS leaders are having to prioritise “those with the highest need” for ADHD assessments.
She said: “NHS leaders need to use resources as effectively as possible, focusing on high-risk groups such as children and young people, people with co-morbid mental health issues, and those with substance use issues.”
Mike Richards to leave CQC
Chair of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Sir Mike Richards is stepping down, just as the CQC seeks a new chief executive.
Sir Mike has been in the role for less than a year but in an announcement said the CQC’s turnaround “will demand a longer-term commitment as chair than I am able to make”.
Today Sir Mike said: “There is an urgent need to appoint a permanent CEO [and] after careful consideration, I believe it would be best for this appointment to be led by a new chair who can commit to providing long‑term continuity.”
Unions challenge NHS England office work plans
Eleven unions have filed a collective grievance against NHS England over plans to require staff to spend at least 60 per cent of their time in the office and end fully-home-working contracts, a move that NHS England says is linked to stricter civil service rules ahead of its merger with the Department of Health and Social Care.
HSJ reports that a Unite survey found that 95 per cent opposed the increased office attendance, with most hybrid workers backing formal action and warning of negative effects on work-life balance, productivity and wellbeing.
Unions also raised concerns about commuting time and costs, office capacity, the impact on disabled staff and working parents, and a lack of proper consultation, triggering a formal process requiring NHS England to respond.
Ozempic and Wegovy could damage your eyesight, regulator warns
Taking Ozempic could cause sudden blindness in one eye, health officials have warned.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that people taking weight-loss injections risked developing non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
NAION occurs due to reduced blood flow to the front part of the optic nerve which typically causes sudden, painless vision loss in one eye. Patients who have had the condition describe it as a blurring or cloudiness of vision.
The warning has been applied to semaglutide, which is sold under the brand name Ozempic for diabetes, and Wegovy for weight loss.
Consultation on improving financial support for aspiring social workers
Social work students will receive more targeted financial support where there is the greatest need, including those from low-income backgrounds, under plans set out in a consultation announced by the government today. It will seek feedback from universities, social work students, social workers, local authorities and NHS trusts to maximise the effectiveness of the existing Social Work Bursary (SWB) and the Education Support Grant (ESB).
Together, these funds provide £50 million annually to support social work students and have provided support since 2003. However, uptake of the Social Work Bursary has declined in recent years, with around 1,500 unclaimed bursaries in 2024/25 out of the 4,000 available.
These proposed changes will bring down barriers and aim to improve access to a vital career.
Grieving families who lost babies due to NHS failings hit out at maternity investigation
Families "enduring everlasting grief" after losing babies due to NHS failings are being sidelined by a rapid review into maternity services, a campaign group has claimed.
One woman, whose daughter died in 2022, described how victims are forced to "compress" their experiences into eight minutes, with some re-traumatised by having to choose the most important reasons for their babies' deaths.
The Maternity Safety Alliance has renewed its call for a statutory inquiry into NHS maternity services, urging the government to "abandon this performative approach".
However, a spokesperson for the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation (NMNI) argued that its rapid review would allow improvements to be made faster than would be possible with a statutory inquiry.
Flagship trusts still not using federated data platform
Many of England’s largest and most prestigious trusts are yet to start using the federated data platform (FDP), despite a push from the centre for full adoption from April.
Overall, just over half of all trusts have started processing and analysing data through the FDP (109, compared to 96). The £1 billion platform hosts NHS data and provides a range of operational tools.
Eighty-nine per cent of FDP trusts are acute providers (97 out of 109). This is unsurprising as the majority of tools developed for use on the FDP are designed to aid acute providers.
However, some of the NHS’s biggest acute trusts have not adopted the platform.
Statin pills much safer than advertised, major review finds
A major review has found that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, used by millions, are far safer than previously thought.
Leaflets in packs should be changed to reflect this and avoid scaring people off using the life-saving pills, say the authors.
Statins do not cause the majority of the possible side effects listed, including memory loss, depression, sleep disturbance, weight gain and impotence, says the team funded by the British Heart Foundation. Meanwhile, they can slash a person's risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The results, in The Lancet journal, come from trials involving more than 120,000 people comparing statins with a dummy drug or placebo.
Chase ‘quick wins’ to hit A&E target, hospitals told
Hospitals are being encouraged to target children, less sick patients and ‘near miss breaches’ in the final weeks of the financial year, in an attempt to hit the government’s A&E target.
NHS England said in a paper to its board meeting on Thursday that it was taking ‘significant further action’ coming out of winter to try to hit the bar of 78 per cent of patients being treated within four hours. This was the recovery target set by government for the service for 2025/26.
NHS England said the ‘action’ will include ‘targeting clear areas of improvement opportunity [for example] in non-admitted performance, paediatric, and “near miss” breaches’.
The move has been criticised by some experts as “focusing on easy improvements” while “ignoring” the more serious long accident and emergency waits, which do more harm to patients.
