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Health and care sector latest developments

Latest developments affecting the health and care sector.

18 March 2024

£6 billion deficit warning sparks ‘horrible’ demands for nationwide cuts

Local NHS organisations are facing intense 'pressure' from NHS England’s national and regional teams to cut staffing numbers to improve the service’s financial outlook for 2024/25. 

Multiple sources have told HSJ that first draft financial returns submitted by the 42 integrated care systems indicate a combined deficit of around £6 billion for the service, with the need to reduce the number prompting 'horrible' conversations about service cuts.

Commenting in the HSJ article, NHS Confederation's ICS Network director Sarah Walter said the NHS has been given “a fictional funding agreement with tacit acknowledgement that more money will arrive throughout the year”.

But Sarah added: “This is no way to plan and run a health system fit for the 21st century and provides poor value for money for taxpayers.”

Poverty hinders access to timely NHS care, think tank warns

People living in poverty find it harder to access timely NHS care and are more likely to require expensive emergency treatment, according to a new report by The King’s Fund.

Analysis by The King’s Fund which was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that people living in deprived areas find it 'harder to live healthy lives, harder to access NHS services, live with greater illness and die earlier than the rest of the population'.

The think tank argued that while the NHS can treat the health harms of poverty, wider government and societal action is needed to address its root causes. 

The report found that: 

  • 30 per cent of people in the most deprived areas have been forced to visit A&E, call 999 or go to a walk-in centre as they cannot get a GP appointment. This is compared to 10 per cent of people in the least deprived areas.
  • Length of stay in hospital critical care beds is also longer. Between 2017/18 and 2022/23, the average length of stay for those living in poverty increased by 27 per cent compared to 13 per cent among those in wealthier areas.
  • And five-year-old children are nearly three times as likely to have tooth decay if they live in deprived areas, because of a lack of NHS dentists. 

The report said the NHS could save billions if it focused on improving GPs and preventive services in more deprived areas. 

Responding on behalf of the NHS Confederation, policy director Dr Layla McCay said members will be “incredibly concerned” by these stark findings and that the analysis shows “more should be done to address the root causes of poverty”.

Alarm as new figures show soaring rate of people shunning NHS for private healthcare

More than one in three adults have paid for a one-off medical treatment over the past two years, new figures show.

The new data show 38 per cent of people have paid for a one-off private treatment for themselves or a family member since 2022.

The stats, based on a survey of 2,000 people by financial analysts Smart Money People, also shows the average spend for one off private healthcare treatment was £711. However, one in nine (12 per cent) of UK adults paid £2,000 or more for private medical treatment.

Estimates from the Private Healthcare Information Network forecast there will have been 850,000 private healthcare admissions last year.

The ICSs furthest behind on dental access

Several integrated care systems are struggling to deliver more than half the NHS dental appointments they had hoped for in 2023/24, and all areas are lagging according to figures obtained by HSJ.

The figures show a particular problem in the south west, where dentists in four out of the seven systems had delivered less than 51 per cent of their total 'contracted activity' for the financial year as of January.

If the same pattern continued in the final two months of the year, they will have reached less than 60 per cent of their targeted activity.

Dentists delivering under their contracted activity say there is high NHS demand but NHS reimbursement rates for 'units of dental activity' – such as fillings, extractions or examinations – is too low. Many are therefore moving to private care instead of offering NHS activity.

NHS ombudsman warns hospitals prioritising reputation by 'denying' evidence of poor care

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has warned that parts of the NHS still put 'reputation management' ahead of being open with relatives who have lost a loved one due to medical negligence. 

Mr Behrens urged ministers to reform how the NHS handles complaints and regulatory checks and balances, warning that the NHS’s legal 'duty of candour' was not requiring hospitals to be open about failures.

Thousands still waiting for pay bonus after year-old pledge

Social enterprises working with the NHS have written to health secretary Victoria Atkins calling for the promised 'covid bonus' to be paid to them urgently.

In a series of letters, they have called for clarity over the funding before the end of the financial year.

The Department of Health and Social Care announced in November that organisations which provided NHS care would be able to apply for central funding for the bonus, which was notionally for extra efforts during the pandemic, but only under strict conditions. Since then, social enterprises have put in applications but have not received any confirmation of funding.

It is understood some have paid out the money to their staff in the expectation of getting funding but others have not been able to afford to do so.

Leaked national tech workforce plan proposes local pay rises

The NHS’s new digital workforce plan is set to propose that employers be given the ability to make 'extensive use' of local recruitment and retention incentives to ensure the service can compete for the most talented technology staff.

The proposal is made in a draft NHS England document entitled: Building a Digital, Data and Technology, and Informatics Workforce in Health and Social Care: 2023 to 2028, which has been seen by HSJ.

The plan sets out 15 action areas to better address skill and employment issues within the NHS, including increasing the percentage of chief information officers, and chief digital information officers, sitting on NHS and integrated care boards and growing the national uptake of digital, data and technology apprentices each year by 25 per cent from 2024 until 2028.

A source close to the plan’s development told HSJ it was now “due to be published in the next few weeks” but admitted that further delays could not be ruled out.

4D tech to prevent falls to be rolled out in social care settings

4D imaging technology which can prevent falls and automatically alert carers to a medical issue by tracking movement with sensors could soon be rolled out in more care homes across England.

Pilots in several care homes across England resulted in a 66 per cent reduction in falls and around a 97.5 per cent reduction in ambulances called or required post-fall.

The technology will now be rolled out in Redbridge ICS for further testing after North East London ICB received a £1 million funding boost from the government as part of the Adult Social Care Technology Fund. If successful, it could be rolled out to more care homes nationally.

Blood test could identify patients most at risk of heart failure death

A new cheap and simple blood test could help identify people who are at the highest risk of dying from heart failure, research suggests

The study found that patients with the highest levels of a specific protein were 50 per cent more likely to die from a heart complication over the three years that the study was conducted, compared to those with lower levels. 

Experts suggest that testing for this protein, called neuropeptide Y (NPY), could help predict how heart failure is likely to progress.

Research could provide new means of diagnosing and treating bowel cancer

Researchers in Glasgow have identified a new means of diagnosing and treating bowel cancer with imaging technology. 

The research was conducted on behalf of Cancer Research UK, which said imaging technology can be used instead of biopsies when diagnosing the disease.