Health and care sector latest developments
GPC rejects contracts proposal and gives vote to GPs
The British Medical Association’s (BMA) GP Committee for England has rejected the proposed 2026/27 GP contract changes, arguing that they would force practices to deliver unlimited same day urgent care without capacity limits, which they say cannot be delivered safely or realistically.
Committee chair Katie Bramall said that doctors are being asked to achieve the impossible, warning that general practice is “critically endangered” due to shrinking GP numbers, rising patient demand and unsafe workloads.
The BMA will now ballot GPs and GP registrars in England on whether to accept the deal, while urging ministers to reopen direct negotiations, cautioning that failure to do so could lead to escalated action.
Government launches investment in support for kinship carers
Thousands of children living in kinship care are set to benefit from earlier, more consistent support as the government today announces seven new Kinship Zones across England.
Kinship carers are adults who step in to provide a loving and supportive home to children in their family whose parents are unable to care for them full-time for a wide range of reasons. They are often grandparents, aunts, uncles or family friends.
These children have often experienced trauma and might otherwise end up in the care system, where outcomes in areas like education and health are significantly worse.
European girls aged 13-15 have world’s highest rate of tobacco use for age group
Teenage girls in Europe have the highest rate of tobacco use in their age group in the world, while one in seven adolescents across the continent use vapes and e-cigarettes, figures show.
The data, based on analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO), shows that Europe is on course to maintain its status as the world’s biggest consumer of tobacco up to 2030, and reveals “particularly concerning” trends of tobacco use among women and young people.
Four in ten adult female smokers around the world – about 62 million women – live in Europe, while 4 million teenagers aged 13 to 15 across the continent use tobacco products.
Drop in overseas workers is ‘car crash’ for UK hospitals and care homes, say experts
Hospitals and care homes in the UK face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of overseas nurses and carers has collapsed.
The Guardian has reported that analysis of Home Office quarterly data reveals the number of overseas nurses granted entry to the UK has fallen by 93 per cent over three years. Just 1,777 overseas nurses were granted entry in 2025, compared with 26,100 in 2022.
Visas for workers in the caring personal service occupations category – which includes care workers, but also nursing auxiliaries, ambulance staff and dental workers – had the steepest decline in new workers from overseas in absolute terms.
NHS England ‘pauses’ office working demand
NHS England has rowed back on its order for staff to rapidly increase office working, following opposition.
Staff were informed in December that they must work in the office at least 60 per cent of the time as soon as is feasible.
They were told this was to match the policy at the Department of Health and Social Care, which most NHS England staff will move into when the arm’s length body is abolished.
However, speaking at an all-staff briefing on Thursday, NHS England’s urgent care director Sarah-Jane Marsh told staff: “We recognise that the move from 40 per cent to 60 per cent [office working] can be quite challenging in lots of teams.
“There are lots of things that we need to do… to enable some of those things to happen.” She said “in some places” NHS England has “quite significant estates challenges”.
Huge drop in confidence in DHSC leaders
There has been a huge drop in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff who feel their “senior leaders have a clear vision for the future of the organisation” – making it the lowest in Whitehall.
According to the Health Service Journal, staff survey scores from across national government, published yesterday, show overall staff engagement among DHSC staff was down 5.7 points year-on-year, to the lowest of any department.
Scores on ‘leadership and change’ were particularly bad, and the share who believed that ‘senior leaders had a clear vision’ was down a massive 18.8 points, to 29.5 per cent in 2025.
The DHSC is seeking to make headcount reductions, with a voluntary redundancy programme started last year, although so far there have not been many departures. It is due to restructure as it takes on functions and staff from NHS England next year, which was announced last spring.
Revealed: Best and worst trusts for cleanliness and food
NHS England has revealed the best and worst hospitals for cleanliness, food and privacy, as judged by patients.
NHS England published scores from the 2025 patient-led assessment of the care environment on Thursday. This is judged by patients, who make up at least half of the team of assessors, and staff.
The acute trusts with the lowest scores are largely new entries this year. However, East Lancashire Hospitals Trust remains in the bottom five for food, as does West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust for privacy, dignity and wellbeing.
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust is the only acute provider to sit among the highest scorers for cleanliness, food and privacy in the annual data of non-clinical care environments.
Dash claims NHS England “very reluctant” to tell local leaders what to do
The chair of NHS England has told a patient safety event that the national body is “trying to avoid” telling every part of the country how to work.
Penny Dash said there was a “reluctance” to mandate, dictate and measure from within NHS England.
She said NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey was “very, very antimandating” and that the term would “have many of her colleagues shaking”.
Dr Dash pointed to resistance that officials had experienced from local authorities, health and wellbeing boards, and local authority commissioning services, adding: “They absolutely do not want us to mandate.”
