Health and care sector latest developments

 NAO says tackling frailty is key to the long-term health of our aging population 

A new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that GPs are not providing the required support and follow-up for people diagnosed with frailty.

The GP contract requires GPs to identify any registered patient aged 65 years or over who is living with moderate to severe frailty. However, in 2024/25 GPs only assessed one in six patients aged 65 or over for frailty (1.9 million people). This is well below the one in four assessed when the requirement was introduced in 2017/18. 

GPs have said the failures are partly the result of their increasing workload and a shrinking workforce. 

There are at least 1.5 million people aged 65 or over in England who are living with frailty, a clinically recognised medical syndrome related to the ageing process in which multiple body systems gradually lose their in-built reserves. People living with frailty get exhausted easily and are more likely to be housebound.

Collapse in number of foreign nurses coming to UK 

Data published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has revealed that the number of overseas nurses and midwives coming to the UK is falling starkly, with racism and changes to immigration rules being blamed for the fall. 

Between April and September this year, just 6,321 nurses and midwives from abroad joined the register of those licensed to practice in the UK, compared with 12,534 who did so in the same period in 2024. 

The data also shows that more international staff are leaving the UK.

Director of development and employment at NHS Employers, Caroline Waterfield said that the figures “show the importance of ensuring that NHS organisations continue to prioritise embedding inclusive employment practices for all staff” and that the numbers “act as an alarm call when it comes to developing the forthcoming ten-year workforce plan”. 

Government says ‘digital revolution’ in care is saving millions of admin hours 

Four in five care providers are now using digital social care records, helping almost 90 per cent of people who draw on care, according to the government.

Digital social care records are an essential part of the government’s landmark ambition to develop a Single Patient Record as part of the 10 Year Health Plan.

The Single Patient Record, which is being designed to national security standards, puts patients’ data and information in one place, securely recording their medical history and needs that can be viewed by the appropriate health professionals across the system. 

They also allow care plans, which set out people’s care needs and required medications, to be completed and signed off in three days instead of seven, and for them to be reviewed in half an hour instead of four hours. 

The government says 30 million administrative hours will be saved per year so carers can spend more time looking after those with care needs, giving back at least 20 minutes per care worker per shift. 

Child Poverty Strategy launched by government 

The government has launched its Child Poverty Strategy. 

The strategy aims to lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, and includes measures announced at the Autumn Budget, such as the lifting of the two-child benefit cap and a £150 reduction in energy bills. 

Further policies include an extension of eligibility for parents on Universal Credit to claim upfront childcare costs when they are returning to work from parental leave. 

A new legal duty for councils to notify schools, health visitors, and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation has also been announced. 

The Prime Minister has argued that the various measures will not just reverse “the failures of the past”, but they will set “a new course for national renewal, with children's life chances at its heart”. 

However, there has been some scepticism around the strategy, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies saying that there is “considerable uncertainty over how large a reduction in measured poverty these policies will ultimately deliver, partly due to genuine economic uncertainty”.

Health secretary clarifies mental health comments

Health secretary, Wes Streeting, has admitted his previous claim that mental health problems are “over diagnosed” was “divisive” and said he “failed to capture the complexity” of the issue, acknowledging that more evidence is needed to understand rising mental health and behavioural conditions.

His comments come as the government launched an independent review into mental health, ADHD and autism services which will explore whether life challenges are being “overpathologised”.

Financial “game playing” won’t be tolerated – NHS England director

Nicci Briggs, NHS England’s deputy chief financial officer, has warned that “game playing” must be stopped for next year’s financial plans and that there are “some basics that we’ve really got to get back to”.

Ms Briggs was answering a question at the Healthcare Financial Management Association conference about how to ensure financial plans, which are currently being prepared for next year, would be sustainable.

She added that plans needed to be rooted in “improving population health and reducing demand” as “we have got a finite amount of capacity, [and] we cannot cope with the demand that we have got.” 

NHS England director vows to “turn off” funding for wasteful IT systems 

Alex Crossley, NHS England’s director of transformation, finance and delivery, has said that the NHS needs to be “more disciplined” with its approach to technology funding and that he would be “turning funding off” when productivity gains are not achieved. 

Mr Crossley revealed that NHS England would use a new national dashboard in 2026/27 to track which IT systems are in place across trusts and how well implemented they are. 

He has previously said that clinicians would have to “see more patients” to justify tech funding increases.

His comments come after concerns were raised that trusts have been purchasing and installing expensive electronic patient record systems but not making good use of them to change ways of working. 

Staff vaccination levels low at some trusts 

Fewer than a third (29.7 per cent) of frontline NHS staff in England have received this year’s flu vaccination, data from the UK Health Security Agency has revealed.

Flu vaccination rates are fewer than one in five at 21 English NHS trusts, and at West London Trust, Croydon Health Services Trust, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, uptake was at just one in ten or fewer.

Meanwhile, trusts with the highest vaccination rates include Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals (59 per cent) and Harrogate and District (56 per cent).

Trusts with low uptake have vowed to increase efforts to vaccinate their staff, while NHS England has said it is “vital” for frontline staff to get the vaccine to protect themselves and patients. 

ICB threatens to suspend private referrals 

Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, whose deficit is among the biggest in the country, attempted to suspend private sector referrals for some treatments, before pausing the move after a row with providers, the Health Service Journal has reported. 

The ICB had told providers it would “temporarily suspend new elective ophthalmology referrals to (independent sector) providers…where there is sufficient NHS-commissioned capacity to meet local need” due to its “significant challenge to deliver its financial plan” and an “excessive volume of (independent sector) ophthalmology activity, which is having a destabilising effect on services provided by the NHS that are required to deal with urgent and emergency cases”.

However, the referral suspension has now been put on hold after officials were warned of potential legal action from the private sector providers delivering ophthalmology services in the ICB.