Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Daily News from National Health Executive
And here’s today’s news from National Health Executive on Thursday the 11th of July 2024.
New health secretary Wes Streeting has ordered a “raw and frank assessment” of the state of the NHS, headed up by Professor Lord Darzi, former advisor and minister to the last two Labour governments. The findings of the report will inform the basis for the government’s 10-year NHS reform plan.
Streeting said: “This investigation will uncover hard truths and I’ve asked for nothing to be held back. I trust Lord Darzi will leave no stone unturned and have told him to speak truth to power.” Publication is scheduled for September.
The latest NHS performance data shows the mountain that the new government has to climb. Stats show the overall waiting list stood at 7.6 million in May, with 6.4 million individual patients and 59% waiting up to 18 weeks which is some way shy of the 92% target.
Meanwhile, A&E data indicates that around 74.6% of patients were either admitted transferred or discharged within four hours during June. This is up from 74% flat the month prior and the 73.4% observed last June. There were 2.29 million attendances at A&Es overall and 536,884 emergency admissions across England, making it the busiest June in records going back to 2010. 2024’s GP Patient Survey was also released today — check out our website for more information on that.
Staying with the waiting list theme, new analysis from the Nuffield Trust indicates that the NHS in England is lagging behind other high-income countries on how quickly it is recovering from the pandemic when it comes to average waiting times for hip and knee replacements. According to the think tank, for hip and knee replacements, average waiting times in England rose more substantially relative to other countries like Spain and Finland and remained stubbornly high into 2023. England’s hip replacement waits are still 50% longer than before the pandemic.
Senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust, Sarah Reed, said: “This should raise a host of important questions for the new government on what it will take to get ahead of the elective backlog and reinforces how for procedures that require the whole system to work well together we’re really falling short.”
And finally Mike Nesbitt, Northern Ireland’s health minister has outlined the government’s plans for the next six months, emphasising that health inequalities must be at the heart of health reforms. Firstly, the Northern Irish Government has invited Professor Rafael Bengoa back to the country to reboot the health reform debate. He was the chair of the panel behind 2016’s Systems, not structures — Changing health and social care report.
His work will be informed by two publications: the first being a proposal for hospital reconfiguration for public consultation this summer, and a three-year strategic plan for health and social care expected in the autumn. The first phase of the Live Better initiative has also begun — the country’s targeted health support initiative that will strike at the heart of the communities that need it most.
The specific programmes that will be delivered under the initiative are still in development, according to Nesbitt, but he has confirmed the community and voluntary sector will play a vital role and the scheme will kick off in the autumn across two locations.
And that’s the latest – Don’t forget to like and subscribe to make sure you receive every new bulletin & check out our website National Health Executive .com