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2.52pm There has been more reaction to yesterday’s Laura Courtney, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the National Children’s Bureau welcomed the inclusion of a pledge to improve outcomes for children and young people. She added: “We urge the government to keep a close eye on progress against this objective and ensure that NHS England and its partners are held to account.”

2.48pm The society of Acute Medicine has responded to Sir Bruce Keogh’s A&E review. Although its president Alistair Douglas backed the document he said: “We are concerned that a key element of improving A&E services is the pathway for patients who do require admission to hospital. It is delays in accessing beds for these patients that is the major cause of A&E overcrowding and leads to breaches of the four hour target. This can only be improved by changing standard operating procedures within hospitals to ensure that receiving wards and in particular acute medical units (AMU) - which receive the greatest numbers of emergency admissions - have capacity at all times by improving bed management and patient flow and prioritising the needs of emergency patients.”

11.48am: Intermediate care is under pressure with demand outstripping capacity, according to a national audit by a group of leading healthcare organisations. Read Sophie Barnes’ story here.

11.34am: Hospital boards will be ordered to review and publish nurse staffing levels at least twice a year as part of the government’s full response to the Francis report, HSJ has discovered. Action on nurse staffing is expected to form a significant part of the government’s much anticipated full response to Robert Francis QC’s report into care failings at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust,

On the same theme, a group set up by the government has urged ministers to consider dropping its plan to set up a barring scheme for NHS managers guilty of misconduct, HSJ has learned. Meanwhile, patient groups have warned that plans to limit a statutory duty of candour on organisations to incidents of death or severe harm will “legitimise cover-ups”. Read that here.

11.20am: HSJ is seeking to celebrate the healthcare leaders of tomorrow -and influencers of today. As this year draws to a close, we will be identifying healthcare’s rising stars and want your nominations. We are looking for people who are making brave decisions to improve healthcare and shape its future. Full story here.

11.17am: Scientists are to begin collecting data on flu outbreaks from UK schools this winter to better understand its spread, says the BBC. The Flusurvey surveillance project is in its fifth year, but for the first time classrooms are being asked to take part.

11.15am: Responding to the publication of Sir Bruce Keogh’s review into urgent and emergency care, Dr Mark Porter, Chair of BMA Council, said: “We agree on the need for greater clarity for patients on how and where to access care appropriately and more support for self-care. To achieve this, more information and an effective out-of-hours telephone service are crucial, yet the report makes clear that successive attempts to solve out-of-hours support, including the botched introduction of NHS111, have only added to the pressure on emergency departments, echoing concerns raised by the BMA.”

11.10am: NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh says changes to boost the 111 phoneline system - giving patients direct access to doctors and nurses are key to lifting pressures on hospitals, which will otherwise become unsustainable, writes the Telegraph.

11.03am: The Guardian has various reactions to the Bruce Keogh A&E story, including one by Kate Murray that says paramedics who can give people emergency care at home will play a vital role in relieving overstretched A&E services this winter.

11am: Hospital emergency departments are set to be reclassified, with as few as 40 of them offering a higher level of staffing and expertise, NHS England has revealed. Sir Bruce Keogh, the body’s medical director, has proposed that existing accident and emergency departments are designated as either “emergency centres” or “major emergency centres”.

10.55am: Wales’s first minister has overturned a decision to transfer some specialist neonatal care in north Wales across the border to England. Carwyn Jones’s intervention in the matter increases the chances that most of the region’s most premature babies will remain in Wales.

10.35am: Responding to the publication of Sir Bruce Keogh’s first report on Urgent and Emergency Care Dr Amanda Doyle, co-chair of NHS Clinical Commissioners’ Leadership Group and chief clinical officer of Blackpool CCG, has said: Sir Bruce is looking for significant progress over the next six months and he places much of the responsibility for this with CCGs… To do this NHS England must also act in a joined up way and ensure that they are positioned to support CCGs to do what need to be done.

10.25am: Guardian political writer and regular HSJ columnist Michael White’s new comment piece is online. He says that Cameron and Hunt’s image as “posh boys” with too much money for their own good will only intensify if the public’s fears for the NHS grow.

9.50am: Responding to the urgent and emergency care services review, Dr Clare Gerada, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “This report proposes a substantial overhaul of the way patients will access urgent care services and GPs are keen to play their part and clear up the confusion that many patients face about where to go when they need urgent care. But we must make sure that general practice does not get ignored or left behind in the debate.”

9.36am: Commenting on the final refreshed mandate to NHS England, chief operating officer of the NHS Confederation Matt Tee said: “We are particularly pleased to note that the publication shows the government has taken on board the critical importance of integrated out-of-hospital care to implementing the vulnerable older people’s plan. We have said all along that this cannot deliver improvements through primary care alone, and it is good to see this has been heard and acted upon.”

9.15am: Good morning and welcome to today’s HSJ Live. Reporter Ben Clover writes that hospital emergency departments are set to be reclassified, with as few as 40 of them offering a higher level of staffing and expertise, NHS England has revealed. Read that story here.

And in our Resource Centre, Simon Douglass and Helen Brown describe the fundamental changes that are needed in emergency care in order to deliver better outcomes this winter.