The must-read stories and debate in health policy and leadership.

A national patient safety programme set up by Jeremy Hunt has been accused of “stalling” by bereaved families who have been involved in it.

They have even said their efforts to improve patient safety and relive their experiences have been “in vain” due to the lack of progress from the Learning From Deaths Programme.

A board for the programme, which involved the families, has not met since June 2019 and has not yet addressed many of the vital issues it was set up to consider, they said.

They have said that if no further progress is made, they will feel  “used as pawns in a political game”.

Mr Hunt has previously expressed similar concerns about the lack of progress of the programme.

The concerns have prompted Ted Baker, the CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals who co-chairs the national quality board which is responsible for the programme, to admit that it is crucial that progress is made.

Vaccination frustration

GPs are finding the vaccination programme frustrating because it’s allowing little flexibility on choosing supplies, timings and which patients to vaccinate.

That is the view of Ruth Rankine, director of the NHS Confederation’s primary care networks group, who says GPs want to move away from the government’s priority order.

Her comments come as “mass vaccination centres” are running well below capacity in many parts of England, as many more people are going to GP-led centres.

So far, NHS England has not said whether GP practices (through primary care networks) will play a big part in vaccinating under-50s who are not in higher risk groups, known as “phase two”.