Redundancy scheme to cut corporate staff by 14%
Multiple hospitals are launching redundancy schemes or plans to freeze recruitment for corporate and non-clinical staff, in a bid to meet their financial expectations in 2024–25.
Revealed: The ICSs ‘diverting’ the most GP referrals through controversial model
There is huge regional variation in the rate at which health systems are preventing patients joining the elective waiting list through “advice and guidance” to GPs, according to analysis by HSJ.
NHSE ‘treads tightrope’ with new cash bailout for deficit ICSs
NHS England is set to give around £650m to some health systems to offset financial deficits and ease cash pressures, HSJ has learned.
Nearly a third of ICSs admit finance plans will be missed
At least 13 integrated care systems have now admitted they will miss the financial plans they signed up for at the start of the year.
‘Regular flooding’ and ‘fire risks’ force part-closure of hospital
Inpatient services are set to be transferred out of a large community hospital due to regular flooding, fire safety risks and broken lifts.
NHS failing to prioritise those in most need, says departing ICB chief
The NHS should better track patients with the greatest clinical need so they can move to the front of the queue for treatment, a former government waiting list tsar has said.
The Integrator: Baby steps again on specialised services
Insider tales and must-read analysis on how integration is reshaping health and care systems, NHS providers, primary care, and commissioning. This week by deputy editor Dave West.
Trust boss accuses private provider of ‘overpromising and underdelivering’
The boss of a large acute trust has accused a private provider of ‘overpromising and underdelivering’ after significant problems emerged with a local arrangement which have piled further pressure on its waiting list.
Exclusive: Government and NHS in talks over £1bn funding gap
Government is in talks with national NHS leaders over how to fill an urgent funding gap of at least £1bn this financial year, HSJ has learned, as new analysis shows all 42 local integrated care systems were behind their own plans less than halfway through 2023-24.
‘We don’t have the bottle’ to hold line on bed numbers, says trust director
A director at a major acute trust said it needs to stop “caving in” to demand pressures by opening extra escalation beds.
Revealed: First ICS digital maturity ratings
HSJ can reveal the first ratings given to every integrated care system for the ‘digital maturity’ of its NHS providers.
Barclay: 'Staff who refuse to give evidence to deaths probe will be fined'
The health secretary has announced a national investigation into the safety of mental health inpatient services, while granting statutory powers to an inquiry into 2,000 deaths at one trust.
‘First’ single EPR across ICS planned
An integrated care system is planning on launching what it believes is the ‘first’ single electronic patient record across acute, mental health and community providers.
‘Archaic’ and risky patient records still used by most GP practices
Most GP practices in England are still using ‘archaic’ Lloyd George paper records despite a commitment to digitise them, HSJ has found.
Revealed: the ICSs that refused to set breakeven plans
More than half the integrated care systems in the north of England have refused to agree a balanced financial plan, HSJ has learned.
Third of ICSs fail to set balanced budgets
A total of 14 integrated care systems are forecasting a combined deficit of £650m in 2023-24, NHS England’s chief finance officer said on Thursday.
‘Mac the Knife’ to retire after nearly 50 years in health service
An integrated care board chief executive who has spent nearly five decades working in the health service has announced his retirement.
Revealed: the tenfold regional difference in access to GP records
Fewer than one in 10 GP practices offers patients access to their records in several areas of England, with significant variation across England, six months ahead of a new deadline.
Exclusive: inquiry exaggerated trust death toll, claims CEO
A trust chief executive has suggested an inquiry team looking at 2,000 deaths is lacking in ‘expertise’ and has created a ‘disproportionate impression’ of the problems at his trust.