Matt Discombe
Matt covers performance --- especially urgent and emergency services --- as well as the North East and Yorkshire regions. During the pandemic, he has been writing about infection control in hospitals and surge capacity for the second wave.
Contact info
- Tel:
- 020 760 89032
- Email:
- matt.discombe@wilmingtonhealthcare.com
- News
ICS drops alternative payment system in favour of ‘payment by results’
A health system that trialled an innovative funding mechanism that deviated significantly from “payment by results” has dropped the scheme after just one year.
- Expert Briefing
A&E boss: 40% of patients at major A&Es don’t need to be there
Recovering services from the covid crisis is a big task for NHS leaders for the foreseeable future. The Recovery Watch newsletter tracks prospects and progress. This week by HSJ senior correspondent Matt Discombe
- News
Use your ‘operational muscle’ to improve performance urges NHSE director
Commissioners and providers must get back their “operational process muscle” and use it to drive improvements to care, NHS England’s emergency care lead has told HSJ.
- News
40% of funding targeted at improving emergency care goes unspent
Fourty per cent of the £150m capital funding pot NHS England made available to incentivise urgent and emergency care improvements was not distributed, data shown to HSJ reveals.
- News
A&Es not being overwhelmed by ‘low acuity’ patients, NHSE review finds
An NHS England review has found the proportion of ‘low acuity’ patients attending emergency departments is far smaller than expected.
- News
Building a hospital ‘not difficult’, says re-elected mayor
A mayor is planning to launch a consultation to build a new hospital the government says he has no powers to build – claiming the project “doesn’t seem difficult”.
- News
Long-waiters fall by a third despite ‘stubbornly high’ elective list
Trusts cut the number 65-week breaches by 35 per cent between February and March, reducing the long waiter cohort significantly from around 75,000 to around 49,000, according to NHS England’s monthly data.
- News
Trust names former social care director as CEO
A community trust has appointed a director with a background in social care and the third sector to be its new chief executive.
- News
NHSE director lined up for trust with worst A&E problems
An NHS England director is set to be appointed to the board of a trust with some of the worst A&E problems in recent years, including the most hours lost to ambulance handover delays last year.
- News
A&E target missed despite tough line from NHSE
The headline A&E target was missed in March, despite NHS England’s controversial last-ditch attempts to deliver it.
- News
Trust is waging ‘witch hunt’ against own director, alleges MP
An MP has accused the leadership of her local trust of orchestrating a “witch hunt” against one of its own directors and manipulating a recruitment process to ensure the CEO’s “preferred” candidate was shortlisted for an executive position.
- News
NHSE regional director to retire
The longest-serving NHS England regional director is retiring after four decades in the health service.
- News
Trusts face threat of legal action due to new quality standards
Trusts could be exposed to increased negligence claims as a result of new NHS England guidance for a rare spinal condition, a royal college has claimed.
- News
NHS England agrees new A&E target
Trusts will be told to hit the four-hour A&E target in 78 per cent of cases by next year after NHS England finally made an agreement with government, HSJ understands.
- News
Six ICBs require staff to work from office at least one day per week
Six integrated care boards have policies which require hybrid working staff to be in the office either one or two days per week.
- News
Two more directors accuse trust leaders of ‘Islamophobia’
Two more non-executive directors have criticised the leaders of Bradford Teaching Hospitals, accusing them of using “Islamophobic tropes” and retaliating against “dissenting opinion”.
- News
NHSE recovery target in doubt as 18-month elective waits continue to rise
The number of 78-week breaches on the NHS waiting list has risen for the sixth consecutive month, despite a fall in 65-week waiters and the overall list size, according to official data published today.
- News
Trust chiefs criticise ‘divisive’ capital ‘prizes’ for A&E performance
Trust CEOs and other health leaders have criticised NHS England’s move to offer trusts up to £4m capital in a last-ditch effort to meet the four hour emergency care target in March.
- News
Trusts offered up to £4m to make last-ditch attempt on A&E target
NHS England has confirmed new financial incentives for trusts to deliver strong performance against the four-hour emergency target this month.
- News
Trust’s treatment of Muslims heavily criticised by board director
A board director has publicly criticised his trust for its treatment of Muslim staff and patients.