Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health tech

Yet another new team at the DHSC

Prime minister Rishi Sunak launched a Cabinet reshuffle that saw former PM David Cameron return as home secretary – and big changes at the Department of Health and Social Care. Secretary of state Steve Barclay departed and was replaced by Victoria Atkins, previously financial secretary to the Treasury, and a barrister by training (Guardian profile). Minister Will Quince and junior minister Neil O’Brien also quit and were replaced by Andrew Stephenson and Andrea Leadsom. Atkins is the fifth health and social care secretary to be appointed since Matt Hancock departed in June 2021 - although Barclay did the job twice.

Atkins makes positive noises on ending strikes

Victoria Atkins (above) said one of her immediate priorities is to find a “fair and reasonable resolution” to the ongoing industrial action in the NHS. In a video for the NHS Providers annual conference she said she was “committed to getting around the table” (The Independent). The NHS Confederation said strikes were just one item in her “very challenging in-tray.” Chief executive Matthew Taylor suggested seven ways she could make a difference, including: letting the system focus on its current priorities of winter, financial balance, and backlogs; build momentum for the workforce plan; avoid playing politics; and acknowledge the need for social care funding and reform.

As chief secretary to the Treasury, Atkins would have been involved in agreeing the NHS’ current financial settlement, which has pushed the DHSC and NHS England into clawing back winter, waiting list and digital funding for the frontline. An Autumn Statement is now due on 22 November. Read our background briefings on the long and short-term challenges that the NHS faces with finance and productivity, and their implications for health tech.

NHS productivity comes under the spotlight

Just before Steve Barclay left the DHSC (above), The Times (£) was briefed that consultants McKinsey have been called in to review NHS productivity plans. The Times reported that NHS activity has not risen, and that trusts are not delivering planned efficiency savings, even though funding and gross staff numbers have increased. It also reported that chancellor Jeremy Hunt wants another 0.5% a year in efficiency savings to help fund a tax-giveaway ahead of the general election that must be held before the end of January 2025, and is widely expected in May next year.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard defended the NHS’ record, telling MPs that current productivity measures do not tell the whole story, because they do not capture the left shift into community services or new ideas such as virtual wards. “If you take account of all those things, the start point is an NHS that is doing far more work, [but] differently, to [what it was doing] pre-Covid,” she told the health and social care committee (HSJ, £). In the same vein, she said the ambitious productivity goals in the so-far unfunded NHS workforce plan will be contingent on government investment in estates and digital.

Health tech news: about a remote monitoring evaluation service; Doccla moving into Derbyshire; Luscii winning a remote monitoring project in Leeds; success for Bleepa at the NCA; ChelWest trying out Dora; and iPLATO’s new medication tracker

RAND Europe and Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences have launched an evaluation environment called DECIDE to investigate and make recommendations about remote monitoring services and interventions (digitalhealth.net). Joined Up Care Derbyshire has picked Doccla for a virtual ward project that will be implemented at five sites and then extended (digitalhealth.net). Leeds has picked Luscii for a trial of remote monitoring technology for patients with conditions such as COPD and diabetes. Three GP surgeries are involved, and a team will assess whether the the service reduces GP visits and improves wellbeing (Health Tech World).

An independent evaluation of Bleepa at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust has concluded that the system has improved efficiency and quality by reducing the amount of time it takes to get a patient review from a respiratory, cardiology, or gastroenterology specialist (coffee time briefing, digithalhealth.net). Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has launched a “concept test” of an AI called Dora. The AI will phone cataract patients, ask them about their experience, and deal with queries (Health Tech Newspaper). iPLATO has launched a tracking tool for its myGP app to help people with medication compliance (digitalhealth.net).

Budget backgrounder – ten years of underinvestment impacts the NHS and its deployment of technology

Analysis

Years of inadequate funding and underinvestment in facilities and technology have left the NHS unable to address the recovery, demand, and financial pressures it is facing. In the first of two analysis pieces ahead of the Autumn Statement 2023, and a likely change of government, we look at how the health service ended up in this position: and what it will take to get it back on track.

Budget backgrounder – constant, short-term financial pressure impacts the NHS and its capacity for innovation

Analysis

A series of short-term Budgets have left the NHS with some immediate financial problems: and inflation and strikes have not helped. The Treasury has refused to inject more cash into the system, leaving money for winter projects, waiting list initiatives, and technology at risk. In the second of two analysis pieces, we look at the state of play ahead of the Autumn Statement 2023.