Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

Integrated care systems facing “significantly harder” savings targets

NHS organisations will be asked to make average efficiency savings of 6% this year, the Health Service Journal has reported. This is significantly higher than before Covid-19, when organisations were asked to make average efficiency savings of 4% - and generally missed. ICSs are still talking about finances for this year because their combined budgets at the moment would lead to an NHS deficit of £3 billion. NHS England is looking to eliminate this. HSJ reported that ICSs will be expected to remove pandemic capacity and improve productivity to do it. Many managers think it is simply not doable - or could only be done by abandoning recovery.

Matthew Taylor calls for ‘new social contract’ on healthcare

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has called for “a more ambitious national social contract for healthcare” to mark the NHS’ 75^th anniversary. Delivering the Royal Society of Medicine’s Stevens lecture, he said there is a pressing need to “re-set” two key relationships: between the public and health – because many of the causes of ill-health lie outside the NHS; and between the centre and health and care organisations – because local leaders need more autonomy to act in the interest of local people. He also called for more investment.

Consultants ballot on industrial action

NHS consultants are the latest group of healthcare staff to be drawn into disputes about pay and conditions. The British Medical Association is balloting members about industrial action after talks with the government broke down. The BMA wants to recover pay, which it says has slipped by 35% since 2008-9 (The Telegraph). Pay demands by junior doctors are still unresolved. Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing has decided to withdraw from the nominally independent NHS Pay Review Body, following a debate at its annual Congress (Nursing Notes). This has raised concerns about the future of the Agenda for Change framework and joint union negotiations (The Financial Times).

Health, care and IT news: Guidance published on digital social care; new CDCs announced; home testing for hepatitis C launched; the national CNIO departs; deal with Microsoft extended

The Department of Health and Social Care has published a new What Good Looks Like framework, this time for digital social care, alongside a digital skills framework for the sector. This includes plans to train staff to access shared care records, use virtual care centres, and get the most out of new technology, and a discussion of the role of AI in supporting workers. The DHSC has also announced that a further six community diagnostic centres are to be opened. The centres in smaller towns and hospitals will join the 106 CDCs already open and deliver a further 500,000 tests, scans and checks a year.

NHS England has announced that people who may be at risk of hepatitis C can now order home blood tests from the NHS website. The move is part of a programme to eliminate the disease ahead of a World Health Organisation target of 2030. Digitalhealth.net has reported that the exodus of digital leaders from NHS England continues, with national chief nursing officer Natasha Phillips the latest departure. Digitalhealth.net has also reported that NHS England has secured a one-month extension to its NHS Microsoft licensing deal. The extension is costing £8 million. PublicTechnology.net, which first reported the move, says discussions on a new deal are underway but not concluded.

Business app news: NHS England issues PIN for digital staff passport tech; Florence launches app; AdviseInc secures new business

NHS England has published a prior information notice, indicating that it plans to launch a digital staff passport technology framework. It wants to know what trusts want from passports and what technology is available (Health Tech Newspaper). Florence has announced an app called Florence for Business that it says will help to “address the staffing crisis” in health and social care by making it easier for providers to post and manage rotas and shifts (Digitalhealth.net). AdviseInc has announced that another 22 trusts have bought its spend analytics product, Platform+, this year and that it has secured 61 trust contract renewals (Digitalhealth.net).

What should be top of mind for the new NHS CIO?

Analysis

The NHS is looking for a new chief information officer, and the Highland Marketing advisory board has been considering what should be on his or her ‘to do’ list.