Costs of NHS England reorganisation mount NHS England will pay management consultancy PA Consulting up to £13 million to help it merge its national directorates and regional teams with those of NHS Digital, which it took over in January, and Health Education England, which it is due to absorb at the end of the month. The news, broken by the Health Service Journal, sparked fury online, with readers questioning why NHSE needed to spend so much. The PA contract comes on top of £100 million that NHSE has set aside for voluntary redundancy pay-outs, as it looks to shed 30-40% of its workforce. Many digital teams look set to be axed.

Junior doctors set for disruptive, three-day strike  Junior doctors in England will take strike action on the 13, 14 and 15 March, the British Medical Association has announced. Junior doctors account for 40% of the medical workforce, so the action is likely to be highly disruptive for trusts. The BMA is looking to cover what it says has been a real-terms pay cut of 26% over 15 years (BBC News). The British Medical Association in Scotland is due to start balloting doctors on strike action at the end of the month. Other NHS staff in Scotland are being advised to accept a 6.5% pay offer by their unions. But the BMA wants more and better conditions.

Campaign news: for pharmacy, weaning, and HRT NHS England has launched an ad campaign to encourage people to visit a pharmacy for advice on minor illnesses, after discovering that just one in five people aged 18-40 would do this routinely. The Department of Health and Social Care has launched an ad campaign and digital hub to help parents wean babies, after discovering that half of parents are unsure when to start and what to feed their infants. The DHSC has also announced a certificate scheme to enable women in England to access cheaper hormone replacement therapy for the menopause and a programme of work with suppliers to increase supplies.

Scottish Government publishes health and social care data strategy The Scottish Government has published a health and social care data strategy, outlining how it will take an ethical approach to collecting, storing and using data. The strategy is built around working to FAIR principles – or making data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable - and there is a strong focus on transparency and access to build public confidence. The strategy also recognises the need to attract, retain and develop a digitally savvy workforce, to invest in the relevant technology, and to make sure developments make a contribution to delivering net zero (summary on Health Tech Newspaper).

NHS England issues guidance on ICS intelligence functions as Alcidion makes the case for an open standards platform approach to data integration   NHS England has published guidance supported by a toolkit to help integrated care systems develop intelligence functions that will enable them to use data and analytics to improve delivery and re-design care. The guidance highlights the need for transparency, governance, and links with other teams so that intelligence is not just seen as a support service, but a partner in transformation (summary on Health Tech Newspaper). Highland Marketing client Alcidion has also been talking about data in ICSs, and arguing that an open standards platform approach is required to get data to flow across systems (Health Tech Newspaper).

Digital transformation news: pre-op at NHS Highland, and Heart Failure@Home in North Tees  NHS Highland is launching a digital pre-op assessment pathway, using technology from VitalHub UK called Synopsis. Digitalhealth.net reports that the health board’s National Treatment Centre, which is due to open in April, will use the pathway to send digital health questionnaires to patients. The answers will be used for triage and support. Telephone and face to face appointments will still be available. North Tees NHS Foundation Trust has implemented Health Call’s Heart Failure@Home solution, to enable patients with heart failure to manage their condition using remote monitors. Patients submit vital signs readings to a Community Heart Failure team, which can intervene quickly if the show signs of deterioration (digitalhealth.net).