HSJ Health Check

HSJ Health Check discusses the latest squeeze on GP resources, and controversy over reform of referral processes. Analysis of new figures show the share of NHS spend going to general practice fell to its lowest point in 2024-25 - a decade on from NHS England vowing to shift the balance the other way. The share of doctors in the English NHS who are GPs also fell. Meanwhile, GP groups are among those crying foul over the latest "advice and guidance" reforms. NHS England is asking systems to introduce universal A&G for 10 "high volume specialties" chosen locally, for which it has set an ambition of a "diversion rate of at least 25 per cent by March 2027". With HSJ deputy editor Dave West, bureau chief James Illman and correspondent Caitlin Tilley.

We discuss Sir Jim Mackey’s first year as NHS England chief executive, and his interview with HSJ in which he sets out plans for 2026-27. This year has seen the NHS land more or less on plan for its biggest recovery targets – and with declared financial deficits falling quicker than expected. Sir Jim told us the next 12 months will leave more room for thinking ahead, including about commissioning and neighbourhood health. But money is still very tight and ever-bigger leaps in improvements will be needed to stay on track. Also, we cover the huge challenges facing the Humber Health Partnership, a group model that has seen its two member trusts placed into special measures and ask what lessons can be learned for trust groups elsewhere.

Tech is one of the most important parts of the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, but this week NHS England has warned a leadership void is hampering progress and investment. We talk in more depth about this particularly public criticism and also discuss other key areas of tech that trusts are investing in, from electronic patient records to AI scribes. We also cover research that has revealed the over-complication of EPR training is having an adverse effect on productivity. The team shares how the NHS App and AI are set to evolve over the next few years as well.

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan interviews US physician Bob Wachter about his new book, A Giant Leap, on AI’s impact on healthcare. The conversation covers how clinical practice is already changing significantly, and explores the implications for NHS workforce planning.

NHS staff are becoming less likely to recommend their employer as a place to work, are less confident about raising concerns and increasingly say they would not want relatives to be treated at their trust. HSJ digs into the annual NHS staff survey to find out what this year’s results mean for the future of the health service. Henry Anderson is joined by HSJ’s Nick Kituno and Chris Graham, from the Picker Institute, to discuss how staff feel about working for the NHS after the first full year of a Labour government - and what can be done to turn this around. Send podcast thoughts and ideas to annabelle.collins@hsj.co.uk You can listen to HSJ Health Check on this page, or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all the other popular podcast platforms.

Leading ICB and council CEOs join HSJ Health Check to talk about the earthquake shaking relationships between local government and the NHS. Tectonic plates are moving with major structural reorganisation in the NHS and local government. Funding and demand pressures, alongside national attempts to reform other public services, are also straining relationships and integration. Amid these tensions, Rob Webster, West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board CEO, argues local leaders can choose to protect relationships and joint working at the level of place, despite organisational mergers. And Robin Tuddenham, a council CEO in west Yorkshire and president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, says: "What we're seeing is the need to adjust to a reshaping of the local state".

NHS maternity care continues to be under the spotlight, so on this week’s episode we unpick the web of different national reviews and how trusts could be asked to improve services. We cover Baroness Amos’ interim report from the government’s ‘rapid’ review, which has turned out to be less rapid than hoped, and some shocking findings highlighted by newly published national maternity data. Also, why home birth services could become a thing of the past in the NHS.

Hospitals are being told by NHS England to focus on easy wins to hit this financial year’s A&E targets, so on this episode we unpick what trusts are being ask to do and whether this will get them over the line by the end of March. NHSE also finally published guidance on its “model emergency department”, which will see under-performing trusts required to open new treatment areas. But, as ever, big questions remain about funding. And we get under the skin of a recent HSJ analysis that showed the health service has been haemorrhaging non-clinical staff.

This week we cover a mysterious update to the “model ICB” blueprint that hasn’t been formally published or endorsed by NHS England, but instead passed in whispers. We also talk about the full timetable for merging NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care and one of the biggest stories this week: the unexpected resignation of Ming Tang, NHSE’s chief data and analytics officer. We discuss her legacy, most notably the federated data platform, and why some of the biggest trusts are yet to start using it.

On this episode we’re joined by Lord Philip Hunt of King’s Heath - who was a minister in the Labour government until last year, and has played a huge role in Labour health policy and in NHS leadership over several decades. He was a health minister in the Blair government with Alan Milburn, has served in several Labour shadow health teams, worked as a senior NHS manager, and was the first chief executive of the NHS Confederation. Lord Hunt is an active Parliamentarian and will shape the health bill when it hits the upper house. He tells us about its likely (tight) timings, and where the big clashes and U-turns may come.

On this episode we cover one of the most expensive employment tribunals in the NHS and why a trust must pay its former chief executive £1.4m in damages. Also this week, an update on the new hospitals programme from the government spending watchdog, which included surprise dates for when rebuilds were likely to reopen - some of which are still 20 years’ away. We also cover serious concerns raised about the quality of a trust’s medical training and more on the new chief executive of the merging NHS Providers/Confederation.

On this episode we’re talking about the tricky balancing act between cutting waiting lists and keeping finances under control, after Wes Streeting warned this week that some trusts have tried to cut deficits too sharply. Also this week, two stories from Birmingham, including more on a damning external review into a major trust’s international training programme.

It’s time for the HSJ team to take stock and make their predictions for what the New Year could bring for the NHS, from the survival of Healthwatch, to why the NHS App could be in for a tough year. Also, the biggest estates challenges facing trusts and why the ‘choice’ row is set to escalate. Thanks for listening to the Health Check podcast this year and Merry Christmas from all at HSJ.

This week we bring you the latest in our series of HSJ Health Check podcasts tracking the development of the government’s planned Health Bill. On this episode Dave and Annabelle are joined by Mark Dayan and Sarah Reed from the Nuffield Trust and we focus on the abolition of NHS England, drawing on research the think tank has just published. We cover how this could be an opportunity to reset how the NHS operates within government, why the dramatic reduction in headcount could do more harm than good, and how officials could learn from historic NHS reforms.

The government made bringing down elective waits its key target for the NHS, and ministers often celebrate how much the list has fallen since Labour came to power. However, we reveal the part that waiting list clean-ups have played in cutting the list this year – alongside growing some types of activity, and other reforms – and why some experts are raising concerns about patients being wrongfully removed. Also this week more on the deal that will see the NHS pay more for new medicines. https://www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-performance/exclusive-nhse-ramps-up-waiting-list-cleaning-drive/7040427.article

Sir Jim Mackey is expected to end his tenure as ‘transition CEO’ of NHS England next year, so we ask what sort of candidate could be up for the “impossible” job of running the health service. Also, we dig into what the budget means for the NHS, including how much the pot will be reduced by to pay for the massive redundancy programme.

Sir Jim Mackey is expected to end his tenure as ‘transition CEO’ of NHS England next year, so we ask what sort of candidate could be up for the “impossible” job of running the health service. Also, we dig into what the budget means for the NHS, including how much the pot will be reduced by to pay for the massive redundancy programme.

This week Ben Clover fills in for Annabelle Collins and is joined by Ella Deverux and Zoe Tidman. The team discuss Ella's exclusive on the NHS App breaking cancer diagnosis news to patients ahead of a human, plus Zoe takes us through where the service is on finance, including a trust down to one day's operating costs.

NHS England has finally launched its much-delayed voluntary redundancy scheme so on this episode we cover everything we know so far and the questions that remain. Health secretary Wes Streeting also acknowledged this week in a speech to NHS leaders he has not resolved the redundancies quickly enough and that things had been particularly hard for integrated care boards. In the same speech, Mr Streeting revealed the eight trusts that are in line to become ‘advanced foundation trusts’ and “front runners to a more autonomous and integrated NHS”.

This week the team look at what happens when the 2nd most stressful thing that can happen to a trust coincides with winter pressures. Plus NHS England's big ask from ICBs. This week's podcast is hosted by tech editor Ben Clover, standing in for Annabelle Collins, and he is joined by Joe Talora and Mimi Launder