Last year, the government launched a very wide consultation exercise that will supposedly shape a forthcoming 10 Year Plan for the NHS, which should be published in the early summer. Submissions to this consultation were invited from organisations, with a closing date in December 2024, but contributions from the general public have continued into 2025…..
Health inequalities matter, and they are getting worse. One of the most common measures, life expectancy, is now falling in certain groups and locations, as it continues to rise in areas defined as more wealthy. (more…)
It is fashionable in some quarters to denounce the ‘inefficient’ way the NHS runs itself. ‘Administrators’ seem to attract particular attention. But this is nearly always unfair. And ultimately self-defeating. (more…)
There is a view, recently advocated by Health Advisor Paul Corrigan (paywall), which says that the NHS’s need to reflect more patient involvement in their healthcare can be facilitated by greater use of smartphones and expanding patient choice about treatment options and selection of hospitals. (more…)
Rachel Reeves’ budget, the first Labour budget for 14 years, gave the NHS much-needed money, despite the fact that the increase in employers’ national insurance would take a fair bite out of it so must be borne in mind. But how the figures are viewed matters almost as much. (more…)
No one uses fax machines any more. X-ray films in their bulging racks are a thing of the past. Online and phone consultations, hastened by Covid, are now commonplace. Progress happens and people can gain greatly. The NHS can be better this way. And yet… (more…)
The principle of a national health service paid for though general taxation and free at the point of need is beautifully simple. (more…)
There is a chance the government will be swayed by a proposal put forward by the private healthcare lobby to invest massively in the private sector to ease waiting list pressures – to the tune of £1 billion, according to some news reports. We say beware. (more…)
If something is broken, can it be fixed? That may well have been the hoped-for question when the NHS was referred to as ‘broken’. The problem is, the NHS isn’t a car, a computer, a pothole or an attendance record. Its complexity and size make simple summaries such as ‘the NHS is broken’ almost guaranteed….
In 2003 the role of PA, then known as Physician Assistant, was introduced to the NHS. Some had trained as a Physician Assistant in the USA – a 3 year course there in comparison with 3 years in the UK. The numbers here were small and few of us were aware of them. (more…)
