The must-read stories and debate in health policy and leadership.

The chief executive of NHSX has admitted the unit is losing “goodwill and credibility” as technology that fails to comply with industry standards continues to be produced.

In email correspondence leaked to HSJ, Matthew Gould told NHSX leadership that “we have to do better” as the unit keeps creating “non-compliant” websites and apps.

While a spokesperson for NHSX insisted the email had “nothing to do” with the controversial contact tracing app currently being trialled, it’s difficult not to draw a comparison.

Earlier this month senior NHS sources told HSJ that the new contact tracing app had so far failed all tests required for it to be included on the NHS app store, including cyber security and clinical safety.

The implementation of digital in the NHS has moved at breakneck speed to support the coronavirus response, and tech chiefs are keen to keep the momentum rolling post-covid.

However, at a time when there is already a lot of public scepticism about the sharing of personal data, quality and assurance cannot be compromised.

An unequal toll

Covid-19 continues to dominate media reports, in particular around the disparity in mortality rates with over-representation of people from black, Asian or minority ethnic populations. Sadly, deaths of health and social care workers continue to be reported daily, and our dataset of reported cases now exceeds 200 deaths.

Today we published the third article in a series by Lesa Kearney, Simon Lennane, Ella Woodman, Emira Kursumovic and Tim Cook, who have updated their previous analysis to explore whether patterns have changed as case numbers increase.

Their dataset in fact shows very similar patterns. The increased number of reported deaths has not diluted the significant over-representation of BAME individuals. Other studies have confirmed this increased BAME mortality, independent of other risk factors.

Filipino staff remain prominent amongst reported deaths, accounting for as many more deaths as the next five countries combined. Filipino nurses comprise 3.8 per cent of the nursing workforce but represented 22 per cent of NHS nurse deaths. Similarly, 12 per cent of nurses who died were from Zimbabwe and 6 per cent from Nigeria, despite accounting for only 0.75 per cent and 0.45 per cent of NHS nurses respectively.

Read the full findings in our article here.