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

Hackathons? Weren’t they a thing about 10 years ago?

Such was the view in the HSJ news room when we learned a couple of hastily arranged hackathons were to be among the first interventions from the new health and social care secretary.

Steve Barclay has taken a detailed interest in ambulance services and ambulance performance since he arrived three weeks ago. As well as the hackathons, he has held an (also hastily arranged) meeting with ambulance trust CEOs just before the peak of the heatwave hit; visited at least two of the services; and we hear is also requesting “live” ambulance performance data in his office.

No massive surprise: Mr Barclay has arrived in the middle of a summer crisis. There’s going to be substantial harm to patients and a lot of upset voters.

It’s surprising really that Jeremy Hunt’s Commons health and social care committee has not taken more interest so far – many Whitehall NHS watchers seem narrowly preoccupied with the long end of the elective waiting list – but the new boss will soon be hauled over the coals for the ambulance situation, if he gets to stay in the job that long.

While the hackathons may be pointless in practice, Mr Barclay has a passion for provoking senior NHS managers, so he’s unlikely to be too upset to see his 2010s-throwback data initiative turn a few heads.

Lacking both ‘resource and skill’ 

Tech staff at national level have been siloed in different organisations until now, with NHSX, NHS Digital and NHS England merging to centralise the experience and expertise in one place.

But, despite this, it seems there are still important capacity gaps that need filling.

In a new tender document, NHSE says it is lacking both “resource and skill” to help its frontline digitisation programme assist trusts in hitting the government’s targets for deploying electronic patient records.

The regulator has, therefore, tendered a £9m contract for a supplier to help establish a “centre of excellence” which will help trusts with their EPRs.

Nearly 140 trusts are required to make improvements to their existing EPR, or buy a new one altogether, to meet the NHS’s “core digitisation” target by March 2025.

The timing is somewhat unfortunate, with NHSE set to axe 6,000 jobs by April 2024 as the regulator merges with not only NHSD but also Health Education England. This will no doubt involve letting many staff working on technology projects go.

NHSE said the tender was necessary as some “specialist skills” needed to be sourced from the market.

Also on hsj.co.uk today

A report by charity Stroke Association has shown vast regional disparities in patients’ access to thrombectomies, with Londoners several times more likely to receive the treatment. Sticking with the capital, this week’s London Eye examines the region’s poor track record with sickle cell care. Meanwhile, in the East Midlands, Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust has announced its CEO Ifti Majid is leaving to lead Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust.