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Senior sources from a range of NHS sectors have told HSJ they were unaware of an announcement about Group A Strep that led to services being inundated with the “worried well” over the weekend. 

Contacts from hospital, 111/ambulance, urgent care and primary care providers said they were not warned that the UK Health Security Agency was going to issue a warning about a higher than usual number of cases (in the wake of the deaths of five children under 10 in a week).

NHS England’s clinical lead for integrated urgent care issued a letter, seen by HSJ, saying a “considerable increase” in 111 demand over the weekend was “in part due to Group A Strep concerns” – and sources in the sector said the increase in demand was “heavily” Strep-related.

One senior accident and emergency leader told HSJ that when parents could not get through on 111 they brought their children to emergency departments. “The media messaging has been handled terribly”, they added.

A hospital CEO said it had been a “very, very difficult weekend”. Another said: “Children’s ED was very busy. Demand from parents with children with sore throats and temperatures [was] very high.”

Quick work

The government’s review of integrated care systems is living up to its remit to come up with ideas quickly and is expected to issue its first recommendations in 10 days.

Among these will be that the role of the Care Quality Commission in regulating ICS should be “enhanced”.

The terms of reference for the review were issued today. They confirm the rapid timetable revealed by HSJ last month. “Interim findings” will be delivered in just 10 days – on 16 December – with a “first draft” of the full report completed by 31 January 2023 and a final report submitted no later than 15 March 2023.

The review, led by former health secretary and current ICS chair Patricia Hewitt, was commissioned as part of the autumn statement by chancellor Jeremy Hunt and health and social care secretary Steve Barclay last month.

HSJ understands the review arose from former Mr Hunt’s “unfinished business” with the NHS, which includes a more prominent role for the CQC.

Also on hsj.co.uk today

“It is rare that a single case captures the need for sweeping system and attitudinal change,” says Emily Townsend in Mental Health Matters. “But the harrowing experience of an autistic schoolboy in London has done just that,” she says. Read her article here. And in a comment piece, Lord Bethell and Lord Victor Adebowale wave a red flag over the slow implementation and adoption of medical innovation, urging the NHS to hasten its steps towards digitalisation.