News
Crucial emergency care system to be scrapped by NHSE within months
An IT system that prevents 999 call-handling services from being overwhelmed is set to be withdrawn by NHS England in an effort to save money.
Retired CEO to chair specialist trust
A long-serving trust chief executive who retired at the end of last year has become the chair of one of the UK’s best known specialist trusts.
Key recovery target hit
Ambulance services hit a crucial “interim” target for responding to the bulk of emergency calls last month, and showed marked improvements for the most serious category of incidents.
Mapped: RTT waiting times
An interactive map of local NHS waits around England in February 2025, showing the pressures, with links to all the details by organisation and specialty.
ICBs to impose ‘minimum waiting times’ for services
NHS England has proposed introducing “minimum waiting times” for certain elective specialties as system leaders grapple with how to balance clinical needs and a real terms funding cut for local services.
Revealed: ICBs divided on ‘neighbourhood teams’
HSJ analysis reveals a major split across England on the right size and shape for neighbourhood teams, which are a key part of government’s reform ambitions.
Target date for NHSE abolition revealed
National leaders are targeting October 2026 for the abolition of NHS England and consolidation of its functions into the Department of Health and Social Care, HSJ understands.
NHSE chiefs think A&E recovery plan ‘lacks ambition’
NHS England’s new leadership has criticised near-completed drafts of the long-awaited national recovery plan for urgent and emergency care, with senior figures concerned it “lacks ambition”, HSJ has learned.
ICB told to re-run tender after rule breaches
An integrated care board has been told to re-run part of a contract award after breaching procurement rules while choosing a new provider to manage earwax removal services.
ICB seeks first GP and dentist integration
An integrated care board in the East of England is working to integrate general practice and dental care records, and exploring shared sites for the two primary care services.
Revealed: The systems set to gain and lose hundreds of millions
Nine integrated care systems are set to lose hundreds of millions in NHS funding relative to others in coming years – while eight stand to make big gains – under new NHS England funding policy.
Trust must pay £256k to director accused of ‘playing race card’
A trust found to have racially discriminated against its research director must pay him more than £256,000, a judge has ruled.
NHSE urged not to scrap training scheme
Local leaders have urged NHS England to rethink its plans to scrap a training programme for procurement staff launched less than six months ago, HSJ has learned.
High-profile trust to merge with neighbour
A specialist mental health trust whose services have been under intense scrutiny in recent years is merging with a neighbouring provider.
Social care must stay ‘distinct’ from NHS, says Streeting
Wes Streeting has rejected the notion of merging the delivery or funding of social care with the NHS, arguing it is better “delivered and commissioned through local government”.
Exclusive: Former hospital chief set to run DHSC
A former Downing Street official who has also run hospitals and worked for NHS England is due to be appointed permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care, according to multiple senior sources.
Chris Hopson to leave NHSE
NHS England has confirmed Chris Hopson, its chief strategy officer, will leave at the end of June.
‘Hasty’ hospital closure plan criticised by ICB-commissioned report
A panel set up by an integrated care board to review its plans for closing a hospital has called the proposals “hasty” and “utterly inadequate”.
Streeting greenlights eight reconfigurations
Wes Streeting has declined to intervene over eight NHS service reconfigurations since taking up his post last summer, HSJ can reveal.
Push for national deal on doctors’ overtime pay
Trusts and senior medics are calling for a national deal on medical overtime pay rates and extra-contractual work, to avert local disputes.
ICB cuts could fund ‘neighbourhood development’
£6bn underlying deficit ‘could derail 10-Year Plan’
Streeting adviser to join NHSE as strategy chief
Group trust names two acting CEOs
Supplier suing trust after rival’s ‘lucrative proposal’
Hospitals to cut 800 jobs
£150m ‘wasted’ planning for ‘paused’ new hospitals
Union standoff with Mackey over subcos expansion
Last-minute ICS bailouts ‘fuel distrust with NHSE’
Trust CEO off work after clash with chair
Trust told it could not exclude race row firm from tender
Provider’s board clearout sparks ‘real shock’
Don’t call NHSE ‘the biggest quango in the world’, says new chair
Cap on elective care funding to be scrapped
Revealed: The ICB staff targeted for redundancy
CQC tells trust to move care of sick babies
Departing NHSE boss ‘calls out’ A&E variation
‘Big consolidation’ of ICBs coming, says new NHSE chief exec
Mackey: I will stick up for the NHS
Elon Musk offers Streeting help on NHS cuts
NHSE reveals new digital chief to ‘maintain stability’
NHS ‘should give councils more grief’ on health
ICS accused of ‘systemic culture of revising plans’
Cancer patients missed chance for treatment due to 100-day waits, trust admits
Revealed: ICBs spending the most and least on staffing
Five systems forecast £300m overspend next year
Zero tolerance ‘won’t fix sexual harassment of staff’
Trusts with persistently high baby deaths revealed
NHSE vows to end ‘bombardment’ of trusts
Chair denies bullying and coercive behaviour
Trust condemned for ‘unskilled and superficial’ response to baby’s death
Exclusive: Government admits cutting mental health spend share
Supplier fined £3m for cyber breach in ICO first
Failed CQC transformation cost £99m
ICB director takes on NHSE finance role
NHSE admits ‘devaluing of commissioning’
Trust appoints neighbour’s chair after 16-month search
ICBs will have to merge, says ex-NHSE chief
Three trusts to share chair
‘Reform standstill’ threatened over ICB cuts