Three ICSs responsible for a quarter of very long diagnostic waits
Just three integrated care systems were responsible for nearly one in four 13-week waits for key diagnostic tests in recent months, HSJ analysis of official data has found.
Staff criticise ‘disgusting’ cuts at trust with huge savings target
A trust that is trying to cut nearly a tenth of its costs in one year has been criticised by staff for a string of “last minute” cuts to temporary shifts.
Nineteen hospitals targeted for ‘urgent support’ before winter
NHS England has revealed the hospitals it is targeting for “urgent support” to avoid deterioration in emergency care performance ahead of winter.
Revealed: Three-fold variation in emergency response time by ICS
A threefold variation in ambulance response for serious, urgent conditions has been revealed in new figures.
Tiering system needs ‘streamlining’, says trust CEO in programme
NHS England should streamline its “tiering” intervention programme to reduce the time and resource demands it places on struggling trusts, a CEO in the regime has told HSJ.
Trusts announce unprecedented merger plans
Two East of England trusts have today approved the first step of merger plans in what is understood would be the first tie-up between two standalone community service providers.
Trust launches probe after cyber attack
One of the NHS’s least digitised teaching hospitals has been forced to carry out “a full forensic investigation” after a cyber attack last week, HSJ has learned.
Review finds 418 ‘unnatural, unexpected deaths’ linked to troubled trust
A troubled mental health trust’s internal mortality review has concluded 418 of an estimated 12,503 patient deaths over a four-and-a-half year period were “unexpected and unnatural”.
ICS leader tells Streeting ‘use us to test radical reforms’
Former Labour health and social care secretary Patricia Hewitt has urged the new government to select a group of integrated care systems as “testbeds” for radically different ways of funding and delivering health and social care.
Threefold ICS variation in GP phone access revealed
Patients trying to reach their GP are almost three times as likely to fail to get through in the worst-performing integrated care systems than the best, according to analysis of new annual figures.
Hewitt’s ICS using health inequality cash to ‘offset deficit’
An integrated care system whose chair said addressing health inequalities must be prioritised has admitted using dedicated funds to offset its financial deficit.
Directors ‘should face disciplinary action’ over unfair dismissal, judge says
Former Norfolk and Waveney system leaders should face “further investigation and those responsible face disciplinary action”, as they “conspired” to unfairly dismiss an assistant director, a judge has concluded.
Recovery Watch: The ICBs on the slide against the main elective target
Recovering services from the covid crisis is a big task for NHS leaders for the foreseeable future. The Recovery Watch newsletter tracks prospects and progress. This week by HSJ bureau chief and performance lead James Illman.
The Integrator: Doing more to fix general practice
Insider tales and must-read analysis on how integration is reshaping health and care systems, NHS providers, primary care, and commissioning. This week by deputy editor Dave West.
ICS freed from ‘intensive’ central oversight for first time
Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care System has been lifted out of the lowest category of NHS England’s performance management regime.
North by North West: The threat of regime change
Essential insight into NHS matters in the North West of England. Contact me in confidence here.
Revealed: The systems with a third of dental budget unspent
Nearly a third of local dental budgets are going unspent in some areas of the country, according to data obtained by HSJ.
‘Untenable stalemate’ is halting GP practice upgrades, say ICBs
An “untenable stalemate” in funding has virtually halted GP practice building work, despite national commitments to expand primary care, multiple NHS organisations are warning.
ICS row breaks out over patients being shunted to GPs
A row has broken out between senior leaders in Norfolk and Waveney over the volume of work being passed to GPs by the acute sector.
Revealed: Four trusts report quarter of all ‘critical incidents’
More than a quarter of ‘critical incidents’ have been declared by just four trusts since the start of the crisis in urgent and emergency care.