The U-turn may help to end wave of strikes, though funding it could require cuts to key services
Steve Barclay has privately conceded he will have to increase his pay offer to NHS staff, in a U-turn that may help to end the growing wave of strikes.
However, the Treasury has made clear he will have to find any new cash from within the existing health budget, raising the prospect of cuts to key services.
Continue reading...Officials from 14 health unions want to hold direct talks with ministers to agree pay rises for NHS staff
The system for setting NHS staff pay is under threat after health unions refused to submit evidence to the two bodies that advise ministers on how big annual increases should be.
The role and credibility of both the NHS pay review body (NHSPRB) and the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration (DDRB) have been brought into question by the move.
Continue reading...Exclusive: After the Michelle Mone scandal and PPE questions, National Audit Office says monitoring conflicts of interest is ‘crucial’
Peers and MPs should have to declare any links to firms they recommend for contracts even in an emergency such as the Covid pandemic, the head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has said, in the wake of the PPE controversies including the Michelle Mone scandal.
Gareth Davies, the auditor and comptroller general at the NAO, said keeping on top of conflicts of interest was a “crucial part of public stewardship” that was not always followed during the VIP fast lane process.
Continue reading...DHSC accused PPE Medpro of presenting false document when tendering for PPE contracts
A company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone was referred to the UK’s health products watchdog for an investigation after it allegedly presented a false document to the government when tendering for PPE contracts.
The referral of the company, PPE Medpro, was described in a high court document made public this week, setting out the legal claim against the company by the Department of Health and Social Care. The DHSC is seeking the return of £122m in public money it paid for the supply of sterile surgical gowns, plus £11.6m for storing and disposing of them.
Continue reading...Exclusive: DHSC alleges gowns were not sterile, could not be used within NHS ‘for any purpose’, and technical labelling was ‘invalid’
The UK government has accused a company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone of supplying defective gowns that could have compromised the safety of patients had it been used in the NHS.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) paid the company, PPE Medpro, £122m for 25m sterile surgical gowns under a contract awarded in June 2020 after Mone first approached ministers offering to supply PPE. However, the DHSC has alleged the gowns were rejected because they were not sterile, their technical labelling was “invalid” and “improper”, and they “cannot be used within the NHS for any purpose”.
Continue reading...Lib Dems say face-to-face GP bookings ‘almost extinct’ in some areas as their survey shows a rise in self-prescribing
Almost one in four people have bought medicine online or at a pharmacy to treat their illness after failing to see a GP face to face, according to a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself treatment.
Nearly one in five (19%) have gone to A&E seeking urgent medical treatment for the same reason, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows.
Continue reading...Politicians and experts call for border testing to be introduced, but others question usefulness of move
Ministers are coming under pressure to screen arrivals from China as the number of Covid-19 cases there continues to surge after Beijing’s abrupt decision to end most of its strict pandemic restrictions.
The US became the latest country to impose controls on travellers entering the country from China on Wednesday, demanding that all such arrivals show proof of a negative Covid test.
Continue reading...Mere commitment to discuss pay, so far refused by health secretary, would now be insufficient
Ambulance staff would require a definite commitment from ministers on pay rather than just a promise of talks to call off their planned strike on Wednesday, according to a union leader who said trust had largely broken down with the government.
Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, one of three unions involved in the strike by ambulance crews in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said even a commitment to discuss pay, thus far refused by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, would now be insufficient.
Continue reading...NHS Providers boss says nurses’ strike had ‘significant impact’ as senior Tories urge government to negotiate
Planned strikes next week will be “very challenging” for the health service, hospital bosses have warned, after they conceded that Thursday’s nurses strikes had had a “significant impact”.
The comments from NHS Providers came amid mounting pressure on the government from senior backbenchers and usually supportive newspapers to try to resolve the dispute.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing leader criticises ‘belligerence’ in meeting with Steve Barclay at which ministers refused to discuss pay
Nurses’ strikes will go ahead this week after a meeting between the union and the health secretary ended in deadlock, with the Royal College of Nursing condemning ministers’ “belligerence” for refusing to discuss pay.
Six hundred military personnel from all three armed forces will start training to drive ambulances to cover for striking NHS workers across the UK later this month. A further 150 are being readied to act as logistical support, defence sources said, with training for both groups to start “shortly”.
Continue reading...Warning comes as health official says earlier start to cases in UK could be knock-on effect of pandemic
Downing Street has told parents to be on the lookout for signs of strep A infection after reports a primary-school pupil has become the eighth child to die in a matter of weeks.
On Monday, Alison Syred-Paul, headteacher at Morelands primary in Waterlooville, Hampshire, said: “Very tragically, we have learned of the death in recent days of a child who attended our school, who was also diagnosed with an invasive Group A streptococcal (iGAS) infection.”
Continue reading...Ex-minister claims Tory peer intimated unnamed firm she was helping was being treated unfairly
The Conservative peer Michelle Mone made “extraordinarily aggressive” lobbying efforts on behalf of a company bidding to supply Covid tests during the pandemic, Matt Hancock has claimed in a serialisation of his diaries.
The former health secretary claimed that Lady Mone made “wild accusations” about the procurement process, intimating that the company she was helping, which is not named, was suffering unfairly.
Continue reading...Disparity between rural and urban areas uncovered by Lib Dem FoI requests to 10 ambulance trusts
Patients in some rural areas wait almost three times longer for emergency ambulances than those in towns and cities, while people with potential heart attacks or strokes now face a one hour 40-minute average wait in one area, statistics have shown.
The disparities were uncovered by freedom of information requests by the Liberal Democrats to England’s 10 ambulance trusts, which in turn covered waiting times for 227 areas across the country.
Continue reading...Those from deprived backgrounds are particularly at risk of dying from cancer of the lungs, liver, bladder and oesophagus
Poorer women in Britain have some of the highest death rates from cancer in Europe, an in-depth new World Health Organization study has found.
They are much more likely to die from the disease compared with better-off women in the UK and women in poverty in many other European countries.
Continue reading...Exclusive: More than 4,000 European medics have chosen not to work in NHS since Britain left EU, data reveals
Brexit has worsened the UK’s acute shortage of doctors in key areas of care and led to more than 4,000 European doctors choosing not to work in the NHS, research reveals.
The disclosure comes as growing numbers of medics quit in disillusionment at their relentlessly busy working lives in the increasingly overstretched health service. Official figures show the NHS in England alone has vacancies for 10,582 physicians.
Continue reading...Capital budget of £12bn a year to shrink to £11.7bn, putting Tories’ claim 40 hospitals in England will be built or renovated in doubt
Plans by the government to construct and renovate 40 hospitals in England could be delayed because of new analysis suggesting the health and social care department’s capital spending budget faces a real-terms cut of £700m next year, according to the Liberal Democrats.
With some hospitals said to be in dire need of repair, the health secretary twice refused to say on Sunday that the NHS was functioning properly and instead admitted it was under “severe pressure”.
Continue reading...Women in UK three times more likely to die around the time of pregnancy than those in Norway
Mothers in the UK are three times more likely to die around the time of pregnancy compared with those in Norway, according to an international analysis of data.
Although maternal mortality is at historic lows in high-income countries, it remains an important indicator of quality of care, health system performance and, more specifically, maternal care. The comparison of maternal mortality rates in eight European countries was published in the BMJ.
Continue reading...Scheme starting this month is aimed at improving Britain’s poor record on early diagnosis
All GPs in England will be able to refer suspected cancer patients for tests without them first having to see a specialist under an NHS initiative designed to speed up diagnosis.
The scheme, which starts this month, will let family doctors send patients with potential symptoms straight to have a scan, X-ray or other diagnostic test.
Continue reading...‘Complexity and uncertainty’ ahead as NHS struggles to deliver standard of care patients deserve, says Amanda Pritchard
The NHS in England is facing even tougher challenges now than when Covid-19 struck, the service’s boss has said.
The many problems confronting the health service meant it was harder now for it to do its job, and it would become even more difficult, said Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive.
Continue reading...Exclusive: UK’s most senior female bishop calls for long-awaited white paper promising ‘bold action’
The most senior female bishop in the country has launched a scathing attack on the government, accusing it of “burying its head in the sand” over “shocking” and “rampant” health inequalities.
Dame Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, spoke out after the Guardian reported that Thérèse Coffey was dropping the government’s long-promised white paper on health disparities.
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