Health and care sector latest developments
Streeting adviser to join NHS England as strategy chief
Wes Streeting’s adviser Tom Kibasi is due to be appointed as the lead strategy adviser at NHS England, the Health Service Journal understands.
Mr Kibasi joined the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in February and has been leading the writing of the government’s ten-year health plan, as well as advising the health and social care secretary.
He is due to join NHS England in coming months and well-placed sources said he was expected to report to new chief executive Sir Jim Mackey. His role may sit jointly across NHS England and DHSC, but this and his new job title are to be confirmed.
Plan to improve dentistry has actually made things worse, MPs warn
The plan to boost access to NHS dentists has been declared a ‘comprehensive failure’ in a new report, according to The Independent.
The Dental Recovery Plan, a blueprint to bolster NHS dentistry, was unveiled in February 2024, with a pledge that it would fund more than 1.5 million additional NHS treatments or 2.5 million appointments. However, MPs say the situation has worsened instead.
A new Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report says the dental contract ‘remains unfit for purpose’ and warns that vulnerable patients ‘continue to suffer the most’ with current arrangements only sufficient for about half of England’s population to see an NHS dentist over a two-year period.
The NHS Confederation issued a media statement in response to this story.
UK promises rapid review of NHS drug-pricing rebate
UK ministers have vowed to rapidly review a critical NHS drug-pricing deal after pharmaceutical companies complained the arrangement had imposed higher than expected costs on the industry.
The Financial Times reported that Wes Streeting told an industry conference on Thursday, the government would look again at the scheme, under which drugmakers discount the price of medicines sold in bulk to the NHS in England.
Cockroaches and rats plaguing NHS hospitals, say staff
Rats and cockroaches are among the pests plaguing NHS hospitals, according to an extensive survey of staff.
The Daily Telegraph says NHS workers said rodents and cockroaches, as well as silverfish and other pests, are a regular feature of hospitals and other health service buildings.
The survey of almost 9,000 health workers also revealed problems such as crumbling buildings, sewage leaks, defective lighting and broken toilets.
The research was commissioned by Unison, the union that represents a range of NHS employees including nurses, paramedics, scientists and cleaners. It suggested the pests were thriving in damp conditions and unfixed buildings.
South Yorkshire kicks off £125 million plans to get Britain back to health and work
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has unveiled the first of nine trailblazer programmes in Barnsley to get Britain back to health and back to work, nine months on from her landmark speech on employment reforms in the same town.
South Yorkshire is one of nine £125 million backed ‘inactivity trailblazers’ across the country to launch, with the aim of helping areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity as part of the wider Plan for Change.
This work will include preventing people falling out of work completely due to ill health through an NHS programme, working with people with conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes.
The NHS Confederation issued a media statement in response to this story.
Group trust names two acting chief executives
Two interim chief executives have been appointed by a group of four trusts, as its substantive chief executive takes up a ‘transition’ role at NHS England, according to the Health Service Journal.
The Foundation Group consists of South Warwickshire University, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals, Wye Valley and George Eliot Hospital. The group’s substantive chief executive Glen Burley has this week joined Sir Jim Mackey’s ‘NHS transformation executive team’ at NHS England, as financial reset director and accountability director.
