The government pushed ahead with its publication, despite reservations from the new health and social care secretary and NHS leaders.
Most of the bill’s proposals resulted from a detailed consultation exercise conducted by NHSE. However, the moves to give greater powers to the Department of Health and Social Care were introduced by former health secretary Matt Hancock and have been retained by his successor.
These proposals are widely opposed by NHS leaders.
NHS Providers chief Chris Hopson told a Westminster Health Forum event this morning: “We are very nervous [about a system in which ministers] have a power that enables them to dictate practical priorities such as funding and health priorities.”
Danger ahead? – Investment Watch investmentwatchblog.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from investmentwatchblog.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As the NHS emerges from the pandemic with hu
ge treatment backlogs and an as-yet-undetermined level of trauma in its workforce, prioritising patients is going to be even more difficult.
This week NHS England said those needing endoscopies or other diagnostics need to go through a prioritisation process like that for elective treatment.
Among electives that means P1 (needing immediate treatment or within three days) to P3 (within three months) to P4 (longer than three months).
As of the end of March it’s not clear what proportion of the 4.95 million people on an elective waiting list in England fall into which category. Or even when they’ll all be assessed.
2021-02-02T03:00:00+00:00
HSJ’s daily update of what our sources are telling us about the progress of the pandemic
Many within and out of the NHS have been a little wrongfooted by the surprise discovery that a national covid programme, namely the vaccination rollout, is actually going quite well.
It is not quite flying as some would have hoped back last autumn – when there were expectations of earlier approvals and a smoother manufacturer/supply line – but it is certainly going better than many of our international peers’ equivalents.
This is noted in the latest Cowper’s Cut, from Andy Cowper, and in Lawrence Dunhill’s North by North West.