HSJ Health Check

This week Dave West and Henry Anderson are joined by health economist Anita Charlesworth, who is co-chairing a commission into NHS productivity for the Health Foundation.We discuss the workforce “boom and bust”, why the covid-19 pandemic cost the NHS £20bn in lost care and how the health service can recover at a time when public spending is under pressure.

Sparks are flying over how the centre of the NHS will be run once NHS England is wound up next year. HSJ Health Check discusses the options, why they matter, as well as our exclusive interview with the minister leading the changes through Parliament.Karin Smyth argued government had sought to “minimise” the powers it is taking as a result of abolishing NHS England. She also spoke about the other big aim of the bill - paving the way for a single patient record.With Annabelle Collins, Alastair McLellan and Dave West.Linked articles: ⁠We have ‘minimised’ Health Bill power grab, says minister⁠ Trusts ‘should recruit more managers locally’

Hundreds of non-British NHS England staff face losing their jobs because their nationality prevents them working in the civil service.We discuss why this threat – that seems to fly in the face of NHS values – has come about, and what it says about the wider restructure process. Also this week - the first ‘advanced foundation trusts’ have been confirmed so we cover who made the cut and the benefits this could bring for the chosen few. And on the subject of reorganisation, we discuss whether government will take the leap and overhaul primary care networks for the neighbourhood health era.

This week we talk more about the government’s plans for a new “single patient record” - the legislation for which was in last week’s Health Bill - and why primary care could be a stumbling block.It was hoped the Bill would provide clarity on how the new data sharing requirements would be achieved but there remain many unanswered questions. On the subject of primary care, we cover why the latest collective action being taken by the the GPs’ union may in fact help pave the way for sorting out data sharing.

This week we talk in more detail about HSJ’s Top 50 CEOs – not only who topped our annual ranking of hospital leaders, but also interesting trends from this year and beyond, and a behind the scenes from the judging.We cover the surprising new entries, why a third of individual chief executives included in the rankings over the last 12 editions have appeared just once, and why London and ambulance trusts are finally coming out top.The full top 50 can be viewed here.

On this episode we’re joined by Lord Philip Hunt of King’s Heath - who was a minister in the Labour government until last year, and has played a huge role in Labour health policy and in NHS leadership over several decades.He was a health minister in the Blair government with Alan Milburn, has served in several Labour shadow health teams, worked as a senior NHS manager, and was the first chief executive of the NHS Confederation. Lord Hunt is an active Parliamentarian and will shape the health bill when it hits the upper house. He tells us about its likely (tight) timings, and where the big clashes and U-turns may come.

On this episode we’re talking about the tricky balancing act between cutting waiting lists and keeping finances under control, after Wes Streeting warned this week that some trusts have tried to cut deficits too sharply. Also this week, two stories from Birmingham, including more on a damning external review into a major trust’s international training programme.

This week we bring you the latest in our series of HSJ Health Check podcasts tracking the development of the government’s planned Health Bill.On this episode Dave and Annabelle are joined by Mark Dayan and Sarah Reed from the Nuffield Trust and we focus on the abolition of NHS England, drawing on research the think tank has just published.We cover how this could be an opportunity to reset how the NHS operates within government, why the dramatic reduction in headcount could do more harm than good, and how officials could learn from historic NHS reforms.