Painfully slow
Recent NHS England data shows that waiting lists have fallen slightly to 7.57 million in September 2024, following August’s 7.64 million upturn. This is a fall of 70,000 from the previous month but marks a 3 million rise from pre-pandemic levels in September 2019 (4.42). The median wait time for those awaiting treatment after a referral was 14.4 weeks in September - more than 3 months.
Silly boy?
An NfN mole was in Liverpool for the recent NHS Providers conference. Wes Streeting was there too, in a very combative mood, wanting to sack poorly performing managers. “There was an awful moment during the questions when he did a very public put- down of the chair of a mental health trust who had asked a question. He replied by saying her Trust was really badly performing and he would take no lessons from her” (having said he wouldn’t name and shame from the platform). “There was a sharp intake of breath in the audience and it was all anyone could talk about afterwards. I have never seen anything like it in a public forum”.
Pragmatism & courage
For public health scientists in the USA “the priority is to continue their work. To generate evidence. To correct misinformation. To create accountability. And to engage. Federal agency scientists working with the incoming administration have been described as a key guardrail against the worst politicisation of science”.
“COVID-19 showed that respected and capable scientists can exert valuable influence in even the most trying political environments by taking an open and non-partisan approach. No doubt many will be called on to do so again over the next 4 years”.
“It will be no easy task, requiring a clear-eyed sense of pragmatism, a steadfast belief in the value of scientific principles, and a good deal of courage”.
Source: The Lancet Trump, health, science, and the next 4 years The Lancet 2024 ;16: 1897
The government should be putting money into to three priorities to get the NHS back on track, says private sector
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Management – there’s this perception that anyone who's not contributing at the front line of the NHS is surplus to requirements. There’s been a culture of stripping out middle management in particular, but the NHS has far fewer managers than other international health systems. All this management-bashing does is place more of the admin burden on clinical staff.
It’s not a case of needing more doctors, more nurses, more surgeons. We don't. We just need to use them smarter and that’s where investing in managerial decision making, process and function will help.
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Data tools – the NHS is getting used to electronic health records (EHRs) and more and more systems are being adopted that make it easier to record information about healthcare interactions with greater accuracy.
Now we have this information, it’s time to start using it. We are sitting on a goldmine of data that can be interrogated to identify trends and anomalies, to reveal insights into disease pathologies, to case find, to flag health inequalities, to monitor interventions, to track adverse events, the list goes on.
But to do this to the best effect we need to invest in data tools capable of analysing information from a wide range of organisations that work towards our better health including local authorities, schools, primary and secondary care. We need tools that can harmonise and crunch all that data.
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Think operational not capital spending – typically tech investment has fallen under capital spending, a major focus for the NHS that also includes building infrastructure, purchasing equipment, and maintaining physical assets. However, in the new era of cloud computing and digital services, we need to shift this thinking and consider technology as an operational investment.
Cloud computing allows NHS organisations to reduce the need for expensive on-premise servers and IT infrastructure, enabling them to access advanced computing power, storage, and applications as a service, often with lower upfront costs and far more agility to keep up with new developments.
Consequently, capital spending is becoming less central to NHS modernisation efforts compared to investing in adaptable, cloud-based solutions that can be scaled in response to changing needs.
Source: Scott Fletcher, CEO of Real World Health. Real World Health is a healthcare & life sciences data solution provider that has been a trusted partner to the NHS for more than 10 years. Francesca Baker-Brooker www.transatlanticent.com
Lucky escape?
The Microsoft outage in July originated from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. An update in one of CrowdStrike’s software tools malfunctioned, disrupting computers running Windows. London general practice was very badly affected because it has a disproportionate number of general practices using EMIS software. One GP said their service was “crippled”. NHS England has reported that in total 1,710 elective procedures were postponed, as were 10,152 outpatients. South East London Integrated Care Board said 498 incidents linked to the attack had been assessed, and all bar five of them were judged to have done either “no harm” or “low harm”.
Source: Ben Clover Huge cyber attack caused minimal patient harm, ICB claims HSJ 30 October 2024
Read more News from Nowhere and articles on the NHS in ERA 3 at http://www.healthmatters.org.uk/