Labour’s delayed and much vaunted Ten Year Plan for the NHS, Fit for the Future, has 150-plus pages rammed full of ideas, some good, some bad – but barely a word on how … Read more
Long-term plan
The private cancer diagnostic and treatment company Rutherford Health has been placed into liquidation. Only eight months ago the opening of a new community diagnostics hub (CDH) within a partnership between … Read more
The NHS England ‘Delivery Plan’ to tackle the growing backlog of waiting list treatment, announced on February 8, is not a plan at all. It lacks sufficient investment and – … Read more
Firms are being invited to bid to run 150 new community diagnostic facilities as part of £10bn NHS framework contract which has been advertised by NHS England. Planning for these new facilities … Read more
The concerns of campaigners that the proposals in the NHS White Paper to give statutory powers to “Integrated Care Systems” would lead to private companies sitting on ICS Boards have been proved justified. Virgin … Read more
Guidance recently issued by NHS England could lead to entire networks of diagnostic imaging services being run by the private sector. NHS trusts have until 2023 to set up separate entities to … Read more
The extent to which NHS England now sees the future in a permanent alliance with private hospital chains was underlined in October by NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens taking time … Read more
Lowdown readers may remember that the SE London Integrated Care System (‘Our Healthier South East London’ – OHSEL) has been overseeing the drawing up of a huge pathology network contract … Read more
On 1 October 2020, NHS England passed its budget for specialist mental health services to 10 groups of providers across England, but plans show that even after changes, there will be a … Read more
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the use of digital health solutions in the NHS. On 5 March, NHS England sent all GP practices a letter advising that patients be assessed online or via … Read more
The labour Party has released 451 pages of official documents that undermine Boris Johnson’s claim that healthcare is “not on the table” in UK and US trade talks. The documents … Read more
Channel 4’s Dispatches programme has revealed that senior British civil servants have met with representatives from a US companies to discuss the NHS in post-Brexit trade negotiations. US drug company … Read more
NHS leaders want Theresa May to scrap Conservative legislation that forces the tendering of contracts for care, in a move which could dramatically reduce privatisation of key health services. In … Read more
