This week guest host Ben Clover and the team look at what no money for winter means for the NHS, and how real a bold new integration scheme is.

This week the team discuss whether the NHS's whole safety, safe-staffing and quality system is getting overhauled, plus was it one simple trick that slashed waiting times at a trust? Guest host Ben Clover is joined by HSJ reporters Alison Moore and Emily Townsend.

This week bureau chief Ben Clover is joined by colleagues to talk about England's crumbling hospitals plus whether or not the money will be there for the elective catch-up

This week bureau chief Ben Clover is joined by colleagues to talk about what happens next for the Care Quality Commission, plus one of the biggest issues faced by the services

This week the team discuss what the Labour party conference means for the NHS, plus the latest on AI and cybersecurity following the summer’s major ransomware attack

This week guest host Ben Clover and colleagues discuss the big Streeting meeting plus a new player in primary care.

Guest host Ben Clover is joined by Emily Townsend and Zoe Tidman to look at the first weeks of the Thirlwall inquiry into the management response neonatal deaths at the Countess of Chester, the Lampard inquiry into the deaths of mental health patients in Essex and the module of the covid inquiry covering the NHS response to the pandemic. The team d…

This week on the HSJ Health Check podcat guest host Ben Clover is joined by reporters Henry Anderson and Mimi Launder. Henry takes us through the latest in what the new government does and does not expect this winter as the service is told there’s nt going to be any extra resources this year. Mimi analyses the next steps in the government’s dispute…

This week guest host Ben Clover is joined by Nick Kituno and Emily Townsend. They discuss one of HSJ's most-commented stories of recent months: Chairs - what they do, what they should do and whether they get paid enough. The team also analyse the recent CQC inpatient survey, which has some counter-intuitive results…

This week's HSJ podcast looks at the latest development in Shropshire's troubled health system and hospitals, and NHS England's move to ramp up the rollout of the federated data platform. https://www.hsj.co.uk/shrewsbury-and-telford-hospital-nhs-trust/ceo-who-led-trust-through-scandals-announces-departure/7037595.article https://www.hsj.co.uk/techn…

This week's HSJ Health Check podcast discusses the Chancellor's big interventions in the NHS pay, funding and reform - and fresh HSJ analysis showing the spread of huge deficits around England. With Nick Kituno, Henry Anderson and Dave West. Read - Revealed: ICSs planning the largest deficits https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/revealed-ic…

On this episode we unpick the fast moving situation surrounding the GP ballot for “collective action” and the crucial pay negotiations between the BMA and the new government. We also discuss a recent mortality review done by long-troubled Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust and why campaigners are still calling for a statutory public inquiry into …

This week we discuss the ongoing harm done by long ambulance handover delays and what the new government should do to address this problem. Also more on the health policy experts hired by Wes Streeting to help draw up a ten-year plan for health, and our analysis of his first few days in office. *After this podcast was recorded the health secretary …

While the rest of the country was watching the football, HSJ met shadow health and social care secretary Wes Streeting in a café in Ilford for a wide-ranging interview. On this episode we bring you the highlights from his conversation with Alastair McLellan and James Illman. We also cover the sudden resignation of the Care Quality Commission’s chie…

This week we’re joined by Sally Gainsbury and Leonora Merry from the Nuffield Trust think tank, who help us join the dots on the key issues for the NHS in the election campaign. We cover their response to Wes Streeting’s comments about their manifesto analysis, why the NHS has been notably absent from the election campaign so far and the biggest ch…

As the election campaign moves into its final weeks, the shadow health secretary has confirmed a huge policy commitment that wasn’t in the manifesto. This week we look at what Wes Streeting’s commitment to hit 95 per cent in A&E performance for the first time in almost a decade would mean for the NHS. We also hear about an ambitious plan to “save 3…

This week’s episode comes to you from the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, where we’re joined by NHS Confederation’s CEO Matthew Taylor and chair Victor Adebowale. We cover Amanda Pritchard’s big speech and the reaction to it, the manifestos, the need for a new government to tackle capital spending, and more. With Annabelle Collins and Dave…

The NHS is facing weeks of disruption after pathology services across south east London were hit by a major cyber attack this week, affecting care from blood tests to transplants. We cover the impact the attack will have on an already pressured system and the big questions facing the NHS and government around strengthening cyber security.…

NHS England has announced incentives and penalties in a bid to improve the health system’s financial plans, so this week we discuss what the new regime involves and if it will make any difference to the national £3bn deficit. Also this week we focus on two stories from Birmingham – more bullying concerns at University Hospitals Birmingham and an up…

Rishi Sunak has called a surprise election, so we cover what could be in store for the NHS over the next six weeks and the different scenarios it could face if there is a change is government. Plus, we consider NHS England’s intervention in the ongoing debate about productivity (and how that might affect the service’s ask for extra capital investme…

Greater Manchester ICS is under huge pressure to reduce its deficit after suffering a recent financial collapse. And now the ICS must navigate this without its substantive chief financial officer, who has been seconded to a post within NHS England. We discuss if there is a way out of the red and what this will mean for local care quality. Also this…

The tables have turned for the Care Quality Commission. This week HSJ revealed the government is launching a review of it’s new inspection regime and whether its ratings are properly incentivising care improvements. We discuss what prompted this review, which senior NHS figure is leading it and what it could mean for the regulator. Also this week, …

We delve into the detail of HSJ's comprehensive survey of integrated care board leaders, as well as new interventions on the future of ICBs from NHS England and Wes Streeting. From leaders’ biggest worries, and their achievements thus far, to their plans for the future, HSJ Health Check highlights some of the more surprising findings. Also, more on…

This year sets the NHS one of its toughest financial challenges as pandemic cash dries up and funding shortfalls deepen. We hear how three integrated care systems are already warning of significant consequences from the current financial requirements, and explore how the NHS plans to break even in 2024-25. With Henry Anderson, Lawrence Dunhill and …

This week guest host Ben Clover discusses alarming developments in urgent care plus the Silicon Valley firm getting established in the NHS, with HSJ reporters Emily Townsend and Joe Talora.

2022-23 was probably the worst ever winter for the NHS, after a steep collapse in performance. This year’s been a little better — new figures confirm — but how was this achieved, and what does it mean for coming months? This week’s HSJ Health Check podcast reviews the latest figures on emergency care performance — across A&E waits, ambulance delays…

On this episode we discuss the quality of maternity services in the NHS, which have remained firmly in the spotlight. We cover a recent HSJ investigation into delayed inductions of labour and cover the broader challenges facing maternity services amid multiple inquiries and more 'inadequate' CQC ratings. Also more on why families whose babies died …

With one working day left before the new financial year, the NHS’s instructions for 2024-25 have finally been published. HSJ’s James Illman, Annabelle Collins, and Dave West unpack what's in this year’s guidance and talk more about the sticking points that caused the long delay.

HSJ revealed this week the cost of building “40 new hospitals” in the NHS has increased by £4bn, so on this episode we dig into what’s driving this and if it will get past the Treasury. Also this week – when PFI deals go wrong and how a fire at the Whittington Hospital in north London has led to a High Court case.…

This week we discuss the implications of a long-awaited independent review into a patient safety scandal at Salford Royal Hospital, in which multiple patients were harmed by John Williamson, the former head of the spinal division. We cover why concerns about care quality resurfaced long after the trust concluded its review in 2016 and why it failed…

HSJ Health Check debates the new NHS staff survey results, with trust CEO Matthew Winn, survey expert Chris Graham, and HSJ's Nick Kituno. Some key findings are improved this year, but others reveal a service still struggling to recover from the pandemic. There's also an alarming increase in reports of discrimination. Meanwhile, Matthew and Chris a…

There has been a huge increase in the proportion of treatments done by the private sector compared to before the pandemic, and for the first time we’ve worked out which parts of the country send most patients to independent hospitals. Also, more on news that NHS capital budgets have been raided to pay for staff pay rises and the cost of strikes. Re…

A controversial new care model has come under fire from trust leaders, who have warned patients and clinicians are coming to harm. We discuss the concerns surrounding the national roll-out of Right Care, Right Person, and why the emergency services have ended up playing a “high stakes game of chicken”. Also this week, we discuss NHS England’s ambit…

We talk more about the decimation of England’s national public health unit less than three years after it was created. We cover the motivations behind this, the impact it could have on integrated care systems’ plans and whether Labour will reverse it. Also, the latest on the planning guidance and how its become entangled with the Budget negotiation…

This week we discuss a major obstacle in the planning guidance negotiations – how high to set the A&E four-hour target. The government is pushing for a new target set at over 80%, while NHS England lobbies for one just one percentage point higher than the current target. Also this week more on how the risk in emergency care has shifted from ambulan…

Two of the most successful NHS hospital chief executives – one current, Glen Burley, and one former, Dame Alwen Williams – join the HSJ Health Check podcast, arguing that the sometimes-contentious spread of the ‘group model’ and joint leadership will keep on spreading. The Foundation Group CEO and former boss of Barts Health Trust – one of the moth…

This week for the first time a study has revealed the number of patients on PIFU pathways has not translated into a significant reduction in follow up appointments. Also, a governance row across some of the biggest trusts in east London, while a major teaching hospital on the other side of the Thames sees its finances explode. With Ben Clover, Anna…

Dental budgets are being raided by ICSs to fund other services in the middle of an unprecedented access crisis. We cover a broken financial system, a discredited contract and increasing political pressure to fix NHS dentistry. Also we review how NHS England is faring on its pledge to increase overall primary care investment.…

HSJ recently revealed the dramatic differences in access to specialist medical treatments around the country. We discuss what’s driving this inequality, who is missing out and what big-city trusts are doing to improve access. Also, an update on how the NHS coped during the longest ever junior doctor strikes over Christmas and the New Year and why t…

In our final episode of the year we make our predictions for what 2024 could hold for the NHS, including the first integrated care system merger, how the strikes will pan out and manager regulation. Thanks for listening and we’ll be back in January!

Three years ago the NHS was the first healthcare system in the world to set an ambition to become net zero, but it struggles to prioritise this in the face of daily operational and financial pressures. This week we discuss in depth the green targets, progress already made and why, despite competing priorities, they should still be high up leaders’ …

This week we’re joined by Thea Stein, who recently moved into think tank world after nine years running an NHS trust. We cover her reflections on her time at Leeds Community Healthcare Trust, why she is fed up of “visions” of integrated care and much more interested in the tricky detail, and the radical policies needed to recruit and retain more st…

Leaders at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust have been heavily criticised in an independent inquiry into the actions of former maintenance supervisor David Fuller. We cover the mistakes made by the trust that enabled him to abuse hundreds of bodies in its mortuary over 15 years and what the rest of the NHS must do in response to this horrific cas…

US firm Palantir has officially been awarded the lucrative federated data platform deal, which is one of the biggest NHS data projects in recent years. This week Nick Carding, Joe Talora and Annabelle Collins discuss the controversy surrounding the deal, what the risks and benefits are for the NHS and what’s next in its implementation.…

A trust that gave its name to a controversial A&E policy has seen performance improve significantly, so this week we discuss how North Bristol Trust handled the risks and how quickly its model could spread throughout the NHS. Also, NHSE chief Amanda Pritchard told MPs this week there has been a ”misunderstanding” about productivity in the NHS - we …

This week Annabelle and James are joined by Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers. We’re looking ahead to winter and an election year, in which the NHS faces ongoing strikes, stalling progress on waiting lists and challenging finances. We also cover the damage done by ’short-termism’ and why turnover of trust CEOs is getting wors…

An increasing number of hospitals are appointing shared CEOs and chairs and with more large ’groups’ being created – this week we discuss the benefits and drawbacks to this new(ish) way of running things. We focus on two recent examples - the Barts Health Group in London and University Hospitals of Leicester, which as of this week shares a chair an…

This week we’re joined by Roger Kline, academic and workforce culture consultant, to discuss Steve Barclay’s latest edict ordering the NHS to stop recruiting to equality, diversity and inclusion roles. Was the letter just red meat for the Daily Mail or could it do real damage? We cover NHS England’s response, why the cost-savings argument doesn’t a…

Sir Jim Mackey is moving on from Northumbria Healthcare FT after 18 years and taking the top job at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals FT. This week we discuss what this means for the NHS in the North East and also for NHSE, where he will be leaving his chief operating office role. And in other people moves, we also cover David Loughton’s retirement fro…

On the podcast this week we bring you highlights and analysis from the Labour party conference in Liverpool. We cover what a backlog recovery drive could look like under a Labour government and how Wes Streeting will take from Blair’s 1997 playbook to ‘underpromise and overdeliver’ on the NHS.