Health landscape report: 17 March – 21 March

This report is a flexible summary, with the aim of sharing and highlighting a wide range of data and policy information relating to London general practice published in a given week. Where we view information to be of significant interest it is reproduced directly below the links to make the key points quicker to digest.  

Please feel free to share any useful stats/links you think we could include in future reports.  

Official bodies    

NHS Digital 

• All recent data releases can be seen here. 
• Guidance: Targeted screening for lung cancer with low radiation dose computed tomography [18/3]. 
• Policy: Capability framework for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce [20/3]. 
• Guidance: Guidance on patient digital notification of diagnostic imaging reports [20/3]. 
• Report: Diversity pay gap reporting 2023/24 for NHS England [21/3]. 
• Guidance: Guidance on patient digital notification of diagnostic imaging reports [20/3]. 
• Regulatory:NHS provider directory and registers of licensed healthcare providers [20/3]. 

Department of Health and Social Care 

• Press release: Crack teams get patients off waiting lists at twice the speed [16/3]. 
  • Sending top doctors into areas of highest economic inactivity is busting through the backlog. 
• Guidance: NHS continuing healthcare previously unassessed periods of care (easy read) [18/3]. 
• Guidance: Continuing healthcare previously unassessed periods of care [19/3]. 
• News: Sir John Oldham appointed to help shape neighbourhood health plans [19/3]. 

UK Health Security Agency 

• Guidance: High consequence infectious diseases (HCID) [19/3]. 
• News:Expansion of Disease Reporting Requirements [18/3]. 
  • From April 6, 2025, UKHSA requires medical professionals to report 8 more diseases, while labs must report 10 new pathogens to boost surveillance. 
• Guidance: COVID-19 vaccination: spring 2025 campaign resources [19/3]. 
• News: High consequence infectious disease: country specific risk [20/3]. 
• Guidance:UK blood donor survey overview [21/3]. 
• Guidance: Flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports bulletin 2025 [20/3]. 

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency 

• Guidance: The Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP) [17/3]. 
• Standard: Category lists following implementation of the Windsor Framework [18/3]. 

Ofsted 

• Guidance: Children’s social care providers: variation fees [18/3]. 

Policy, think tanks, charities and representative bodies  

The Health Foundation 

• Blog: Will short-term fixes undermine building a healthier workforce in the long run? [21/3]. 

Ipsos 

• News: One in four of those who can’t get NHS dental care have treated themselves, Ipsos research reveals [20/3]. 
  • Declining availability: Nearly 7 in 10 Britons (69%) believe the availability of NHS dental care has worsened over the last five years. 
  • Heightened concern: Three-quarters of Britons (74%) express concern about the current availability of NHS dental care, with 37% saying they are “very concerned.”  
  • Lack of confidence in access: Half (50%) of Britons lack confidence in their ability to secure a routine NHS dental appointment. A similar proportion (53%) are not confident that they could receive emergency dental care through the NHS if needed.   
  • Affordability worries: Just over half (55%) of Britons are not confident that they could afford emergency treatment with a private dentist. 51% say they are not confident that they could afford routine treatment were they to go private. 
  • Difficulties securing appointments: While nearly half (48%) of Britons successfully made an NHS dental appointment in the past two years, 18% were unable to obtain an appointment. Amongst those who had an appointment, over a third (36%) experienced longer-than-desired wait times, and 13% had to travel outside of their area to receive care.  
  • Turning to private care: Among those unable to access NHS dental care, nearly seven in ten (69%) paid for private treatment instead. Strikingly, around a quarter (26%) said that they treated themselves. 

Nuffield Trust 

• Report: Health in the UK after Brexit: Moving apart or stuck together? [21/3]. 

• • How has Brexit reshaped health in the UK? The final report in their Health and International Relations Monitor series, supported by the Health Foundation, tracks the ongoing impact from EU exit on medicines, workforce migration and procurement legislation, and examines four emerging areas substantially affected by the UK’s new regulatory path: AI, funding, professional qualifications, and cross-border patient care. 

The King’s Fund 

• Blog: What could the shift from hospital to community mean for research and innovation in the NHS? [18/3]. 

London Trusts    

Barts Health NHS Trust 

• Article: Women in east London are getting faster treatment for their health thanks to the creation of a dedicated women’s health hub [18/3]. 

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 

• Article: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has announced a new partnership with ARC West London – a leading innovation and life sciences campus located near Charing Cross Hospital [21/3]. 

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

• Article: King’s has been nominated for its work on helping develop Kidney Beam, the world’s first clinically-proven kidney-specific rehabilitation app, which helps people with chronic kidney disease to become more physically active and improve their health [19/3].