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.
- Letter: Ensuring GP practices and community pharmacy are ready to support individuals being released early from prison as part of the initiative to help tackle prison pressures [2/9].
- Guidance: Community diagnostic centres – guidance for planning, design and implementation [2/9].
- News:NDG and NHS England issue joint statement about NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit [3/9].
- The statement explains why NHS England is adopting the Cyber Assessment Framework and moving away from the NDG 10 data security standards as the assessment mechanism for the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit.
- Data: Care hours per patient day (CHPPD) data [3/9].
- Letter:NHS response to outbreak of Clade I mpox in Eastern and Central Africa [5/9].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Guidance: Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel [2/9].
- Sets out the principles and best practice benchmarks health and social care employers and recruitment agencies must follow to ensure effective, ethical international recruitment.
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Virus Reference Department (VRD): user manual [3/9].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- News: MHRA finds evidence does not support a link between Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and suicidal and self-injurious thoughts and actions [4/9].
- Guidance: Notify MHRA about a clinical investigation for a medical device [6/9].
Independent Reconfiguration Panel
- Correspondence: IRP evidence to the independent investigation of NHS performance [3/9].
Policy, think tanks, charities and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- New surgical hubs could speed up efforts to tackle hospital waiting lists, research finds [5/9].
- NHS surgical hubs increase treatment volumes and reduce the length of time patients spend in hospital. By delivering more operations in a shorter time, they could speed up efforts to tackle waiting lists.
- Research found that:
- In their first year, the 31 trusts in England with newly opened hubs undertook 21.9% more high volume low complexity elective surgery (such as hip replacements and cataract removals) than they would have done without a hub. This amounts to around 29,000 more procedures than expected at these trusts during this time.
- In the year following the last COVID lockdown, the 23 trusts which had established a hub pre-pandemic undertook 11.2% more elective surgery (of all kinds) than they would have done without a hub. This amounts to around 51,000 more procedures than expected at these trusts between April 2021 and March 2022.
Ipsos
- Britons want easier access to appointments and shorter waiting times to improve GP experience [2/9].
- Polling taken August 23-26, examines attitudes towards the current state of the NHS and perceptions of GPs.
- Britons are generally not confident that they would be seen quickly in A&E (62%), that they could book a GP appointment quickly at a time that suits them (61%), nor that an ambulance would arrive quickly if they needed one (55%).
- When asked about what improvements they would like to see at their GP practice, the area the public would most like to be improved is it being easier to make a face-to-face appointment (56%). This is followed closely by shorter waiting times for an appointment (53%) and making it easier to book an appointment (52%).
- Respondents were asked about the last time they contacted their GP practice to make an in-person appointment. Two in five (43%) say they first had to tell the receptionist about their issue, 31% first had a telephone consultation with their GP, and 22% filled out a form about their condition online via the practice website. A further 19% saw another member of staff that was not a GP, and 16% said they filled out a form about their condition via the NHS app.
- Around half (51%) of Britons say that, on their last visit to their GP, they were able to speak about either everything (21%) or most things (30%) that they wanted to talk about. Older people are particularly likely to say they were able to speak about everything or most things they wanted to (54%, compared with 47% of people aged 16-34).
- When asked about ideal appointment length, one-third (34%) think that a standard appointment at their GP practice should be 15 minutes. 22% believe that it should be 10 minutes (which is the current standard, although participants were not told this). 21% say it should be extended to 20 minutes, with a further 12% saying that half an hour is an ideal length.
YouGov
Nuffield Trust
- What is the scale of the challenge to address health inequalities affecting children and young people? [6/9].
- With many children living in poverty, understanding how health inequalities affect children and young people is vital for the NHS to meet their health care needs. Miranda Davies reviews children’s hospital inpatient care in 2023/24 on five key clinical areas in England – asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, oral health and mental health.
Healthcare Leader
- UK worst on hospital waits but best on GP access [22/8].
- A report from the Health Foundation found that 97% of respondents in the UK said they had regular access to a GP with only the Netherlands scoring higher.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
- Article: Professor Graham Lord has joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ as Chief Academic Officer, a Non-Executive Director role on the Board of Directors [2/9].
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust