Latest news with #healthservice
Sky News
4 days ago
- Health
- Sky News
Millions to receive NHS screening invitations and appointment reminders on their phones
Appointment reminders, invitations to health screenings and test results will now be received by patients on their phones. The government says moving to a more digital-focused NHS will mean 50 million fewer letters need to be sent out by the health service, saving an estimated £200m over the next three years. Instead, under the new plans, millions of people will be notified about appointments and other important notices via the NHS app on their phone or digital device. The app is set to become the go-to method for the NHS to communicate with people, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The changes will be backed by more than £50m investment. It will see a predicted 270 million messages sent through the app this year, an increase of around 70 million on the last financial year, the government announced. Wes Streeting has said this is all about modernising, as the NHS "feels so 20th century". The health secretary said: "The fact that people still get letters through the front door, sometimes multiple letters about the same appointment... The NHS has been stuck in the mud when it comes to the everyday technology we use to organise our lives. And that's why what we're doing with the NHS app is really exciting." Mr Streeting said the app will make using the NHS more convenient, and give patients more control, while saving money. He said these funds can then be invested back into the health service, to bolster things such as frontline care. Using the NHS app should be 'as joyful as Netflix' The modernisation of the NHS will also lead to fewer missed appointments, and therefore save money that way too, it is hoped. In 2023/24, there were around eight million missed appointments in elective care and almost one in three people missed a screening appointment. Currently, around 20 million people have opted in to receive messages from the NHS app. 4:01 Pushed on how the government will ensure that nobody is left behind, Mr Streeting said: "If someone like me is booking my appointment through the app because that's what I prefer to do, [then] that's freeing up a phone line for someone who wants to get through and talk to a person." He added that greater use of the app will give people more choice in "how you want to organise your care". The cabinet minister also made a bold comparison, saying he wishes that the NHS app is as enjoyable as using streaming giant Netflix. He said: "The NHS app actually has more subscribers than Netflix. It would be a really wonderful thing if using the NHS app felt - if not as joyful - almost as joyful as using Netflix." Other features in the pipeline - though not yet available - include being able to add appointments to phone calendars and request help from local GPs on the app. Faster log in methods, such as using Face ID, are also planned.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Health
- Sky News
The NHS winter crisis is a recurring seasonal theme – tackling it will bring challenges
Longer summer days when conversations revolve around hosepipe bans and barbeques might seem million miles away from the dark, cold nights of winter. But right now that's exactly what NHS Trust leaders are thinking about, as they publish their new Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for England. They are busy planning their winter response. To devise and implement a battle strategy to prevent the appalling scenes that have played out in emergency departments across the country, with patients on trolleys waiting for hours on end and ambulances stacked up and unable to offload the sickest patients for the care they need and deserve. The basic care they are entitled to. Like Christmas TV repeats and snow-capped robins, the NHS winter crisis is a recurring seasonal theme. The poor care has become normalised. It has come to define the NHS, and that's why it is so important for Wes Streeting to make it a priority. His Urgent and Emergency Care Plan was trailed back in January when the health service was in the grip of one of its worst winter crises. The hundreds of millions of pounds in investment, extra ambulances, and new urgent treatment centres are to stop a repeat of those unacceptable emergency department scenes. But there's more: a shift away from hospital-based acute emergency treatment to community-based care. More investment on virtual wards and paramedics armed with a full patient history treating their call-outs in situ, and therefore keeping as many patients away from ED as possible. The challenge here will be to get NHS and Social Care providers to work together. This has not happened as much as it should or could. 1:39 Keeping patients away from the ED doors will also require a reset in patient expectations. And ED consultants will tell you, as they tell me often, that a significant percentage of patients who turn up at A&E do not need to be there. Their needs are better served in speciality care in the community. But they come because the ED never closes. All of these patients need to be triaged and that volume creates the backlogs and lengthy waiting times. And while the urgent care recovery plan has been broadly supported and welcomed by the royal colleges, there is some concern that not enough has been done to address the crisis in social care. 4:01 The plan does highlight the need to improve patient flow through a hospital, the ability to discharge medically fit patients back into the community and free up beds for waiting patients. But for this to happen, social care packages need to be in place for patients who need them. This has been a constant challenge and unless there is significant investment in social care, it will continue to be a problem. Wes Streeting will say that this will be addressed when he publishes his NHS 10-Year Plan, expected sometime in July.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Don't go to A&E, walking wounded told
The walking wounded will be told to stay away from A&E in the biggest shake-up since the NHS was founded. Wes Streeting said a raft of changes would bring the health service 'out of the dark ages', promising more care closer to home. The urgent and emergency care plan was first promised in January, when ministers came under fire over 'catastrophically' long trolley waits. On Friday, health officials will promise to create a network of around 40 same-day emergency care and urgent treatment centres to deal with all but the most serious crises. The rapid rollout this year will see millions of patients encouraged to visit the centres instead of A&E. Health chiefs said the measures, which would cost £450 million, would 'resuscitate' the system. The units aim to focus on cases that are not life-threatening, with treatment and discharge of patients the same day, to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. The network is likely to include units sited next to A&Es. They will be able to carry out a raft of tests, dealing with deteriorations in chronic illnesses, and problems such as wound infections. Officials said the plans would mean 800,000 fewer patients each year waiting more than four hours at A&E. At least one in five people who attended A&E did not need urgent or emergency care at all, officials said, while a still larger number could fare better with help elsewhere. Mr Streeting has been inspired by a visit to Australia, where he saw same-day centres in action. He said far too many people were ending up in A&E for want of GP appointments, comparing the average £400 cost of an A&E visit with the £40 cost of a GP slot. New mental health centres and ambulances The plan will also include the rollout of up to 15 mental health crisis assessment centres, to divert such patients away from casualty units to specialist support. In addition, 500 new ambulances will be promised. The plan will also set out new ways of working, so paramedics can give the right help sooner after accessing patient data 'on the spot'. Currently, many ambulance crews are unable to find out the most basic details of patients' medical history, other than what they are told at the call-out. As a result, thousands of patients are automatically taken to hospital when, with the right information, they could be better treated elsewhere. Under a system of 'connected care records', paramedics will be able to access patients' treatment histories on smartphones, laptops and other devices. Mr Streeting said the plan would take the NHS 'out of the dark ages'. He told The Telegraph: 'Many patients who end up in A&E don't need to be there and could get better treatment elsewhere. 'By giving paramedics access to the latest technology on the go, they'll be able to make better decisions and deliver better outcomes for patients.' The Health Secretary said too many patients had ended up stuck on trolleys or facing 'unacceptably long waiting times' for ambulances, for want of care elsewhere. He said: 'Far too many patients are ending up in A&E who don't need or want to be there, because there isn't anywhere else available. Because patients can't get a GP appointment, which costs the NHS £40, they end up in A&E, which costs around £400; worse for patients and more expensive for the taxpayer.' He added that the plan would tackle ambulance handover delays and corridor care. Mr Streeting said: 'No patient should ever be left waiting for hours in hospital corridors or for an ambulance which ought to arrive in minutes. 'We can't fix more than a decade of underinvestment and neglect overnight. But through the measures we're setting out today, we will deliver faster and more convenient care for patients in emergencies,' he said. Sir Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, promised a 'radical change in approach'. He said: 'This major plan sets out how we will work together to resuscitate NHS urgent and emergency care, with a focus on getting patients out of corridors, keeping more ambulances on the road, and enabling those ready to leave hospital to do so as soon as possible.' A&E waiting time standards have not been met for more than a decade, while the 18-minute target for category 2 ambulance calls has never been hit outside the pandemic. The document sets out plans for 'making progress towards eliminating corridor care', amid growing concerns that patients are being treated in unsafe environments. It will say the number facing trolley waits of more than 12 hours should be slashed, so that fewer than 10 per cent of patients face such delays. Around 1.7 million attendances at A&E every year currently exceed this time frame. However, the language appears to have been watered down from an earlier draft of NHS plans, which promised 'elimination'. The plan will also aim to reduce ambulance handovers to less than 45 minutes. Officials said league tables would be used to drive improvements. Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the plan acknowledged the 'shameful situation' facing A&E patients. But he said the aim to cut trolley waits 'lacks ambition'. The senior A&E doctor expressed concern that introducing a maximum 45-minute ambulance handover could end up with more patients piled up in casualty departments. Mr Streeting is already at loggerheads with the British Medical Association, with resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors) threatening to strike, despite being awarded the highest pay rise of all public sector workers. The plan aims to drive up A&E performance to 78 per cent, up from 75 per cent this year, meaning 'over 800,000 people a month will receive more timely care'. It follows a relentless rise in pressures on services, with ambulance usage up by 61 per cent since 2010-11. Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said the investment was welcome, but said the plans risked 'missing the point' that so many people end up at A&E units because they could not get a GP appointment. She said: 'The system is broken, and this plan addresses the symptoms of a struggling system without tackling the root causes. It accepts that people are turning to A&E because they can't get GP appointments, but without imminently expanding access to timely support closer to home, there's a real risk of simply shifting the pressure elsewhere in the system.'
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
The Health Minister Simeon Brown on his plans
Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER The state of the health service has been a constant concern for New Zealanders in recent polling in the face of continuous media reports over staff shortages, lengthy waiting times in emergency departments and an inability to get in to see a GP. The Health Minister, Simeon Brown, took over the portfolio at the start of the year and has already focused heavily on primary health with a planned 24/7 digital health service, so- called performance based funding over and above the annual capitation. He has also targeted elective surgery waiting lists by outsourcing thousands of apparently straightforward operations to private hospitals. But both moves have sparked worries about the implications from health professionals at both the primary and hospital level. Simeon Brown joins Kathryn in the studio to discuss his plans for the health system.
BreakingNews.ie
28-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Northern Ireland's health service facing projected £600m budget shortfall
Northern Ireland's health service is expected to face a £600 million (€715 million) budget shortfall. Stormont Health Minister Mike Nesbitt described financial plans being finalised which will be 'unprecedented in their scale and ambition' and involve 'extremely difficult and painful savings measures'. Advertisement In a written statement to the Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Nesbitt said the projected £600 million is the 'scale of the gap between existing funding and what's needed to maintain services'. Northern Ireland's health service is facing a budget shortfall (Liam McBurney/PA) He told MLAs he will play his part and 'do everything I can to achieve a breakeven budget', but also urged the Executive and the Assembly to support him. 'My permanent secretary is finalising financial plans that will be unprecedented in their scale and ambition,' he said. 'They will involve an extremely difficult and indeed painful series of savings measures for HSC trusts. Advertisement 'I can assure the Assembly that I will drive forward savings to reduce the projected shortfall.' 'To repeat, I will play my part and do everything I can to achieve a breakeven budget. 'But I will need Executive and Assembly support.' Mr Nesbitt also confirmed he is ordering the paying of £200 million (€238 million) recommended pay increases despite not having the budget to cover it. Advertisement It includes 3.6 per cent for nurses and staff under Agenda for Change, 4 per cent for doctors, and 4 per cent plus £750 (€893) for resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors. That requires a ministerial directive to be made to the department's permanent secretary to proceed despite not having the necessary budget. It will go to the Finance Minister, John O'Dowd, and potentially be passed to the Executive for approval. Mr Nesbitt told MLAs the move involves the risk of an overspend for the department, but that not paying the pay increases also involves risks. Advertisement 'There is an undeniable risk that the department could be on a path towards a potential overspend,' he said. 'I have also concluded that there are also substantial risks in not proceeding with the pay increases – the biggest risk is failing to deliver on my promise to deliver 'better outcomes'. 'I do not want health service staff to be demoralised by inaction and another year of uncertainty on pay. They deserve better than that. This is about treating with respect the people who keep us healthy, fix us when we are broken and keep us alive when death becomes a potential outcome. 'Falling behind pay levels across the water will also exacerbate challenges with recruitment and retention of health service staff.' Advertisement He added that pay parity with England for Agenda for Change staff is a 'well-established and hard-fought principle' that he intends to maintain. 'Failure to do so would undoubtedly lead to industrial action with all the disruption to patient care that will involve,' he said. 'Not to mention the negative impact on the focus to reduce waiting lists, or the overdue need to reform healthcare delivery. 'In short, the risk of a potential budget overspend must be balanced against the significant risk to service provision.' Mike Farrar, permanent secretary of the Department of Health in Northern Ireland at the department headquarters in Castle Buildings, Stormont Estate, east Belfast. (Rebecca Black/PA) Permanent secretary Mike Farrar said finding the £200 million for the pay award is a challenge. 'I have got a statutory duty as the accounting officer to point out to the minister that we don't have that in the budget which is what I've done,' he said. Mr Farrar said he is talking to colleagues from the Department of Finance, and expects the Executive to be involved. 'I'm hoping that if they can see how hard we're working to get our efficiencies, and that this plan that we're putting forward to reset the health and social care system is going to lead to a sustainable financial position, I'm hoping that they will somehow find the wherewithal to help me in the short term,' he added.
