HSJ Health Check

We discuss Sir Jim Mackey’s first year as NHS England chief executive, and his interview with HSJ in which he sets out plans for 2026-27.This year has seen the NHS land more or less on plan for its biggest recovery targets – and with declared financial deficits falling quicker than expected.Sir Jim told us the next 12 months will leave more room for thinking ahead, including about commissioning and neighbourhood health. But money is still very tight and ever-bigger leaps in improvements will be needed to stay on track.Also, we cover the huge challenges facing the Humber Health Partnership, a group model that has seen its two member trusts placed into special measures and ask what lessons can be learned for trust groups elsewhere.

Jo Talora, HSJ reporter on health policy and frontline digitisation, and Ben Clover, HSJ analyst of NHS tech and cyber, discuss NHS England’s public critique of tech leadership. They cover EPR training burdens and productivity, AI scribes and ambient voice tech, risks from big US vendors, cyber readiness and how the NHS App might evolve with AI.

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan interviews US physician Bob Wachter about his new book, A Giant Leap, on AI’s impact on healthcare.The conversation covers how clinical practice is already changing significantly, and explores the implications for NHS workforce planning.

NHS staff are becoming less likely to recommend their employer as a place to work, are less confident about raising concerns and increasingly say they would not want relatives to be treated at their trust. HSJ digs into the annual NHS staff survey to find out what this year’s results mean for the future of the health service. Henry Anderson is joined by HSJ’s Nick Kituno and Chris Graham, from the Picker Institute, to discuss how staff feel about working for the NHS after the first full year of a Labour government - and what can be done to turn this around. Send podcast thoughts and ideas to annabelle.collins@hsj.co.ukYou can listen to HSJ Health Check on this page, or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all the other popular podcast platforms.

Leading ICB and council CEOs join HSJ Health Check to talk about the earthquake shaking relationships between local government and the NHS.Tectonic plates are moving with major structural reorganisation in the NHS and local government. Funding and demand pressures, alongside national attempts to reform other public services, are also straining relationships and integration.Amid these tensions, Rob Webster, West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board CEO, argues local leaders can choose to protect relationships and joint working at the level of place, despite organisational mergers.And Robin Tuddenham, a council CEO in west Yorkshire and president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, says: "What we're seeing is the need to adjust to a reshaping of the local state".

NHS maternity care continues to be under the spotlight, so on this week’s episode we unpick the web of different national reviews and how trusts could be asked to improve services.We cover Baroness Amos’ interim report from the government’s ‘rapid’ review, which has turned out to be less rapid than hoped, and some shocking findings highlighted by newly published national maternity data.Also, why home birth services could become a thing of the past in the NHS.  

Hospitals are being told by NHS England to focus on easy wins to hit this financial year’s A&E targets, so on this episode we unpick what trusts are being ask to do and whether this will get them over the line by the end of March.NHSE also finally published guidance on its “model emergency department”, which will see under-performing trusts required to open new treatment areas. But, as ever, big questions remain about funding. And we get under the skin of a recent HSJ analysis that showed the health service has been haemorrhaging non-clinical staff.

Mimi Launder, a health policy journalist on NHS structures, and Jo Talora, a digital transformation reporter, dissect a leaked update to the model ICB blueprint. They explore the NHSE-DHSC merger timetable. They unpack Ming Tang's sudden exit, the fate and rollout struggles of the Federated Data Platform, and the staffing and operational pressures on integrated care boards.

Lord Philip Hunt of Kings Heath, former Labour health minister and first NHS Confederation chief executive, discusses the forthcoming health bill. He outlines the bill’s timetable, likely clashes in the Commons and Lords, and the need for extensive secondary regulations. He explores centralising powers, tensions with devolution, risks around Healthwatch and data safeguards, and the political arithmetic in the Lords.

On this episode we cover one of the most expensive employment tribunals in the NHS and why a trust must pay its former chief executive £1.4m in damages.Also this week, an update on the new hospitals programme from the government spending watchdog, which included surprise dates for when rebuilds were likely to reopen - some of which are still 20 years’ away.We also cover serious concerns raised about the quality of a trust’s medical training and more on the new chief executive of the merging NHS Providers/Confederation.