Healthwatch

UK clinical trial approval times twice as fast with AI and reforms Patients receive earlier access to life-saving treatments as UK trial approval times cut in half from 91 to just 41 days.

Sounds pretty whizz at first then realise that clinical trials for a new drug take many years AFTER approval has been given.
www.gov.uk/government/n...

It would follow on the Gov statement about trying to reduce ‘competition’ between GPs and Pharmacists. Though most of us would call that ‘choice’

Streeting hires delivery adviser with no health experience Wes Streeting is drafting in an education expert as his senior adviser on delivery, despite disagreements in his department about the role.

The mysterious process of becoming a government ‘adviser’. Guess he is a good communicator- IF people listen. Anyway Mr Streeting might just as well employ Mary Poppins as an ‘adviser’ for magical thinking seems to be a key aspect of the Ten Year Plan
www.hsj.co.uk/integrated-c...

Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework: 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026

Been expansion of Pharmacy services under new Pharmacy contract as Streeting tries squaring his 10 Yr Plan to shift more health services into community with real terms funding cuts leading to pharmacy closures. Might try to do as you say but seems no direct mention here
www.gov.uk/government/p...

Resident doctors back strike Job security fears prompt support for resorting to industrial action

Resident doctors vote to back strike action over unemployment and shortage of training places.
www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opi...

Alienating voters at a critical time. Surprised government is not trying to blame migrants

DHSC certainly seems to have an awful lot of ‘observers’ at the meeting, as well as contributing directly to cost analysis. No pressure. Critical decision is to base much on hospitalisations. But in committee minutes there is a ‘suggestion’ that priority groups of previous year might be retained .

Assume it no longer gets done.

The anger of patients’ booking vaccinations through the NHS online system only to discover when turning up to appointment they do not qualify for a Covid jab might also be a signal of potential serious shortcomings with relying on online NHS patient interface systems.

Maybe part of a sneaky NHS privatisation project. Yet changes to eligibility criteria this year have been puzzling and confusing and look like backfiring on Government. Even our GP offered jab to my partner though she does not fall into any of ‘get it free’ categories?! May change again next year

Keir Starmer asks students not to join protests on 7 October The prime minister says it is "un-British" to hold pro-Palestinian protests on the second anniversary of Hamas's attacks on Israel.

For silence is a killer
Democracy and justice its victim
And the inevitable Silence of war will kill us all.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Pupils to benefit from more specialist teachers in classrooms Aspiring teachers can get up to £31,000 tax free through bursaries and scholarships, as the government boosts efforts to attract more great teachers.

Includes bursaries of £15,000 for SEND-specialist trainees
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Robert Jenrick complained of ‘not seeing another white face’ in Birmingham neighbourhood Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on short visit

A Dinosaur on its way to extinction
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Pharmacies facing angry patients over Covid jab confusion Up to half of patients coming to some pharmacies are being turned away because they are not eligible.

Large numbers of patients booking vaccinations only to find they are no longer eligible for free covid jab when they turn up.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Tories confirm plans to cut PIP for mental health claimants The Conservatives have unveiled plans to cut spending on welfare and scrap environmental subsidies

Tories offer £47bn austerity - cuts to disability benefits, PIP for mental health claimants, social housing, civil service, regulators, green economy, accompanied by anti-migrant rhetoric.

Won't hike taxes the rich or curb profiteering.

The nasty party heading for the dustbin of history.

Conservatives announce £5,000 tax rebate for young home buyers Shadow chancellor Mel Stride will say the plans will be funded by cuts to public spending worth £47bn.

Trust these muppets at your peril as they march out into the desert of irrelevance where one day some political journalist will stumble across the bleached bones of the Tory party
www.bbc.com/news/article...

To try to conflate peaceful protests against Genocide committed by Israel with antisemitism, and then to try to ban it completely to 'keep people safe'.

Is not only completely wrong, it is DANGEROUS

To criminalise peaceful protest will leave people with only criminal options

Quarterly vaccination coverage statistics for children aged up to 5 years in the UK (COVER programme): April to June 2025

Vaccination coverage in some areas of London has fallen quite low but for UK as a whole, the 6 in 1 coverage at 5 yrs is over 93%. Varies a little but most of us remain quite sane- fortunately.
www.gov.uk/government/s...

Yes. Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation and death drops from around an initial 75% to 20% by 7 months. Though seems to depend on how they look at data with some analyses coming up with much lower figures. Hence need for boosters. Not sure how boosters take into account emerging variants

Karate black belts awarded to two 79-year-old athletes Beryl Bellamy and Susie McPherson both took up the sport in 2020 at the age of 74.

Excellent!!
bbc.com/news/article...

Reform clowns would go same way as Truss did. Losing confidence of finance markets overnight as soon as it opened its mouth. Just will not have people to run an even semi-competent government as they stink to high heaven like rotting fish. ‘All mouth and trousers’ (mostly gobby blokes)as saying goes

Notice the £23bn in welfare cuts camouflaged with an attack on migrant benefits. Usual playbook. Conceal the nasty hook in what has become a popular racist morsel. The racists will bite- then find their own benefits cut as well

Tories say people denied benefits in UK can return to home countries Mel Stride outlines plans to slash £47bn a year from public spending, including £23bn welfare cut

No thought to who will invest in such a small minded ageing country with a crumbling infrastructure, rapidly shrinking workforce and myopic politicians. Who the fuck would want to even come and work here? Oh, I know “we don’t need workers from abroad” Idiot
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Yes, though from reading the minutes it seemed the vaccine does not always prevent someone falling sick- or even going to hospital. It is just an odds thing it seems. Which I find a little confusing but then the whole vaccine effectiveness bit was a bit fuzzy to me.

Why excluded diabetics and not other immunosuppressed is a mystery. A ‘suggestion’ in minutes is that they keep the same groups targeted as year before. Should include diabetics? Vaccine had already been purchased and was a ‘sunk cost’ so only talking about around extra £38m admin maybe.

Covid-19: Lack of surveillance leaves UK in dark as hospital admissions rise, experts warn The UK’s current method of recording covid-19 cases “is not a sensible approach to managing the spread of infection,” virologists have warned. Latest data showed an uptick in the number of UK covid c...

Yes, you would think a bigger picture but is quite clearly all about ‘cost effectiveness’. That mean expensive hospitalisations. This focus produces a ‘blind spot’ in terms of a of lack of effective community based surveillance that this BMJ article highlights. No vision
www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Naaah. Most Reform voters can see no further than a flag being waved under their noses. But will not pay heating bills or fill supermarket shopping trolleys after the Reform clowns have helped break the country.

*gasp*

NHS £ budget cuts are now top gov priority. For the NHSE and ICB management wanting jobs in new system that will be the big tick for their ‘appraisals’ and CV box

Evan chair for evacuation of people with mobility issues

Awful-last month #NHSEngland Central Disability Adjustments Team given a few hours notice of being disbanded & key expert staff being re-deployed. Huge backlog. My Fire Evacuation Plan requires me to personally recruit volunteers to train & use evac chair! @rogerkline.bsky.social