Health Management and Policy Alert

General practice in the post Covid world: challenges and opportunities for general practice

Royal College of General Practitioners - 

This report calls on the four governments of the UK to each produce a comprehensive plan to support GPs in managing the longer-term effects of Covid-19 in the community. The RCGP says the plans should contain: costed proposals for additional funding for general practice; solutions for how the current GP workforce capacity can manage new and pre-existing pressures; commitments to continue the reduction in regulatory burdens and ‘red tape’ which has enabled GPs to spend more time on frontline patient care during the pandemic; a systematic approach for identifying those patients who are likely to require primary care support; and proposals for how health inequalities will be minimised to ensure all patients have access to the necessary post-Covid-19 care.

• Report
• Press release

Workforce race inequalities and inclusion in NHS providers

The King's Fund - 

Despite having one of the most ethnically diverse workforces in the public sector, there are long-standing race inequalities issues in the NHS workforce, including a lack of ethnic minority representation at senior levels, ethnic minority staff being much more likely to report they have experienced discrimination at work than white staff, and fewer ethnic minority staff reporting their trust offers equal opportunities for career progression. This research explored how three NHS provider organisations have sought to address workforce race inequalities and develop positive and inclusive working environments.

• Report
• Lived experience stories
• More detail

Returning the NHS to an even keel

Royal College of Physicians - 

This briefing provides insight into the challenges facing medical specialties. It shows that almost half of physician specialities, including cardiology, gastroenterology and rheumatology, expect to be working at less than previous pre-Covid activity levels for at least 12 months or more. The briefing captures several aspects of restarting activity including specialty capacity, adaptations to services, co-dependencies. It also provides an insight into potential capacity scenarios in genitourinary medicine and rheumatology.

• Briefing
• More detail

Supporting trainers, supporting doctors, supporting patients: progress since the postgraduate medical foundation programme review

Health Education England - 

This resource pack has been developed to help student doctors into foundation training and support them during the programme. It contains information and guidance that will help new doctors as they start their training in August 2020, as well as those currently in the foundation training programme.

• Resource pack
• Press release

Coronavirus: overseas health and social care workforce

House of Commons Library - 

This briefing paper considers the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the overseas health and social care workforce. The paper discusses the measures used to increase numbers of overseas staff during the pandemic, the immigration measures introduced for health and social care workers, and the potential implications for overseas recruitment.

• Briefing paper
• More detail

Home Office preparedness for Covid-19 (coronavirus): immigration and visas

House of Commons Home Affairs Committee - 

The Committee found that excluding care workers and lower-paid NHS staff from the fee-free NHS visa extension scheme is unfair and fails to recognise the scale of their contribution to the UK fight against Covid-19. The Committee has called on the government to address the discrimination against health and care workers in lower-paid and lower-profile roles by expanding the eligibility for fee-free one year visa extensions to include all NHS and social care staff, regardless of job role or pay grade.

• Report
• More detail

Covid-19 workforce survey

Skills for Health -
The aim of this survey is to help understand the critical skills required to rebuild a sustainable, productive, and flexible health and care workforce for the future. The findings will be compiled into a report to support employers focus on the short and medium-term priorities for recovering and restoring health and care service provision but also to help form a grasp on the longer-term development required to establish future ambitions for the system. The survey is open until 30 June 2020.

• Survey
• Skills for Health - news

Understanding the provision of occupational health and work-related musculoskeletal services

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

This research (published by the the DHSC together with the Department for Work and Pensions) maps the current provision of occupational health (OH) in the United Kingdom and reviews work-related musculoskeletal (MSK) services in the NHS. The research aimed to examine the available models of private and NHS service provision; how these are commissioned, resourced and accessed; examine the workforce of private and NHS providers; and investigate the commissioning of MSK and work-related NHS services. The research is intended to inform the ongoing development of policy relating to OH.

• Report
• More detail

Second personal protective equipment (PPE) survey of UK nursing staff report

Royal College of Nursing - 

The RCN has undertaken two surveys of health and care staff to identify their experiences and ongoing issues with the supply of and access to PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic. This report details the findings of the second survey (May 2020). Although there has been some improvement since the April 2020 survey, there are still shortages of essential PPE in all settings, and health and care staff are still reliant on PPE items being donated or home-made in some cases. The findings also highlighted a contrast in the experience and safety of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) respondents.

• Survey
• Press release
• April survey

NHS Test and Trace: workplace guidance

Department of Health and Social Care - 

This guidance explains how employers and businesses can play their part in the NHS Test and Trace programme, developed to manage the risk of the virus re-emerging as restrictions on everyday life are eased, as far as it is deemed safe to do so.

• Guidance
• Press release