Health Management and Policy Alert

UK Health Security Agency business plan 2024 to 2025

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) - 
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) business plan for 2024 to 2025 outlines the agency’s key deliverables and activities to protect and improve the public’s health and reduce health inequalities. It is underpinned by internal plans and performance management frameworks to drive delivery.

• Business plan

Annual assessment of integrated care boards 2023/24

NHS England - 
This report is a summary of the assessment of each ICB covering how effectively they have led their local NHS system and their contribution to each of the four core purposes of an integrated care system. It summarises an assessment of performance during the 2023/24 financial year and reflects NHS England’s views relating to that period only.

• Report
• NHS England - publications

Consultation outcome: changes to regulations relating to the Care Quality Commission

Department of Health and Social Care -
This is the analysis by the Department of Health and Social Care of responses to their consultation to amend the Health and Social Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (the ‘2014 regulations’). Respondents supported the amendment to remove the 2014 regulations’ expiry date of 31 March 2025 and instead review the regulations every five years. The government’s next step is to introduce a statutory instrument in January 2025 for this amendment. This means it will become law, subject to Parliamentary debate, in early 2025.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Annual report and accounts: 2023 to 2024

Department of Health and Social Care -
The annual report and accounts gives an overview of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC’s) resources and how it has used them to fulfil its statutory functions during the financial year 2023 to 2024. The report describes DHSC’s performance against objectives and includes the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s annual report on the performance of the NHS in England.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Leading the NHS: proposals to regulate NHS managers

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

This public consultation seeks views on government proposals to regulate health service managers, ensuring they follow professional standards and are held to account. The DHSC is also consulting on whether to introduce a new professional duty of candour on managers and, in addition, to make managers accountable for responding to patient safety concerns. This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 18 February 2025.

• Consultation
• Press release

Information standards for health and adult social care in England: consultation response

Department of Health and Social Care -
This is the Department of Health and Social Care’s response to the consultation about proposals for regulations to make provision about the procedure to be followed for the preparation and publication of information standards.

• Consultation response
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Providers deliver: shifting care upstream

NHS Providers - 

This report shows how in the face of a very challenging environment trusts are innovating and adapting to deliver the three key shifts called for by the government (hospital to community, analogue to digital and treatment to prevention).

• Report
• Press release

 

Protecting patients and the NHS through full transparency in industry-NHS collaborations

Institute for Policy Research - 
This policy brief, written by a team of international academic researchers and UK-based patient advocates, recommends key legislative reforms to enhance financial transparency in industry-NHS collaborations. It recommends legislative changes in three key areas based on patient experience, international best practices, and research evidence. These reforms will promote transparency and will support the government’s core missions to strengthen the NHS and drive investment in life sciences.

• Policy brief

Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape: terms of reference

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

This document sets out the terms of an independent review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. It will: map the broad range of organisations that impact on quality (and therefore have links to safety); and focus on six key organisations overseen by the DHSC, which have a significant impact on safety. This review follows on from Dr Penny Dash’s review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission. It will be used to more widely inform the government’s 10-year health plan.

• Guidance
• More detail

Review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission: full report

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

In May 2024, Dr Penny Dash was asked by the DHSC to conduct a review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). An interim report of her work, providing a high-level summary of her emerging findings, was published in July 2024. The review has found significant failings in the internal workings of CQC, which have led to a substantial loss of credibility within the health and social care sectors, a deterioration in the ability of CQC to identify poor performance and support a drive to improve quality - and a direct impact on the capacity and capability of both the social care and the healthcare sectors to deliver much-needed improvements in care. The report outlines the necessary changes to start improving the CQC.

• Report
• More detail