Health and care sector latest developments

Resident doctor strikes begin

The latest round of resident doctor strike action began today. 

The BBC reports that senior medics will provide cover in emergency settings, while some pre-planned treatments and appointments are being cancelled.

Chair of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Resident Doctors Committee (RDC), Dr Jack Fletcher, said he was "genuinely very sorry" about the impact of strikes on patients, but said the "way out of this is to get around the negotiating table".

The health secretary has been on the morning media round, arguing that the government had offered the BMA a good deal which the organisation refused to put to members for a vote.

PA Media reports that Wes Streeting, who met with the union as recently as Good Friday, said that the strikes will only end "when the BMA is willing to compromise".

Meanwhile, analysis from The Telegraph has suggested that the latest strikes will bring the total cost of recent NHS industrial action to £3.25 billion.

Record ambulance rollout boosts NHS response

The NHS has reported delivering a record 1,141 new or replacement ambulances across England in the past year, aiming to improve reliability, increase capacity, and speed up emergency responses.

Health minister Zubir Ahmed said modernising the fleet ensures paramedics have “all the tools they need” and that replacing outdated vehicles is “crucially helping more crews stay on the road and respond to emergencies”, adding the upgrades are “a vital step” in maintaining high quality care.

Trusts facing ‘impossible job’ to integrate GP data

A leading tech chief has said she faces an “impossible job” in trying to get primary and secondary care IT systems to be interoperable with one another.

Beverley Bryant, chief digital officer at University Hospitals Dorset Foundation Trust, said she currently estimates there is a “4 per cent chance” of getting primary care IT provider The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) to integrate with secondary care electronic patient record provider Epic.

Ms Bryant was speaking at the Rewired conference in Birmingham last month about the planned launch of Epic across all four provider trusts in Dorset and Somerset in 2028.

She said: “I’m pretty well-known for doing impossible jobs. So, the next impossible job that I’m going to take on – I’ve given myself about a 4 per cent chance of success – is to get TPP, which is our GP system, to integrate to Epic so that we have full integration between primary and secondary care. If I say it out loud and manifest it, it might happen.”

Zack Polanski questions NHS partnership with Palantir

Zack Polanski, deputy leader of the Green Party, criticises the UK government’s contract with Palantir to deliver the NHS Federated Data Platform. 

Drawing on feedback from NHS staff, he claims the platform does not provide meaningful new benefits for patient care. He also says that while staff support appropriate data sharing in principle, many oppose Palantir’s involvement on ethical and performance grounds.

Polanski highlights reports that ministers may consider using a break clause in the contract and calls for an immediate decision to reduce uncertainty among NHS staff.

Mackey vows to reform NHS chief executive hiring

Sir Jim Mackey has criticised lengthy NHS hiring processes as excessive and ineffective, describing them as “four days of sausage rolls and stakeholder panels”, arguing they should be simplified.

Speaking to HSJ, he warned that current methods act like a “popularity contest” and are “bizarre”, leaving many qualified candidates frustrated and locked out despite claims of a shortage of leaders.

Mackey proposed streamlining recruitment through centralised assessments and better support for newer candidates, saying the system must improve to attract talent and ensure strong leadership in the NHS.

Hospital group signs AI deal covering 20,000 clinicians

An acute provider collaborative has signed one of the largest ambient voice technology deals to date, covering up to 20,000 clinicians across four trusts.

Lyrebird Health has announced the contract with the South West London Acute Provider Collaborative – a partnership between St George’s University Hospitals Foundation Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust, Croydon Health Services Trust, and Kingston and Richmond Foundation Trust.

The rollout will target 10,000 clinicians within year one, scaling to 20,000 over four years. While the cost of the deal is not yet known, Lyrebird Health told HSJ it operates on a per-clinician licensing model.

The announcement is the second for a large-scale deployment across a hospital group - the joint procurement by University Hospitals of Leicester Trust and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group of Tandem and Accurx’s ambient scribe was revealed last month.