Health and care sector latest developments

Government backs new AI healthcare regulation framework

The government has accepted all 44 recommendations from the National Commission into the regulation of AI in healthcare.

The MHRA has also launched Phase 3 of its AI Airlock programme, which will test how AI medical technologies can be safely monitored after entering use and help shape future regulation.

Further measures include guidance on AI devices, potential staged approvals allowing promising technologies into the NHS under supervision, stronger patient involvement and safeguards to ensure fair access.

Health innovation minister, James Frith, said the aim is for patients to benefit from AI's “life-saving potential”, and ensuring it’s “safe, effective and properly overseen”. He stressed that “innovation must never come at the expense of patient safety”.

A detailed roadmap for implementing the commission’s recommendations is expected to be by spring 2027.

Mental health trusts referred to CQC over monitoring consent

Ten mental health trusts have been reported to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) by NHS England after problems with patient consent procedures when monitoring patients using camera technology.

The information came to light during the latest hearings of the Lampard Inquiry – the review which is examining the deaths of more than 2,000 people who spent time in mental health units in Essex between 2000 and 2023.

The infrared technology is used in patients' bedrooms and can monitor breathing and pulse without staff having to enter the room.

NHS England told the inquiry it had passed information to CQC after reviewing the use of digital monitoring systems.

Meanwhile, an external review into Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust, which is under scrutiny by the Lampard Inquiry, has found that staff there are subject to ‘paralysing’ levels of fear and anxiety which is, in turn, producing defensive safety behaviour.

COVID-19 cases surge in the UK

Figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show that COVID-19 cases have risen rapidly in the UK in recent months, with 4,589 people contracting the virus in September, compared to 1,374 in August.

The same figures showed that there were 4,939 hospital admissions for COVID-19 in September, compared to 950 in August.

More than half of the positive tests were found to be a variant of XFG, also known as the Stratus or “American Covid” strain, which was first identified last January and has since spread around the world.

More than one million non-smokers now vaping in Britain

More than one million people in Great Britain now vape despite never having been regular smokers.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that about 5.4 million people aged 16 and above in England, Scotland and Wales (9.9 per cent) used e-cigarettes daily or occasionally in 2025. The figures also showed that about 2.9 per cent (1.1 million) of Britons who had never smoked cigarettes reported using an e-cigarette daily or occasionally.

The proportion of never-smokers now vaping has increased sharply, almost doubling, since 2021, when 1.5 per cent of people who had never smoked reported that they currently used e-cigarettes.

Children facing year long waits for community healthcare, King’s Fund warns

More than one in four children on community health waiting lists have waited over a year for care, the King’s Fund has warned.

By July 2026, around 86,000 children had waited at least 52 weeks, making them 38 times more likely than adults to face such delays. Community paediatrics is particularly affected, with 45 per cent waiting over a year.

The King’s Fund stresses that these delays risk harming children’s development, education and wellbeing. They're calling for earlier intervention and cross-government action on issues like poverty, housing and education.

Potential legal battle for ICB over premises funding cut

Three GP practices are threatening to sue Cheshire and Merseyside ICB over its plans to cut premises funding.

The practices are based at the Church View Primary Care Centre in Nantwich, and they have been there since 2008 when they took out a 21-year lease.

At the time, the local primary care trust agreed to reimburse a range of expenses including rent and service charges, business rates, water and sewage, clinical waste disposal, internal repairs, and other building-related costs.

However, Cheshire and Merseyside ICB has told the practices that it intends to review these “historical” funding agreements and phase them out over the next three years.

Trust restricts services after staff leave to join private providers

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust, a mental health and community trust, has been forced to restrict its children’s ADHD service following the departure of a number of staff who left to join private providers.

The trust has limited referrals to its neurodevelopmental service to only the very urgent cases while it considers the service’s future – a move which chief executive, Ellen Rule said was “not a decision we’ve taken lightly”.