This report is a flexible summary, with the aim of sharing and highlighting a wide range of data and policy information relating to London general practice published in a given week. Where we view information to be of significant interest it is reproduced directly below the links to make the key points quicker to digest.
Please feel free to share any useful stats/links you think we could include in future reports.
Official bodies
NHS Digital
- All recent data releases can be seen here.
- Data:Care hours per patient day (CHPPD) data [1/9].
- Guidance:Seasonal vaccination invitations[1/9].
- Guidance:Community pharmacy seasonal influenza vaccine service[3/9].
- Advanced service specifications for community pharmacy for the seasonal influenza vaccination programme.
- Letter:For urgent action: campaign to vaccinate all frontline healthcare staff[4/9].
- Guidance: Safe and effective provision of high quality primary medical services to out of area registered patients: implementing the 2025/26 GP contract change [4/9].
- Guidance: Primary medical care policy and guidance manual: protocol in respect of locum cover or GP performer payments for parental and sickness leave – annexes [5/9].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Press release: Government to combat flu outbreaks by removing red tape [1/9].
- The government will remove red tape, allowing doctors and pharmacists to prescribe flu medicines year-round to reduce winter pressures and protect the NHS.
- Press release:Ban on selling high-caffeine energy drinks to boost kids’ health[2/9].
- The government will consult on banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s due to negative impacts on children’s physical and mental health.
- Press release:100,000 more people get quicker care thanks to GP funding reform[4/9].
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Vaccine update: issue 362, August 2025, flu special [1/9].
- Guidance: Communicable disease outbreak management guidance [2/9].
- Guidance:Shingles vaccination: guidance for healthcare practitioners [2/9].
- Guidance: Complete routine immunisation schedule [3/9].
- Guidance:Flu vaccine for children: best practice guide for GPs [3/9].
- Guidance:Combined COVID-19 and flu tests: use in ARI outbreaks in adult social care homes in South East England[4/9].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Guidance:Medical devices: post-market surveillance requirements [5/9].
BMA
- Press release: Senior doctors in England are prepared to take industrial action, BMA warns Government ahead of talks [4/9].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- A prevention revolution – or another missed opportunity? [5/9].
- This blog questions whether the UK government’s promise of a “prevention revolution” will lead to real change in public health or become another missed opportunity. It highlights rising illness and health inequalities, and urges cross-government action, investment, and accountability to make prevention a genuine priority.
Ipsos
- Public priorities on NHS, economy and bills clash with scepticism over government delivery, new Ipsos poll finds [4/9].
- The economy/cost of living, NHS waiting times and small boat crossings continue to dominate public agenda. Despite these being public priorities, the government receives negative net satisfaction ratings across all thirteen milestones tested.
- Cutting NHS waiting times continues to be the public’s top priority (56%) among the government’s milestones and priorities, followed closely by cutting energy bills and boosting home energy security (53%).
- The following has remained the public’s top concern since March 2025, indicating a sustained focus on kitchen-table issues. The public’s top priorities are rounded up by:
- Raising living standards (51%),
- Delivering economic stability (51%),
- Elective care waiting lists (50%),
- Reducing small boat crossings (47%).
The King’s Fund
- Does the NHS have too few staff or too many? [2/9].
- This blog highlights the severity and complexity of NHS workforce shortages, with 121,000 full-time vacancies and only 26% of staff believing their organisation is adequately staffed. It reveals deeper issues in specific regions and roles, such as coastal and deprived areas having fewer consultants and GPs, and declining numbers in community and learning disability nursing. These shortages not only strain staff but also reduce care quality, increase reliance on costly agency workers, and leave hospitals with too few managers. While the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan aims to address some gaps, it lacks focus on retaining experienced staff and recruiting more managers—both crucial for sustainable improvement.
Digital Health
- NHS rolls out new ‘artificial pancreas’ for pregnant diabetic women [5/9].
- The NHS is introducing a pregnancy-specific artificial pancreas for women with type 1 diabetes, using a smart insulin pump and glucose sensor to automatically manage blood sugar levels. Already provided to over 600 women, the system aims to reduce pregnancy risks and improve outcomes through personalised, remote care.
General Medical Council
Policy Exchange
- Out of Control [27/8].
- This report warns that rising psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diagnoses among UK children are straining public services and often mislabel normal childhood behaviour. It calls for a shift away from diagnosis-driven support toward earlier, targeted interventions that build resilience and better allocate resources.
- The NHS – a Suitable Case for Treatment? [14/7].
- This report argues that the NHS delivers poor outcomes despite high spending and calls for reform through a social insurance model to improve efficiency, patient choice, and long-term sustainability.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
- Article:Experts from Barts Health are authors in over 2,000 research publications every year, more than double the number a decade ago[1/9].
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust