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.
- Regulatory: Regulatory action: licensed independent healthcare providers [11/5].
- Meeting: Health and Social Care Data Public Panel – minutes and action notes [13/5].
- Policy: Clinical commissioning policy: Neo-adjuvant followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab for stage III macroscopic resectable melanoma (12 years and older) [13/5].
- Policy: National Cancer Drugs Fund list [14/5].
- Letter: Letter to NHS staff from Jim Mackey [14/5].
- Guidance: Best practice guide for NHS frailty pathways [14/5].
- Guidance: Industrial action in the NHS [14/5].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Press release: Thousands of ME/CFS patients to benefit from first genomics study [12/5].
- Guidance: Public health grants to local authorities: 2026 to 2027 [13/5].
- The public health grant allocations and monetary conditions for local authorities to improve health in local populations.
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Health protection in children and young people’s settings, including education [11/5].
- News: UKHSA update on the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak [14/5].
- Guidance: Electric and magnetic fields: reducing exposure [14/5].
- Guidance: Flu vaccination in schools [14/5].
- News: New HIV report shows progress but inequalities persist in access to testing, PrEP and early diagnosis [14/5].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- News: MHRA invites views on proposed changes to medical device regulation [11/5].
- Press release: MHRA opens UK-wide consultation on redefining gene therapies [11/5].
BMA
- Press release: Senior doctors in England balloted for industrial action [11/5].
- Press release: BMA responds to King’s Speech [13/5].
- Press release: Change of Health Secretary comes at ‘critical time’, says BMA [13/5].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- We asked how the NHS can boost productivity: here’s what we heard [11/5].
- This blog highlights that improving NHS productivity is not simply about doing more with fewer resources, but about delivering better health outcomes for the investment available. Drawing on over 120 responses to its call for evidence, it found widespread concern that current productivity measures are too narrow and can drive the wrong behaviours.
- Contributors emphasised the need to value staff insight, invest in infrastructure and technology, and focus on effective implementation rather than quick fixes. Overall, the message is that long-term, system-wide change—shaped by frontline experience, better data, and a broader understanding of value—is essential to sustainably improve NHS productivity.
The King’s Fund
- What we learned as an ICS – and why we need to ‘softwire’ our future local health and care systems [15/5].
- This blog reflects lessons from a decade of working as an integrated care system (ICS), arguing that effective local health and care systems rely not just on formal structures (“hardwiring”) but on relationships, trust and shared purpose (“softwiring”). Drawing on experience in Suffolk and North East Essex, it highlights how strong partnership working across NHS organisations, local government and the voluntary sector has been key to success, even amid ongoing organisational change and restructuring. The blog concludes that, as systems evolve, maintaining collaboration, leadership and culture will be essential to delivering joined‑up care, despite uncertainty over future structures.
- Wes Streeting has gone – what does it mean for the NHS and social care? [14/5].
- This blog reflects Wes Streeting’s departure as Health and Social Care Secretary, describing a tenure marked by energy, ambition and early progress, but also significant challenges. He achieved some quick wins—such as ending industrial action and improving certain performance measures—while setting out a long-term reform agenda focused on prevention, community care, and digital transformation. However, much of his approach involved “buying time” through plans and reviews, with major issues like social care reform and NHS pressures still unresolved. The blog suggests his successor will inherit a difficult role, needing to turn ambitious plans into tangible improvements while navigating ongoing system pressures
- Why do politicians restructure the NHS? [11/5].
- This blog explains that politicians often restructure the NHS because they see organisational change as a visible and decisive way to improve a complex system, respond to pressures, and demonstrate leadership. Reorganisations are sometimes needed to reflect changing needs or modernise services, but they are also driven by political incentives, such as the desire to show quick action or leave a legacy. However, the blog highlights that these repeated restructures are often disruptive, absorb significant time and resources, and can fail to address deeper issues like workforce, funding and performance—meaning structural change alone rarely delivers the improvements hoped for.
Nuffield Trust
- Centralisation, silencing and control: likely flashpoints for the new Health Bill [14/5].
- This blog argues that the new Health Bill represents a major restructuring of the NHS and is likely to spark significant debate, particularly around increased central control, reduced independence, and the potential weakening of patient voice. It highlights concerns that the Bill gives far greater powers to the Secretary of State and shifts decision-making away from local systems, risking over‑centralisation and less flexibility. It also raises issues about changes to oversight bodies and mandated data sharing, warning that these reforms could limit transparency and marginalise patient representation, making centralisation, control and “silencing” key flashpoints as the legislation progresses
- What can Wes Streeting’s successor learn from his record on the NHS and social care? [14/5].
- This blog reflects Wes Streeting’s time as Health and Social Care Secretary, highlighting key lessons for his successor in managing the NHS and social care. It argues that while he made some progress—such as reducing targets and improving waiting lists—his tenure showed the risks of setting overly ambitious goals and pursuing large-scale reorganisations, which can distract from delivery. The analysis emphasises the importance of maintaining realistic priorities, resisting constant structural change, and being clear about trade‑offs in a system with limited resources, while also warning that social care reform continues to lag behind and needs sustained focus.
- US-UK medicines partnership: the impact assessment of the costs and benefits must be published [13/5].
- This blog argues that the new US–UK medicines partnership could significantly reduce the cost‑effectiveness of NHS spending and therefore impact patient care. While the deal removes US tariffs on UK pharmaceutical exports, it requires the NHS to pay around 25% more for new branded drugs, meaning resources may be diverted away from existing services that deliver greater health benefits. The authors warn that this could lead to fewer overall health gains for patients and increased pressure on NHS budgets, and they call for the government to publish a full impact assessment so the true costs and benefits of the agreement can be properly understood and debated.
YouGov
- Which of the following comes closest to your understanding of the benefits and risks of taking weight loss drugs, such as Mounjaro and Ozempic? [14/5].
- This YouGov daily poll looks at how well the public understands the benefits and risks of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. It shows that awareness is mixed, with many people either unsure or holding incomplete views, and only a smaller proportion feeling they have a clear understanding of both the advantages and potential harms. Overall, the results highlight that while these drugs are widely discussed, public knowledge is still developing, reflecting uncertainty and the need for clearer information about how they should be used and the risks involved.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
- Article: Each year on 14 May, Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) Day recognises the contribution of ODPs in delivering safe, high‑quality surgical care [12/5].
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust