Health landscape report: 12 January – 16 January

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. 
• Guidance: Planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients [13/1]. 
• Guidance: Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill – information for applicants to medical training [13/1]. 
• Guidance: Urgent dental care incentive scheme [13/1]. 
• Guidance: Statistical process control tool [14/1]. 
• Guidance: Guidance on the use of AI-enabled ambient scribing products in health and care settings [16/1]. 

Department of Health and Social Care 

• Press release: Healthcare innovator appointed to Health Data Research Service [12/1]. 
  • Healthcare industry innovator Dr Melanie Ivarsson has been appointed as CEO of the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) to accelerate medical breakthroughs. 
• Speech: Modernising the NHS to meet changing demands [13/1]. 
• Guidance: Providing healthcare public health advice to integrated care boards [13/1]. 
• Guidance: Adult social care in England statistics: background quality and methodology (August 2022 to December 2025) [15/1]. 

UK Health Security Agency 

• Guidance: Measles: public health response to cases who have travelled whilst infectious [14/1]. 
• Guidance: Outbreaks under monitoring: background and methodology [15/1]. 

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency 

• Guidance: Clinical trials for medicines: collection, verification, & reporting of safety events [12/1]. 
• Press release: Patients to benefit sooner as UK boosts clinical trials attractiveness with faster assessments and agile regulation [13/1]. 
• Guidance: Early Access to Medicines Scheme: Overview [14/1]. 
• News: Medicines regulator approves up to 7.2mg dose of semaglutide (Wegovy) for patients with obesity only [16/1]. 

Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies  

The King’s Fund 

• Feeling our way forward: emotions, leadership, and the future of care [14/1].  
• This blog explores how emotions and organisational anxiety shape leadership in health and social care. Drawing on action‑research, it argues that leaders often cope with the stress of caring environments by distancing themselves emotionally, but this can unintentionally create cultures of defensiveness and disconnection. The authors highlight hope and emotional honesty as essential qualities for future leadership, suggesting that when leaders acknowledge uncertainty, share reflection, and engage with staff compassionately, organisations become better equipped to handle complexity and change. 
• Can we really be ‘fit for the future’ without physical activity?[13/1]. 
• This blog argues that physical activity is one of the most effective tools for preventing long‑term illness, yet the government’s 10‑Year Health Plan barely mentions it, risking a major missed opportunity. It highlights stark inequalities — with activity levels varying widely between communities — and stresses that the biggest health gains come from helping the least active people move more. The author calls for targeted investment, stronger national leadership, and a clearer strategy to ensure physical activity is treated as a core part of improving the nation’s health. 

General Medical Council 

• Deep-rooted inequalities ‘distort opportunities and weaken healthcare culture’, GMC says [15/1].  
• The statement warns that deep‑rooted inequalities in medicine are still limiting opportunities for ethnic minority and non‑UK qualified doctors, distorting career progression and weakening the overall culture of healthcare. Chief Executive Charlie Massey stresses that these disparities are not inevitable, but progress in tackling them has been uneven: while some improvements have been made — such as reducing disproportionate employer referrals — significant gaps remain in training, career development and workplace experience. The GMC calls on healthcare leaders and employers to intensify efforts to address discrimination, emphasising that fair treatment is essential for both staff wellbeing and safe patient care. 

Digital Health 

• NHS England launches supplier registry for AI scribing tech [16/1].  
• NHS England has launched a new national supplier registry for AI‑powered “ambient voice” scribing tools, giving the NHS a vetted list of technologies that can safely transcribe clinician–patient conversations in real time. Suppliers must show they meet strict standards on clinical safety, data protection and technical compliance, reflecting the central role this tech is expected to play in the government’s 10‑Year Health Plan. Early evidence cited by NHS England suggests AI notetaking can free up significant clinician time, improving both efficiency and patient experience. 

London Trusts    

Barts Health NHS Trust 

• Article: Barts Health patients are among the first in the UK to receive an experimental treatment for advanced prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormone therapy, as part of an ongoing phase 2 clinical trial [16/1]. 

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 

• Article: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its report following the inspection of acute medicine inpatient care at Charing Cross Hospital, carried out in October last year. The unannounced focused inspection was triggered by two patient safety incidents within a two‑month period [15/1]. 

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

• Article: Surgeons at King’s College Hospital in London have performed 1,000 cases of robotic-assisted surgery in just over two years, helping ensure patients are treated without delay and recover more quickly than with open or laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery [12/1].