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: Commissioning recommendations for medical retinal vascular medicines following the national procurement for anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) and intravitreal steroid implants [16/3].
- Guidance: Recording same day appointments for all clinically urgent patients [16/3].
- Guidance: Fit for the future: towards population health delivery models – The 10 Year Health Plan sets out an ambition to build a truly modern NHS that delivers better treatment for patients and better value for taxpayers [17/3].
- Letter: Outbreak of meningococcal disease linked to University of Kent and the area of Canterbury [18/3].
- Guidance: Community services data set technical guidance for the two-hour urgent community response standard [18/3].
- Guidance: Urgent community care: clinical decision-making framework [19/3].
- Letter: Stryker Medical – cyber-attack and associated disruption to supply of medical equipment and consumables [20/3].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Statement: Meningitis outbreak in Canterbury and east Kent [17/3].
- The Secretary of State Wes Streeting updated the House of Commons on the meningitis outbreak and the latest steps being taken to support those affected.
- Press release: Stronger visiting rights for people in health and care settings [18/3].
- The government will better protect and strengthen the visiting rights for people in health and care settings, following a review of Regulation 9A.
UK Health Security Agency
- News: Cases of invasive meningococcal disease notified in Kent [18/3].
- Guidance: Meningococcal disease outbreak vaccination programme [19/3].
- News: Expansion of Meningitis B vaccination offer to Kent Students [19/3].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Press release: Patients to get new medicines up to six months sooner under new joint MHRA-NICE approval process [17/3].
- Guidance: Archiving and retention of clinical trial records [19/3].
BMA
- Press release: Covid Inquiry report recounts ‘devastating’ impact on doctors [19/3].
UK Parliament
- GP Contract: Urgent House of Commons question on GP contract changes, transcribed in Hansard [16/3].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
Nuffield Trust
- Evaluation of AI in chest diagnostics: a Q&A with Angus Ramsay, Chris Sherlaw-Johnson and Kevin Herbert [16/3].
- This Q&A discusses a new mixed‑methods evaluation of NHS England’s AI Diagnostic Fund, which introduced AI tools across roughly half of NHS trusts to support chest diagnostics. The research team—Angus Ramsay, Chris Sherlaw‑Johnson and Kevin Herbert explain that while AI is widely promoted as a way to improve efficiency and address NHS pressures, real‑world evidence on its implementation and impact has been limited. Their evaluation examined how AI tools were selected, procured, deployed, and experienced by staff and patients, confirming that all sites used AI only to support—not replace—clinical decision-making. Findings highlight that the impact of AI varied depending on how each hospital used it, with no autonomous decision‑making and only prioritisation of cases supported by AI. The study emphasises the importance of evaluating AI in real clinical environments to understand its practical benefits, challenges, and implications for future rollout.
The King’s Fund
- How to navigate the political pitfalls of health legislation [17/3].
- This blog highlights the political challenges the UK government faces when advancing new health legislation, noting that once ministers introduce a bill, they lose significant control to Parliament, where MPs can broaden debates or even overturn proposals. To minimise these risks, the blog argues that legislation should remain tightly focused—in this case, limited to the core goal of formally abolishing NHS England—so as not to open politically sensitive topics that could derail progress. It explains that past reforms, including those in 1990, 2003 and 2012, encountered similar difficulties, emphasising that navigating legislative “pitfalls” requires limiting a bill’s scope, maintaining alignment within government, and preventing parliamentary distraction from core NHS operational priorities.
General Medical Council
- GMC consults on personal beliefs and medical practice guidance [19/3].
- A consultation on updated guidance detailing how doctors can practice in line with their beliefs and values, while maintaining good and safe care of their patients, has been launched today by the General Medical Council.
Institute of Health Equity
- Understanding Inequalities In Coastal Kent [18/3].
- This piece highlights the deep and long‑standing health disparities between coastal and inland areas, noting that coastal communities typically face higher rates of preventable deaths, major illness, drug-related harm, suicide, and significantly shorter life expectancy. While coastal towns often have natural beauty and strong tourism or fishing industries, they also experience structural disadvantages such as poor access to essential services, insecure employment, limited transport options, and older populations that put pressure on local health and care systems. Kent has now become the UK’s first Marmot Coastal Region, launching a programme that brings local stakeholders together to address these inequalities through the Marmot Principles, with early findings revealing stark gaps—for example, women in inland Kent living over a year longer than those on the coast, and preventable death rates significantly higher in coastal districts. The initiative aims to build long‑term, system‑wide action to reduce avoidable health differences and strengthen health equity across the region.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust