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.
- Policy: National Innovative Medicines Fund list [24/3].
- Letter: Update for commissioners to enable preparation for the implementation of sensory checks in special educational settings [25/3].
- Guidance: A guide to the systems and processes for managing medicines supply issues in England [27/3].
- Guidance: Commissioner assignment method 2025/26 [28/3].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Press release: Government-backed technologies support those living with dementia [23/3].
- Guidance: NHS optical voucher values and hospital eye service charges from April 2025 [24/3].
- Guidance: Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel [27/3].
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Priority pathogen families research and development tool [25/3].
- Press release: UKHSA highlights pathogens of greatest risk to public health [25/3].
- Press release: UK’s first RSV vaccination programme protects older people [25/3].
- News: UKHSA publishes first annual report summarising latest infectious disease trends [25/3].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Guidance: Safety communications concerning medicines, medical devices and other healthcare products [25/3].
- News: MHRA launches new monthly safety bulletin and redesigned safety alerts [25/3].
- Press release: World first as MHRA approves trofolastat for diagnostic imaging of prostate cancer in men [28/3].
Policy, think tanks, charities and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- Taking a chainsaw to NHS England is not the sign of a healthy state [24/3].
- On March 13, 2025, the abrupt abolition of NHS England was announced to cut bureaucracy, resulting in 9,000 job losses. This move, while aimed at cost savings, has raised concerns about accountability and long-term impacts on audit quality and competition. Critics argue that a more measured approach would be healthier for the state.
Ipsos
- COVID-19 five years on: Young people most likely to say they’re lonelier and spending more time looking at screens than before the pandemic [26/3].
- Polling from Ipsos UK explores how the lives of the UK public have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, five years after the UK’s lockdown was first announced.
- Nearly half of UK adults (46%) believe the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world for the worse, highlighting the enduring societal impact of the crisis.
- Around three in ten (31%) acknowledge that the pandemic changed the world but say that those changes have not made much difference to them personally.
- Around half of Britons report their physical (48%) and mental health (52%) are unchanged since the pandemic began
- 3 in 10 believe their physical and mental health has deteriorated.
- 26% still feel their mental health is worse than it would have been if the pandemic had never happened, suggesting a potential long-tail impact of the pandemic on the nation’s wellbeing.
The King’s Fund
- Cents and sensibility: Micro financial incentives in the GP contract [27/3].
- This article discusses the impact of financial incentives on general practice funding in England.
- New Funding: Nearly £1 billion announced for general practice.
- Incentives: A fifth of GP funding is tied to specific targets, which can limit local planning.
- Admin Burden: Detailed requirements can lead practices to focus on funding rather than local needs.
- Mixed Results: Some health improvements, but also potential negative impacts.
- Future: Shift towards more flexible funding to better meet local needs.
Institute of Health Equity
- Director of Public Health for Newcastle and Gateshead reflects on the pandemic and lockdown: Five years on from Covid lockdown, Tyneside health boss gives emotional thank you – ‘for everything you did’ – Chronicle Live [23/5].
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust