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 [27/10].
- Guidance: Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan [29/10].
- Letter: Update on Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinder Programme [30/10].
- Regulatory: Submissions for the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB), Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) and Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) [31/10].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Guidance: NHS injury costs recovery scheme [28/10].
- Guidance for NHS trusts on the application of the NHS injury costs recovery (ICR) scheme for 2025 to 2026.
- Government response: Corrections regarding PPE procurement in the early pandemic [30/10].
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Mpox: affected countries [27/10].
- Guidance: UKHSA Presents [29/10].
- Webinar series profiling the science behind how we prevent, prepare for and respond to infectious diseases and environmental hazards to keep all our communities safe.
- News: Thousands with undiagnosed hepatitis and HIV found in A&E testing [29/10].
- Guidance: Pre-release access lists: Tuberculosis in England national quarterly reports [30/10].
- News: UKHSA weekly winter surveillance bulletin [30/10].
- News:Vaccination crucial as meningitis cases increase [31/10].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Guidance: Herbal medicines granted a traditional herbal registration (THR) [28/10].
BMA
- Press release: BMA says Government’s suggested pay rise for doctors in 2026 is indefensible [31/10].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- Cold homes are costing lives [30/10].
- Cold homes in the UK are a growing public health crisis, contributing to serious physical and mental health issues and costing the NHS over £1 billion annually. Despite falling energy price caps, bills remain high, and millions face energy debt. The government’s upcoming £13.2 billion Warm Homes Plan—which includes funding for insulation, heat pumps, and solar panels—offers a vital opportunity to tackle fuel poverty, reduce health inequalities, and cut carbon emissions. However, success depends on high-quality delivery, fair energy pricing, and a joined-up strategy across housing and energy policy.
- How to keep Britain working [28/10].
- This blog highlights the growing crisis of ill health among the UK’s working-age population, with 8.7 million people now reporting conditions that limit their ability to work—up from 6 million a decade ago. Mental health issues, especially among younger adults, are rising sharply.
- The blog argues that current government efforts focus too much on getting people back to work after long-term absence, rather than preventing health-related exits in the first place. It calls for a shift toward a preventative, coordinated approach, with clearer employer responsibilities, better workplace health support, and reforms to statutory sick pay. The upcoming Keep Britain Working review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, is seen as a key opportunity to lay the groundwork for a healthier, more sustainable workforce.
The King’s Fund
- Who picks up the phone? Different approaches to NHS admin [30/10].
- Improving NHS administration is complex but crucial for patient experience. This blog highlights two innovative approaches: one hospital trust improved communication by having staff and volunteers make daily calls to patients’ families, reducing complaints and boosting productivity. Meanwhile, some GP practices have GPs handle patient queries directly, streamlining care and freeing up admin staff for more focused support. These examples show that rethinking who handles admin tasks can lead to better outcomes, but broader discussions are needed on the value admin teams bring, especially for patients who struggle to navigate the system.
- NHS priorities for 2026/27 to 2028/29: what does it mean for the system, staff and patients? [27/10].
- The NHS’s Medium Term Planning Framework for 2026/27 to 2028/29 sets out a wide-ranging agenda aligned with the 10 Year Health Plan, aiming to improve care quality, system performance, and productivity amid tight financial constraints. It includes ambitious targets for elective care, urgent and emergency services, and community health, while also pushing for digital transformation and AI adoption. However, concerns remain about the feasibility of these goals given limited funding, vague prevention strategies, and the scale of structural reforms. The framework calls for integrated care, better leadership, and workforce support, but leaves many details to future documents.
Ipsos
- New results published on wellbeing in the UK [27/10].
- The latest Life in the UK Index shows that overall wellbeing in the UK has not improved over the past year. While trust in the government has slightly increased since the general election, many people still feel disempowered. Economic hardship remains widespread, especially among low-income households and those in social housing. There were minor improvements in heating affordability and average mental and physical health, but satisfaction with job opportunities and local environments has declined.
Care Quality Commission
- The Care Quality Commission shares their annual State of Care report, assessing the quality of health and adult social care in England.
- The report looks at the trends, shares examples of good and outstanding care, and highlights where care needs to improve.
- The demand for GP services is still growing, resulting in more pressure on services. Over 700,000 more patients were registered with a GP, on average, in 2024/25 compared with 2023/24, and the number of appointments has risen by nearly 10% over the last 2 years.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
- Article: Helping patients feel more at ease before their scan [31/10].
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust