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 Cancer Drugs Fund list [29/12].
- Guidance: Guidance on intensive and assertive community mental health treatment [2/1].
- Guidance: Improving postnatal care: a toolkit for integrated care boards, partners and providers [6/1].
- Regulatory: NHS Federated Data Platform data protection impact assessment – National Data Integration Tenant minimum viable product [9/1].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Guidance: Provisional list of NHS abortion clinics and hospitals in England, 2025 [31/12].
- Press release: Lives to be saved by boosting access to drug overdose medication [29/12].
- Press release: New ambulances deployed to boost NHS winter response [29/12].
- Press release: Families to have better access to childhood vaccinations [1/1].
- A new £2 million pilot will see health visitors reach families facing barriers to vaccines, to ensure more children are protected.
- Press release: Landmark junk food ad ban to protect kids’ health [5/1].
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Rubella: the green book chapter [31/12].
- Rubella immunisation information for public health professionals, including updates.
- Guidance: Infection prevention and control for multidrug-resistant organisms in adult social care settings [5/1].
- News: Flu levels ‘stubbornly stable’ in older age groups despite overall decline [9/1].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Guidance: Operational Information Sharing [2/1].
- Guidance for Marketing Authorisation (MA) applicants on providing consent to share operational information during the MA application process.
- Press release: MHRA urges public to avoid illegal online weight-loss medicines this New Year [29/12].
- Press release: MHRA approves zapomeran (Kostaive) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine [2/1].
- Press release: MHRA strengthening dependency and addiction warnings on medicines used to treat pain, anxiety, and insomnia [8/1].
- Guidance: Submission and assessment timetables for innovative medicines applications [9/1].
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Guidance: AI Exemplars programme [6/1].
- AI Exemplars are transforming public services – improving healthcare, education, planning and justice with practical and innovative AI solutions.
- Added the A&E Demand Forecasting project to the Department for Health and Social Care list.
BMA
- Press release: HSSIB report is latest damning evidence that ‘corridor care’ is now normalised, says BMA [8/1].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- Meeting the NHS workforce retention challenge [8/1].
- This blog argues that improving NHS staff retention is essential to delivering the government’s long‑term health ambitions. While overall turnover rates have recently fallen, the piece warns this can mask deeper problems such as burnout, limited career progression, regional variation, and recruitment freezes. Better retention would improve patient care, reduce pressure on remaining staff, and cut costs linked to turnover. The blog calls for a workforce plan that uses stronger evidence, real‑time data, and targeted action to understand why staff stay, not just why they leave, helping build a more stable and motivated NHS workforce.
- Why the new junk food advertising ban won’t solve the growing childhood obesity problem [5/1].
- This blog argues that the new junk‑food advertising ban is a positive step but far from enough to tackle rising childhood obesity. While restricting unhealthy food ads may reduce exposure, the blog stresses that obesity is driven by much deeper issues such as poverty, inequality, and the wider food environment. Children in the most deprived areas remain far more likely to be living with obesity, and without broader action on income, housing, and access to healthy food, the ban alone will not reverse current trends.
Ipsos
- New Ipsos study highlights the prevalence of nasal spray usage across Great Britain [8/1].
- Ipsos in the UK has released findings from its latest study on nasal spray usage among adults in Great Britain, commissioned by ITV following an overwhelming response to ITV News’ first investigation on the topic.
- Widespread usage: Half (51%) of Britons say they have used nasal spray.
- Frequency of use: Among the people who have used a nasal spray, the last time they used it,
- 64% said they used it at least once a week,
- 31% of them said they used it everyday,
- 29% of them said they used it less often than once a week.
The King’s Fund
- What’s in store for health and care in 2026? [8/1].
- This blog outlines a packed and challenging year ahead for health and care in 2026. Major reforms — including abolishing NHS England, implementing the 10‑Year Health Plan, new GP contracts, and payment reforms — will demand intense operational focus. At the same time, the system faces severe pressures: winter demand, industrial action, a deepening social care crisis, and rising public dissatisfaction. Wider government policies on immigration, poverty, and devolution will also shape workforce stability and health inequalities. The blog argues that while ambition is high, resources are tight, trade‑offs are inevitable, and the real test will be whether these reforms meaningfully improve patient experience and national health.
- The health policy year in twelve charts 2025 [5/1].
- The King’s Fund review of 2025 shows a turbulent year for health and care: severe winter pressures, major NHS restructures, rising deficits, record‑low public satisfaction, and stalled progress on key issues like social care and vaccination. There were some bright spots — new vaccines, a child poverty strategy, and the 10‑Year Health Plan — but overall, the year was marked by disruption, industrial action, and policy uncertainty, leaving hopes that 2026 will bring more stability and clearer direction.
General Medical Council
- A medical student studying at King’s College London, hailing from Southwark, has won a national competition hosted by the General Medical Council (GMC) and Medical Schools Council (MSC).
UK Parliament
- NHS integrated care board (ICB) funding in England [19/12].
- The briefing outlines how NHS England will distribute funding to Integrated Care Boards from 2025/26, with money allocated mainly by population size but adjusted for age, deprivation and local need. Total funding is £139 billion, and allocations vary significantly between regions, meaning some areas receive far more per person than others.
- Research breifings
- Supporting documents:
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
- Article: Professor Christopher Tredwin, an Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Barts Health NHS Trust, has been recognised for his extraordinary services in The King’s New Year Honours 2026 [30/12].
- Article: Channel 4 News reports from Barts Health amid peak winter pressures [9/1].
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
- Article: Dr Dominique Allwood has been awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours List for services to the NHS [29/12].
- Article: Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Charing Cross Hospital last week, in their role as Joint Patrons of NHS Charities Together, to celebrate NHS staff and volunteers as they respond to increased demand on services during the winter months [8/1].