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: Measles guidance for healthcare services [9/12].
- Report: Report of the independent ADHD Taskforce [9/12].
- Guidance: Standard protocol and quality assurance standards for the Lung Cancer Screening Programme [10/12].
- Guidance: Principles for providing patient care in corridors [11/12].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Guidance: Co-occurring mental health and substance use: delivery framework [10/12].
- Press release: Government to prioritise UK medical graduates for training places [10/12].
- The government will prioritise UK medical graduates for training places from 2026 as part of efforts to bring an end to industrial action by resident doctors.
- Statement: Secretary of State’s address to the House on resident doctors [10/12].
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: MMRV vaccination [8/12].
- News: New mpox strain identified in England [8/12].
- Guidance: Childhood schedule changes 2025 and 2026: information for healthcare practitioners [10/12].
- News: Last chance to get vaccinated before Christmas as flu cases rise [11/12].
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Press release: UK and Singapore launch a regulatory innovation corridor to speed up access to breakthrough health technologies [12/12].
- Guidance: Good clinical practice for clinical trials [12/12].
BMA
- Press release: BMA to put Government offer to resident doctors in England [10/12].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
Nuffield Trust
- AI: how can general practice make the best use of it? [12/12].
- This blog explores how general practice can harness AI to improve patient care and reduce workload. It notes that many GPs already use AI tools for tasks like drafting notes, triaging patients, and supporting training, but uptake is uneven and often ahead of national guidance. While AI offers potential to free clinicians from routine admin and enhance diagnosis, concerns remain about safety, regulation, and equity of access. The piece argues that to make the best use of AI, general practice needs clear national policy, robust evaluation, and support for practices to adopt tools safely and effectively
The King’s Fund
- Holding the NHS account for wasteful use of resources [12/12].
- This blog argues that accountability in the NHS should focus less on blaming individuals and more on ensuring resources are used effectively to improve patient care. It highlights that current approaches often emphasise financial targets and performance measures, which can drive short‑term fixes rather than sustainable improvements. Instead, the piece calls for a broader view of accountability that values transparency, learning, and collaboration, helping the NHS reduce waste and make better use of limited resources while maintaining public trust.
- Child poverty strategy: is this mission-led government in action, and will it work? [10/12].
- This blog says child poverty must be tackled through coordinated, mission‑led government action, as it drives poor health, education, and life chances, demanding joined‑up policies across housing, welfare, and health.
- How healthy are Gen Z? [8/12].
- This blog shows Gen Z are healthier in some ways—less smoking, drinking, and teenage pregnancy—but face rising obesity, poverty, mental health issues, and growing reliance on private care. It argues that future health strategies must tackle wider inequalities to secure lasting gains.
The Health Foundation
- Understanding the latest deprivation data – and why it matters for health [8/12].
- This blog explains why the latest deprivation data is crucial for understanding health inequalities in England. It highlights that deprivation strongly influences life expectancy, health outcomes, and access to care, with people in the most deprived areas experiencing significantly worse health than those in affluent regions. The blog stresses that these disparities are not inevitable but shaped by social and economic conditions such as housing, education, and employment. By using updated deprivation data, policymakers and health leaders can better target resources, design fairer interventions, and address the root causes of poor health, ultimately working toward a more equitable health system.
Ipsos
- Eight in ten Britons say it’s more costly to eat healthy today than a decade ago [8/12].
- Ipsos in the UK has conducted new research, highlighting the perceptions and realities British adults face regarding healthy eating practices.
- Key findings:
- Cost a key barrier to healthy eating: Eight in ten (79%) of British adults agree that it’s more expensive to eat healthily today compared to a decade ago, reflecting broader public concerns about the economic barriers to adopting healthier lifestyles.
- But confusion is also a factor: Four in ten (40%) struggle to discern healthy food options, hinting at the overarching complexity surrounding nutritional education. Nearly half (49%) of the population views protein bars as healthy, and two in three (68%) believe that granola is healthy, despite both items commonly containing high amounts of sugar.
- Over half of Britons have been impacted by dementia in some way, new Ipsos poll reveals [8/12].
- Ipsos in the UK, in partnership with the Daily Mail, has released new polling on Dementia. The online survey, conducted among 1,137 British adults aged 16 and over, sheds light on public awareness, belief, and experiences surrounding dementia.
- Impact of dementia
- Over half (54%) of Britons say that they have been affected by dementia in some way.
- A third (33%) have lost a family member, friend, or someone else they knew to dementia.
- 25% know someone with dementia who is not a friend or relative.
- 21% say that a different type of relative has been diagnosed with dementia.
- 9% say a friend of theirs has been diagnosed with dementia.
- 1% say that their husband/wife/partner has been diagnosed with dementia, while less than 1% say they themselves have been diagnosed with the disease.
Smart Thinking
Think Tank: Resolution Foundation
- Care to negotiate? [11/12].
- The Resolution Foundation’s Care to Negotiate? report urges the new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body to quickly tackle low pay, poor progression, and high turnover among England’s 1.5 million care workers. It argues that focusing early on fair pay, training, and career paths could improve job quality, retention, and set a model for other struggling sectors.
Waiting Room Whispers
- The Jobs That Disappeared – How GP Adverts Tell The Real Story About General Practice [11/12].
- Dave Triska’s blog highlights a sharp decline in GP job adverts, reflecting the pressures and instability facing general practice. NHS England data shows advertised full-time equivalent posts fell by nearly half between 2022 and 2025, with similar drops across nursing and midwifery. While fewer adverts could suggest fewer vacancies, rising workloads and underemployment of trained GPs point instead to practices avoiding recruitment due to funding cuts, volatile contracts, and uncertainty.
- Triska argues this signals a “managed decline” of traditional GP-led care: digital access is expanding, patient demand is rising, but substantive posts are disappearing. For trainees and early-career GPs, this means precarious short-term roles rather than stable careers, risking long-term damage to the workforce and patient care.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust