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: Planning framework for the NHS in England [8/9].
- Data: NHS oversight framework – NHS trust performance league tables process and results [9/9].
- Guidance: National patient safety alert – harm from delayed administration of rasburicase for tumour lysis syndrome [9/9].
- Patient care statement: England / Wales Cross Border Healthcare Services: Statement of values and principles [11/9].
- Guidance: Emergency preparedness, resilience and response: core standards [11/9].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Press release: Landmark NHS league tables launched to drive up standards [9/9].
- Patients will get better care and value from record investment in the NHS thanks to a pioneering new system of league tables being rolled out across England.
- Press release: RAAC removed from 7 more NHS hospitals [10/9].
- Backed by up to £440 million in funding this year, a further 12 hospitals are on track to complete removals by the end of March 2026.
- Press release: Millions of people to benefit from healthcare on their doorstep [9/9].
- Government to roll out first neighbourhood health services in 43 places backed by £10 million.
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Polio Reference Service: laboratory services [8/9].
- Guidance: High consequence infectious diseases (HCID) [8/9].
- Guidance: COVID-19 vaccination: at-risk children aged 6 months to 11 years [9/9].
- Guidance: COVID-19 vaccination: information for healthcare practitioners [10/9].
- Guidance: Services for local authority public health staff: UKHSA Knowledge and Library Services [11/9].
Policy, think tanks, charities, and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- The end of the ‘8am scramble’? [12/9].
- From October 2025, GP practices in England must respond to patient queries within one working day, ending the daily rush for appointments at 8am. Backed by a major funding boost, the changes aim to improve access, but success depends on tackling deeper issues like staff shortages, digital barriers, and system pressures.
Ipsos
- Easier access to GP appointments remains the public’s top priority for the NHS [12/9].
- Latest polling from the Health Foundation and Ipsos reveals that the public continue to prioritise improving access to GP appointments. While public views of the standard of care in the health service remain negative overall, there are some signs that perceptions of NHS care are slowly improving. The latest survey, conducted in May 2025, shows:
- GP access remains the top priority: For the public, making it easier to get a GP appointment (39%) continues to be their biggest priority for the NHS, followed by improving A&E waiting times (34%) and addressing NHS staff retention (29%). The government’s focus on cutting waiting times for routine hospital services ranks only fifth in public priorities.
- Concern for GP pressures is growing: Public concern about the strain on GP practices has increased, with four in five (82%) expressing concern (up from 78% in May 2024 and 73% in May 2022).
- Confidence in government’s handling of NHS remains low: only 16% of the public agree that the government has the right policies in place for the NHS, unchanged since November 2024, though still higher than the 8% that was recorded pre-2024 election.
- Waiting list progress is yet to be felt: Despite the hospital waiting list falling to its lowest point in over two years (from 7.6 million to 7.4 million), public perceptions of the waiting list size has not caught up. More people (37%) believe the waiting list has grown since the election than those who believe it has shrunk (24%).
- Support for NHS founding principles remains prevalent: The public continue to support the NHS’s founding principles: free at the point of delivery (86%), a comprehensive service for all (85%) and a service primarily funded through taxation (83%).
- Confidence in social care persistently low: Only 8% agree that the government has the right social care policies, with 51% disagreeing (compared to 43% in November 2024, but an improvement from 63% in May 2024).
- Public support for social care but awareness and understanding is lacking: Over half (56%) think that the state should be responsible for paying for some care for everyone who needs it, and people who can afford it also paying towards their care. However, public awareness and understanding of social care remain mixed. One-third (33%) incorrectly believe the NHS provides the majority of social care services for older people. A similar proportion (35%) mistakenly believe social care services are generally free at the point of need.
- Public understanding of adult social care remains limited [12/9].
- The Health Foundation and Ipsos continue a programme of public polling research, publishing the latest findings on public perceptions of social care. The latest survey (May 2025) highlights ongoing challenges and low public confidence in the current system in England.
YouGov
- One in seven Britons turned to private healthcare in the last 12 months [9/9].
- A recent YouGov survey found that 1 in 7 Britons used private healthcare in the past 12 months. This shift reflects growing concerns over NHS waiting times, access to timely treatment, and patient dissatisfaction. The data suggests a rising trend in people seeking alternatives to public healthcare, especially for diagnostics and specialist consultations.
Care Quality Commission
- More people reporting a better overall hospital experience than last year, but patient satisfaction still far lower than five years ago [9/9].
- More patients report better hospital experiences, according to the 2024 CQC inpatient survey. While overall satisfaction has improved, issues like long waits, poor discharge planning, and challenges for vulnerable groups still need attention.
The King’s Fund
- The missing millions from the NHS waiting list [11/9].
- Despite expectations of a post-pandemic surge, the NHS hospital waiting list—now around 7.5 million—is lower than projected. This blog explores why millions of expected referrals never materialised, suggesting reasons like self-managed conditions, private care, emergency treatment, or unresolved access issues. While the lower numbers may seem positive, they could mask hidden clinical risks from patients who never returned for care.
- Unleashing the power of communities: why neighbourhood health must be neighbourhood-led not just neighbourhood-based [9/9].
- This blog highlights how community-led health initiatives can improve wellbeing and reduce pressure on the NHS. It calls for cross-sector collaboration, support for local innovation, and system-wide changes to embed community-driven approaches in health and care.
- What does it mean to have ‘good’ and ‘bad’ hospitals? [8/9].
- This blog challenges the idea of ranking hospitals as simply “good” or “bad.” It argues that performance varies across services within the same hospital, and broad ratings can mislead. More detailed, service-level data is needed to give patients clearer, more useful insights.
London Trusts
Barts Health NHS Trust
- Article: A quality improvement project at Newham Hospital is transforming patient care, helping to keep patients safe and speeding up discharges [8/9].
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust