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Britain on Tuesday (January 4) faced warnings of an impending hospital crisis due to staff shortages caused by a wave of Omicron infections, as the country returned to work after Christmas. However, Britain's vaccine minister said hospitalised Covid-19 patients were showing less severe symptoms than before, adding that there was no need for further restrictions at this stage. Prime minister Boris Johnson resisted imposing stringent lockdown measures in England ahead of New Year as Omicron fuelled a spike in cases to record highs. While hospitalisations are rising they have not tracked the trajectory of daily cases, possibly reflecting the impact of vaccines and booster shots, the likely lower severity of Omicron and the time lag in people going into hospital. "At the moment, if you look at the people who have been hospitalised, they are going in with less severe conditions than before," minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup told Sky News, adding that the "Plan B" Johnson brought in in December was working. "The numbers that are in hospital beds is about half what it was a year ago - and that just shows the power of the vaccine."

Attempts to deal with record waiting lists for hospital treatment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are at risk of being derailed by a staffing crisis, which is being exacerbated by the Omicron wave, a cross-party lawmakers' report said on Thursday (January 6). The report entitled 'Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic' calls for a broader national health and care recovery plan - one that would embrace A&E, mental health, GPs, community and social care. Hospitals are facing extreme pressure as they try to catch up on months of operations that have been delayed and suspended during the pandemic, as Covid-19 hospitalizations rise once more and self-isolation hits staffing levels. There is a record 5.8 million waiting list for elective care, the Health and Social Care Committee said, adding that a recent surge in the Omicron variant has pushed cases to record highs and intensified pre-existing issues.

Trust leaders involved in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) have warned that further delays in the government scheme will lead to more patient harm, disappointment among staff, and higher costs for taxpayers. According to NHS Providers, delays in the government scheme that promised 40 new hospitals in England by 2030 are draining millions of pounds from scarce NHS funds every month. Some trusts are compelled to spend over £1 million a month from their under-pressure budgets due to spiraling cost pressures, on-hold building projects, and the bill for having to patch up deteriorating sites. While there has been some progress over the past year, trust leaders remain apprehensive that "uncertainty over funding and shifting timetables risks putting their promised buildings further out of reach."

As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces the forthcoming UK general election, pharmacy bodies are calling on all political parties to commit to solving the issues facing the sector. The next UK general election will be held on 4 July, Sunak announced it on Wednesday afternoon during a press conference outside 10 Downing Street. "As the election is called it's imperative that any incoming government addresses the crisis in primary care and the looming cliff edge facing pharmacies, which for millions of people are the front door to the NHS and a crucial source of frontline health care," said Paul Rees, Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). Noting that the first responsibility of the government is to keep its people safe and healthy, he emphasised the importance of addressing the "deep funding gap that is pushing record numbers of pharmacies to the edge of closure and beyond, exacerbating the issues of waiting lists for GPs and hospital care."

A new report has highlighted that while NHS trusts are well placed to drive the new Labour government's desired healthcare transformation, additional resources are essential to fully realise this vision. Published by NHS Providers, the report explored how trusts are innovating and adapting to deliver the three key shifts outlined by the government: from hospital to community-based cafe, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. Titled "Providers Deliver: shifting care upstream," the report cited some successful approaches trusts have taken to ensure patients can get the care they need in the right place at the right time. Examples include: Tackling the wider determinants of health to improve patient flow - Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Reducing demand for emergency care by providing support at home - East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust Improving mental health crisis care from the ground up - North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust Harnessing a culture of continuous improvement to deliver care in the right place - Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Taking the next step from hospital at home to early intervention - Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

The new Labour government has pledged to deliver an extra 40,000 NHS appointments, operations and diagnostics every week, equivalent to two million a year, to tackle the ongoing waiting list crisis. It aims to ensure that 92 per cent of patients start routine hospital treatment within 18 weeks by the end of this parliament - a target that has not been met for nearly a decade. However, a new analysis by healthcare consultancy CF (Carnall Farrar) and the NHS Confederation has revealed that these extra appointments alone will not be enough to achieve the 18-week Referral To Treatment (RTT) target by 2028/29. The study estimates that 40,000 extra appointments per week would deliver only about 15 per cent of the additional activity required to hit the 18-week target, assuming demand continues to grow at current rates and care delivery remains unchanged. While the report acknowledged that increasing capacity is a positive step, it stresses that further reforms and transformations in care pathways are necessary to bridge the gap.

The government has decided to refresh the NHS workforce plan, prioritising on shifting care from hospitals and into the community. The revised plan, expected to be unveiled in the summer 2025, aims to ensure the workforce is used effectively to support the delivery of the upcoming 10-Year Health Plan. Health secretary Wes Streeting explained the need to revise the plan citing Lord Darzi's report, which highlighted the dire state of the NHS, including that "too many people end up in hospital because there aren't the resources in the community to reach patients earlier." "Our 10 Year Health Plan will deliver 3 big shifts in the focus of healthcare: from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. "We will refresh the NHS workforce plan to fit the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again," Streeting said.

The outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) in the UK, which is associated with contaminated eye gels imported from India, has led to the death of one person, and many others falling ill, according to a government report. Bcc is a group of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are widely found within the environment. Although it rarely causes infection, it can result in severe ones in individuals with compromised immune systems and those living with cystic fibrosis, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. Between January 2023 and February 2024, there were 52 confirmed and six probable cases across the UK linked to the bacteria outbreak, as revealed in the Health Protection Report published by UKHSA. Forty-one of these cases were hospital inpatients, 38 of which were in critical-care settings. Twenty-five cases were considered to have "clinically significant infections attributable to Bcc", out of which 11 had eye infections, nine had respiratory infections and four had bacteremia (bacteria entering the bloodstream). Two individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) were infected, and while one was treated, the other died, with the report indicating Bcc infection to have "contributed to the death."

All four UK health services have committed to net zero carbon emissions, health secretary Sajid Javid announced today (November 9). Lauding the commitment, Javid said: "As a health community, we cannot simply sit on the sidelines - we must respond to climate change through urgent action, with global collaboration at its core." Health systems in the UK have already started work on being greener. On behalf of the profession, Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) joined the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in writing a letter to world leaders who had gathered in Glasgow earlier last week to attend the COP26 summit, expressing pharmacy's commitment to tacking the climate crisis. RPS also signed a charter to guide effective and high-quality climate action by professional bodies in the UK.

As the countdown to the next UK election begins, the King's Fund has identified three priorities to improve public health. The national action would be taken by the future government to fix the "NHS and social care" in the country. The health policy think tank said it would prioritise "improving access to out-of-hospital care", making "careers in health and social care" more attractive and tackling the biggest risk factors affecting people's health. It highlighted that workforce crisis is one of the biggest challenges faced by the National Health Service (NHS) and social care services in England while citing "years of poor planning and fragmented responsibilities" as the reason for widespread staff shortages. As per the King's Fund's data, there were more than 125,000 vacancies across the NHS workforce in England in October 2023, not including primary care vacancies such as GPs, and 152,000 vacant posts in the adult social care workforce.

The lessons from Covid crisis applied in the future through collaboration can create a better integration between GP practices, hospitals and community pharmacies, Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has proposed. Stating that a more integrated healthcare system could enable pharmacists to provide effective and more efficient care to patients, the PDA proposed a model where at least two pharmacists would be working in each community pharmacy, empowered, and enabled with two-way referral pathways, having more clinical input and full access to patient records. "Such an environment could not only help to improve communications between health professionals and increase access to services for patients, but would support the NHS to operate more effectively."

The National Health Service(NHS) has reported a record number of attendances at Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments and emergency admissions for any June, reflecting significant pressure on healthcare services amidst hot weather and recent strikes by junior doctors. Last month, hospitals across the UK handled over 2.29 million A&E attendances and more than 536,884 emergency admissions, marking increases of 3.1 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively compared to the previous year. Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, acknowledged the strain on frontline teams: "Frontline teams are continuing to work exceptionally hard under significant pressure to provide the best care they can for patients."

It has been reported that several Austrians have been taken to the hospital after injecting fake Ozempic, as confirmed by health regulator. Austria's Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) confirmed that the patients have suffered hypoglycaemia and seizures. It is believed that the injections contained insulin instead of the weight loss drug, semaglutide. The health regulator has urged doctors and patients to verify their medication stocks.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published Lord Darzi's report on the state of NHS England, which revealed that the health service is in "serious trouble." Lord Darzi pointed out that the NHS has failed to meet key promises made to the public since 2015 and patient satisfaction is now at its lowest ever level. Rising waiting times and difficulties accessing GPs were highlighted as major concerns. "There are huge and unwarranted variations in the number of patients per GP, and shortages are particularly acute in deprived communities," the report said. Darzi described the state of A&E as "awful", noting that nearly 10 per cent of patients wait 12 hours or more today. Additionally, Lord Darzi's investigation found that the NHS budget is not being optimally allocated, noting that "too great a share is being spent in hospitals, too little in the community, and productivity is too low."

Community pharmacy is stuck in a vicious circle. Pharmacies are closing at an alarming rate whilst the government is talking about moving care away from hospitals and into the community to focus on preventative care. While the government talks about this vision for the future, the stark reality is that pharmacies are already struggling to meet the current Pharmacy First thresholds. And now we discover that one of the key components that could create capacity in pharmacy to deliver more clinical services has been put on hold…indefinitely. The recently published Darzi review, which was commissioned after the new government came to power to assess the state of the NHS, praised the value of community pharmacies and preventative services. But it recognised the level of pharmacy closures across the country and warned pharmacy access could be 'at risk'. Community pharmacy is ideally placed to deliver the government's vision of preventative care in the community. But let's all be clear, moving preventative services into community pharmacies has, so far, been nowhere near as successful as it could have been due to the current climate pharmacies find themselves in. The Pharmacy First scheme is a testament to this. Just this week it was announced that consultation thresholds for the Pharmacy First scheme have been reduced from 30 consultations to 20. It's the second time in three months that the thresholds have been reduced and it follows an intervention from Community Pharmacy England who wanted to "save many pharmacies from missing out on a vital payment this month." In June alone, 3,269 participating pharmacies failed to meet the threshold - that's almost a third of all community pharmacies in England.