Starmer outlines plan to shift NHS care from hospitals to new health centres
The NHS will shift a huge amount of care from hospitals into new community health centres to bring treatment closer to people’s homes and cut waiting times, Keir Starmer will pledge on Thursday.The prime minister will outline radical plans to give patients in England much easier access to GPs, scans and mental health support in facilities that are open 12 hours a day, six days a week.The health service must “reform or die”, he will say, when he unveils his 10-year health plan.Experts, however, said the planned revolution in the way the NHS operates risked being undermined by staff shortages, tight public finances, a lack of premises in which to host one-stop shop-style “neighbourhood health services” and a public backlash at hospitals being downgraded.“Our 10-year health plan will fundamentally rewire and future-proof our NHS so that it puts care on people’s doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place,” Starmer is expected to say at a launch event in London with the health secretary, Wes Streeting.
“That means giving everyone access to GPs, nurses and wider support all under one roof in their neighbourhood – rebalancing our health system so that it fits around patients’ lives, not the other way round,”Writing in the Guardian, Streeting says the NHS – which has been given a £52bn funding boost under Labour – must change dramatically to ensure its own future, or risk becoming unsustainable,Warning that its model of healthcare for every citizen free at the point of use is under attack, he says: “This government rejects the pessimistic view that universal healthcare could be afforded in the 20th century but not in the 21st,So does the public,“But unless the NHS changes, the argument that it is unsustainable will grow more compelling.
It really is change or bust.We choose change.”Making care more convenient for patients through the new clinics is key to the government’s plan to reinvent the NHS as a service in which more is done in community settings and less in hospitals, which have become overwhelmed in recent years by the rising need for care.That will be accompanied by two other “big shifts”: enhanced use of technology and greater emphasis on the health service preventing illness rather than treating it.Public dissatisfaction with the NHS’s inability to guarantee rapid access to GPs, A&E care and surgery, and Starmer’s previous pledges to get it back on its feet, mean that delivering the changes outlined in the 143-page plan will be key to the government’s fortunes.
Health thinktanks cautioned that the plans would take a long time to push through and that patients may not see real change for some time.“Most people in this country want the NHS to survive and thrive because they rely on it,” said Steve Brine, a former Conservative health minister.“Whether this plan, and the funding the health secretary has been able to secure for it, is enough for people to feel the difference remains an open question.”The complexity and political risks involved in modernising a cherished public service raise questions about whether Starmer and Streeting “have the stomach to embark on the kind of transformation they say is required”, he said.The “neighbourhood centres” will be staffed by doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals, as well as specialists in debt advice and employment, ministers say.
They will offer services traditionally provided in hospitals – such as diagnostic tests, post-operative care and rehabilitation.They will be open 12 hours a day, including in the evenings and at weekends, though that will happen “eventually”, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) conceded.Health thinktanks criticised the DHSC’s lack of detail about the centres, including where they would be, who would staff them, where the funding for building new facilities would come from, and when they would actually open.Sarah Woolnough, the chief executive of the King’s Fund, welcomed the shift from hospital to community-based care and a more people-friendly NHS but said it “has been echoed by successive governments, so whilst welcome, the vision itself is not new.“The radical change would be delivering the vision.
History has shown us that you can’t simply co-locate different health professionals in a building and expect a neighbourhood health service to flourish.”Thea Stein, her counterpart at the Nuffield Trust, who is a former NHS trust boss, said that transforming the health service as Starmer is pledging “is hard, complex work, requiring leadership from politicians and NHS staff alike to challenge cultures and power dynamics, and create new ways to route money through the system”.
Pound and UK bonds recovering after Starmer backs Reeves; US economy adds 147,000 jobs in June – business live
The bond market is looking calmer this morning, as traders welcome Keir Starmer’s endorsement of Rachel Reeves.The prices on UK government debt are rising in early trading, which pulls down the yield (or interest rate) on the bonds.The yield on UK 30-year bonds has dipped by 0.8% in early trading, to 5.361%
UK government bond markets rally after Starmer backs Reeves
UK government bonds have rallied after Keir Starmer backed Rachel Reeves to remain as chancellor for “a very long time” despite lingering investor concerns over a multibillion-pound hole in Britain’s public finances.The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 10-year British government bonds, also known as gilts, fell on Thursday morning to trade close to 4.5%, reversing much of the rise on Wednesday sparked by feverish speculation over Reeves’s future.The pound rose against other leading currencies, while a closely watched business survey showed that Britain’s dominant service sector recorded its fastest rate of growth in 10 months.Some of the gains were later pegged back after the release of stronger-than-anticipated US job market figures, which fuelled a rise in US government borrowing costs as investors bet the Federal Reserve may delay cutting interest rates
Smaller firms to escape ‘burdensome’ Companies House filing rules
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P&O Ferries boss got pay rise of at least 55% after firing almost 800 workers
The boss of P&O Ferries was paid £683,000 in the financial year after the cross-Channel operator outraged the public and parliament by dismissing almost 800 mainly British workers.The windfall, revealed in much delayed 2023 accounts seen by the Guardian and ITV News that report more than £90m of annual losses, represents a pay rise of at least 55% for Peter Hebblethwaite, who was the company’s highest-paid director.The top pay package in 2022 of £440,000 was earned by a former P&O Ferries board member.Hebblethwaite told a parliamentary select committee last year that his salary was £325,000, and he had received a bonus in 2023 of £183,000. He was asked during the appearance if he was “a pirate” who appeared to be “robbing staff blind”
Australia’s privacy watchdog warns ‘vishing’ on the rise as Qantas strengthens security after cyber-attack
Qantas has said it will beef up its security and threat detection after a cyber-attack affecting up to 6 million customers, as Australia’s privacy watchdog has warned attacks using social engineering to gain access to data are on the rise.In an update to customers on Thursday, the airline said more security measures would be put in place after cybercriminals were able to gain access to a third-party system used by a Qantas airline contact centre to steal customers’ personal information.“We’re … putting additional security measures in place to further restrict access and strengthen system monitoring and detection,” the company said.Qantas began emailing affected customers on Wednesday evening but had not indicated as of Thursday afternoon whether any compensation would be provided to those who had their personal information compromised.Cybersecurity analysts indicated to Guardian Australia that, as of Thursday afternoon, the data had not yet been posted on forums or dark web locations that attackers commonly frequent
UK rail regulator rejects Virgin’s bid for west coast mainline route
Richard Branson’s hopes of returning Virgin trains to the west coast mainline have been dashed after the UK rail regulator rejected its application amid concerns over delays and cancelled journeys.The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has rebuffed three applications for new additional train services on Britain’s busiest line.Virgin, along with First Group’s East Coast Trains, known as Lumo, and Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway (WSMR) all lost their bids.The regulator said new services could not be introduced because of insufficient space on the west coast mainline (WCML), which would “likely detriment … train performance”.Most intercity services on the line are operated by Avanti West Coast, which already shares some paths with West Midlands Trains and Transport for Wales, and freight
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