Read Jack Serle's latest HSJi Review, which notes that the Department of Health and Social Care is at pains to tell us at every opportunity since the arrival of its new management that the NHS is broken.

Debating whether or not this new departmental leitmotif is true is the health policy wonk equivalent of arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The health service is unquestionably beset with an array of deep-seated problems. None of them is more self-evident to the public, patients and staff alike than the state of its estates. Read the full article here.

Latest investigations

The Humber Health Partnership

Hull University Teaching Hospitals and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust have created the Humber Health Group which has a combined turnover of £1.3bn and a workforce of nearly 20,000. The two trusts remain independent organisations but share an executive team and increasingly collaborate on services. The group CEO is Jonathan Lofthouse, previously the site director of King’s College Trust’s Princess Royal University Hospital and its Orpington and Bromley sites.

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICS

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West is a relatively undeveloped integrated care system. It has been placed in segment three of the national oversight framework, which means NHS England’s regional team provides significant support and scrutiny. NHSE is particularly concerned about the pace of integration within the system. The ICS covers an area that does not always reflect patient flows. Its three “places” —Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West — all face in different directions to some degree, and the system has no logical centre. This situation is exacerbated by complicated local relationships.

University Hospitals Dorset Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Dorset Foundation Trust is under considerable financial pressure. Having submitted a deficit plan of £5.1m for the 2024-25 financial year, UHD was already reporting a £7m deficit by the summer. Achieving the trust’s financial plan will rely on delivering a £42m cost improvement plan, and therefore, the fact that the trust is already forecasting an undershoot of £10m is especially worrying. The situation is made even worse by the fact that it still has to identify and deliver cost improvements worth £10m.

Datapoints

Last week, the following datapoints were updated:

• A&E waiting target and Emergency admissions of Acute in Q2 2024-25
• About the board, Link to Board papers, and Website Address of Acute,Sp,Com,MH,Amb in Q2 2024-25
• A&E Performance and Emergency admission per 1000 population of ICS in Q2 2024-25
• C-diff rate and MRSA rate of Scotland in Q1 2024-25
• Medical agency staff spend and Nursing agency staff spend of Scotland in 2023-24