‘More nurses from every background expanding nursing degree apprenticeships’ Duncan Burton discusses why 2,000 new nursing apprenticeships are to be concentrated in areas of high deprivation to tackle inequalities.

‘More nurses from every background expanding nursing degree apprenticeships’

CNO Duncan Burton discusses why 2,000 new nursing apprenticeships are to be concentrated in areas of high deprivation in order to tackle inequalities in healthcare career opportunities

www.nursingtimes.net/education-an...

Get a grip on ‘scandal’ of illegal child social care in England, ministers are told Vulnerable children placed in caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, with children’s commissioner saying practice must stop Ministers must get to grips with the “national scandal” of England’s shadow child social care system, the children’s commissioner has warned, as a shocking new report reveals the number of children in unregulated settings has increased by more than 370% in five years. Some of the most vulnerable children in England are being temporarily placed in unregulated caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, which risk the “accumulation of increasing levels of harm for children who have already faced enough distress for several lifetimes”, according to a new report. Continue reading...

Get a grip on ‘scandal’ of illegal child social care in England, ministers are told

Voters have just today left to register to vote for the local elections taking place across England on 7 May. Anyone who wants to take part must register before 11.59pm tonight.

Registering takes minutes at gov.uk/register-to-vote. Just need name, address & National Insurance number. Pass it on.

No clear plan for newly-shrunken ICBs as new failure regime kicks in - The Lowdown It’s hard to know how NHS management and staff are supposed to interpret the hugely confusing barrage of statements and policy announcements from Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting and NHS...

No clear plan for newly-shrunken ICBs as new failure regime kicks in - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/topics/staff...

One GP practice a week closing under Labour, say Lib Dems The NHS has lost a GP practice a week since the Labour government took office in summer 2024, the Liberal Democrats have warned - as the party promised to guarantee new housing developments come with ...

The number of GP practices in England fell from 7,686 in 2015 to 6,359 in 2025, while the number of homes rose by around 2m over the same period.

As a result, the number of homes served per average GP practice rose from 3,066 in 2015 to 3,976 in 2025.

www.gponline.com/one-gp-pract...

Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds Exclusive: MPs say profit-making levels in England are ‘scandalous’ and call for cap on amount private companies can make from NHS Private firms providing services to the NHS including healthcare and consultancy have made £1.6bn in profits over the last two years, research reveals. The findings – on the basis of contracts worth £12bn – have prompted claims of “scandalous” profiteering, concern that the health service is being “taken for a ride” and calls for ministers to impose a cap on maximum profit levels. £2bn of the £12bn of contracts went to firms with owners based outside the UK. £533m of that £2bn went to companies owned by people living in tax havens such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands. Firms, especially those owned by private equity outfits, used £353m of their £12bn NHS income to pay interest on debts. Continue reading...

Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds

Mental health response failing patients with greatest need - The Lowdown Consultant psychiatrists are being pushed to ‘breaking point’ by unmanageable workloads, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, whose latest census reveals one in seven consultant posts are ...

Mental health response failing patients with greatest need - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/news/mental-...

We're on the verge of a genocidal, nuclear war that our supposed "ally" has said he's ready to unleash.

Would it be too much to ask for the Prime Minister to have something to say about it? Or do?

Suspend US bases on UK soil now.

The #BritishSocialAttitudes survey shows that there isn't public appetite for a change to the NHS funding model.

Strong support for the principles that the NHS should be funded through taxation and free at the point of use has endured.

Read our analysis: buff.ly/iB2JyC9

Want to know capitalism’s endgame? Just look at private equity – it has captured our everyday lives | Hettie O'Brien These companies now own everything from nurseries to care homes, squeezing vital services for profit while we foot the bill, says Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned C...

Private equity controls our lives from the cradle to the grave.

Profiteers from hospitals, nurseries, housing, care homes, undertakers.

Business model - high prices, low staffing/wages, high debt, asset-stripping, tax abuse.

Life commodified & financialised.

Profits for the few, misery for many.

Today, doctors across the country are taking strike action. This dispute is driven by an entirely avoidable crisis on jobs and pay.

Resident doctors are facing a real terms pay cut and growing unemployment. No one wants to strike. But without a credible offer, doctors are left with no alternative.

GP Partners are receiving emails from Operose

Inviting them to look at succession planning with Operose taking over their practices
Plan:
1. Starve NHS GPs of £
2. Continuous poor contracts
3. Appoint former CEO in DHSC
4. Use NHSE data base to contact partners
5. Takeover
Is this the grand plan?

DAUK responds to NHS England chief executive’s threat to reduce reliance on doctors Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has responded to reports that NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey intends to accelerate work on clinical models less reliant on doctors in response to...

Private sector, see a Dr. In the NHS, the plan is for you to see anyone but a Dr. That is a political choice, & it is putting lives at risk
UK already has fewer Drs per head than 🇪🇺
No other nation is responding to that gap by designing Drs out of patient care
Training more!
dauk.org/dauk-respond...

Dr James Le Fanu was happy with £7500 in his day!

His day as a Junior Doctor 1974 - the following year Junior Doctors were in industrial action with Government

£7500 would be £72k now if kept with CPI inflation - no wonder he was happy

Maybe he should get back on his sofa

An orange graphic showing a pin on a map. The text says, "Resident doctors in England. Regional picket line locations announced."

We strike NEXT WEEK.

Follow the link in our bio to learn where and when our resident doctors picket lines are happening from 7 April. www.bma.org.uk/our-campaign...

NHS staff boycott Palantir’s data platform over ethical concerns Controversial US tech group was awarded a £330mn contract in 2023 to collate hospital and patient information

“A growing number of NHS staff are refusing to work on Palantir’s health data platform over ethical concerns about the controversial US tech company”

Good

www.ft.com/content/dbb6...

Palantir’s UK boss criticises ‘ideological’ groups as ministers move to scrap NHS contract Louis Mosley says government should resist calls to trigger break clause in £330m deal with US analytics company

Using our technology you have sent more than 63,000 emails to NHS Hospitals telling them not to give your confidential medical data to Palantir.

Together we can change things for the better!

Palantir, the controversy, the contracts and the campaign against the FDP - The Lowdown The drive to remove the US company Palantir from the NHS in the UK ramped up in the last few weeks, with the release of a briefing by the health justice charity Medact. The report, backed by doctors, ...

Palantir, the controversy, the contracts and the campaign against the FDP - An Explainer

lowdownnhs.info/topics/accou...

New York City hospitals drop Palantir as controversial AI firm expands in UK The decision follows activist pressure as Palantir faces growing scrutiny over NHS and UK government deals

New York’s public hospitals dropped Palantir this week.

Is it time the NHS did the same?
www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/26/n...

Starmer gives doctors 48 hours to cancel strike or lose new jobs package The prime minister says the NHS could lose 1,000 extra training places if resident doctors go ahead with a six-day strike next week.

What a fantastic solution to the threat of reducing patient care for 6 days.

Let's instead reduce it for the foreseeable future.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in England Exclusive: Health secretary’s pledges in doubt as analysis shows health service will not deliver key improvements

NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in England
buff.ly/GMbvCJT
Health secretary’s pledges in doubt as analysis shows health service will not deliver key improvements
@marisharay.bsky.social @ldhealthandcare.org @helenmorganlibdem.bsky.social @nhsfed.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk

Patients and GPs must campaign together for action on primary care crisis - The Lowdown By Brenda Allan, Keep Our NHS Public  In late November, Keep Our NHS Public (KONP)’s primary care conference brought together patients, GPs, academics and campaigners to prioritise the key changes nee...

Patients and GPs must campaign together for action on primary care crisis - By Brenda Allan, Keep Our NHS Public
@keepournhspublic.bsky.social @leedskonp.eurosky.social

lowdownnhs.info/topics/gp-su...

General Practice: here today, gone tomorrow? - The Lowdown by Dr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead, Doctors Association UK I’ve been a GP since 1993 and most of that time have been a partner in a suburban practice in north Manchester. There have been many Governments,...

General Practice: here today, gone tomorrow? by Dr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead, Doctors Association UK @drstevetaylor.bsky.social
@thedauk.bsky.social

lowdownnhs.info/topics/gp-su...

BMA dismisses Starmer’s 48-hour warning over resident doctors’ strike plan – UK politics live Prime minister threatens to withdraw NHS training posts for residents doctors if they don’t call off strike Good morning. Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee later to discuss the Iran war, but domestic issues don’t go away and he (or, to be more accurate, his staff) have also found time to write an article for the Times delivering a warning to resident doctors in England planning to go on strike. As Jamie Grierson reports, the PM is threatening to withdraw an offer of thousands of extra NHS training posts for resident doctors if they do not call off the strike within 48 hours. Judging by what Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA resident doctors committee, told the Today programme in an interview this morning, Starmer may have as little success with his ultimatum as Donald Trump seems to be having with his inconsistent and increasingly apocalyptic warnings to what is left of the Iranian government. I’m very happy to sit down with the government at any point to try and negotiate a settlement, but I don’t think that’s done by writing in newspapers and issuing threats unilaterally. The government made very late changes to the pay offer, reducing the pay investment and stretching it over a longer period in a way that had not been previously talked about. Ministers effectively moved the goalposts on the deal at the last minute. Two weeks ago, the government took that investment, reduced it, and then stretched it over three years. That is a very, very, very different outcome to the one that we were discussing just two weeks ago. Continue reading...

BMA dismisses Starmer’s 48-hour warning over resident doctors’ strike plan – UK politics live

Purple background: Pay up for NHS staff - Unison

A stronger NHS starts with valuing the people who run it.

➡️ Join thousands of NHS staff and supporters: Tell the government 3.3% isn’t enough
🔗 unsn.uk/nhs-pay-letter

The Prime Minister's threats of removing training places are bad for doctors and bad patients.

These threats are not a credible way to end this dispute. We're in talks with government today to reach a deal that doctors can support, and that's good for patients, to avoid strikes.

Say no to Palantir in the NHS NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back

New York’s public hospitals dropped Palantir. It can be done.

It's time the NHS did the same. Join us 👇
notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-pal...

99% have said no. GPs and GP registrars across England have overwhelmingly rejected the Government’s imposed contract changes for 2026/27.

These plans would pile unsafe, unfunded workload onto already stretched practices, putting patient care at risk.

"My current balance sits at £63 500 and I’m only now close to paying off as much per month as I’m being charged in interest."

Successive government failures have enabled the student loans system to scam a generation of doctors
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Exclusive: Hundreds stuck in ‘inadequate’ hospital The majority of patients in a hospital at the centre of a safety scandal are yet to be moved - despite orders nearly three weeks ago to transfer them, HSJ understands.

www.hsj.co.uk/mental-healt...