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...

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-...

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...

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...

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.

Scoping the cuts – NHS systems’ finance and staffing in the North West - The Lowdown Government claims last December that they were on track to save a colossal £17 billion from NHS “efficiencies” over the next three years seem to be more than slightly over-optimistic, according to the...

Scoping the cuts – NHS systems’ finance and staffing in the North West - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/topics/staff...

Something Nefarious Is Quietly Taking Over Your Neighborhood Doctor’s Office It’s quietly reshaping Main Street medicine. Your wallet—and health—might suffer as a result.

Curse of private equity.

US PE-owned dentists
Raise prices.
Stretch appointments for higher fees.
Focus from prevention to lucrative restoration procedures.
Unnecessary tooth extractions and root canals.
High staff turnover

Curse arrived in the UK. No curbs on profiteering, public abuse.

Senior NHS manager who advised Palantir to step down from role Matthew Swindells was joint chair of four major London hospital trusts while also advising the US tech group

Senior NHS manager who advised Palantir to step down from role - by @laurahughesft.bsky.social giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

We're looking for a new national officer to join our team and make a difference for health workers.

If you want to make a positive difference for the NHS, we’d love you to apply!

www.unison.org.uk/about/jobs/2...

Photo of George Monbiot accompanying a quote from The Guardian, July 2025: "Instead of borrowing to pay for infrastructure improvement, water companies borrowed to pay for dividends. Just as the water companies dump their sewage in the rivers, they have also dumped their liabilities on the public. The country becomes their dustbin.

"High bills, impossible debts, filthy rivers, minimal investment and no resilience: that is the gift of privatisation...as we now discover in the case of Thames Water, it becomes our problem."

Thames Water should be in public hands. If you agree, sign our petition:

vist.ly/4vajx

Why are emergency care services not a priority for NHS? - The Lowdown Last month, over 150,000 patients, almost one in three (30.4%) of those requiring emergency admission in England’s hospitals, had waited over 12 hours from arrival before they were placed in a bed, ac...

Why are emergency care services not a priority for NHS? - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/emergency-ca...

‘It beggars belief’: MoD sources warn Palantir’s role at heart of government is a threat to UK’s security Experts say that claims UK data remains under government ownership miss the point that the company has the capability to build its own detailed picture of the British population, and even infer state ...

NEW: Two senior MOD whistleblowers with inside knowledge of Palantir's systems have come forward to @thenerve.news to say government ministers are ignorant of the grave national security risks the technology poses.

Hugely important by @charlienotold.bsky.social
www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-t...

Streeting must get a grip on core issues - The Lowdown For the last few week or so Wes Streeting has seemed to be preoccupied with distancing himself from his links with Peter Mandelson, and trying to preserve his credibility as a possible leadership chal...

Streeting must get a grip on core issues - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/comment/stre...

Streeting must get a grip on core issues - The Lowdown For the last few week or so Wes Streeting has seemed to be preoccupied with distancing himself from his links with Peter Mandelson, and trying to preserve his credibility as a possible leadership chal...

Streeting must get a grip on core issues - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/comment/stre...

Private companies target ADHD diagnosis sector - The Lowdown Since 2019, demand for ADHD diagnosis has rocketed, and referral rates quickly outstripped NHS service capacity. Waiting times increased substantially, with reports of several years’ wait in some area...

Private companies target ADHD diagnosis sector

lowdownnhs.info/private-prov...

PFI: Still draining NHS budgets decades on - The Lowdown As ministers weigh up the options for using private capital to build some of the new “neighbourhood health centres” and to finance the delayed “new hospitals programme,” recent revelations about three...

PFI: Still draining NHS budgets decades on - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/private-prov...

Impact Statement shows why Labour’s 10-Year Plan is going nowhere - The Lowdown A new document on the state of play in England’s NHS is sounding the alarm on Labour’s vague “10 Year Plan,” which was eventually published in July, a year after they had taken office, and to less tha...

Impact Statement shows why Labour’s 10-Year Plan is going nowhere - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/analysis/imp...

Impact Statement shows why Labour’s 10-Year Plan is going nowhere - The Lowdown A new document on the state of play in England’s NHS is sounding the alarm on Labour’s vague “10 Year Plan,” which was eventually published in July, a year after they had taken office, and to less tha...

Impact Statement shows why Labour’s 10-Year Plan is going nowhere - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/analysis/imp...

PFI: Still draining NHS budgets decades on - The Lowdown As ministers weigh up the options for using private capital to build some of the new “neighbourhood health centres” and to finance the delayed “new hospitals programme,” recent revelations about three...

PFI: Still draining NHS budgets decades on - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/private-prov...

UK loses WHO status as measles-free after rise in deaths and fall in jab uptake UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established

Bitterly disappointing that the UK has lost its Measles elimination status again.

"UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established"

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

Over 26,000 have emailed their local trust to keep Palantir out of the NHS.

Will you join them?
notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-pal...

Buyout firms plot £1.5bn takeover of private hospitals giant Spire Bridgepoint and Triton Partners are among the private equity groups interested in a take-private deal for Britain's biggest private hospitals operator, Sky News learns.

Private equity bids £1.5bn to buy Spire, which runs nearly 40 of the UK's biggest private hospitals.

Attraction - Govt handing more of the NHS to private sector, higher prices, higher profits. PE builds monopolistic control.

Public money will buy less.

Reform MP Andrew Rosindell tells the BBC that he "would not object" to scrapping the NHS and replacing it with private insurance

Children's early development at risk with year-long NHS waits A quarter of the 300,000 children waiting for community NHS care have spent more than a year waiting.

Thousands of children facing 'catastrophic' waits for NHS community care www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Almost a quarter of UK GPs are seeing obese children aged four and under Exclusive: Almost half of GPs have seen children up to the age of seven who have obesity, research finds

Almost a quarter of UK GPs are seeing obese children aged four and under

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Poverty is deepening.

🔎 Our #UKPoverty2026 report was launched this morning.

People in very deep poverty now make up the biggest group of people in poverty, at 6.8 million people.

This is unacceptable for the fifth richest country in the world, and it has consequences.

Division and racism harm our NHS, our profession, and patient care. That’s why the BMA stands with the
Together Alliance against the far right.

We'll see as many of you as possible at the anti-racism demonstration in London on 28 March. Find out more 👉 togetheralliance.org.uk

Critical incidents signal emergency departments beyond safe limits - The Lowdown News reports trumpeting the reduction of England’s waiting list back to below 7.4 million (a reduction of 1.2%) were largely drowned out of media attention by a wave of “critical incidents” in which h...

Critical incidents signal emergency departments beyond safe limits - John Lister

lowdownnhs.info/emergency-ca...