Tag: public health

Cancer 360: Tech reform to transform cancer diagnosis

Cancer 360 brings patient data into one central system, so clinicians can prioritise those most in need and see patients quicker

  • Millions of patients to receive faster cancer diagnosis, helping slash treatment delays as groundbreaking new tech rolled out on NHS as part of major reform to health service
  • For first time, all NHS trusts will have access to technology that brings key patient information together so medical teams can easily spot those in need of urgent attention
  • The £2bn tech investment from the Autumn Budget will drive essential reforms, freeing up staff time and saving lives, delivering on the government’s Plan for Change

Millions of cancer patients will receive a faster diagnosis, helping cut treatment delays and boost survival rates as the government rolls out pioneering new technology across the NHS through the Plan for Change.

Currently, there are over 2 million people living with cancer, many of whom face a complex journey of tests, appointments or treatments. But a trailblazing new tool – dubbed Cancer 360 – brings all that data into one central system, so clinicians can prioritise those most in need and see patients quicker – with the technology set to benefit millions over the next 5-10 years.

This government inherited a broken NHS. Lord Ara Darzi’s independent investigation found the NHS in ‘critical condition’ – with surging waiting lists and deteriorating national health – and set out the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival.

Cancer 360 represents the crucial reform that must accompany investment, shifting the NHS from analogue to digital, by creating a simple dashboard showing clinicians all the information they need about their patients in one place. Instead of having to gather vital information about each cancer patient from various systems, spreadsheets, emails, and records.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “This government grasped the nettle and made difficult but necessary choices to invest £26 billion into our NHS – a move that is already helping millions of patients and will help millions more.

“It’s a long road, but we’re already getting our NHS back on its feet, giving patients over 3 million more appointments, hiring 1,500 new GPs and starting the roll out of new tech that will save lives.

“It is only this government’s Plan for Change that will deliver for patients and make our NHS fit for the future.”

The real-time tool will help teams to easily track a patient’s progress, avert delays, and even produce personalised treatment plans. It will dramatically reduce paperwork and help ensure vital warning signs aren’t missed. 

Cancer 360 is a prime example of the government’s commitment to reform – doing things differently by harnessing digital innovation to improve patient outcomes.

Following recent expansion of the NHS App, which has already stopped 1.5 million hospital appointments being missed and saved 5.7 million staff hours since July 2024, Cancer 360 demonstrates how we are continuing to drive the NHS from analogue to digital, giving patients better care and more control over their healthcare journey.

The investment comes from the Autumn Budget – where the government made difficult but necessary choices to put £26 billion in our NHS. This includes the biggest increase in NHS spending since 2010, excluding COVID-19 years – including £1 billion for digital transformation projects and £121 million for the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP). While this investment is crucial, it’s the reforms in how we use these resources that will truly transform cancer care.

The new tool is built into the FDP, which brings patient information together from across separate systems into one safe and secure environment. Since April 2024, hospitals using the platform have typically performed 70,000 more procedures and reduced unnecessary hospital stays by almost 19% – treating more patients and freeing up valuable bed space.

Suraiya Abdi, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Chelsea and Westminster Foundation Trust said: “The implementation of Cancer 360 has enabled my team to monitor and safely carry our patients through their cancer pathway.

“The tool enables us to have in-depth conversations at our weekly meetings regarding a patient’s next step as well as allowing us to escalate queries directly to other teams for faster turnaround.

“The tool has reduced the amount of admin time spent by our cancer team therefore enabling them to focus on the patient journey. I have witnessed an improvement in performance, team spirit and most importantly patient experience.”

The government’s National Cancer Plan will transform the way we approach this disease, improving care and bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.

Through the Plan for Change, the UK government is driving forward work to develop innovative treatments and technologies for patients.

Last month the Prime Minister announced plans for a new health data research service, to transform access to NHS data so clinical trials can be fast-tracked to accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future, in turn helping boost the UK’s world leading life sciences sector and drive growth. 

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also recently announced thousands of cancer patients will benefit from new artificial intelligence which detects skin cancer. In addition, it was confirmed that the NHS will become the first health system in Europe to offer a new injectable form of nivolumab – one of the most widely used cancer treatments in England. 

This forms part of the government’s wider ambitions to cut waiting lists under its Plan for Change.

With a total of 3 million additional appointments already delivered 6 months early, the government is exceeding its own targets and driving down waiting lists at pace, which have fallen for 6 months in a row and by 219,000 since July 2024 – evidence that reform and investment together can deliver real results for patients.

AI doctors’ assistant to speed up appointments a ‘gamechanger’

Interim trial data shows revolutionary tech has dramatically reduced admin

  • Westminster Government drives forward use of innovative artificial intelligence in hospitals to improve patient care
  • New government guidance set out today will encourage its use across health service while protecting patient data and privacy 
  • Trials show dramatic reduction in admin and more time for direct patient care, as Plan for Change delivers ‘seismic shift’ in care to digital

NHS clinicians in England will be supported to use groundbreaking artificial intelligence tools that bulldoze bureaucracy and take notes to free up staff time and deliver better care to patients thanks to guidance published today.

Interim trial data shows that the revolutionary tech has dramatically reduced admin, and meant more people could be seen in A&E, clinicians could spend more time during an appointment focusing on the patient, and appointments were shorter.

Through its Plan for Change the UK government is getting the NHS back on its feet and slashing waiting lists. Guidance published today will encourage the use of these products – which use speech technologies and generative AI to convert spoken words into structured medical notes and letters – across a range of primary and secondary care settings, including hospitals and GP surgeries.

The government’s mission-led approach is driving forward the use of innovative tech and new approaches to reform the health system and improve care for patients – offering them quicker and smarter care.

One of the tools – ambient voice technologies (AVTs) – can transcribe patient-clinician conversations, create structured medical notes, and even draft patient letters.

Patient safety and privacy will be paramount. This is why the guidance will focus on data compliance and security, risk identification and assessment, while ensuring that staff are properly trained before using the technology. 

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “AI is the catalyst that will revolutionise healthcare and drive efficiencies across the NHS, as we deliver our Plan for Change and shift care from analogue to digital.

“I am determined we embrace this kind of technology, so clinicians don’t have to spend so much time pushing pens and can focus on their patients.

“This government made the difficult but necessary decision at the Budget to put a record £26 billion into our NHS and social care including cash to roll out more pioneering tech.”

The NHS England funded, London-wide AVT work, led by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, has evaluated AVT capabilities across a range of clinical settings – Adult Outpatients, Primary Care, Paediatrics, Mental Health, Community care, A+E and across London Ambulance Service.

This multi-site evaluation involving over 7000 patients has demonstrated widespread benefits. Interim data shows:

  • Increase in direct care – clinicians spending more time spent with patients rather than typing on a computer
  • Increase in productivity in A&E – the technology has supported more patients to be seen in emergency departments by carrying out admin for A&E staff

At GOSH, AVTs have listened to consultations and drafted clinic notes and letters. These were then edited and authorised by the clinician before being uploaded to the secure electronic health record system and sent on to patients and their families. Clinicians agreed the AI helped them offer more attention to their patients without affecting the quality of the clinic note or letter. 

Dr Maaike Kusters, Paediatric Immunology Consultant at GOSH, says: “The patients I see in my clinics have very complex medical conditions and it’s so important to make sure I capture what we discuss in our appointments accurately, but often this means I am typing rather than looking directly at my patient and their family.

“Using the AI tool during the trial meant I could sit closer to them face-to-face and really focus on what they were sharing with me, without compromising on the quality of documentation.”

As it stands, clinicians in hospitals and GP surgeries are forced to spend much of their consultations recording information into a computer instead of focusing on the patient in front of them. 

Once the patient has left, they are often required to take that information and summarise it in documents like referral letters. The government is determined to reform these outdated ways of working and revolutionise care, and this innovative tech will do that work for them, so they can see their next patient. 

The Jean Bishop Integrated Care Centre in East Hull (part of City Health Care Partnership) has introduced an ambient scribing product to make their documentation process faster and better support their work to care for people living with frailty. 

By converting a conversation with a patient into a clinical note, the ambient scribing product is freeing up time for a range of staff including GPs, consultants, nurses, and physiotherapists.

Thanks to government action, GP surgeries delivered 31.4 million appointments last month– a 6.1% increase on the previous year – and waiting lists have fallen by 219,000 patients. This technology will help consolidate this progress. 

The government is already using AI to speed up diagnosis and treatment for a range of health issues – spotting pain levels for people who can’t speak, diagnosing breast cancer quicker, and getting people discharged quicker.

Two-year pay offer to Agenda for Change staff in Scotland

8% pay increase for nurses, midwives and NHS workers in 2025-26 and 2026-27

Nurses, midwives and other healthcare staff across Scotland have been offered a pay increase of 8% over two years to ensure they continue to be the best paid in the UK, Health Secretary Neil Gray has announced.

The offer guarantees the pay increase will be one percentage point above inflation over same period.

If accepted by trade unions, it will see pay raises of 4.25% in 2025-26 and 3.75% in 2026-27. It involves an investment of more than £700 million over the two-year period and will ensure almost 170,000 NHS Agenda for Change staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – benefit from the pay rise which will be backdated to 1 April 2025.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “This is a strong two-year pay offer that has been agreed following constructive engagement with trade union representatives. It is guaranteed to remain above CPI inflation, which gives added reassurance to staff, and will ensure Scotland’s nurses, midwives and NHS staff have the best pay in the UK.

“This comes on the back of increased employer national insurance contributions following the UK Government announcement in October 2024. It directly increases the overall cost of pay by an estimated £191 million for Scotland’s NHS.

“I want to express my thanks again to Scotland’s hardworking healthcare staff for their continued hard work and commitment.

“The unions will now consult their members and I hope this offer will be accepted.”

14 Years of FREE Prescriptions under the SNP Government

14,520,670 PRESCRIPTIONS DISPENSED BY NHS LOTHIAN LAST YEAR – SAVING HOUSEHOLDS AN AVERAGE OF OVER £400

On the 14th anniversary of prescription charges being scrapped by the SNP Scottish Government, Gordon Macdonald MSP has highlighted that the policy saves the average household in Scotland over £400 a year.

Latest figures from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) show that over 113 million prescriptions, including 14,520,670 by NHS Lothian, were dispensed in Scotland in 2023/24 – meaning that on average people in Scotland received 20.8 prescriptions.

This means that based on the £9.90 charge currently in place in England, the average household in Scotland saved £436.72 in 2023/24 thanks to the policy.

In one of his first acts as Scottish Tory leader, Russell Findlay outlined his plans to re-introduce charges if he ever came to power – a move which would cost each person £206 per year on average. 

A report by Trussell Trust last year showed that in England, 68% of working households receiving Universal Credit have gone without essentials such as prescription medication due to the costs involved. 

SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald said: “The SNP is proud to have abolished prescription charges in Scotland, ensuring that everyone in Edinburgh has access to the medication they require based on their needs rather than the ability to pay.

“The SNP believe that healthcare should be free at the point of use for everyone. The prescription charges, which Russell Findlay plans to re-introduce, were nothing more than a tax on ill health.

“In the face of soaring energy bills, despite Labour’s promise to bring them down, people across the city are still living through a cost-of-living crisis – making it more important than ever that they can access the medical treatment they need without worrying about the cost.

”With Labour continuing to hint at an increased level of private healthcare involvement in the NHS, only the SNP can be trusted to put the people of Edinburgh first and protect them from having to pay for their vital medication.” 

Dispensing NHS Board Prescriptions items dispensed (total)
  
   
NHS Scotland 114,358,700
   
NHS Ayrshire and Arran 9,172,880
NHS Borders 2,615,030
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 4,062,010
NHS Fife 7,785,890
NHS Forth Valley 6,421,780
NHS Grampian 10,606,210
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 26,355,740
NHS Highland 6,971,860
NHS Lanarkshire 15,807,560
NHS Lothian 14,520,670
NHS Orkney 410,830
NHS Shetland 569,610
NHS Tayside 8,356,630
NHS Western Isles 702,020

VPZ launches Youth Vaping Awareness Campaign at The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh based VPZ recently took the streets surrounding Holyrood in a youth vaping awareness campaign to highlight concerns around super-size disposable vapes in the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

A specially designed trailer sat outside the Scottish Parliament to shed light on the alarming rise of illicit ‘Big Puff’ vapes and its impact on youth vaping.

Alongside the trailer’s journey, there was a gathering of 20 that supported the campaign cause and raised awareness on the importance of the ban on those illicit devices.

The trailer featured two striking 1-tonne containers, one filled with legal 2ml vapes (35000 units) and the other packed with illicit, super-size disposable vapes (9000 units), showcasing the stark visual representation of the challenges the industry and policymakers could face if appropriate measures are not taken.

So-called ‘Big Puff’ vapes exploit a loophole in the vaping law that allows the sale of devices with greater liquid capacity than the legislated 2 ml.

By utilising an external plug-in tank of 10 ml, these vaping units effectively become a 12 ml product, which is 6 times more than the allowed vaping liquid in a disposable device. New devices are being approved by the MHRA weekly, some with more capacity than 12ml.

Despite being considered rechargeable, the super-size vape products are made with a low-quality battery, and an unchangeable coil which effectively makes them single use.

Greig Fowler, Director of VPZ – The Vaping Specialist, said: “We hope that our campaign has  served as a wake-up call to policymakers and the public, as it’s crucial that MPs act now to address the dangers of these super-sized disposables before the UK finds itself in the midst of another youth and environmental crisis.

“VPZ is taking a stand against the dangers posed by the unregulated vaping products that threaten to undermine the forthcoming disposable ban in June. Our mission is to highlight the urgent need for action and collaboration to tackle these arising issues to the public.

“Dr Caroline Johnson outlined amendment NC9 which would bring this area into check, however, that was discussed and rejected following a vote. The problem needs addressed now and not in 12-18 months’ time when the Bill is passed.

“If we fail to respond decisively now, we risk further harm to young people, an environmental disaster, and undermining vaping’s role as a smoking cessation tool, which has helped millions to quit smoking.

“We must work together to strike the right balance, protecting smokers and ex-smokers while preventing further damage to public health and the environment.”

VPZ strongly supports most of the Tobacco & Vapes Bill measures to tackle youth access, including restriction of naming, packaging, and marketing.

However, VPZ believes that there should be a balanced regulatory approach to protect adult smokers looking to quit while effectively cracking down on illicit and unregulated products in order for the UK to reach its 2030 Smoke-Free goals.

VPZ has previously warned adult vapers that the UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill could restrict some the favourite flavours that helped them quit smoking, potentially affecting around 3 million vapers and ex-smokers if passed.

VPZ has over 185 stores in the UK and has helped over 1 million smokers quit since it was established in 2012.

Eligible people urged to take up COVID-19 vaccine this spring

Public Health Scotland (PHS) is encouraging everyone offered a COVID-19 vaccine this spring to come forward, get vaccinated and stay protected – because COVID-19 hasn’t disappeared.

Last summer in Scotland, there were more than 10,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and over 4,000 people hospitalised.

This year’s spring vaccination programme is focused on protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19. This includes older adults in care homes, people aged 75 and over, and those with a weakened immune system, as they are at greater risk of illness from COVID-19.

If you’re invited for a COVID-19 vaccination this spring, it’s because experts know that your age or health condition mean you’re at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.

Dr Sam Ghebrehewet, Head of Immunisation and Vaccination at PHS, said:
“Being vaccinated is the safest and most effective way for older people and those with certain underlying conditions to protect themselves against COVID-19.

“You get your strongest protection from the vaccine in the first three months after getting it. Over time, this protection gradually fades so, even if you had your winter vaccination, it’s important to get another dose this spring to reinforce your immunity and help keep you safe.

“Getting vaccinated could mean the difference between a mild illness and a hospital stay.”

The spring vaccination programme runs from 31 March until 30 June. If you’re eligible, you’ll be invited by letter, email or text message, depending on your selected communication preference.

You can reschedule your appointment using the online portal or via the National Vaccination Helpline (0800 030 8013).

Find more information on the spring programme at: 

www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccine

Strengthening Scotland’s NHS?

New plan to focus on delivery

Health Secretary Neil Gray has set out how the Scottish Government plans to improve access to treatment, reduce waiting times and shift the balance of care from hospitals to primary care through the publication of the Operational Improvement Plan.

Through the additional £200 million investment contained in the Budget to reduce waiting times and improve flow through hospital, we will create 150,000 extra appointments and procedures using greater use of regional and national working.

By introducing a seven-day service in radiology, using mobile scanning units and additional recruitment, 95% of referrals will be seen within six weeks by March 2026, reducing backlogs in MRI, CT, ultrasound and endoscopy procedures.

To improve flow in acute hospitals and support increases in community care, we will expand Hospital at Home to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026, meaning the service, which provides hospital level care in the comfort of the patients home, will become the biggest hospital in Scotland.

By this summer there will be specialist staff in frailty teams in every A&E department in Scotland. Flow Navigation Centres, which direct patients to the most appropriate service for their condition, will be able to refer patients to more services, reducing the number of people who have to wait in A&E.

Investment in primary care will make it easier for people to see a doctor, dentist, optometrist or community pharmacist, and £10.5 million will be invested in general practice to take targeted action to prevent heart disease and frailty. 

Digital services will be expanded to modernise services and improve efficiency, with the Digital Front Door app launching in Lanarkshire in December. This launch will be followed by a national roll-out in 2026, allowing people to securely access their hospital appointments, receive communications and find local services. Over time it will be expanded to include social care and community health services.

On a visit to Kirklands Hospital’s Flow Navigation Centre, Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “This plan details how the Scottish Government will deliver a more accessible NHS, with reductions to long-waits and the pressures we currently see. It shows how we will use the £21.7 billion health and social care investment in the 2025-26 Budget to deliver significant improvements for patients.

“We want to increase the number of appointments, speed up treatment and make it easier to see a doctor. By better using digital technology, we will embrace innovation and increase efficiencies.

“This plan is ambitious but realistic, and builds on the incredible work of our amazing health and social care staff across our health boards, to deliver real change.”

NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan

Long lost Heroin films to be shown at North Edinburgh Arts for first time in over 40 years

Heroin ‘Uncut’: The Films of Peter Carr and the Edinburgh Community Stories Behind Them

Free tickets – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heroin-uncut-the-films-of-peter-carr-tickets-1270168641599

North Edinburgh Arts presents the first screening for more than 40 years of Heroin, a series of three films by Peter Carr made in North Edinburgh in 1983.

Originally shown over successive nights on prime time national UK television, Heroin is an unflinching fly on the wall glimpse at an often forgotten part of Edinburgh’s social history.

As poverty, crime and drug use in Scotland’s capital was ripping forgotten communities apart, Peter Carr was introduced to Edinburgh’s hidden underbelly by co-founder of the Gateway Exchange, Jimmy Boyle.

Boyle also introduced Carr to SHADA – Support Help and Advice for Drug Addiction – the grassroots organisation set up by what Carr calls “two remarkable women” – Heather Black and Morag McLean – as a lifeline and support network for drug users.

This became the basis of Heroin, which over its three episodes reveals a powerful and moving portrait of a community surviving in the face of institutional neglect and contempt from local authorities who would rather keep it out of view.

After four decades, Peter Carr revisits North Edinburgh for the screenings of his films to take part in a unique event by, for and about North Edinburgh.

Each screening will be followed by a conversation between key figures around the making of Heroin and those around North Edinburgh then and now.

Heroin ‘Uncut’ – The Films of Peter Carr and the Edinburgh Community Stories Behind Them

North Edinburgh Arts

MacMillan Hub

12c MacMillan Square

Edinburgh EH4 4AB

Heroin 1 followed by Irvine Welsh in conversation with ZoëBlack – April 23 – 6.30-8.30pm.

Heroin 2 followed by Dr Roy Robertson in conversation with Victoria Burns – April 24 – 6.30-8.30pm. 

Heroin 3 followed by Peter Carr in conversation with Sarah Drummond – April 25 – 6.30-8.30pm.

Running time of each film is 50 minutes, followed by a short break and discussion.

Free tickets – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heroin-uncut-the-films-of-peter-carr-tickets-1270168641599

Age 16 and over.

An exhibition of production images from Heroin by Granada TV stills photographer Stewart Darby runs at North Edinburgh Arts alongside Heroin ‘Uncut’, from April 23 to May 17 2025.

A programme for Heroin ‘Uncut’ features a new essay by Peter Carr reflecting on the making of his films alongside Stewart Darby’s images from Heroin.

Heroin ‘Uncut’ is coordinated and produced by Zoë Black, Victoria Burns, Neil Cooper, Sarah Drummond, Graham Fitzpatrick and Kate Wimpress in collaboration with North Edinburgh Arts and Screen Education Edinburgh.

With thanks to Laura Alderman, Alice Betts and Genevieve Kay-Gourlay at North Edinburgh Film Festival, Willie Black, Jimmy Boyle, Morvern Cunningham, Freda Darby and the Darby family, Malcolm Dickson at Street Level Photoworks, Laura Hoffman, Judith Jones and Stephen Kelly at granadaland.org, Jordan at ITV plc, Alan McCredie, Dr. Roy Robertson, Emma Welsh, Irvine Welsh, Bob Winton.

Special thanks to all staff, volunteers and board members of North Edinburgh Arts and Screen Education Edinburgh who made this event happen.       

Extra special thanks to Peter Carr.

Heroin was originally produced by Granada Television and screened on the ITV network on November 7th, 8thand 9th1983. All films and photographs are sole copyright of ITV plc, and are shown under licence.

Heroin ‘Uncut’ is dedicated to the memory of Heather Black, Morag McLean and all those friends, neighbours and loved ones who took part in the Heroin films. Though they may no longer be with us, their stories live on.

Crack teams get patients off waiting lists at twice the speed

Sending top doctors into areas of highest economic inactivity in England is ‘busting through the backlog’

  • Targeted approach is cutting waiting lists twice as fast as rest of the country
  • Plans to roll scheme out further as government delivers on its Plan for Change

A new Labour government initiative to send top doctors to support hospital trusts in areas where more people are out of work and waiting for treatment is cutting waiting lists faster, new data shows.

In September, Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting sent in crack teams spearheaded by top clinicians to NHS hospitals serving communities with high levels of economic inactivity. The teams support NHS trusts to go further and faster to improve care in these areas, where more people are neither employed nor actively seeking work, for reasons including ill health.

Latest data from October 2024 to January 2025 shows waiting lists in these areas have, on average, been reduced at more than double the rate of the rest of the country, falling 130% faster in areas where the government scheme is in action than the national average.  

A total of 37,000 cases have been removed from the waiting lists in those 20 areas, averaging almost 2,000 patients per local trust.

The teams of leading clinicians introducing more productive ways of working to deliver more procedures, including running operating theatres like Formula One pit stops to cut down on wasted time between operations.

The scheme has delivered huge improvements in areas of high economic inactivity. They include:

  • The Northern Care Alliance & Manchester Foundation Trust – where a series of ‘super clinics’ with up to 100 patients being seen a day in one-stop appointments where patients can be assessed, diagnosed and put on the treatment pathway in one appointment. These include Employment Advisors on site to support patients with any barriers to returning to work. Those that require surgery are then booked to ‘high flow theatre’ lists such as those at the Trafford Elective Surgery Hub.
  • Warrington & Halton – which has run Super Clinics for Gynaecology delivered at weekends, with one-stop models reducing the need for follow up appointments.
  • East Lancs Hospitals Trust – which has focused on streamlining diagnostic pathways and increasing capacity for Echocardiography, or heart scans, reducing the waiting list for these from around 2700 patients to around 700 – with all of patients having their scan within 6 weeks.

Data shows the number of people unable to work due to long term sickness is at its highest since the 1990s. The number of adults economically inactive due to ill-health rose from 2.1m in July 2019 to a peak of 2.9m in October 2023. The decision to send the crack teams to these 20 trusts first was based on the government’s aim to get people back to health and back to work, helping to cut the welfare bill.

Following the success of the programme, the government has confirmed similar crack teams will be rolled out to additional providers this year to boost NHS productivity and cut waiting times further. 

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The investment and reform this government has introduced has already cut NHS waiting lists by 193,000, but there is much more to do.

“By sending top doctors to provide targeted support to hospitals in the areas of highest economic inactivity, we are getting sick Brits back to health and back to work.

“I am determined to transform health and social care so it works better for patients – but also because I know that transformation can help drag our economy out of the sluggish productivity and poor growth of recent years.

“We have to get more out of the NHS for what we put in. By taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, reforming the way surgeries are running, we are cutting waiting lists twice as fast at no extra cost to the taxpayer.  

“As we boost NHS productivity and deliver fundamental reform through our Plan for Change, you will see improvements across the service in the coming weeks and months.”

The new data comes after the Westminster government confirmed the abolition of NHS England, centralising the way that health care is delivered, cutting bureaucracy and improving care outcomes for patients up and down the country.

The government inherited waiting lists of over 7.6 million last July, and rising numbers of patients waiting months and years to get the treatment they need to get back to their jobs.

Thanks to immediate action taken by the government- including ending the strikes and investing more in the NHS – overall waiting lists have fallen for the last five months in a row, dropping by 193,000.

The targeted teams are the latest success delivered by the government as it continues its fundamental reform of the NHS through the Plan for Change.

Soon after taking office, it confirmed an extra £1.8 billion to deliver extra elective activity across the country.

This helped create an extra 2 million elective care appointments between July and November last year – delivering on the government’s manifesto pledge seven months early.

Other plans to increase elective care productivity and cut waiting lists include opening community diagnostic centres 12 hours a day, seven days a week, revolutionising the NHS app so patients can receive test results and book appointments, and increasing use of the independent sector to improve patient choice.

New residential rehabilitation service opens in Aberdeenshire

North-East project boosts capacity outside Central Belt

First Minister John Swinney has officially opened the first phase of a new residential rehabilitation service in Aberdeenshire, which will increase capacity in the North East of Scotland.

The 27-bed facility, named Rae House and run by Phoenix Futures, will be followed by a second phase which will consist of 53 units of housing and therapeutic community ‘Dayhab’ in Aberdeen City, which in total could provide up to 200 placements a year.

In the following phase, the therapeutic community ‘Dayhab’ model will see people living in separate accommodation coming together for day programmes at a central hub in Aberdeen to help them address their drug and alcohol use.

Speaking at the official opening, First Minister John Swinney said: ““We want every person experiencing harm from drug use to be able access the support they need. Residential rehabilitation is central to that and we have made £100 million available to improve access over the course of the Parliament.   

“Following our support for Phoenix Futures’ family service in Saltcoats, this further investment of £11 million into the North East service will help address geographic barriers and provide a welcome increase in residential rehabilitation capacity in Scotland, particularly for areas outside the Central Belt.

“I am pleased that the way we have funded placements has allowed more people in the North East to access this type of treatment quickly.

“A recent report suggests we have achieved our aim of 1,000 people a year receiving public funding for their residential rehabilitation placement by March 2026, but we want to do more and our Additional Placement Fund will support even more people to access rehabilitation.

“Yesterday’s suspected drug death figures showed an 11% decrease for 2024 but they remain too high. There has been some encouraging progress, but we know there is much more to do and that is why, through our National Mission on drugs, we’ll continue to invest in a wide range of evidence-based measures to save lives and reduce harms.”

Phoenix Futures Chief Executive Karen Biggs said: “We are delighted to open Phoenix Futures Scotland’s new residential rehab in Aberdeenshire, bringing much-needed recovery support to the North East. This service ensures people can access life-changing treatment closer to home. 

“Thanks to the Scottish Government’s innovative funding model, we’ve overcome financial and systemic barriers that previously limited access to residential rehab.

“By prioritising investment in recovery services, Scotland is setting a precedent for inclusive and effective addiction treatment. This facility will provide a safe, supportive space for people to rebuild their lives. 

“We look forward to working with local communities and partners to make recovery accessible to all who need it.”

Rae House – Phoenix Futures