Latest news with #WesStreeting
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Supermarkets could be forced to ensure shoppers make healthier food choices in a bid by ministers to tackle the obesity crisis
Supermarkets could be forced to ensure shoppers make healthier food choices in a bid by ministers to tackle the obesity crisis. Plans are being drawn up for supermarkets to promote fruit and vegetables to customers instead of fattening items like crisps and chocolate, according to the i newspaper. This will be done using nudge tactics to convince shoppers to make healthier choices during their weekly shop. The proposals are believed to be part of Health Secretary Wes Streeting 's ten-year NHS plan which is due to be published next week. Under the shopping policy, the largest retailers will be forced to record data which shows how successful they are in convincing consumers to swap out fattening items for healthier alternatives. It could result in supermarkets adjusting the layout of their stores so healthy items are displayed more prominently. Retailers have the ability to reformulate their own-brand products to make them more healthy as well as change signage and marketing to make nutritious foods look more appealing, according to policymakers. Details of the proposal are yet to be completely signed off but officials believe that providing supermarkets with clear targets on encouraging shoppers to make better choices could help reduce obesity levels in the country. The plans are based on a ten-year obesity blueprint which was developed by think tank Nesta. 'We urgently need to reshape our food system so that the healthier option is the easiest option for everyone, regardless of where you buy your food,' it said in its report. 'By implementing ambitious yet achievable mandatory health targets for retailers, we can make real progress towards these goals and start turning the tide on obesity once and for all.' Labour MPs have been asking the Health Secretary to adopt the proposals privately and all major supermarkets have been briefed on it. One Labour MP, who supports the policy, said: 'These are really simple things that you can change, and it may mean giving supermarkets a bit of a hit. But it's how you get people to make changes to their behaviour. 'It's a bit like the smoking in pubs. People were dead against it and then when they did it, even smokers supported it - that switch in behaviour that is seen as unthinkable, but that's how you change things.'
Glasgow Times
6 hours ago
- Health
- Glasgow Times
NHS keeps public away as patients seen as ‘inconvenience', new boss says
In his first interview since his appointment as chief executive of NHSE, Sir Jim Mackey told the newspaper the health service has retained too many 'fossilised' ways of working, some of which have barely moved on since its creation in 1948. His statement comes as he prepares to implement a 10-year health plan to be published by the Government next week. Sir Jim, who was knighted in 2019 for services to healthcare, told The Telegraph: 'We've made it really hard, and we've probably all been on the end of it. 'You've got a relative in hospital, so you're ringing a number on a ward that no-one ever answers. 'The ward clerk only works nine to five or they're busy doing other stuff; the GP practice scramble every morning. 'It feels like we've built mechanisms to keep the public away because it's an inconvenience.' Sir Jim warned the disconnect between NHS services and the public could result in the loss of the public health service altogether. 'The big worry is, if we don't grab that, and we don't deal with it with pace, we'll lose the population,' he told the Telegraph. 'If we lose the population, we've lost the NHS. 'For me, it's straightforward. The two things are completely dependent on each other.' The Government's 10-year health plan will aim at improving NHS services through relocating patient care from hospitals to community-based health centres, a greater use of digital tools, and preventive care. Health Secretary Wes Streeting (Lucy North/PA) Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Wednesday the plan will also aim to 'address one of the starkest health inequalities', which he claims is the unequal access to information and choice when it comes to healthcare. Sir Jim told the Telegraph: 'We've got to somehow re-orientate it; think about how do we find people who need us, how do we stop thinking 'it's going to be a pain in the arse if you turn up because I'm quite busy' and instead think about how do we find out what you need and get it sorted.' Sir Jim added his concerns are driven by his own traumatic experience of NHS services, when his father died in a hospital locally known for its poor standards of care. He told the paper: 'My dad died in a hospital where the local folklore was terrible about the hospital, but the hospital was deaf to it and didn't know what was actually being said. 'I wasn't long into the NHS, it was a long time ago now, and I felt really powerless. 'I found out too late that the clinical community knew the guy who looked after him wasn't as good as I would have wanted him to be. 'I'll carry that for the rest of my life.' In an effort to take pressure off hospitals and cut down waiting lists, the Government previously announced that 85 new mental health emergency departments will be built across England. The 85 units will be funded by £120 million secured in the Spending Review, the Department of Health and Social Care said. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they will be staffed by specialist nurses and doctors. Patients who need help will be able to walk in, or will be able to be referred by their GP. Under the new plans, mental health patients will also be able to self-refer for talking therapies using the NHS App The new measures could also pave the way for AI-driven virtual support, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. Mr Streeting also unveiled plans to divert more than £2 billion in NHS spending to working class communities.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
'Bonfire of the health quangos': Health secretary Wes Streeting vows to axe NHS groups employing 7,000 staff to cut wasteful spending and bureaucracy
Hundreds of NHS quangos employing 7,000 staff will be axed or merged under plans to cut wasteful spending and bureaucracy. Wes Streeting aims to simplify regulation, which has failed to prevent tragedies or drive improvements. As well as the Health Secretary creating clearer lines of accountability, the public will be asked to flag emerging issues by submitting reviews after each appointment through the NHS App. The scores and comments will be used to help officials to identify poorly performing providers. Responses will also be made publicly available, so that patients can decide where to have treatment. There are currently 150 regulatory bodies assessing care quality and providing guidelines to staff. But the Department of Health and Social Care describes the number of recommendations issued as 'overwhelming'. It means managers and frontline workers risk missing critical information, leading to repeated failings in care homes, hospitals and GP surgeries. The Government will abolish many of those organisations – including the Health Services Safety Investigations Body, the National Guardian's Office and Healthwatch England. It will also close Commissioning Support Units and abolish Integrated Care Partnerships. In total, Mr Streeting's 'bonfire of NHS quangos' will abolish 201 bodies, with budgets of more than a quarter-of-a-billion pounds. The Care Quality Commission will take responsibility for overseeing safety, while the National Quality Board will provide a single set of care quality standards. It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he plans to abolish NHS England, with its work moved in to the Department of Health and Social Care. Details of the further cuts will be unveiled as part of Labour's Ten Year Health Plan, to be published later this week. The move has been shaped by the findings of a review into patient safety by Dr Penny Dash, the chairman of NHS England. Mr Streeting told the Daily Mail: 'Over the past decade and a half, an overly complex system of healthcare regulation has been left to spiral out of control. Our Ten Year Health Plan will tear through this tangled web of bureaucracy, cut wasteful spending and reinvest the savings in frontline care. 'Our reforms will cut unnecessary bureaucracy, and liberate staff to deliver safe, timely care for patients.' Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'Protecting patients has to be the priority and not just a drive for efficiency.'
The Herald Scotland
7 hours ago
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
NHS keeps public away as patients seen as ‘inconvenience', new boss says
His statement comes as he prepares to implement a 10-year health plan to be published by the Government next week. Sir Jim, who was knighted in 2019 for services to healthcare, told The Telegraph: 'We've made it really hard, and we've probably all been on the end of it. 'You've got a relative in hospital, so you're ringing a number on a ward that no-one ever answers. 'The ward clerk only works nine to five or they're busy doing other stuff; the GP practice scramble every morning. 'It feels like we've built mechanisms to keep the public away because it's an inconvenience.' Sir Jim warned the disconnect between NHS services and the public could result in the loss of the public health service altogether. 'The big worry is, if we don't grab that, and we don't deal with it with pace, we'll lose the population,' he told the Telegraph. 'If we lose the population, we've lost the NHS. 'For me, it's straightforward. The two things are completely dependent on each other.' The Government's 10-year health plan will aim at improving NHS services through relocating patient care from hospitals to community-based health centres, a greater use of digital tools, and preventive care. Health Secretary Wes Streeting (Lucy North/PA) Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Wednesday the plan will also aim to 'address one of the starkest health inequalities', which he claims is the unequal access to information and choice when it comes to healthcare. Sir Jim told the Telegraph: 'We've got to somehow re-orientate it; think about how do we find people who need us, how do we stop thinking 'it's going to be a pain in the arse if you turn up because I'm quite busy' and instead think about how do we find out what you need and get it sorted.' Sir Jim added his concerns are driven by his own traumatic experience of NHS services, when his father died in a hospital locally known for its poor standards of care. He told the paper: 'My dad died in a hospital where the local folklore was terrible about the hospital, but the hospital was deaf to it and didn't know what was actually being said. 'I wasn't long into the NHS, it was a long time ago now, and I felt really powerless. 'I found out too late that the clinical community knew the guy who looked after him wasn't as good as I would have wanted him to be. 'I'll carry that for the rest of my life.' In an effort to take pressure off hospitals and cut down waiting lists, the Government previously announced that 85 new mental health emergency departments will be built across England. The 85 units will be funded by £120 million secured in the Spending Review, the Department of Health and Social Care said. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they will be staffed by specialist nurses and doctors. Patients who need help will be able to walk in, or will be able to be referred by their GP. Under the new plans, mental health patients will also be able to self-refer for talking therapies using the NHS App The new measures could also pave the way for AI-driven virtual support, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. Mr Streeting also unveiled plans to divert more than £2 billion in NHS spending to working class communities.
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Funding for hospitals will be linked to patient feedback ratings in Starmer's 10-year NHS overhau
Patients' ratings of hospitals will be directly to the funding they receive from the government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's plans to overhaul the NHS. The Labour leader is set to unveil a 10-year plan for the NHS next week, in which he is expected to make the bold move. Starmer is also set to link doctors' and nurses' pay to their success in bringing down waiting lists, as part of the massive revamp of the UK's health service. Under the proposed plans, NHS patients would be contacted several weeks after receiving treatment and asked if it was good enough for the hospital to get paid in full. If the patient says no, roughly 10% of 'standard payment rates' are set to be diverted to a local 'improvement fund.' Pilot programmes of the scheme are set to be implemented within the next year at hospitals with a record of poor performance, the Times reports. But senior health bosses are extremely concerned by the plans. Matthew Taylor, the chief of the NHS confederation, told the newspaper: 'None of our members have raised this idea with us as a way of improving care and, to our knowledge, no other healthcare system internationally adopts this model currently. He added: 'Patient experience is determined by far more than their individual interaction with the clinician and so, unless this is very carefully designed and evaluated, there is a risk that providers could be penalised for more systemic issues.' Health secretary Wes Streeting said that the public's frustration with the NHS was rooted in its failure to listen to patients, along with a series of scandals that have rocked the service to its core. He said: 'We will reward great patient care, so patient experience and clinical excellence are met with extra cash.' 'These reforms are key to keeping people healthy and out of hospital, and to making the NHS sustainable', he added. It comes as the new head of the NHS, Sir Jim Mackey, claimed that the health service sees patients as an 'inconvenience' and has 'build mechanisms to keep them away.' In his first interview since taking the role, Mackey chastised the NHS for being too often 'deaf' to criticism and having put in place far too many 'fossilised' ways of working that need to be updated for the 21st century. Maternity wards are expected to be among the first parts of UK hospitals to be placed under the microscope, after Streeting launched a full review into services across the country, saying that women had been 'ignored, gaslit [and] lied to' by the NHS. The latest proposals come following Streeting's plans to give health bosses bonuses of 10% of their salary if they cut waiting times, while those who fail to solve the problem are set to be refused pay rises.
