2019 has been another transformative and difficult year for the NHS. With record funding announced last year, questions of how the service moves on from its 70th anniversary celebrations are still yet to be answered. Boris Johnson has not answered his critics on how and where hospital upgrade funding is to be spent, with the 40 hospitals which he claims will benefit increasingly being felt as only six.
Likewise, many of the issues the NHS has suffered from in recent years remain. The NHS workforce is not growing at the required rate to care for an ageing and increasingly-ill population, and the disparity in technology advances remains too large across the country.
However, having overseen a monumental election victory in recent days, Johnson has again stressed that the NHS is the country's number one priority (Brexit notwithstanding), and that his government will ensure it receives all the help it needs. Whether words turn into action will be seen in the coming months.
Before we make any predictions and begin to guess government action, lets look back on the most popular features from Health Business magazine this year, with a range of topics, from healthcare recruitment to the clean air, favoured from our readership.
As always, thank you for visiting the Health Business website this year, and we look forward to bringing you more news, views and articles next year.
Here are our top 10 read features from 2019:
Jakub Sacharczuk, an interpreter and Board member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, wrote for the magazine about the current state of interpreting services within the NHS, including his tips for best practice and the role of technology developments.
2 - Digital records – just what the doctor ordered
Linda Watts, GDE programme manager and head of Health Records at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, shares the trust’s paperless journey to date, and explains how deploying an electronic document management system (EDMS) has resulted in reduced costs and faster patient care.
3 - Every infection prevented helps us combat AMR
Infection prevention must be the cornerstone of our approach to tackling antimicrobial resistance, wrote Pat Cattini, president of the Infection Prevention Society. At the start of the year Pat looked at the reasons why effective infection prevention is a crucial part of the fight against AMR.
4 - The Shortage Occupation List and Brexit
Following warnings from the CBI, which suggested that the health sector could fail due to staff shortages, Pia Subramaniam discussed changes made to the Shortage Occupation List and how these are likely to impact individual healthcare professionals, as well as the UK health sector as a whole.
5 - Leading the fight against NHS fraud
Launched in 2017, the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) is the special health authority leading the fight against fraud, bribery and corruption affecting the NHS and wider health service in England. Susan Frith, CEO of the NHSCFA, discusses collaborative counter fraud work and the importance of reporting fraud.
6 - Healthcare recruitment post-Brexit
The NHS is one of the top five largest employers in the world. A regular contributor, Neal Suchak, policy advisor at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, analysed for the magazine the challenges that will face the NHS post-Brexit.
7 - A coherent NHS narrative that drives change
In his first public statement as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson referred to ‘upgrading 20 hospitals’ and increasing access to GPs. Taking a more long-term view, the Nuffield Trust's Helen Buckingham analysed how set the NHS is for success, as well as what it will take to get there.
8 - £1.8bn NHS funding: optimising patient benefits
The new Prime Minister recently promised £1.8 billion capital investment to fund upgrades to our hospital estate and address backlog maintenance issues. Extra money is great, but more could be done to achieve best value from capital investment across the NHS. Here, Katie Crookbain explained why.
9 - Tory leadership: the candidates and the NHS
The fifth round of voting for the Conservative leadership race was completed in June, leaving backbencher Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt as the final two MPs to be determined by final ballot. Health Business analysed the credentials of the two men, and what their potential premierships would mean for the NHS.
10 - Creating cleaner air for the UK’s most polluted hospitals
Back in 2018, Great Ormond Street Hospital asked environmental charity Global Action Plan: “What would a Clean Air Hospital look like, and how would it operate?” Larissa Lockwood, head of Health and Air Quality at Global Action Plan, wrote for the magazine examining the step-by-step guide for hospitals to create cleaner air.
