HSJ Health Check

Hundreds of non-British NHS England staff face losing their jobs because their nationality prevents them working in the civil service.
We discuss why this threat  – that seems to fly in the face of NHS values – has come about, and what it says about the wider restructure process. 
Also this week - the first ‘advanced foundation trusts’ have been confirmed so we cover who made the cut and the benefits this could bring for the chosen few. 
And on the subject of reorganisation, we discuss whether government will take the leap and overhaul primary care networks for the neighbourhood health era.

On this week's podcast, with increasing examples of staff accessing patient records inappropriately, we ask how widespread this practice really is - and whether regulators need to do more. 

And we dig into the NHS's elective recovery figures, which show a dramatic improvement in the final month of the year helped the service meet its headline government target by the narrowest of margins.

This week we talk more about the government’s plans for a new “single patient record” - the legislation for which was in last week’s Health Bill - and why primary care could be a stumbling block.
It was hoped the Bill would provide clarity on how the new data sharing requirements would be achieved but there remain many unanswered questions. 
On the subject of primary care, we cover why the latest collective action being taken by the the GPs’ union may in fact help pave the way for sorting out data sharing.

We discuss Wes Streeting’s tumultuous 22 months in charge – and analyse the Health Bill he has left in his wake, which was published on Thursday.
The bill will give ministers sweeping new powers, as well as abolishing NHS England, and make important changes affecting foundation trusts, integrated care boards, and councils. 
The HSJ Health Check podcast welcomes Hugh Alderwick, Health Foundation director of policy and research, to help unpick the 200-page legislation and what it will mean for the service.

This week we talk in more detail about HSJ’s Top 50 CEOs – not only who topped our annual ranking of hospital leaders, but also interesting trends from this year and beyond, and a behind the scenes from the judging.

We cover the surprising new entries, why a third of individual chief executives included in the rankings over the last 12 editions have appeared just once, and why London and ambulance trusts are finally coming out top.

The full top 50 can be viewed here.