South East Coast Ambulance Service exits special measures

An ambulance service in the south east of England has exited special measures following a period of "sustained improvement", it has said.The overall rating for South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (Secamb) was downgraded from "good" to "requires improvement" following an inspection in 2022.The service, which covers Kent, Surrey and Sussex, was placed into NHS England's National Recovery Support programme, which set targets for answering and responding to calls.NHS England described the announcement as an "important milestone" for the trust while recognising that there is "more to do to continue to improve services for patients".
'Remarkable strides'
Simon Weldon, Secamb chief executive, welcomed the announcement and thanked staff for their "hard work, dedication and commitment".He said: "We have made remarkable strides, but I know we can achieve even more. "Our next step is a plan to ensure our continued improvement and to keep delivering the exceptional care our patients and our communities deserve."Michael Whitehouse, incoming Secamb chairperson, said: "Our people provide expert and compassionate care to our patients, every minute of every day and they should all take a moment today to be proud of this achievement."

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Telegraph

12 hours ago

• Telegraph

Labour's plan for the NHS: more money plus vital reform

The commitments that the Government made to our NHS in the Spending Review were made in full recognition of the scale of the challenge we inherited and the bold reforms we're already implementing. While it is correct that NHS productivity has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, it is wrong to imply that our response has been to throw more money at the problem, without an equal focus on productivity. Let's be clear: after 14 years of mismanagement, we found an NHS in crisis. Not just underfunded, but fundamentally broken in its structures and operations. The waiting list stood at 7.6 million people in September 2024. 10 per cent of patients were waiting more than 12 hours in A&E. Public satisfaction had dropped to record lows. This crisis demands not just investment, but radical reform. That's precisely what we're delivering. Take our decision to abolish NHS England. This isn't an ideological choice – it's a practical one that will cut duplication, remove unnecessary bureaucracy, and crucially, redirect hundreds of millions of pounds straight to frontline services. The bloated administrative structure created under the previous government hasn't delivered better care – it's created waste, confusion, and ultimately contributed to worse outcomes for patients. We are also tackling the scandalous spending on agency staff. Under the last government, one trust paid an agency £5,100 for a shift by a single doctor in 2022/23. We've cut almost £1 billion in agency spending and our ambition is to eliminate agency use entirely in the coming years. Those billions will be reinvested in permanent staff who provide better continuity of care. We've upgraded the NHS App so that it now sends appointment reminders and test results digitally instead of by post, saving £200 million on stamps, envelopes, and printing. We found an NHS drowning in targets – many contradictory, some counterproductive. We've halved the number of targets set for NHS trusts so that they can focus on what matters to patients: waiting times for operations, ambulances, A&E attendance, rebuilding general practice and dentistry, and improving mental health services. As a result, waiting lists are at a two-year low – but we know they need to fall further. Our Plan for Change outlines how 92 per cent of elective patients should wait less than 18 weeks. We're laser-focused on that goal. Similarly, we've halved the targets that GPs are measured on. The previous government even introduced a target measuring GPs' wellbeing, while simultaneously overwhelming them with bureaucracy. We're freeing doctors to focus on patients by bringing back the family doctor model and ending the 8am phone scramble. These are precisely the productivity measures which are needed by our NHS and by Britain. Last week's Spending Review delivered a £29 billion real terms increase for the healthcare system to 2029. But let's be clear – a lot of this money is linked to reform. Every penny we invest comes with expectations of reform and improved outcomes. We're cutting waste, streamlining bureaucracy, and empowering frontline staff to deliver better care. That's why we're developing a 10-Year Health Plan for publication in the coming weeks, built around three fundamental shifts: from hospital to community care, from analogue to digital systems, and from treatment to prevention. The problems in our NHS didn't develop overnight, and they won't be solved overnight either. But unlike our predecessors, we're not afraid of making difficult decisions and driving through the reforms our public services desperately need. Public service productivity does matter – that's why we're reforming the NHS to deliver better care at better value for taxpayers. Our plan combines investment with genuine radical change. After 14 years of decline, that's what real change looks like.

Rhyl Journal

15 hours ago

• Rhyl Journal

ADHD waiting list led to rise in unregulated private providers

The ADHD taskforce, commissioned by NHS England with the support of the Government, has published an interim report saying the system for diagnosing and managing ADHD needs to be overhauled. At the moment, ADHD assessment and treatment in England is provided by highly specialised doctors in secondary care. But the report warned: 'Inability to access NHS services has led to a significant growth in the use of private providers that are not regulated, resulting in two-tier access to services, diagnosis and treatment; one for those who can pay and another for those who cannot. 'This drives health inequalities and links to disproportionate impacts and outcomes in the education and justice systems, employment and health.' Experts behind the study said waiting times for NHS ADHD services 'have escalated and are unacceptably long' and demand on services is 'very likely' to continue to rise. The taskforce concluded that ADHD is not solely the remit of the NHS and other health providers, with schools being vital for identifying and meeting needs at an early stage. And while a clinical diagnosis of ADHD via the NHS is required if a person needs medication, early support can still be provided to others. The report said: 'We need timely recognition and early support of suspected ADHD and neurodivergence across all settings. 'This is especially important in schools and the early years, to prevent adverse impacts and costly outcomes in the future. This should be needs-led and not require a clinical diagnosis.' The report also suggested there is no evidence of over-diagnosis of ADHD in the UK. It argued: 'England and the rest of the UK have much lower service recognition and treatment rates of ADHD diagnosis compared with other European countries. 'Recent data show a very high level of under-recognition and under-treatment of strictly diagnosed ADHD, with significant inequalities in access to care.' The report also addressed concerns about potential 'over-medicalisation and over-diagnosis', including worries that people are self-diagnosing ADHD based on information from social media. However, the report, said that 'currently there is no good evidence on what percentage of those waiting to see a clinician have self-diagnosed ADHD using social media and eventually meet or do not meet ADHD diagnostic criteria after a high-quality assessment. 'We only know currently that in England, recognised rates of ADHD are lower than the expected prevalence of ADHD.' Currently, the estimated economic costs of not treating ADHD are around £17 billion to the UK economy, the report went on. This includes through lower tax contributions, people needing state benefits and more likely to be not in education, employment or training, or who are long-term unemployed. 'Many of these costs are avoidable, as with appropriate, early support, people with ADHD can thrive,' it said. Professor Anita Thapar, chair of the ADHD Taskforce, said: 'The recommendations put forward by the taskforce will require action across Government and cross-sector organisations to make the necessary changes to improve the lives of people with ADHD. 'We need to get this right, to make sure people get early diagnosis and support, not just in the NHS but across society.' Dr Adrian James, NHS England's medical director for mental health and neurodiversity, said: 'We know that too many people with ADHD have been waiting for too long for support, which is why we launched the taskforce last year to help respond to the significant growth in the need for care. 'It is clear that much more needs to be done to improve ADHD assessment and care in England and ensure people can get a timely diagnosis, and we welcome the findings from the interim report, and look forward to its final conclusions later this year.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Lord Darzi's report into the state of the NHS laid out how severe the delays have become for people waiting for an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis. 'We welcome the publication of the ADHD Taskforce's interim report, which provides valuable insights into the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including access to services and support.' The NHS has launched publicly-available data collection on ADHD referrals and waiting times to help local teams better understand how they are performing. By March 2026, the Government also aims for six in 10 pupils to have access to a mental health support team in school.

The Guardian

17 hours ago

• The Guardian

One in three overdue for cervical cancer screening across UK

A third of people across the UK are overdue their cervical cancer screening, while in parts of England some are at greater risk of the disease than others due to a low uptake for the preventive vaccine, experts have warned. Since the coronavirus pandemic, cervical screening attendance rates have been steadily declining, from 72.2% in 2020 to 68.4% in 2024, NHS England data shows. A YouGov survey of 3,000 people across the UK eligible for cervical cancer screening, commissioned by Cancer Research UK, is in line with these findings, with 30% of respondents being overdue their screening. It also highlighted the main barriers people cited, with 42% of respondents finding cervical screening painful previously, 40% not wanting a man to carry out the screening test, and just under one in five (19%) of respondents saying they were too embarrassed to go for a screening. Of those who did not attend their screening, 16% of respondents said it was because they didn't have any symptoms, highlighting the misinformation still prevalent regarding cervical screening, which is for people without symptoms. Separate figures from the UK Heath Security Agency (UKHSA) have found that uptake of the HPV vaccine greatly varies by region, with girls in London by year 10 having the lowest uptake (64.9%) and girls in the south-east the highest (82.7%). Among boys of the same age, it was also lowest in London (58.9%) and highest in the south-east (77.3%). HPV refers to a group of viruses that can be transmitted through sexual contact and cause no symptoms. About 13 high-risk types of HPV are known to cause 99.7% of cervical cancers. Each year, about 3,200 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 850 die from it. It is the 14th most common cancer affecting women in Britain, with women aged 30 to 34 most likely to receive a diagnosis. Last year, NHS England pledged to wipe out cervical cancer by 2040. Globally, it is the fourth most common cancer in women, with about 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization. The disease develops when abnormal cells appear in the lining of the cervix and grow, eventually coming together as a tumour. If the cells are not caught early, the cancer can spread to other parts of the body. In June, NHS England said that women aged between 25 and 49 who test negative for HPV, meaning they are at very low risk of cervical cancer over the next 10 years, will safely be invited at five-year intervals instead of three. Fiona Osgun, Cancer Research UK's head of health information, said the declining rates were due to a combination of factors. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'We know that people have specific barriers to accessing screening; some of those are practical such as not being able to get an appointment at a time that works for them, but some are more specific to the test itself, such as finding the screening painful or being worried about who's going to be carrying out the test,' Osgun said. 'I think we have just seen a slow decline, which unfortunately can happen even with successful screening programmes. We need to continue to chip away at those misunderstandings and misconceptions some people have regarding cervical screening.' Osgun added that there were various measures people could ask for to make their cervical screening test more comfortable, such as asking for a double appointment or a different-sized speculum. Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care and community services at NHS England, said: 'The NHS HPV vaccination programme has already helped save thousands of lives and we need to go further to boost uptake of HPV vaccines and cervical screening to help eliminate cervical cancer in England by 2040.'