Head of the health service in England is to retire
Sir David Nicholson is to retire. His departure comes three months after the critical report into unnecessary deaths at Stafford Hospital.
Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
Jeremy Hunt will say that every patient should have a doctor who is responsible for their care 24/7 when he announces reforms to GP service.
Health Secretary to announce Out of Hours shake-up
A&Es are getting 'closer to the cliff edge' as ITV News has learned the Health Secretary is to unveil major reforms of Out of Hours care.
Live updates
Labour: Pressure on A&E units 'not going away'
Labour said the pressure accident and emergency departments face "is not going away" and it is the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's "job to find solutions."
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "David Cameron and his Health Secretary keep blaming GPs and the 2004 contract for the pressure in A&E despite a clear statement from the NHS Confederation that there is no link between the two.
"In addition, Jeremy Hunt has received official advice identifying other reasons for the pressure, such as the botched introduction of the 111 service and the severe cuts to social care.
"By picking on a convenient political target, the Health Secretary is failing to face up to the real causes of the chaos. That cannot be allowed to continue as the pressure is not going away and it is his job to find solutions."
Read: Jeremy Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
GP leader: A&E units unsafe due to 'political meddling'
The accident and emergency system has been left unsafe because of "political meddling" and family doctors will not help shore up the service, the British Medical Association GP chairman is expected to warn.
Dr Laurence Buckman will accuse Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of spouting "rubbish" and being more interested in criticising doctors.
The GP leader is expected to say in a speech today: "He (Mr Hunt) does not want to bother with the facts when he can have a bash at those of us who on his own admission are overworked and strained beyond endurance.
"GPs are not prepared to shore up a system that has been rendered unsafe by unwise political meddling."
Dr Buckman's speech comes on the day Mr Hunt prepares to unveil his reforms to the GP service.
Read: Jeremy Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
Advertisement
Royal College of GPs: 'We are solution to NHS problems'
Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, criticised the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ahead of his speech, for "attacking" GPs, saying:
Family doctors are working ever longer hours in surgery as they struggle to cope with ballooning workloads, at a time when the Government is diverting more and more funding and resources away from general practice.
We need to change the narrative from attacking GPs and focus on ensuring that primary care is properly resourced, thus relieving pressure on other parts of the health services, particularly A&E.
GPs work exceptionally hard for our patients. We are the solution to problems in the NHS, not the cause.
Health Secretary set to launch GP shake-up
GPs are set to see a radical revision of their employment contract to incorporate 24-hour responsibility for patients under plans to be announced today by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
In a speech this afternoon he is expected to outline his mission to change the way GPs work, including the new focus being the direct relationship between a GP and their patient.
Read more: Jeremy Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
Campaigner: Nicholson has not accepted responsibility
Cure the NHS campaigner Julie Bailey said NHS boss Sir David Nicholson had not accepted responsibility for what happened at Stafford and is simply "waiting for his retirement".
"We're disappointed that he's not going immediately to be honest", she said, "this man presided over the biggest disaster in the history of the NHS, he'll be leaving with a huge pension pot and with his knighthood intact but he'll be going eventually and then we can start to cure the NHS."
A&E doctors warn they 'cannot guarantee safe care'
Top A&E doctors have warned the NHS that they are no longer able to guarantee safe care for their patients.
In a leaked letter from 20 emergency medicine chiefs from the West Midlands seen by The Independent the doctors warn of"toxic overcrowding" and "institutional exhaustion."
All of our EDs [Emergency Departments] have been under immense pressure for the last few months.
There is toxic ED overcrowding, the likes of which we have never seen before.
Nurses and doctors are forced to deliver care in corridors and inappropriate areas within the ED, routinely sacrificing patient privacy and dignity and frequently operating at the absolute margins of clinical safety.
– Leaked letter from top A&E doctorsWhat is entirely unacceptable is the delivery of unsafe care, but that is now the prospect we find ourselves facing on too frequent a basis.
Advertisement
Nicholson will leave NHS with '£2 million pension pot'
The Telegraph claims that retiring NHS boss David Nicholson will leave with a £2 million pension pot.
The paper says that Sir David, 57: "earns £290,000 a year including performance bonuses and “benefits in kind”, has also been criticised over his expenses claims, with almost £50,000 claimed during 2011-12 in travel expenses."
Read more: Head of the health service in England is to retire
Head of the health service in England is to retire
Sir David Nicholson is to retire. His departure comes three months after the critical report into unnecessary deaths at Stafford Hospital.
Read the full storyNHS boss Sir David Nicholson to retire next year
The Head of the NHS in England, Sir David Nicholson, has said he will retire early next year.
Sir David oversaw one of the service's worst ever scandals in Mid-Staffordshire, where he admitted to personal failings - but at the time he resisted calls to resign.One MP said today, she was 'sickened' that he will now be able to leave on his own terms.
Political Correspondent Libby Wiener reports:
Sir David Nicholson 'planned his departure a month ago'
The letter announcing his retirement of Sir David Nicholson suggests he planned his departure more than a month-and-a-half ago.
Although it is dated May 21, one paragraph says: "In getting ourselves ready for the 1 April 2013 we should..." which implies that the letter was drafted before April 1 - the day that the controversial NHS reforms were implemented.
Sir David goes on to say that he has stayed in the role to oversee NHS reforms come into place.
He thanks NHS England's chair Professor Sir Malcolm Grant for support and understanding "with regard to the complexity of my role".
Professor Grant replied: "Thank you for your letter conveying your intention to retire as CEO of NHS England. I was sorry but not surprised to have it.
"Your career within the NHS over 35 years has been exceptional, and your leadership through the radical changes of the past two years has been fundamental to their success."
Today's top stories
