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Barclay accuses BMA of “political militant stance” in junior doctor pay talks
Steve Barclay has accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of adopting a “political militant stance” in the talks to resolve the junior doctors’ dispute.
Junior doctors in England are set to walk out for 96 hours from April 11, after the BMA insisted no “credible offer” was made.
Answering an urgent question on the strikes in the Commons, the Health Secretary said he had checked the minutes of the meeting with junior doctors and spoken to civil servants to confirm that “it was a precondition of the talks” to commit to a 35% pay increase.
He said the Government stands “ready to work constructively” with the BMA, but added: “They have chosen to take a more political militant stance in contrast to the approach that other trade unions have pursued”.
The BMA in turn accused Mr Barclay of “quibbling” instead of “getting round the table and negotiating with us”.
Source: Independent, 30 March 2023
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£2bn ICS debt from CCGs should be written off, says Confed
NHS England has been urged to write off £2.2bn in historic debts that integrated care systems could be asked to repay.
Around half of ICSs, which only became statutory organisations last summer, face having their funding cut to pay for historic overspends at the clinical commissioning groups they replaced.
The scale of the debts – with 10 ICSs owing more than £100m and one nearly £300m – means they are unlikely to ever be repaid in full, with one local finance chief telling HSJ it would “take a lifetime” to pay it off.
Sarah Walter, director of the NHS Confederation’s ICS Network, said ICS debts should be wiped in a similar fashion to debts owed by provider trusts. In the early days of the pandemic, trusts had more than £13bn of debts to the Department of Health and Social Care written off. Experts had always said the debts could never be repaid.
But those recording a deficit in either year would see repayments start in 2024-25, according to guidance published in January, which says funding allocations will be cut by up to 0.5 per cent. This would continue for three years, after which point ICSs would have to achieve another two years of balanced budgets to have the debts wiped or the process would restart.
It is not clear whether NHSE plans to enforce the policy, given nearly half of ICSs are set to end this year in deficit, and many others have little confidence about the prospect of breaking even next year.
Source: HSJ, 31 March 2023
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Opinion: Should we ban the purchase of cigarettes for life? A US town is trying
Writing for The Guardian, Simar Bajaj, discusses the passing of a bill in Massachusetts which prevents anyone born after 1 January 2000 from ever buying cigarettes in their town.
The ban was led by residents, Katherine Silbaugh and Anthony Ishak and came into effect at local level in September 2021.
Bajaj interviews Silbaugh, along with controversial neuroscientist and professor of psychology, Carl Hart, an advocate for the legalisation of all drugs, and Kenneth Warner, renowned economist, former dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and advocate for tobacco control.
Bajaj concludes, “birthdate bans are far from perfect, and it’s impossible to say how much they will reduce smoking rates – if much at all. But at the very least, they could offer a start.[…] we’ll still need policies to reduce poverty and help existing smokers quit.”
Source: The Guardian, 31 March 2023
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Job: Associate Director of the Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control
In a new collaboration, the Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control with Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, are seeking a new a new Associate Director as the key leadership role in this ground-breaking regional programme. The Associate Director will provide strategic oversight for comprehensive tobacco control across a population of 1.7m people.
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Webinar series: Agent-based Models for Health Improvement
The Population Health Agent-based Simulation Network (Phase) are hosting a series of webinars showcasing current research that uses agent-based modelling methods to provide new insights into tackling pressing health improvement challenges.
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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