|
|
|
|
30% cut to ICB staffing budgets
Integrated care boards have been told to cut their running costs — most of which is their staff — by 30 per cent.
In a letter to local leaders, seen by HSJ, NHS England said the running cost allowances (RCA) for ICBs will be subject to a 30 per cent real terms reduction by 2025-26, with at least 20 per cent to be delivered in 2024-25.
The cuts will require large reductions in ICB staffing, including through redundancies.
The letter, sent on Thursday evening, said: “This provides time for ICBs to reorganise and gives some flexibility on funding change, with scope for ICBs to go further and faster where possible, enabling resources to be recycled into front line care. No increases to the RCA to allow for inflation in this period are anticipated…
“Setting the central requirement in terms of the overall RCA (which is based on population) for each ICB gives maximum flexibility to determine locally how to configure teams, what functions to outsource, and where to work across multiple geographies. There is no intention to drive changes to ICS footprints through this work but rather to ensure that collaboration is strengthened to enable efficiency requirements to be delivered.”
ICB leaders have been told to expect no extra funding for redundancy packages, or for pay awards in the next two years, meaning cuts will in effect be even higher than the headline 30 per cent, senior sources said.
Sarah Walter, director of the NHS Confederation ICS network said the announcement provided “welcome clarity” but systems now needed “certainty, stability and an opportunity for recovery”.
Source: HSJ, 2 March 2023
|
|
Half of world on track to be overweight by 2035
More than half the world's population will be classed as obese or overweight by 2035 if action is not taken, the World Obesity Federation warns.
More than four billion people will be affected, with rates rising fastest among children, its report says.
Low or middle-income countries in Africa and Asia are expected to see the greatest rises.
The report predicts the cost of obesity will amount to more than $4tn (£3.3tn) annually by 2035.
The president of the federation, Prof Louise Baur, described the report's findings as a clear warning to countries to act now or risk repercussions in the future.
The report in particular highlights the rising rates of obesity among children and teenagers, with rates expected to double from 2020 levels among both boys and girls.
Prof Baur said the trend was "particularly worrying", adding that "governments and policymakers around the world need to do all they can to avoid passing health, social, and economic costs on to the younger generation" by assessing "the systems and root factors" that contribute to obesity.
Reasons include trends in dietary preferences towards more highly processed foods, greater levels of sedentary behaviour, weaker policies to control food supply and marketing, and less well-resourced healthcare services to assist in weight management and health education.
Source: The BBC, 3 March 2023
See also: World Obesity federation- Economic impact of overweight and obesity to surpass $4 trillion by 2035
|
|
Prevention is the new cure podcast
Steve Brine MP, Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee teams up with Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, one of the country's foremost medical academics and a general practitioner to discuss all things health and NHS in their new podcast. Episode one is available now.
|
|
Cancer Research UK open letter - tobacco control plan
Cancer Research UK have written an open letter to Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health and Social care, and Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, urging them to publish a new tobacco control plan to tackle smoking – the leading preventable cause of cancer. They are asking members of the public to add their names to the letter to show how much support there is for ending smoking. The letter will be published on No Smoking Day (8th March). Sign up by March 7th to make sure your name is included. You can sign the letter here.
|
|
Have you been forwarded this email? Subscribe to ASH Daily News here.
For more information email [email protected] or visit www.ash.org.uk
@ASHorguk
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
