Energy drinks

She said: “I strongly welcome the government’s plans to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s. “Every week in my practice I see the impact that poor sleep, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating has on young people’s health and education. “The evidence linking these drinks to those problems is compelling, and the scale of use among children is deeply concerning. “Caffeine at these levels is not harmless. For developing bodies and brains, it can disrupt sleep, worsen mood and anxiety, and undermine learning — all at a stage when children need stability and focus. “Many of these products are also high in sugar, further fuelling the growing crisis of childhood obesity and dental decay.

Safeguarding children

“This is not about restricting choice, but about safeguarding children from products that are marketed aggressively and consumed widely despite well-documented risks. “Parents, teachers, and health professionals have long been asking for this change, and I am pleased to see action being taken. “By introducing this ban, the government is taking an important step towards prevention, health equity, and giving children the best possible start in life. “It is a welcome recognition that protecting children’s wellbeing today will deliver long-term benefits not only for individuals, but for society and the NHS as a whole.”

Energy drinks ban

The proposal would make it illegal to sell high-caffeine energy drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per litre to anyone aged under 16 years across all retailers, including online, in shops, restaurants, cafes and vending machines. The proposals would not affect lower-caffeine soft drinks nor tea and coffee. The Government consultation will run for 12 weeks. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “How can we expect children to do well at school if they have the equivalent of four cans of cola in their system on a daily basis? “Energy drinks might seem harmless, but the sleep, concentration and wellbeing of today’s kids are all being impacted, while high sugar versions damage their teeth and contribute to obesity.

Plan for Change

“As part of our Plan for Change and shift from treatment to prevention, we’re acting on the concerns of parents and teachers and tackling the root causes of poor health and educational attainment head on. “By preventing shops from selling these drinks to kids, we’re helping build the foundations for healthier and happier generations to come.” Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.

10-year plan

Plan for Change will rebuild the NHS to train thousands more family doctors, transform hospital outpatient appointments, and provide personalised care plans for complex needs, Mr Starmer and Mr Streeting said. DAUK’s GP spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor said: “It’s good to see that the Government is working towards bringing more care into the community and has the aim of bringing back the family doctor and ending the 8 am rush. “The problem with the 10-year plan is that it focuses on neighbourhood health centres without acknowledging there are already more than 6,000 neighbourhood health centres in the community called GP practices.

GP crisis

“Investment in GPs and GP practices would be cheaper. We have a crisis of unemployed and underemployed GPs who could step in now to provide care in the community and help solve the two aims of the Labour manifesto. Both of which we and patients agree on. “The danger of a top down, secondary care-led community health structure is that it will be much more costly than reinforcing the current structures. “There are ways to do this in line with Government priorities and Lord Darzi’s review which would solve the problems quickly and with less expensive options. “More care in the community, yes, but not via privately run big centres, where continuity of care, personal support and patient centred care is lost.”

Investment

DAUK chair Ms Helen Fernandes called for more detail on funding. She warned the 10-year plan would be ‘nothing more than political posturing’ without investment. Ms Fernandes said: “We await to see the detail of the 10-year plan but we need the investment in general practice, in the hundreds of unemployed and underemployed GPs, and in our estates to bring it up to scratch. “Without that investment the 10-year plan feels like a Government trying to win political points scoring on big changes to the NHS that promise the public everything but are actually undeliverable.”

Cross-party collaboration

Dr Ellen Welch, DAUK vice chair and a GP in Cumbria, added: “One of the biggest asks DAUK made ahead of the general election was for a cross-party collaborative to focus on the NHS to avoid successive Governments reorganising the service every Cabinet shuffle. “Once again it looks like we’re set for another reorganisation. “What’s frustrating is it’s often the same people who are already in position, doing similar jobs with slightly differently titles, all at great expense. “We already have teams of experts bedded into local communities – they’re called GPs. “It would save a lot of time and reshuffling to involve them and give them the funding to provide adequate care.”

Training and workforce

Dr Matt Kneale, DAUK’s resident doctor and former chair, said: “We await urgent action from the Government to avoid an impending unemployment crisis for British doctors trying to progress into further training, where bottlenecks are already threatening the future workforce. “We also want to see signs the Government is serious about ending the exploitation of international medical graduates (IMGs), who are too often treated as a cash cow with no long-term plan to integrate and retain them. “It is equally important to ensure that IMGs already working and contributing in the UK are not unfairly excluded from future workforce planning. “Training more doctors from medical school through to consultancy is a necessary and welcome step — but with medical students fearing unemployment, facing limited funding in their final years, and struggling to access world-class training under overstretched clinicians, there is still much to do.”

Physician associates and the future of the medical profession

Dr Kneale added: “With the publication of the Leng Review on physician associates and anaesthesia associates imminent, we urge the Government to use this moment to clarify and reaffirm the distinct role of the medically-trained doctor. “There is growing unease in the profession at the direction of travel — towards a fragmented, task-based model of care which implies that ‘anyone can do it’. “Medicine cannot be reduced to a series of checklists and delegated tasks. It is a complex, deeply responsible profession that demands a medical degree and years of further training. “We call on ministers to commit to reversing the de-professionalisation of medical care, and instead recognise that safe, high-quality NHS care must be doctor-led, not protocol-led. “Patients deserve to be treated by properly trained doctors — not just because they expect it, but because it is safer.” Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.

GP employment

He added: “Despite the headlines of 1,500 extra GPs in work, those jobs that (health secretary) Wes Streeting has announced are not substantive roles. “They’re not seeing patients in the same way I would see patients because they are in all sorts of roles all over practices.” He was commenting on Government plans for the NHS App to become the go-to method of communication for patients. The Government said it would avoid the need to send at least 50 million letters through the post. This would save an estimated £200 million across the system over the next three years, the Government said. Dr Taylor told LBC that, as a GP, he could see a lot of potential for the app.

NHS app

“The hope is to use the app to book appointments and do other things,” he said. “I’d love for our hospital colleagues to send prescriptions to local pharmacists. That would save me as a GP the most time. “One of the things I struggle with the most is the lack of a joined-up approach. “But the problem, as I alluded to, is not enough cake. Doctors are struggling to find work.” Listen to Dr Taylor’s interview in full. Please support our work by contributing to our crowd funder or by becoming a member.

NHS investment

Describing the NHS as the country’s ‘jewel in the crown’, Dr Welch highlighted the lack of investment in the service, and in primary care in particular, as being an issue behind public dissatisfaction. She wrote: “… we can’t have a sparkling jewel in our crown if the tiara we are wearing comes from Poundland.” Read Dr Welch’s blog on LBC.co.uk. Meanwhile, Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK’s GP spokesperson, has been speaking in the media about requirements for ICBs to set up ‘interface groups’ to oversee the expansion of advice and guidance.

Primary care

Speaking to GPonline, Dr Taylor said the groups were a welcome move and strong primary care representation was needed. He said: “It’s important to have a strong GP voice in those groups, otherwise they could just create downward pressure on GPs not to refer. “It needs to be equal, with GP representation from people who are working within the system currently and who have the ear of local GPs to state clearly to the hospital trust what the problems are.” Read the GPonline article in full. Please support our work by contributing to our crowd funder or by becoming a member.

Lack of plan

“Sadly a lack of a plan seems to be the message we are getting. “Even worse, the one that has been implemented so far, in the National Insurance employer contributions, has not been thought through leading to higher costs for social care, charities and GP services. “It is time to take health and social care out of politics altogether. The five-year cycle of government is destroying the services the public needs.” DAUK’s comments follow the announcement of the independent commission, which will be led by the cross-bench peer Louise Casey and split into two phases. The first phase will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements and will report by mid-2026. Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future, but it will not report until 2028.

Concerns

Elsewhere, a survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the PA news agency found that more than eight in 10 people said they have concerns about the health service overall, with half not confident the Government’s plans for the NHS will lead to improvements in the next five years. The chief concerns were: A&E waiting times (68%); as well as long waits for GP appointments (63%); planned hospital appointments (62%) and ambulances (62%). About half of those with concerns said they are worried about the workload on healthcare staff (52%) and the quality of care being delivered (49%). Some 38% said they have concerns about the NHS’s ability to recruit staff, while a third said they were worried about the wellbeing of existing workers. Dr Ellen Welch, DAUK vice chair, said leaders with a proven background in health care should be appointed to focus on solutions that work for the NHS. Dr Welch said: “We have been calling for some time for a cross-party collaboration on the NHS. “It needs a dedicated group of leaders who can make long and short-term plans for our health service that are not dependent on party politics.

Solutions

“Every time the government changes we have reviews and reforms which feel very much like deckchairs being shuffled on the Titanic. “Appoint people with a proven background in healthcare and NHS leadership who know the pressure points and can adopt solutions for the good of the service, rather than schemes that focus on grabbing votes and headlines.” Please support our work by becoming a member or donating to our Go Fund Me.

DAUK’s chair Ms Helen Fernandes said: “We’d like to congratulate Sir Keir Starmer on becoming the new prime minister.

“We’d urge him and his government to engage meaningfully and to work collaboratively with DAUK and other health care bodies to ensure the NHS receives the support it needs.

“The NHS continues to provide excellent care to patients across the country despite it being chronically underfunded for the past decade.

“As a result of that underfunding there are issues regarding pay, working conditions, staff shortages, training, access to jobs, buildings and estates, the list goes on, all of which is causing disquiet and anxiety.

“We’ve set out steps we believe are needed to ease some of the pressures on the NHS and stand ready to engage in productive dialogue and action to achieve these goals.”

We set out our manifesto for general practice last month, here, on the 76th anniversary of the NHS, are the steps for the wider service.

Cross-party collaboration

Take the NHS off the political agenda and make it a cross-party collaboration. This will avoid the inevitable disruptive reorganisations that come with each government. We need stability and not more reform or reorganisation.

NHS workforce

The most valuable resource the NHS service has is its staff, but years of disinvestment, bad planning, poor wellbeing and retention issues have led to a workforce crisis.

Plans to cut NHS waiting lists by asking staff to deliver 40,000 more appointments a week through evening and weekend clinics are undeliverable and will not solve the crisis.

We need investment in staff, better pay, improved working conditions and cutting bureaucracy to free up time with patients.

Social care

Social care remains a major obstacle to healthcare provision in hospitals. Tens of thousands of hospital patients are fit to be discharged but cannot because of a lack of available social care.

Increasingly primary care and even ambulance services are picking up the pieces.

Investment in social care would free up beds, cut backlogs, reduce pressures on primary care, and ensure people are cared for in the correct way.

General practice

Invest £3 per month per head of population to achieve a return to real terms funding last seen in 2015. That’s the equivalent of the price of cup of coffee per month.

Review the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) to allow more flexibility to hire GPs. Currently there’s a shortage of GP roles but a trained and willing workforce, with millions of patients waiting for appointments and GPs overworked.

Aim for ratios of patient to GP full-time equivalent of 1:1600 patients – and even lower in deprived areas – to reduce pressure ensure all patients have equitable access to GPs.

Relieve pressure on GPs by shortening secondary care waiting lists.

Non-doctors

Concerns around the role and regulation of physician associates need to be addressed. Patients are being put at risk by the roll-out of non-doctors and proposals for their regulation is blurring the lines with qualified doctors.

NHS estates

Long-term planning and funding for buildings and estates. A decade of underinvestment has left buildings crumbling. We need room for everyone, including any plan to expand places for healthcare students.

IT infrastructure

Outdated and fragmented IT systems put pressure on frontline medics and keep them from spending more time with patients.

Investment is needed to modernise NHS IT systems and improve efficiency.

Become a member of DAUK and support our work.

NHS Whistleblowers (NHSWB) – a support group for current and former health professionals made up of current and former doctors, midwives and nurses – said staff should be able to give evidence regarding ‘a culture detrimental to patient safety’.

The Thirlwall Inquiry was set up to examine events at the Countess of Chester Hospital, and their implications, following the trial, and subsequent convictions, of former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby.

Dr Matt Kneale, DAUK co-chair, said: “NHS staff who have bravely spoken up about patient safety concerns or unethical practices deserve to have their voices heard and experiences carefully examined. 

“By granting NHSWB core participant status, the inquiry can ensure it has direct access to the perspectives of those on the frontlines who have witnessed troubling practices first-hand.

“Such evidence is vital for understanding the full scope of the problems and informing reforms to better support whistleblowers and safeguard patient care across the NHS.”

NHSWB represents a full cross section of NHS employees, former employees and supporters, including DAUK, Justice For Doctors, and NMC Watch, who collectively have more than 1600 members.

The group has instructed public inquiry specialists Hudgell Solicitors, arguing its evidence relating to how NHS whistleblowers are treated across the UK is of ‘huge significance’. The move has been reported in the media, including on BBC Online.

Rachel Di Clemente, chief executive of Hudgell Solicitors, the firm instructed to represent NHSWB, said: “They are requesting the opportunity to be given a platform at an inquiry of huge national importance to speak collectively as a voice of experience. They are experts in their fields who have seen things go wrong first hand.

“Since the Francis report in 2015, following the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust Public Inquiry, there has been a series of investigations into NHS Trusts around patient safety where it has been revealed NHS staff have either been too scared to speak up or punished for speaking up.

“Lessons have clearly not been learned and we feel it is imperative that this group be involved in the Thirlwall Inquiry, particularly to help examine whether suspicions could have been raised earlier, whether Letby should have been suspended earlier and how the management responded to concerns raised about her.

“The evidence of this group relating to how whistleblowers are treated, not just at one Trust, but across the UK, is of huge significance.”

NHSWB includes many highly-experienced health specialists who have challenged situations and raised concerns over patient safety within their own Trusts. 

They say they can evidence how whistleblowers are commonly subject to ‘victimisation and persecution’, and referred to their regulators as a direct consequence of raising concerns over patient and staff safety and unethical practices, preventing lessons being learned and safety improvements being made.

A recurring theme, the group says, is senior management at NHS Trusts placing individual and organisational reputational damage limitation ahead of patient and staff safety, and a formulaic approach taken against those whose actions are in conflict with those interests.

NHSWB believes the inquiry should examine the apparent lack of protection afforded to, and the treatment of, whistleblowers and the reasons behind it happening.

Dr Martyn Pitman, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist who was dismissed from his post at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester after raising concerns over maternity patient and staff safety, represents the NHSWB.

He said: “Our members could not be better placed to understand the challenges, complexities and potentially career and tragically sometimes life-destroying risks involved when speaking truth to power within the healthcare system.

“For many of the general public, the details uncovered by the tragic Lucy Letby scandal revealed for the first time what can befall whistleblowers in the NHS who, not uncommonly, place their careers, professional reputations and livelihoods in jeopardy by simply adhering to their basic professional, ethical and moral responsibilities, by raising concerns that are in the public interest.

“We believe the importance of our involvement in this Inquiry is further heightened by the announcement of grave concern reported in the national press this week by the out-going NHS Ombudsman in relation to what he describes as the on-going ‘cover-up culture’ in the NHS and inappropriate victimisation and persecution of whistleblowers,” he added.

Cathryn Watters, founder and director of NMC Watch, which represents nearly 600 nurses and midwives who have been through investigations by their regulator, said: “We feel that the Fitness to Practice process is being weaponised to silence whistleblowers and to punish those who have continued to escalate concerns. Health care regulators must get better skills to unpick this and assure further patient harm is not being risked in pursuit of such cases.”

Consultant Cardiologist Dr Usha Prasad, of Justice For Doctors, was dismissed by Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Trust after raising patient safety concerns. 

She said: “It is important that NHSWB is heard at the inquiry with regards the culture across the NHS when people speak out and raise concerns about patient safety. Following the Lucy Letby case, lessons must be learnt to prevent further such disaster.”

• DAUK conference: book your place now
• DAUK in the media: highlighting NHS risks from extreme heat
• UK governments urged to act on unsafe NHS temperatures
• DAUK in the media: fund general practice to ease burden on the NHS
• DHSC response on heatwave safety welcomed as DAUK warns urgent action still needed

Steve Taylor, DAUK GP committee spokesperson, said the committee had significant concerns over the reported comments about Diane Abbott MP, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, which have been widely condemned as racist and misogynist.

Dr Taylor said: “Doctors’ Association UK GP committee has significant concerns over the recent comments reportedly made by Frank Hester, owner of TPP, one of the major suppliers of GP IT systems.

“The GP workforce is a diverse community of people and these alleged comments are deeply upsetting.

“It is the responsibility of all those working in and alongside the NHS, in whatever capacity, to treat all patients equally, irrespective of their race, colour, or gender.

“It’s saddening to think that one of the NHS’s contractors could allegedly express such views.

“We agree with other GP bodies that it calls into question the leadership of TPP.”

Mr Hester is founder and chief executive of TPP, which has received hundreds of millions of pounds in contracts from the NHS.

Contracts include running patient consultation computer systems used by more than 2,500 GP practices.

He has donated more than £10m to the Conservatives, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to pay back following Mr Hester’s comments.

He has apologised on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, for making ‘rude’ comments about Ms Abbott but said it ‘had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin’.

Ms Abbott has described the reported comments as ‘worrying’. 

A joint DAUK-BMA survey on the same issue has found widespread poor conditions, low pay and excessive working hours for these foreign doctors.

The BBC spoke to DAUK’s Learn Not Blame co-lead Dr Jenny Vaughan who had helped some of these doctors.

“She receives many complaints from Resident Medical Officers and says the UK healthcare system has developed into two tiers – one for NHS doctors, the other for international recruits working in the private sector.

NHS doctors can only be scheduled to work up to 48 hours, and if they request, up to 72 hours a week.

“No doctor in the NHS does more than four nights consecutively because we know that it’s frankly not safe,” says Dr Vaughan.

“This is a slave-type work with… excess hours, the like of which we thought had been gone 30 years ago.

“It is not acceptable for patients for patient-safety reasons. It is not acceptable for doctors. ”

Read the full story here.