Department of Health

A government reshuffle has seen Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt replaced by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock. The new Culture Secretary is Jeremy Wright the former Attorney General.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/reshuffle-six-ministers-cabinet/

The King’s Fund has launched a new monthly podcast investigating big ideas in health and social care.

The first episode looks at health funding and asks about public satisfaction with the NHS.

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/podcast

Public Health England has produced a new set of resources for participatory and community approaches to developing positive health outcomes. The guidance includes approaches to social prescribing and building community wellbeing.

The Government has committed to a cross departmental review into loneliness and the impact of social isolation. The review is likely to focus on existing initiatives attempting to tackle loneliness and how these might be developed and expanded.

A new ministerial lead for loneliness has been appointed and the review will attempt to draw on the experiences of organisations working to support people experiencing loneliness. The announcement came in response to recommendations from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness.

Clinks is seeking the views of voluntary sector organisations working with people in contact with criminal justice and/or their families. The survey will be used to advocate for the needs of people in the criminal justice with the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England.

Complete the Clinks health and care survey here

A survey of over 1,000 doctors conducted by doctors.net.uk suggests that the existing shortage of doctors in the UK may be set to worsen. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed would consider working abroad in lower-pressure environments.

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Public Health England has launched a new tool for local public health teams identifying the most cost effective mental health programmes. Included in these programmes are creative programmes which impact on older people’s isolation and adults’ workplace health.

The VCSE Alliance succeeds the Health and Care Strategic Partner Programme, which ended on 31 March 2017, and has been created to

• improve health and care systems
• address health inequalities
• help people, families and communities to achieve and maintain wellbeing

Its member organisations are

Control of health and social care is about to be devolved in Surrey, following the model set by Greater Manchester. A new agreement has been signed by the national bodies NHS England and NHS Improvement, alongside Guildford and Waverley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), North West Surrey CCG, Surrey Downs CCG and Surrey County Council.

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The King’s Fund has published on the likely impact the election will have had on policy regarding the NHS. Its Chief Executive, Chris Ham, suggests that a minority government will “strengthen the hand of NHS England in implementing the Five Year Forward View and continuing its work to achieve financial stability and improvements in performance”. Dr Jennifer Dixon, however, writing for the Health Foundation, outlines rising discontent with measures to control NHS spending, and suggests that “big rocks loom under the waterline” for the government.