08/10/2025
Bevan Brittan provides high quality, comprehensive advice to the NHS, independent healthcare sector and local authorities. This update contains brief details of recent Government publications, legislation, cases and other developments relevant to those involved in health and social care work, both in the NHS, independent sector and local authorities which have been published in the last month.
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Bevan Brittan Free Training Events
There is no charge for any of the events listed below
Webinars
These are internal hour long lunch time training sessions. You can sign up to watch the training sessions remotely via our webinar facility by clicking on the links below..
Case Law Update – Mental Health Act 1983. 9th October. Hannah Taylor will be joined by Rhys Hadden from Serjeants’ Inn Chambers, who will consider key case law and important updates from the past 12 months relating to Mental Health Act 1983.
Assaults in the Healthcare Setting. 21st October. Claire Jones, who manages our book of LTPS claims will discuss the range of EL and PL claims we handle for Trusts arising from assaults by patients on staff and visitors.
Please note that registration for each webinar will close one hour before the webinar starts, so please do ensure you have booked your place in advance to guarantee attendance.
Children and young people
Publications/Guidance
Safeguarding in the health sector. NSPCC Learning has published a new Learning from case reviews briefing on healthcare. The briefing explores key issues, learning for improved practice and reflective questions to support safeguarding and child protection in the health sector. It highlights learning from a sample of case reviews published between 2020 and 2024 including how health professionals should: consider potential safeguarding concerns when addressing children’s medical concerns; understand and follow organisational safeguarding policies and procedures; and work effectively with other professionals to share important information about a child’s condition and care needs.
Children in care: deprivation of liberty. The Department for Education (DfE) has published new research exploring outcomes and support for children in care at risk of or subject to a Deprivation of liberty order in England. The research involved an evidence review; an analysis of social work case files for 21 children across four local authorities; and interviews and focus groups with professionals at three case study residential homes. Key findings include: an escalating use of Deprivation of liberty orders with over 2,500 children deprived of their liberty in response to mental health, safeguarding and welfare concerns in 2023-24; a lack of appropriate placement options and specialist provision across residential children’s homes; and insufficient early help.
Children in care: support services. The Department for Education (DfE) has published early findings from an evaluation of the family finding and befriending and mentoring programme in England. Delivered across 45 local authorities, the programme provides care experienced children and young people with opportunities to build positive relationships and networks. The report focuses on perceptions of the programme based on data collected from participants and professionals. Key findings include: it took time for professionals to build trust with participants; most local delivery teams reported that the voices of children and young people informed how the programme was delivered; and reported benefits included children feeling less lonely, having an enhanced sense of identity, and having improved confidence and independence. The report highlights that while data suggests positive findings during the programme’s first year, further evaluation is needed.
Girls’ wellbeing. Girlguiding has published the findings of its annual survey on the everyday lives of girls in the UK. The 17th Girls' attitudes survey captures the views of 2,500 girls and young women with a focus on sexism and self-protection, misogyny in schools, and mental health and wellbeing. Findings include: in the past year, 68% of girls and young women aged 11-21 reported changing their everyday behaviour to avoid sexual harassment and 10% of girls aged 11-16 said they had missed school to avoid sexual harassment. The report also highlights that a vast range of factors, from social media to appearance pressures, are impacting girls’ mental health, with the number of 7- to 10-year-olds reporting feeling sad most days or every day rising from 10% in 2015 to 26% in 2025. The report calls on politicians to do more to tackle inequality and to ensure more discussion and education in schools about the impact of sexism and misogyny.
Domestic abuse. The UK government has responded to recommendations set out in the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s recent report on babies, children and young people’s experiences of domestic abuse. The proposed changes would apply to England and reserved matters in Wales. The response outlines: commitments to recognising the unique perspective and voice of child victims; the importance of meaningful and robust needs assessments with victims; and work taking place to improve awareness of the Victims’ Code.
Domestic abuse and the NHS: 10 ways the NHS 10 year plan can help halve violence against women and girls. This report contains ten recommendations to improve the NHS’ response to victims and survivors of domestic abuse. It welcomes the ambition of the NHS 10 Year Plan to deliver more preventative and community-based services. However, it argues that without embedding a strong and consistent response to domestic abuse, this plan risks missing a vital opportunity to protect lives, reduce harm and contribute to the Government's ambition of halving violence against women and girls.
Children’s rights. A coalition of children’s charities and organisations, including the NSPCC, are calling on the UK government to prioritise children’s rights, arguing that England is falling behind other nations in how it considers children’s rights in law and policymaking. 121 organisations are jointly calling for Ministers to support amendments to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and adopt a statutory duty to uphold and protect the rights of children. Key rights include: safety from violence and abuse; access to an adequate standard of living; and freedom of expression and privacy. Longer-term, the coalition is demanding the full incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into UK law.
Child sexual abuse. The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA Centre) has published a new guide on developing evidence-based strategies to respond to child sexual abuse. Aimed at professionals working with local and regional safeguarding children partnerships in England and Wales, the guide provides advice on developing and improving strategic responses and sets out information on: identifying strategic aims and intended outcomes; key components of a strategic response; and embedding a strategy across local/regional systems.
Child sexual abuse. Ofsted, alongside the Care Quality Commission (CQC), HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), have published guidance for joint targeted area inspections (JTAIs) of the multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment in local authority areas in England. This second round of thematic inspections will focus on how agencies work together to: respond at the point of identification; assess, plan and make decisions in response to notifications and referrals; provide support; and prevent children from becoming victims of child sexual abuse in the family environment.
Special Educational Needs: support in England. An overview of the current system of support for children and young people with special educational needs, and pressure on the system. Updated with new 2024-25 SEND incidence and EHC plan data.
Parental responsibility in England and Wales. An overview of parental responsibility in England and Wales, including how it is gained and lost.
Solving the SEND crisis. The UK Parliament’s Education Committee has published its report, ‘Solving the SEND Crisis’, following a nine month inquiry, which focused on finding solutions to the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.
Disabled children’s social care. The Law Commission has published its final report on disabled children's social care law. The report contains a series of recommendations for reform which have been laid before Parliament. The full report can be found at Disabled children’s social care – Law Commission
The children’s plan: the Children’s Commissioner’s school census. This national census of school leaders reveals deep concerns about children’s lives beyond the classroom, as schools struggle to fill gaps in support without the backing of wider services. The data provides a picture of how schools are supporting their pupils’ additional needs far beyond those within the formally recognised SEND system: from housing and health challenges, to having a parent in prison, to dealing with bereavement and caring responsibilities.
Out of control: addressing the rise in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders amongst children and young people. There has been a significant growth in reported and formally diagnosed mental ill-health and neurodivergence over the last decade amongst children and young people (CYP). This report considers the reasons behind this growth, examines the current provision of support across health care, education and welfare and sets out proposals to improve outcomes for CYP by delivering a more coherent, proactive and sustainable system.
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around children please contact Deborah Jeremiah or Callum Scott .
Clinical Risk / Patient Safety
Publications/Guidance
Black maternal mental health report UK. This report centres on the lived experiences of Black mothers and highlights systemic barriers to quality, affordable mental healthcare. It shines a light on the urgent need for safe spaces, culturally competent peer support, digital access, and community-driven, anti-racist solutions. The report was supported by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and the Centre for Mental Health.
Independent maternity and neonatal investigation: terms of reference. On 23 June 2025 the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a rapid, national, independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services in England. Baroness Amos was appointed as chair on 14 August 2025. The investigation will look at individual services across the country alongside reviewing the maternity and neonatal system, bringing together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of actions to ensure every woman and baby receives safe, high-quality and compassionate care. This guidance sets out the terms of reference for the investigation. Following the conclusion of the investigation Baroness Amos will deliver one clear set of national recommendations, with interim recommendations delivered in December 2025.
Saving lives, improving mothers’ care: lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2021-23. The 2025 MBRRACE-UK report looks at the care of 643 women who died during or up to one year after pregnancy in the UK and Ireland. Of these women, 583 (91%) faced multiple interrelated challenges including social service involvement, domestic abuse and deprivation.
Maternal care. The Maternal, Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcome Review Programme annual report has been published looking at improving maternal care in the UK and Ireland. The report looks at the care of 643 women who died during or up to one year after pregnancy in the UK and Ireland between 2021 and 2023. Findings show: 91% faced multiple interrelated challenges including social service involvement, domestic abuse and deprivation; and suicide was the leading cause of deaths occurring between six weeks and one year after the end of pregnancy, followed by deaths due to substance use. The report calls for appropriate pre-pregnancy counselling, recognition of individual risk factors and development of a care plan that considers all aspects of women’s health.
National maternity and perinatal audit. The National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA) is a large-scale audit of NHS maternity services across England, Scotland and Wales. The NMPA uses information routinely collected as part of maternity care, combined with information collected when women and birthing people and their babies are admitted to hospital. The audit produces outputs that can be used by commissioners and providers of maternity services, as well as to support women and birthing people and their families to use the data within their decision making.
Green maternity report: taking collective action to deliver low carbon, equitable maternity care. This report combines case studies from the Green Maternity Challenge with lived experience insights and carbon modelling to identify eight initial priorities for sustainable maternity care and a clear set of evidence-based recommendations. These recommendations are intended to help maternity teams and leaders to drive down health-related emissions from the front line, improve outcomes and experience for women, birthing people and their families, and reduce costs.
NHS oversight framework: NHS trust performance league tables process and results. This dashboard provides a view of how NHS trusts are performing in key services including urgent and emergency care, elective services, mental health and more. The accompanying documentation explains how the league tables have been derived and what they can and cannot tell you about the performance of trusts.
Barriers and enablers to making a complaint to a health or social care professional regulator. This research aims to better understand the experiences of people who want to complain or who have complained and the potential barriers or enablers they may face. The report reveals that whilst some individuals had good experiences, many complainants who took part in the research felt discouraged and disappointed by the process, highlighting the need for improvements in accessibility, transparency, communication and public awareness.
What does it mean to have ‘good’ and ‘bad’ hospitals? In the near future, the government will once again release league tables of hospital trusts. How helpful will they be when hospitals are rarely just ‘good’ or ‘bad’, asks Danielle Jefferies.
Independent maternity and neonatal investigation: terms of reference. Terms of reference for the independent investigation into maternity and neonatal care in England.
14 NHS Trusts the focus of national maternity investigation. Government announces 14 hospital trusts to be looked at in a national investigation.
Landmark NHS league tables launched to drive up standards. Patients will get better care and value from record investment in the NHS thanks to a pioneering new system of league tables being rolled out across England.
News
Jessica Brady's legacy inspires new life-saving GP safety rule. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England have launched Jess’s Rule across general practitioner (GP) practices in England to help avoid missed or delayed diagnoses and minimise preventable deaths. The initiative requires GPs to adopt a ‘three strikes and rethink approach’—reconsidering their assessment if, after three appointments, no substantiated diagnosis has been made or symptoms have escalated. Jess’s Rule provides GPs with guidelines to reflect, review and rethink where a patient’s condition remains uncertain. This may involve arranging face-to-face consultations where previous appointments were remote, conducting physical examinations, ordering diagnostic tests, or seeking second opinions and specialist referrals. By embedding this as standard practice across England, the measure aims to prevent delays, reduce health inequalities and secure earlier diagnoses, especially for young people and patients from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Hillsborough Law – Update - Joanna Lloyd
Cosmetic Procedures – The Crackdown - Raj Kang
Bevan Brittan Events
Assaults in the Healthcare Setting. 21st October. Claire Jones, who manages our book of LTPS claims will discuss the range of EL and PL claims we handle for Trusts arising from assaults by patients on staff and visitors.
How we can help
We are working with clients on formulating policies and making it easier to balance treatment with finite resources. We are helping with social care policies and day to day activities such as contact and isolation, human rights issues and life/death decisions. We are working on notifications of harm and death, RIDDOR, CQC compliance, judicial review, infection control law and grappling with the new regulations and guidance. For more information click here.
If you wish to discuss any clinical risk or patient safety issues please contact Joanne Easterbrook or Daniel Morris.
Digital Health
Publications/guidance
NHS communications artificial intelligence operating framework. This operating framework supports NHS communications and engagement professionals to explore and adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that is ethical and effective, and promotes trust, inclusion and transparency. It aims to offer guidance to empower the responsible use of AI tools and technologies, enabling NHS communications and engagement teams to build capability, develop confidence and collaborate effectively with IT, digital, information governance and clinical colleagues. It is designed to help professionals advocate for safe access to AI platforms and tools that can enhance patient engagement, improve efficiency and drive more personalised communication.
AI to be trialled at unprecedented scale across NHS screening. Pioneering new cloud computer system will allow AI tools to be tested on an unprecedented scale across the NHS to boost early diagnosis
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around Digital Health please contact Daniel Morris.
Employment/HR
Publications/guidance
Supporting disabled older workers. This report finds that for many disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions in their 50s and 60s, unnecessary barriers keep the benefits of being in work out of reach. It explores the stories behind the numbers and sets out recommendations to improve support for people to find and stay in work. It concludes with co-designed recommendations for government, employers, and employment support providers to build a more inclusive labour market where disabled people can find work, stay in work, and thrive.
Nye’s lost legacy: towards a national occupational health service to keep people well in work. This report considers the health of the UK workforce, the limitations of the current occupational health system, and how a National Occupational Health Service could enlist employers, workers and the state as key partners in keeping people well in work.
The King's Fund blog. Does the NHS have too few staff or too many? Does the NHS have a Goldilocks problem when it comes to staffing levels? Siva Anandaciva weighs up the issue.
10 point plan to improve resident doctors’ working lives. The 75,000 resident doctors working across the NHS are the backbone of the service – but too often they are let down on basic issues like payroll errors, poor rota management, lack of access to rest facilities and hot food, and unnecessarily repeating training. This document sets out ten ways in which NHS England is improving resident doctors working conditions over the next 12 weeks.
Student placements: diversifying opportunities and providing a quality experience. Clinical placements are a cornerstone of health care education and workforce development. This guide aims to provide employers with practical examples to help manage and diversify their placement capacity whilst providing an excellent student learning experiences. Evidence shows that students who have a good placement experience will normally apply for a position within that organisation or specialty at the end of their training.
Mandatory training on learning disability and autism. Standards for training on learning disability and autism for registered health and social care providers and their staff.
Explanatory memorandum on the Oliver McGowan code of practice. Explanatory memorandum to Parliament about the Oliver McGowan code of practice on statutory learning disability and autism training
Consultation
Oliver McGowan draft code of practice. This consultation considers the draft code and if it gives CQC registered providers the guidance needed to meet the legislative requirement to ensure all staff receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role.
News
Overseas recruitment: the ‘short-term fix’ for the social care workforce that is now at an end.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Rise in Sexual Harassment calls to ACAS - Kelly Simpson
How we can help
We can offer support and advice on managing many workforce issues including flexing your workforce to respond to the pandemic, managing bank staff, redeployment, vulnerable groups, sick pay, leave options, supporting staff well-being, presenteeism, remote and home working, through FAQs, helpline or policy guidance and practical day to day advice.
If you wish to discuss any employment issues generally please contact Jodie Sinclair, Alastair Currie, Oonagh Sharma, James Gutteridge, Andrew Uttley, Joanna Burrows and Lee Carroll.
Finance
Publications/guidance
NHS cost recovery – overseas visitors. Information for NHS bodies who need to make and recover hospital charges from overseas visitors.
Reducing waste, adding value. This briefing is a report of a roundtable, run jointly by the HFMA and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, on waste reduction in the NHS. Discussions focused on identifying waste, overcoming barriers to change, and fostering a culture that empowers colleagues to take action.
How finance teams are helping to reduce health inequalities: further case studies. This briefing contains case studies of finance teams' work on health inequalities. It focuses on examples where the finance team has contributed to making a real impact on patient outcomes, and where the insights offer transferable ideas and skills that could be used more widely across the UK.
Operation automation: how to achieve productivity gains in the healthcare system. Despite the clear and significant benefits of automation technologies, their adoption across the NHS remains limited. This paper explores how progress can be accelerated rapidly to ensure adoption becomes the norm rather than the exception. This includes simplifying access to capital investment, streamlining the business case process and strengthening change management support.
NHS-funded IVF in England. Data showing how many in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles are funded by the NHS in each area of England.
How we can help
For more information on issues around finance, please contact Claire Bentley.
Governance
Publications/guidance
The state of health and care of older people in England. The tenth edition of this annual report reveals a picture of declining health among an ageing population, unequal access to services, and growing pressures on unpaid carers and frontline staff. Key findings in the report include: growing inequality in access to some NHS services; social care under strain and tightly rationed; lasting pandemic effects; and a legacy of chronic long-term underinvestment.
Health trends and variation in England, 2025: a Chief Medical Officer report. This annual report provides an overview of the health of England’s population, including trends over time and geographical variation. It looks at life expectancy and population change, mortality and morbidity, maternal and child health, risk factors and wider determinants, and screening and vaccination.
How we can help
For more information on issues around governance, please contact Claire Bentley.
Health Inequalities
Publications/Guidance
How finance teams are helping to reduce health inequalities: further case studies. This briefing contains case studies of finance teams' work on health inequalities. It focuses on examples where the finance team has contributed to making a real impact on patient outcomes, and where the insights offer transferable ideas and skills that could be used more widely across the UK.
Supporting disabled older workers. This report finds that for many disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions in their 50s and 60s, unnecessary barriers keep the benefits of being in work out of reach. It explores the stories behind the numbers and sets out recommendations to improve support for people to find and stay in work. It concludes with co-designed recommendations for government, employers, and employment support providers to build a more inclusive labour market where disabled people can find work, stay in work, and thrive.
Does the government’s 10 Year Health Plan measure up to the current state of population health? UK life expectancy is among the lowest relative to comparable countries. Veena Raleigh asks whether the 10 Year Health Plan’s ambitions are too modest to drive real change.
Hunger in the UK. This report builds on findings from the previous report and provides a look at the scale and drivers of food bank provision and food insecurity across the UK. It provides evidence that, despite falling inflation, there has been no progress on hunger in the UK. It finds signs that the levels of hardship people are facing are deepening and severe hardship is becoming entrenched in communities across the UK.
DHSC equality information: 2024. A report setting out how the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has responded to its equality duties.
How we can help
We have a multidisciplinary team advising NHS commissioners and providers on all aspects of tackling health inequalities, ranging from:
- advising on the new legal framework and compliance with the relevant statutory duties, particularly in the context of service reconfiguration;
- addressing workforce inequalities;
- taking action on patient safety to reduce health inequalities;
- the role of the Care Quality Commission in tackling health inequalities; and
- lessons to be learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around health inequalities please contact Julia Jones.
Independent Health
Publications/Guidance
Privatisation of the NHS: what it looks like and the impact it has. This briefing document argues that the 10 Year Health Plan represents a dramatic divergence from the principle of the NHS being a publicly-provided national health service. It spells out a future for the NHS in which the private sector plays a key role, heightened by the expectation that private tech and data companies will deliver NHS productivity, in place of investment in NHS staff and services. It sets out some of the many ways in which private organisations have already become involved in the provision of NHS clinical services, clinical support services, financing, management and procurement.
The regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. This briefing provides an overview of the regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Hillsborough Law – Implications for independent sector providers - Carlton Sadler
How we can help
For more information on issues around independent health, please contact Tim Hodgetts or Julie Charlton.
Information sharing/data
Publications/guidance
Chief Coroner publishes guidance on obtaining online service information in child death investigations. The Chief Coroner has published detailed guidance (No. 46), explaining coroners’ enhanced powers under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) to obtain information from online service providers when investigating child deaths. The guidance also provides practical direction on new mechanisms while confirming the coroners’ existing wide-ranging powers under Schedule 5 under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (CJA) remains unchanged and recommends early engagement with families about children’s internet use where relevance cannot be ruled out.
How we can help
Our specialist team brings a unique combination of experience and skill from across the health, social care, and local authority sectors to help you meet the wide ranging challenges faced organisationally as you deal with the various and complex legislation in respect of information law. That team understands the practical way those legal frameworks impact the range of issues faced, as well as the diverse nature of both public and regulatory expectation in relation to “personal data”, “data protection”, “freedom of information”, “access to health records” and wider “information governance”. As well as assisting your organisation in dealing with challenging requests for disclosure, we can also help to provide strategic advice in relation to policy and information security, as well as bespoke organisational training on key legal issues.
If you wish to discuss any information law and / or governance issues facing your organisation, and how we may help, please contact Jane Bennett.
Inquests
Publications/guidance
Chief Coroner publishes guidance on obtaining online service information in child death investigations. The Chief Coroner has published detailed guidance (No. 46), explaining coroners’ enhanced powers under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) to obtain information from online service providers when investigating child deaths. The guidance also provides practical direction on new mechanisms while confirming the coroners’ existing wide-ranging powers under Schedule 5 under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (CJA) remains unchanged and recommends early engagement with families about children’s internet use where relevance cannot be ruled out.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Changing the Narrative on Suicide - Joanna Lloyd
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around inquests, please contact Amanda Wright- Kluger, Tracey Longfield or Claire Leonard.
Integrated Care
Publications/Guidance
All or nothing? Access and variation in NHS continuing health care. NHS continuing health care provides funded health and social care support for people with very complex needs outside hospital. This report shows the system is inconsistent, with regional variation in eligibility, spending and practice. It also shows how families and patients sometimes struggle to access the care they need. The report concludes that continuing health care shines a light on the wider fractures between health and social care: a system under pressure, struggling to deliver fair, timely and sustainable support – and one that needs reform.
Safe and effective provision of high quality primary medical services to out of area registered patients: implementing the 2025/26 GP contract change. This guidance aims to help commissioners develop and implement local policy and procedures for operating out-of-area registration at scale to enable oversight of the safety and effectiveness of the arrangements for patients.
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around integrated care, please contact Anna Davies.
Mental Health
Publications/Guidance
Children in care: deprivation of liberty. The Department for Education (DfE) has published new research exploring outcomes and support for children in care at risk of or subject to a Deprivation of liberty order in England. The research involved an evidence review; an analysis of social work case files for 21 children across four local authorities; and interviews and focus groups with professionals at three case study residential homes. Key findings include: an escalating use of Deprivation of liberty orders with over 2,500 children deprived of their liberty in response to mental health, safeguarding and welfare concerns in 2023-24; a lack of appropriate placement options and specialist provision across residential children’s homes; and insufficient early help.
Learning from Lives and Deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) report for 2023. The LeDeR programme was established in 2017 to improve health care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. This report analysed the deaths of 3,556 people in 2023 and found that the percentage of “avoidable deaths” – where death occurs in someone under the age of 75 to a condition deemed preventable, treatable, or both – has fallen from 46% in 2021 to 39% in 2023. However, the rate is almost double that of avoidable deaths in the general population. The analysis also found that 37% of cases reported some form of delay in care or treatment, while 28% reported instances where diagnosis and treatment guidelines were not met.
Out of control: addressing the rise in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders amongst children and young people. There has been a significant growth in reported and formally diagnosed mental ill-health and neurodivergence over the last decade amongst children and young people (CYP). This report considers the reasons behind this growth, examines the current provision of support across health care, education and welfare and sets out proposals to improve outcomes for CYP by delivering a more coherent, proactive and sustainable system.
Suicide prevention policy. Suicide rates in the England have reached their highest level since 1999. The government introduced a new suicide prevention strategy for England in September 2023.
Cases
W, Re: Capacity to Engage in Sexual Relations & Marry [2025] EWCOP 32 (T2). Application concerning whether W has the capacity to engage in sexual relations and to enter into a marriage or civil partnership.
Bevan Brittan Updates
HSSIB Investigations: Emergency Care and those in Mental Health Crisis. - Hannah Taylor
Mental Capacity, Mental Health and Assisted Dying - Hannah Taylor
How we can help
We are experts in advising commissioners, providers and care co-ordinators on the relevant legal frameworks. We deal with complex issues such as deprivation of liberty, state involvement, use of CCTV monitoring, seclusion, physical restraint and covert medication. We can help providers with queries about admission and detention, consent to treatment, forensic service users, transfers, leave, discharge planning and hearings. We can advise commissioners on all matters concerning commissioning responsibility, liability and disputes. For more information click here
If you wish to discuss any mental health issues facing your organisation please contact Hannah Taylor or Simon Lindsay
Primary Care
Publications/Guidance
Online GP appointment requests available everywhere. Patients will be able to request appointments online throughout the day rather than calling their surgery or visiting in person.
GP premises survey results 2025. This survey, conducted between 13 June and 18 August 2025, gathered insights from almost 2,000 GPs and practice managers, representing nearly one-third of general practices in England and all integrated care boards. The results reveal widespread concern about the condition, capacity, and sustainability of GP premises across the country. The BMA argues that the government's 10-year Health Plan, which relies on delivering patient care closer to home through neighbourhood health, can only be achieved with an urgent and substantial investment into GP premises.
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any issues in primary care then please contact Joanne Easterbrook.
Social Care
Publications/Guidance
Adult social care in England statistics: background quality and methodology. How the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) puts together the data in its monthly reports.
Caring about health. Social care is one of the largest public services, but the system is falling short in supporting the health outcomes of the adults using it. This report looks at the health outcomes of adults using social care services and how the system can have a more active role in health improvement. It calls for reform to key areas of adult social care to improve working conditions and widen access to public health skills training for the workforce.
Who will care?: how can we meet the scale of the care challenge? This paper states England’s social care system is at breaking point, with rising demand, shrinking supply, and growing reliance on unpaid carers. The paper argues the need to turn the existing patchwork of paid care into a functioning, reliable and affordable public service – not through incremental changes but through transformation, by scaling good quality provision and finding a way to pay for care which has political and economic backing.
Towards a new vision for social care: policy solutions for an ageing population. This paper draws on a review of the literature and insights from an expert roundtable on the future of social care to explore bold options for reform. It focuses on five areas: funding and political will; workforce pressures, responsibility and integration; inequalities in access and provision; and improving navigation, access and prevention. It examines how these challenges drive unmet need and system inefficiencies and sets out potential policy solutions. The paper is framed in the context of the Casey Review, which provides an opportunity to rethink reform and identify solutions with genuine cross-party traction.
How we can help
For ways in which we can help with Social Care issues click here.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around social care please contact Claire Bentley.
General
Publications/Guidance
NHS oversight framework – NHS trust performance league tables process and results. As part of our commitment to transparency and improvement, NHS England has launched a new interactive dashboard under the NHS oversight framework 2025/26. The dashboard provides a view of how NHS trusts are performing in key services including urgent and emergency care, elective services, mental health and more.
National Health Service or National Safe Haven. The NHS operates on a clear statutory principle with regards to treatment: treatment is available to those ordinarily resident in the UK, with certain exemptions, but charges must be recovered from overseas visitors who do not meet those criteria. This paper explores what happens when that principle is put to the test, not in theory, but in the day-to-day practice of NHS trusts, integrated care systems, and clinical leadership teams. It also examines how policies concerning cost recovery from overseas visitors and the identification of chargeable patients are implemented across the health system.
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