07/04/2026
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.
Quantum Update for Clinical Negligence Practitioners - 14 April. Register now for this webinar with Dan Morris, Partner at Bevan Brittan who will be joined by Eliot Woolf KC from Outer Temple Chambers.
Case Law Update – Mental Capacity Act 2005. 23 April. In this session 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
- Any updates on the revisions to the Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act 2005
Workforce Forum: Sexual Safety and Managing Repeat Offenders in Healthcare. In this forum, our speakers will cover a range of issues and share their insights on how healthcare leaders can manage these difficult situations, focus on the needs of victims and drive positive change. The event will be interactive; there will be opportunities to ask questions and network with your peers after the panel session. This is a must-attend event for Chief People Officers, Medical Directors, and Directors of Nursing in particular.
Watch on Catch Up!
Understanding Prosthetics – The art of the possible versus reasonable requirements
A refresher on LPAs - and their revocation - for Local Authorities
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
Children waiting to leave hospital. This report brings together data on how long children spend in hospital across their childhoods, alongside the voices and experiences of families, health and care professionals working in hospitals, hospices, community nursing teams and care providers. It sets out the issues facing children whose hospital stays are being prolonged or more frequent because the support they need to be in the community is not in place.
Screen use by children aged under five: independent report. This report contains the findings and recommendations of the Early Years Screen Time Advisory Group on the effects of all types of screen use in the early years of childhood. It takes into account the latest research into the impacts on child development, both positive and negative, of early years screen use. It examines quantitative and qualitative evidence on the effects of all types of screen use, including computers, tablets, mobile phones, and television. It sets out the panel’s findings and its recommendations to parents and the government.
Hormone treatments for children and young people with gender dysphoria: clinical trial and consultations. This briefing gives an overview of hormone treatments used to treat gender dysphoria in children and young people and details the government-funded PATHWAYS research programme into the safety and effectiveness of these treatments.
World obesity atlas 2026. The atlas finds that prevalence of obesity among school-age children has increased from 4% in 1975 to nearly 20% in 2022, with the fastest increases in low- and middle-income countries where most of the world’s children live. For the first time in history, more children globally will be living with obesity than with underweight. The data presents a picture of the scale, distribution and projected trajectory of childhood obesity. It includes global, regional, and national estimates of children living with overweight and obesity, along with projections extending to 2040. It also provides figures on the number of children already exhibiting early signs of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and liver disease as a result of excess weight.
Multi-agency working. NSPCC Learning has published a CASPAR briefing summarising the changes to the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance for England, Working together to safeguard children 2026. Key additions to the guidance include: understanding and challenging racism and discrimination; recognising the specific needs and experiences of babies; understanding the impact of domestic abuse; awareness of children experiencing simultaneous harms or multiple harms; strengthened inclusion of children in care; and the link between online harm and harm experienced in person.
Child sexual abuse and exploitation. The Department for Education (DfE) has published a report about child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) recording practices and serious incident reporting in England. The report presents findings from interviews with practitioners in six local authorities and examines: causes of under recording and variation in CSAE recording practices; discrepancies between police and social care data; and the factors driving these differences. Key findings include: practitioners consistently describe CSAE as a significant safeguarding concern; and structural, cultural and system-level factors shape the visibility of CSAE within statutory data. The findings highlight that addressing the under-recording of CSAE requires sustained attention to workforce confidence, system design, and national consistency.
Multi agency working. The Department for Education (DfE) has updated Working together to safeguard children, its statutory guidance on multi-agency working to safeguard children in England. The guidance applies to all organisations and agencies in England who have functions relating to children, setting out how they can work together to support and protect children. Changes include: identifying, understanding and challenging racism and discrimination; recognising the specific needs and experiences of babies; understanding the impact of domestic abuse on children and families; information on Operation Encompass; consideration of children experiencing simultaneous harms or multiple harms; strengthened inclusion of children in care; and guidance on Family Help. The DfE has also updated its supporting information for local areas on embedding Working together to safeguard children and its statutory Children’s social care national framework for those who work in local authority children’s social care. NSPCC Learning will publish a CASPAR briefing summarising the changes.
Artificial intelligence. NSPCC Learning has published additional information to supplement its 2025 report exploring how Generative (Gen) Artificial Intelligence (AI) is impacting children’s safety and wellbeing online and offline. Findings and recommendations in the initial report were drawn from a range of sources, including an analysis of research on Gen AI commissioned by the NSPCC and conducted by legal technology consultancy AWO. A new report is now available to download in full on NSPCC Learning which presents the findings from the AWO research in more detail, focusing primarily on the mitigations identified by experts from a variety of sectors such as child safety, Gen AI developers and policymakers.
Delivery of the healthy child programme. The principles underlying the programme and the expectations that public health nursing teams are expected to meet when delivering services in England.
Healthy child programme: commissioning public health nursing services. How commissioners should establish, monitor and assure the quality of public health nursing services delivered under the healthy child programme in England.
Children and young people’s patient experience survey 2024: national qualitative report. This report, produced together with Solutions Research, shares national insights from qualitative thematic analysis of written responses to the NHS Patient Survey Programme, coordinated by the Care Quality Commission and Picker. The Programme includes five surveys, with this report focusing on the 2024 Children and Young People’s Survey.
Consultations
AI and Technology in Children’s Social Care: Call for Evidence. A Department for Education call for evidence seeks views to understand how local authorities artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technology in the delivery of children’s social care. It aims to gather input on: AI or digital tools purchased or procured from external vendors; tools being developed to support frontline staff; managing the risks and ethics associated with AI tools; the challenges and barriers in implementing AI for supporting frontline social care practice; and the use of "single views", an interface that provides practitioners with a view of the child’s data from across a range of services or agencies. Comments by 1 May 2026.
News
New register for people convicted of child cruelty offences. Child cruelty convictions such as neglect and abandonment will face the same police notification requirements as registered sex offenders.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Every Child Achieving and Thriving: Reform of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system in England Amrita Hurst, Deborah Jeremiah and Callum Scott
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
Is England making progress to improve maternity care? Years of inquiries have exposed failings in maternity care in England that suggest problems are systemic. As the sector awaits Baroness Amos’s final report from a national investigation, this explainer reviews current outcomes, progress, and efforts to improve maternity and neonatal care. It finds a troubling picture, with maternal mortality rising, progress stalling on many metrics, and inequalities persisting. It suggests what might be needed to ensure better progress.
Building investigation excellence: our strategy for strengthening the capability of healthcare investigations. Through a targeted approach, this strategy from HSSIB focuses on strengthening capability in investigation skills, increasing accessibility to investigation resources, improving the professional connections between investigators and working in collaboration with the national health system to align priorities and reduce duplication.
Clinical Investigations. A series of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency guidance sets out: advice for people undertaking a clinical investigation of a medical device that is electrically powered; information that it expects to see with a clinical investigation submission to verify that the requirements of the regulations have been met; what needs to be included in a submission notifying it of a manufacturer’s plans to undertake a clinical investigation; the statistics that should be included as part of the data gathered during a clinical investigation; and when a clinical investigation is needed according to the Medical Devices Regulations 2002.
Safeguarding adults, England, 2024 to 2025. Official statistics on adult safeguarding concerns that were raised and where enquiries took place during 2024 to 2025 in England.
End coercion in UK maternity care. This report finds that home birth services are being restricted, suspended and frequently interrupted up and down the UK. The report explores these restrictions, and how they disproportionately impact minoritised or marginalised communities and sets out Birthrights' recommendations on what must be done.
Taskforce set up to deliver urgent action on maternity. Members confirmed for new Maternity and Neonatal taskforce chaired by the Health and Social Care Secretary to deliver improvements on maternity.
News
Donna Ockenden appointed to chair Leeds maternity review. Secretary of State Wes Streeting appoints Donna Ockenden to lead the independent review into Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust’s maternity and neonatal service
Health and Social Care Secretary welcomes large fall in NHS dissatisfaction. Survey shows the biggest drop in dissatisfaction in the NHS since 1998 as Health and Social Care Secretary pledges to do more to tackle underperforming trusts.
NHS reform and the future of the health service. Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting spoke in London on the steps being taken to reform the health service.
New health minister appointed. The government has appointed Sharon Hodgson MP who has campaigned on patient safety to be the new public health and prevention minister.
The Clinical Negligence Bill has advanced to its second reading in the House of Commons. The Bill, a Private Members' Bill brought forward by Catherine McKinnell MP under the Ten-Minute Rule, seeks to establish a fixed recoverable costs scheme applicable to certain clinical negligence claims. It also provides for the periodic review of cost limits, amends the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948, and requires the production of a report examining options for reforming the system of clinical negligence compensation in obstetric cases, along with other connected matters.
NHS injury costs recovery scheme: April 2025 to March 2026. Data on the funds collected by the Compensation Recovery Unit and funds paid to the NHS.
Bevan Brittan Updates
LXLP (By her mother and litigation friend, CYLP) v St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EWHC 560 (KB) - Penelope Radcliffe
Beyond the scales – the legal risks and implications surrounding weight loss injections - Julie Charlton
Patient Safety Incidence Response Framework (PSIRF): Implementation to Impact - Mind the Gap - Joanna Lloyd
Bevan Brittan Events
Quantum Update for Clinical Negligence Practitioners - 14 April. Register now for this webinar with Dan Morris, Partner at Bevan Brittan who will be joined by Eliot Woolf KC from Outer Temple Chambers.
Workforce Forum: Sexual Safety and Managing Repeat Offenders in Healthcare. In this forum, our speakers will cover a range of issues and share their insights on how healthcare leaders can manage these difficult situations, focus on the needs of victims and drive positive change. The event will be interactive; there will be opportunities to ask questions and network with your peers after the panel session. This is a must-attend event for Chief People Officers, Medical Directors, and Directors of Nursing in particular.
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.
Commissioning and Integrated Care
Publications/Guidance
Public health commissioning in the NHS: 2026 to 2027. Information about NHS England’s objectives and funding arrangements as it commissions public health services.
NHS public health functions agreements. Agreements setting out the outcomes to be achieved and the funding provided for NHS England to commission public health services.
Integrated care systems in England: where next? Based on in-depth interviews with local leaders, our report explores the development and evolving role of integrated care systems in England, and asks what policy changes are needed to help deliver their objectives.
Healthy child programme: commissioning public health nursing services. How commissioners should establish, monitor and assure the quality of public health nursing services delivered under the healthy child programme in England.
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around commissioning or integrated care, please contact Anna Davies or Kathryn Stewart
Digital Health
Publications/guidance
Demystifying clinical AI in mental health. This guide outlines the key considerations for adopting artificial intelligence in mental health services. The complexity of some mental health conditions, requirement of multi-disciplinary care delivery and sensitivities of clinical conversations require a focus on the specificities and role of AI in mental health care. With the environment moving at pace there is a need to build understanding of how AI can be deployed responsibly to achieve the biggest gains for patients and the workforce. This guide argues that this needs to be done while mitigating against potential risks through robust governance, regulation, clear evidence of clinical effectiveness and a focus on patient safety and clinician wellbeing.
Assessing digital inclusion in the NHS: how ready are we for the NHS App? Integrated care boards have a statutory duty to reduce inequalities in access and outcomes. To support this, NHS Confederation have developed a digital exclusion index. The index aims to provide clear insight into where digital barriers are greatest and which interventions are most likely to address them. It finds that many rural and coastal areas have higher levels of digital exclusion, while large urban centres tend to have lower barriers. This report argues that the government’s ambition for the NHS App to become the universal front door to the NHS by 2028 can only be met if digital inclusion is prioritised as a core enabler.
A system that learns: embedding best practice across the NHS. This analysis shows most NHS systems do not track outcomes, NICE adherence or pathways in gynaecology – despite more than 750,000 women waiting for care. The report warns that widespread failures to collect data and monitor best practice in gynaecology services are leaving women facing longer delays to diagnosis and treatment. The findings come as part of the MTG’s Commission on NHS Culture, an investigation into how organisational culture across the NHS affects the adoption and spread of innovation and technology to improve the delivery of services. The report looks at four clinical areas: diagnostics, orthopaedics, gynaecology, and continence care to assess variation in the quality of services.
Technology use in adult social care: 2025 survey results. Findings from a survey of CQC-registered care providers in England on their use of care technology and barriers to further adoption.
Attitudes to technology and AI in health care: findings from our 2025 survey. Polling from the Health Foundation’s third annual health tech tracker survey shows that while the public backs most of the proposed new functions for the NHS App, many remain cautious around the use of artificial intelligence in health care. With the government’s 10-Year Health Plan signalling major ambitions to expand the NHS App, the survey of 8,000 members of the public and over 2,000 NHS staff reveals that around three quarters of the public would be happy to use the NHS App for functions such as booking hospital appointments (76%), choosing a preferred hospital (73%) and accessing information about procedures (73%). However, support drops significantly when AI-generated advice is involved.
Consultations
Innovation in the NHS: personalised medicine and AI - Inquiry. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee seeks evidence to inform its inquiry into innovation in the NHS, with a focus on personalised medicine (PM) and artificial intelligence (AI). Views are sought on: the current state of science underpinning PM, including genomics, AI-driven diagnostics, and advanced genomic therapies; what role AI could play in accelerating the development and reducing the cost of PM; what further research infrastructure is needed to support the development of PM and AI; how effective the UK is at translating its strengths in life sciences research into clinically validated PM and AI tools; systemic barriers that prevent or delay the deployment of proven innovations across the NHS; how the NHS and relevant regulators should balance the need to evaluate new personalised and AI-driven treatments with making innovative treatments available to patients; and what strategic action the Government should take to strengthen the feedback loop between medical research, the life sciences industry, and the NHS. Comments by 20 April 2026.
AI and Technology in Children’s Social Care: Call for Evidence. A Department for Education call for evidence seeks views to understand how local authorities artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technology in the delivery of children’s social care. It aims to gather input on: AI or digital tools purchased or procured from external vendors; tools being developed to support frontline staff; managing the risks and ethics associated with AI tools; the challenges and barriers in implementing AI for supporting frontline social care practice; and the use of "single views", an interface that provides practitioners with a view of the child’s data from across a range of services or agencies. Comments by 1 May 2026.
The NHS must invest in AI before ‘more doctors and nurses’
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
Employment Rights Act 2025 Hub. To keep your organisation ahead, we have launched our Employment Rights Act 2025 Hub. A dedicated resource with tools, guidance, and updates as the changes roll out. Whether shaping strategy, managing budgets, or ensuring compliance, our Hub will help you stay informed, prepared, and responsive in this evolving legal landscape.
Leadership in HR: balancing people and process. This discussion paper, co-developed between the HPMA and NHS Employers, sets out clear opportunities to strengthen NHS disciplinary processes and reduce avoidable harm to staff. It draws on interviews with chief people officers and senior HR leaders and their reflections offer insight into how policies are applied in practice and the changes needed to implement fairer, more compassionate systems. The paper recognises the emotional toll that disciplinary measures can have on staff. Its content builds on the HPMA’s Avoiding Harm programme which focuses on avoidable employee harm and the impact on wellbeing and organisational culture.
The state of health visiting in England: workforce composition, caseloads and service delivery. This study finds that most areas in England have seen a substantial drop in the number of health visitors available to support new parents, as NHS teams increase their reliance on lower-banded support staff to fill gaps. Using Freedom Of Information requests covering 147 English local authorities, with up to 109 authorities providing workforce data by 2021, researchers analysed health visiting workforce trends between 2016–2021.
Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration: fifty-fourth report 2026. This report sets out the DDRB’s recommendations for doctors’ and dentists’ pay in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
NHS workforce: size, characteristics and staffing levels. This research briefing contains a summary of the size and characteristics of the NHS workforce, including the number of hospital doctors, nurses and GPs. It covers workforce diversity data, NHS staff turnover and safe and temporary staffing policies.
Pay offer to resident doctors. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care writes to resident doctors after the BMA Resident Doctors Committee rejects the latest offer.
Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Fifty-Fourth Report. Recommendations and observations from the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration on doctors’ and dentists’ pay in the United Kingdom.
An honest account of the benefits and costs of international health worker recruitment. This report examines the UK’s reliance on internationally-trained health workers and the case for fairer, more sustainable co-investment in source countries. The report argues that international recruitment is not a short-term fix for the NHS, but a structural feature of the health system. It finds that the UK has benefited significantly from internationally-trained doctors and nurses, while the costs for countries with fragile and understaffed health systems can be substantial. The report concludes that the UK must move “from reliance to responsibility” by combining more honest workforce planning with stronger, enforceable partnerships and proportionate co-investment.
NHS Staff Survey results 2025: what you need to know. This briefing contains a summary of the national-level findings, and NHS Providers’ and NHS Confederation’s view, of the 2025 NHS Staff Survey results.
Racism in the NHS: the findings leaders need to see. Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, responds to the latest NHS Staff Survey, which reveals that racism remains deeply entrenched in the health service. Despite the NHS being one of the most ethnically diverse workforces in the public sector, staff from ethnic minority backgrounds continue to face discrimination, bullying and barriers to career progression.
International recruitment in the NHS workforce. The NHS uses international recruitment to fill staffing vacancies. This briefing summarises numbers and trends in international recruitment of the NHS workforce, concerns and recent policy.
News
BMA resident doctor industrial action. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care writes to the chair of the BMA resident doctors committee
Legislation
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill 2024-26 (HC Bill 360). A Bill to Make provision about the prioritisation of graduates from medical schools in the United Kingdom and certain other persons for places on medical training programmes.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Essential employment reforms now live – Is your organisation ready?
Bevan Brittan Events
Workforce Forum: Sexual Safety and Managing Repeat Offenders in Healthcare. In this forum, our speakers will cover a range of issues and share their insights on how healthcare leaders can manage these difficult situations, focus on the needs of victims and drive positive change. The event will be interactive; there will be opportunities to ask questions and network with your peers after the panel session. This is a must-attend event for Chief People Officers, Medical Directors, and Directors of Nursing in particular.
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, James Gutteridge, Andrew Uttley, Joanna Burrows and Lee Carroll.
Finance
Publications/guidance
2026 to 2027 financial directions to NHS England. The government’s financial directions to NHS England confirm how its budget is broken down for the year ahead. The government’s 2025 mandate to NHS England set out the objectives they should seek to achieve. This mandate applies from 30 January 2025 until it is replaced.
2025 to 2026 revised financial directions to NHS England. The government’s financial directions to NHS England set out its revised budgets for 2025 to 2026.
Financial directions to NHS England. The government’s financial directions to NHS England set out its budgets for each financial year.
Financial sustainability of adult hospices in England. This report warns that some hospices have recently reduced the volume or range of the essential services they provide and others are planning to do so, at a time when demand for palliative and end-of-life care is rising. It warns further of the wider dimension of how the financial situation for hospices risks depriving the NHS of the value they provide beyond statutory palliative and end-of-life care – expert advice and training, innovation in care, leadership in the move to provide more care in the community, and support for care homes and GPs. It concludes that the government and NHS England are not responding to the growing financial crisis in the adult hospice sector with the seriousness and urgency the situation demands.
NHS funding deficits. Behind the national balance sheet, many NHS trusts have been operating in deficit for years as costs continue to outpace income. Collectively, trusts have recently reported shortfalls of hundreds of millions of pounds, forcing difficult decisions about staffing, services and investment that can directly affect patient care. To understand the scale of these pressures and how financial gaps vary across the NHS, explore our latest analysis and data.
NHS funding deficits explained. Behind the national balance sheet, many NHS trusts have been operating in deficit for years as costs continue to outpace income. Collectively, trusts have recently reported shortfalls of hundreds of millions of pounds, forcing difficult decisions about staffing, services and investment that can directly affect patient care. To understand the scale of these pressures and how financial gaps vary across the NHS, explore the Kings Fund latest analysis and data.
How we can help
For more information on issues around finance, please contact Claire Bentley.
Health Inequalities
Publications/Guidance
Too poor to be sick: how structural racism connects poor-quality work, inadequate sick pay and early workforce exit. This report contains evidence which exposes how structural racism connects poor-quality work, inadequate sick pay and early workforce exit. According to the report, Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic workers are being pushed into jobs that damage their health and then denied the support they need to recover – but no UK study has measured the full extent of the problem. It finds a blind spot in UK policy: while the Commission for Healthier Working Lives (2025) and Keep Britain Working (2025) both recommended reforms to support ill workers, neither addressed racial inequalities – despite Black and Asian workers being disproportionately concentrated in the most insecure, poorly protected jobs.
Head and neck cancer hits the North of England and Scotland hardest. New report highlights the stark socioeconomic inequalities in head and neck cancer across the UK
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 and guidance
Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance: 3-year review 2025. A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) report details its second review of the Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance to ensure it remains fit for purpose. It details updates in genomic technologies over the last three years and their implications for healthcare and insurance. Before the next review, the DHSC states it will: review the definitions of diagnostic and predictive genetic tests used in the Code; update the Code to provide clarity around the process for adding conditions to the list of predictive genetic test results that may need to be disclosed; update the consumer guide; and gather evidence to understand whether concerns around insurance affect people’s willingness to undertake genetic testing or participate in research studies.
The public’s perspective: the state of health and social care. Healthwatch England commissioned Savanta to poll 2,593 adults (18+) to understand people’s use of NHS and private healthcare, and their confidence in NHS services. The research shows a sharp rise in the number of people turning to private care as confidence in timely NHS access remains low, particularly for elective procedures.
Bevan Brittan Updates
The independent healthcare sector is ready for change. Sarah Skuse
Likely implications of Hillsborough Law for Independent Sector Providers in the Coroner’s Court. Amanda Wright - Kluger
The GC Perspective: Independent Healthcare in 2026 - Vincent Buscemi
Beyond the scales – the legal risks and implications surrounding weight loss injections - Julie Charlton
How we can help
For more information on issues around independent health, please contact Tim Hodgetts or Julie Charlton.
Information sharing/data
Publications and guidance
Electronic patient record systems in England: what do NHS staff think? Effective use of electronic patient record systems can unlock significant benefits for NHS staff and patients and will be crucial to many of the proposals in the 10 Year Health Plan. To explore how staff across the health service feel about using these systems, and how to get the most value out of them, the Health Foundation commissioned a survey of 1,725 NHS staff members in England between July and October 2025.
DHSC statistics: data management and confidentiality statement. This statement explains how DHSC manages the data used in producing our statistical outputs, and how we ensure the confidentiality of individuals and other data providers.
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.
Mental Health
Publications/Guidance
Trauma-informed care and racialised communities. The NHS Race and Health Observatory commissioned CMH and Coffee Afrik CIC to carry out a qualitative research project on trauma-informed care in racialised communities. This report makes the case for a new kind of trauma-informed care, one that appreciates not only the ways in which structural racism causes trauma but also considers the role our health care system can play in compounding or mitigating that trauma. The report is accompanied by three guides on addressing racial trauma for: public services; practitioners in public services; and policymakers.
Insulin: supporting safe self-administration for patients in the community with a mental health problem
This investigation report is the first in a series considering the self-administration of insulin by people with diabetes mellitus (diabetes) in community settings. It focuses on adults with a mental health problem who are known to, or under the care of, secondary mental health services (specialist services provided in the community), who have been harmed when they have not self-administered their prescribed insulin as intended.
Independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and autism: interim report. Interim report outlining progress on the independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, England: 2024 to 2025. Data on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) in local authorities, including the profile of people for whom a DoLS application was received.
Strengths-based support for neurodivergent children and young people. Up to 70% of neurodivergent children and young people experience significant mental health problems at some stage of school. Prevalence of mental health difficulties is particularly high among autistic girls and young people from racialised communities. When neurodivergent children’s needs are not understood or supported by services, this can worsen their mental health. Research from the University of York is summarised in this report and finds that standard mental health programmes often do not work well for neurodivergent children and young people. Many neurodivergent children find universal interventions like cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness programmes difficult and stressful. Strengths-based support for neurodivergent children and young people explores how adapted, sensory-informed and play-based approaches can improve engagement, wellbeing and mental health outcomes.
Community mental health services: government’s response to the Health and Social Care Committee’s report. The government’s response to the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s fourth report of session 2024 to 2026 into community mental health services.
Bevan Brittan Events
Case Law Update – Mental Capacity Act 2005. 23 April. In this session 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
- Any updates on the revisions to the Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act 2005
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
Forging strategic partnerships: considerations for creating effective strategic partnerships to deliver the 10 Year Plan. This guidance shares insights of leaders from at-scale primary care organisations and NHS trusts on how strategic partnerships can improve patient outcomes, strengthen neighbourhood delivery models and use collective resources more efficiently. Through expert presentations, panel discussions and thematic workshops, participants reflected openly on the cultural, operational and structural factors that make or break partnership working today.
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any issues in primary care then please contact Joanne Easterbrook.
Prison Health
Publications/Guidance
The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England. The Chief Medical Officer for England identifies areas of good practice and areas of risk, and recommends actions to improve health outcomes for this population.
Pathways between probation and addiction: a follow-up study. Study of alcohol or drug treatment requirements assessing engagement and reconviction outcomes using justice (including probation notes) and health data.
How we can help
If you wish to discuss any issues in prison health then please contact Joanne Easterbrook.
Social Care
Publications/Guidance
Not my priority: how the public sees social care (and what can be done about it). It's widely acknowledged that social care reform is essential. This report explores why public opinion and attitudes towards social care are a key barrier to change.
Review of Regulation 9A: visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals and hospices - Call for evidence outcome. F ollowing its consultation on visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals and hospices since the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 reg.9A came into force, the Department of Health and Social Care states it will take forward a package of work to: improve the clarity of the Capacity Tracker visiting questions and associated completion instructions; produce communications and awareness resources tailored to different settings; work with the Care Quality Commission to embed visiting into their longer-term reforms and improvement programme; and strengthen visiting rights introduced through reg.9A.
Consultations
AI and Technology in Children’s Social Care: Call for Evidence. A Department for Education call for evidence seeks views to understand how local authorities artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technology in the delivery of children’s social care. It aims to gather input on: AI or digital tools purchased or procured from external vendors; tools being developed to support frontline staff; managing the risks and ethics associated with AI tools; the challenges and barriers in implementing AI for supporting frontline social care practice; and the use of "single views", an interface that provides practitioners with a view of the child’s data from across a range of services or agencies. Comments by 1 May 2026.
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
Module 3: the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the healthcare systems of the United Kingdom. This report, the third of the Inquiry’s ten investigations, has examined the impact of Covid-19 on health care systems across the four nations. It investigated how governments and society responded to the pandemic, the capacity of health care systems to adapt and the impact on patients, their loved ones and health care workers. It finds that, because health care systems were already overstretched and in a precarious state, the UK entered the pandemic ill-prepared. It concludes that the UK’s health care systems “came close to collapse”. Ultimately it “coped, but only just”.
House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee. Palliative care. This report challenges the government to ensure its forthcoming plans for England’s palliative and end of life care sector lead to lasting improvement, including in services for children and young people. The government has said it will unveil plans to reform the palliative care sector later this year. It promises to publish a Modern Service Framework (MSF), providing fresh guidance on how services should be delivered. The Committee calls for the MSF to continue specific standards for how children’s, babies’ and young people’s palliative care should be provided; the need for 24/7 services throughout the country; and a plan to strengthen the workforce of specialist doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
News
New health minister appointed. The government has appointed Sharon Hodgson MP who has campaigned on patient safety to be the new public health and prevention minister.
Health Secretary welcomes large fall in NHS dissatisfaction. Survey shows the biggest drop in dissatisfaction in the NHS since 1998 as Health and Social Care Secretary pledges to do more to tackle underperforming trusts.
NHS reform and the future of the health service. Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting spoke in London on the steps being taken to reform the health service.
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