Following the publication of yesterday’s planning guidance, here are the six must read articles from HSJ’s comprehensive coverage:

1. Planning guidnce: Funding to shore up NHS deficits will continue until 2019 – Health Service Journal. A further £3.6bn of “sustainability funding” will be used to plug NHS provider deficits over the next two financial years, according to NHS planning guidance published.
2. ‘System control totals’ to be issued for STPs – Health Service Journal. NHS England will issue overall financial targets to each regional health system in the coming weeks, in what will be a significant change to the regulation of local organisations.
3. Stevens and Mackey will intervene over local contract disputes – Health Service Journal. Providers and commissioners that cannot resolve contract disputes by the end of the year face “intervention” by the NHS England and NHS Improvement chief executives and may see funding withheld.
4. GP services must expand into evenings and weekends under NHS England plans – Health Service Journal. Standard GP opening hours should be increased by an hour and a half per day on weekdays, and extended to Saturdays and Sundays as standard under a major access drive announced by NHS England.
5. NHS told to stick together or hang separately – Health Service Journal. Two themes characterise today’s pithy new planning guidance, writes Dave West.
6. CCGs supported to merge leadership and governance – Health Service Journal. NHS England has said it will work with clinical commissioning groups to help them integrate and work across larger geographical areas to build capacity in the commissioning system.

New whistleblowing protection for doctors in training – NHS Employers
Health Education England has released details of the enhanced whistleblowing protection agreement for doctors in training.

Trusts told to join ‘coalition of the willing’ on standardised procurement – NHE
NHS Improvement (NHSI) has told trusts to follow standardised specifications on procuring certain key supplies in order to deliver savings. In a letter to all NHS trust chief executives, seen by NHE, NHSI’s executive director of operational productivity Jeremy Marlow said that NHS Supply Chain and the NHS Business Services Authority…

CCGs must draft local Forward View implementation plans by December – NHE
NHS England’s new two-year planning guidance, released yesterday, requires CCGs to produce plans by 23 December about how they will deliver the GP Forward View as part of the ongoing sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). This will need to set out how CCGs will invest funds to support and transform general practice in…

The planning guidance for 2017-19 is useful and needs to see ongoing alignment – NHS Confederation
Phil McCarvill, Deputy Director of Policy at the NHS Confederation, has responded to the publication of NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Planning Guidance for 2017-19.

‘Block payment’ plan for outpatients scaled back – Health Service Journal
Plans to reduce inappropriate outpatient follow-ups by introducing a block payment system from 2017-18 have been scaled back by NHS England.

Trusts allowed to miss 2016-17 targets in ‘rare’ cases – Health Service Journal
Trusts will be allowed to miss performance targets this year if it was a result of “exceptional circumstances outside [their] control” and they are back on track in 2017-18, the latest NHS planning guidance says.