The magical thinking of Hunt’s medical training move – Health Service Journal
Jeremy Hunt’s commitment to increase medical training is a significant move – but it relies on some magical thinking, and ignores the NHS’s bigger and more urgent problems in nursing.

Council chief appointed CCG director- Health Service Journal
A senior council officer has been appointed “interim recovery director” of a troubled clinical commissioning group in Merseyside. Mike Wyatt will take on the new role at St Helens CCG, while continuing as strategic director of people’s services at St Helens Council.

Operational plans timetable ‘extremely challenging’ for providers – NHE
NHS Improvement has warned that it will be ‘extremely challenging’ for trusts to complete operational plans to support their sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) for next March. All NHS trusts and FTs are required to produce two-year operational plans for 2017-18 and 2018-19 that are consistent with the goals of…[]

The crown estate of health and care – NHE
Along with optimising land usage and promoting co-location, a radical new report makes the case for rationalising all local NHS estate into one body. NHE’s Luana Salles reports. As with the rest of the public sector, estate management has been a key focus across the NHS in recent months. Whether that’s in the form of NHS…

Regulator launches investigation into cost of patient falls – Health Service Journal
NHS Improvement has launched an investigation into the cost and prevalence of inpatient falls across the NHS in a bid to better understand, and help providers tackle, the problem.

The powerful link between staff and patient satisfaction – NHE
David Behan CBE, chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), talks to NHE about the correlation between high rates of staff satisfaction and improved patient experience. “The link between satisfied and engaged staff and satisfied and engaged patients is powerful,” David Behan, the chief executive of the CQC, told NHE…

The future of the NHS
The Good Governance Institute has published The future of the NHS: a proposition paper critically examining the future of the national health service.  This paper presents the core arguments from a breakfast seminar held in June 2016 which set out to critically examine the future challenges facing the NHS.  This paper sets out the next steps required to safeguard the future sustainability of the health and care system.

Understanding sustainability and transformation
The NHS Confederation has published Understanding sustainability and transformation plans.  This briefing discusses the policy context, development to date, the timetable for further development and implementation, as well as the key messages from local political, commissioning and provider leaders on how the sustainability transformation plans process could most helpfully develop in the coming months.

Changes to health and care organisations
The NHS Confederation has published information regarding changes coming into force in October 2016 affecting health and care organisations in England.  The information covers: NHS Improvement’s Single Oversight Framework; collection and review of cancer data; submission of GP access data; primary care commissioning activity; transition to new junior doctors’ contract; and language requirements for patient/public-facing roles.