Three think-tanks warned that staffing challenges may pose more of a challenge to health services in England than financial challenges. The NHS is short of 100,000 staff already, and that number could rise to 350,000 by 2030 if current trends continue and new and international recruits fail to come through. The King’s Fund, Nuffield Trust and The Health Foundation say the long-term plan now expected in December must address the issue. Meanwhile, health and social care secretary Matt Hancock has sought to reassure critics that the development of integrated care services via the plan will not lead to the widescale privatisation of the NHS. NHS Digital has finally scrapped its data sharing agreement with the Home Office, and issued new guidance on instant messaging. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has built SMART on FHIR APIs into its core Millennium platform, so it can integrate with specialist systems, in a move that Cerner said represented its commitment to open standards and the INTEROPen movement.
Healthcare Roundup 16 November 2018
