Alwena Hughes Moakes

These are really encouraging stats for Scotland’s journey toward zero new HIV transmission by 2030! 📉📈 The significant reduction in new diagnoses, increased use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and early detection efforts are all steps in the right direction. Let’s keep up the momentum to #GetToZero and a Scotland where anyone living with or at risk of HIV can expect to be treated with acceptance, support and respect.

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Record €25.8 billion health budget to support the continued delivery and expansion of quality, affordable healthcare services in 2025. The funding represents an overall increase of €2.94 billion on the January 2024 allocation, recognising the challenges of inflation and the increased demand on services due to a growing and ageing population. The 2025 health Budget includes €1.2 billion allocated for existing level of service, €1.5 billion additional funding for 2024 pressures and €335 million in additional new measures. Budget 2025 includes significant increases on 2024 in areas including: Acute Hospitals (up 22% to €9.9 billion) Mental Health (up 10% to a record €1.48 billion) Older Persons Services (up €349 million to €3 billion) Palliative Care (up 13% to €179 million) National Ambulance Service (up 13% to €280 million)

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As expected of a new Government that long knew it was about to be elected, it has made a very quick start: ✅ No surprises, but Wes Streeting has been appointed as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. He brings significant insight to the role. ✅ Karin Smyth and Stephen Kinnock have been appointed to the two main Minister of State positions. Stephen is new to the brief, but Karin has been working in the shadow health team since last year. She's a former NHS manager in primary care and brings a lot of knowledge and experience to the role. ✅ SoS has already instigated talks with the BDA today, and is due to meet the BMA tomorrow to hopefully pave the way to end strike action among junior doctors. That can't come soon enough. 🔜 And there are lots of rumors about former ministerial heavyweights such as Alan Milburn being brought back into the fold, in particular to help with the task of reducing waiting lists. Of course, this was a key focus of the Labour administration of the 2000s when Milburn was health secretary. 🔊 Perhaps less obvious was the tone the SoS would adopt in his first interviews. I can't remember an incoming SoS being quite so forthright in saying the "NHS is broken" and that from now on "this is the position of the DHSC". The government will want to do an early audit to understand how difficult the challenges ahead will be, but it will soon come under pressure from the public to turn round performance. We have the first monthly #NHS performance stats of the new government on Thursday, so will see the approach the SoS takes then. NHS Confederation spokespeople were out doing a lot of media interviews over the weekend and discussing how the Government's mission-based approach is an opportunity to transform the NHS. We will work constructively with SoS and his team to support them respond to the considerable challenges they have inherited. At the top of the priority list will be: (1) ending the long running industrial disputes, including taking action to head off GPs taking 'collective action' over contract changes; and (2) plugging the funding gap that is opening up across the NHS - estimated to be around £3 billion. This figure could grow if the NHS pay review body recommendations lead to pay rises that are not fully funded, and if strike action continues for months. #GeneralElection2024 #PoliticalUpdate #ElectionNews #UKPolitics #NHScomms #PR https://lnkd.in/ecdw_38d

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Here's a few takeaways from MHP Group's event with Wes Streeting on Monday:

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Did you know that less than 5% of the most senior NHS communications professionals are from an ethnic minority background? That was a central finding of a report published by NHS Confederation NHS Providers and the Centre for Health Communications Research (CHCR) in March this year. Improving ethnic and other forms of diversity have long been an ambition for the communications profession, including in the NHS, but progress has been limited. In fact, our report indicates that we may even be going backwards when it comes to ethnic diversity among our most senior NHS communications roles. One of our report’s main recommendations was to establish a taskforce of communications and other leaders to address this problem. NHS Confederation NHS Providers and the CHCR are delighted to be taking forward this taskforce, and even more delighted to announce that the brilliant Edna Boampong (FCIM) will chair it. Edna will be joining the NHS Confederation on a secondment from Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System while she undertakes this work. Her title will be: Programme Director for Diverse and Inclusive Communications. The taskforce’s main responsibility will be to develop practical recommendations that help executive and non-executive teams working in the NHS to improve diversity in the communications workforce. Edna is a multi-award-winning communications, marketing, and change management director with over 20 years of experience designing and leading strategic communication and engagement programmes. She will be supported by a number of communications leaders from inside and outside the NHS, as well as experts in EDI, HR and recruitment roles. We’re pleased to announced the first three taskforce members: Ranjeet Kaile Antony Tiernan and Claire Riley - more members will be announced in the coming weeks. The taskforce expects to publish its recommendations before the end of the year. See more details in our press release below. And can I also recommend this podcast we recorded with Edna, Claire Riley and Adam Brimelow which covers the taskforce and other topics on the future of NHS communications: https://lnkd.in/eAJXNqqP #comms #PR #NHScomms #ethnicdiversity #marketing #socialmedia https://lnkd.in/en2Fvdt7

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As NHS Confed says in its latest report, fundamental, system wide change is indeed needed to scale up pockets of best practice into a new neighbourhood health service. Interesting focus on investment in capital assets – just last week we were speaking to a pioneering service transformation lead who’s offering one-stop-shop community hubs that are cutting waiting times, and improving patient outcomes, but can’t cater for all conditions without the physical space to do so. You also need the right people in place to deliver the service, and we will be pushing for community services – including rehab - to get a renewed focus from funding to commissioning and incentivising. Because everyone deserves the right to rehab. And it's how we move care from hospital to community also known as closer to home. https://lnkd.in/eqSwCpH8

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🚨🚨🚨Darzi review has been released. 🚨🚨🚨 It sets out the challenges facing the NHS in STARK terms. Interesting framing in that it’s not only challenges with investment, productivity and staff/capacty that matter; but also the role which individuals play in their own health. Talking about personal responsibility and the need for cross-Gov work to solve the determinants of health is v important; and this will be key to reform. Also important is the focus on tech as a driver of performance. It’s not just a ‘nice to have’ but will be a key part of the reform agenda. If this was the diagnosis, the treatment is going to have to be strong. Next up, party conferences, creation of the 10 year plan, and the development of the mission Boards. For now, this is a big old beast of a report, and we’ll be analysing it over the coming days - if you want a copy of our analysis, drop me a message. https://lnkd.in/eHPmcpdj

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This year's Public Policy Projects 2024 Cancer Care conference comes at a critical time for the #NHS. Lord Ara Darzi's impending report will show that the health and care system has lost vital capability and it is vital that solutions to transform patient pathways are brought to the fore and that best practice is shared. The conference has a keen focus on innovation, both with respect to new digital technologies but also crucially on how advances in diagnostics and screening can alleviate service pressure and ultimately transform pathways for patients across the country. Few are better placed to address these issues than keynote speakers Prof. Sir Mike Richards and Prof. Anne Mackie - both of whom will be providing vital updates on UK cancer screening strategy. Prevention will clearly be vital to enabling longer term NHS objectives on cancer. Discussing how to enable a truly preventative approach to cancer care will be Professor Julian Barwell, Dr. Sandra Husbands, Professor Matthew Taylor and Professor Prof. Durka Dougall. Excellent work Rachel Millar in pulling this impressive agenda together! 💡Other key topics that will be discussed across five panels: ➡️ Addressing risk factors for #cancer and working towards prevention. ➡️ Harnessing #genomics in cancer #prevention without increasing #health inequalities. ➡️ Early #diagnosis across cancer types, using women’s cancers as a focal point. ➡️ Tackling #backlogs in cancer pathways, particularly prostate cancer. ➡️ Implementing strategies to effectively reduce health inequalities in cancer. ➡️ Opportunities for future #screening through advances in #digital technologies. ➡️ #Innovations that can speed up diagnostics now. ➡️ Exploring the potential for equitable screening. https://lnkd.in/eUrE6PW9

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The general election is welcome news to many. The announcement was quickly followed by the publication of NHS England’s pre-election guidance (link in comments), which reminds us of the need for NHS bodies to be politically impartial and to avoid actions that might distract from or influence any election campaign. Public consultations on proposals for service change are often contentious and politically sensitive, so it’s no surprise the guidance tells us to: - not to launch a public consultation unless it’s essential,  - stop promoting live consultations and plan to extend them once the election is over, and  - not to publish the responses to a consultation until after the election. For colleagues working on service reconfigurations these restrictions can be at the same time a welcome extension and an irksome delay in tight timelines. Planned well, the pre-election period is an ideal chance to do the background work needed to launch an involvement exercise, or to analyse and report on the findings of an exercise that’s recently finished. We've been hearing from programme managers frustrated that the election will cause a delay in finely-tuned governance timetables and asking what they can do to grab some time back. Some of those timetables have been planned in detail to make sure decisions can be made and operationalised before winter pressures start building. That's a powerful driver that can lead to the temptation to cut corners in an attempt to absorb these extra six weeks. A proper process is a transparent process and the challenge of the pre-election period is that very little can happen in public. So, just as it's important to extend consultations that have been interrupted by the election, it’s important to make sure you allow enough time to go through the proper processes once the election is over. Inflexible timetables can be kryptonite to safe process. Really interested to hear how the pre-election period has affected your service reconfiguration work. Is it welcome or an inconvenience? Image by John Mounsey via Pixabay

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A really clear message from Fiona Bride at Financial Times Global Pharma & Biotech Conference this morning: 1 - let’s build on our strength as a pro-innovation health system that gets cutting edge therapies to patients 2- let’s do our best for taxpayers by using clinically effective medicines available at lower cost 3- let’s not shy away from the challenge of improving uptake of treatments for large eligible populations, but use tech to lean-in and evolve

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🚨 Attention Followers in England & Wales: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance on using cabotegravir (CAB-LA) to prevent #HIV. ▶ NICE does not recommend introducing CAB-LA for HIV prevention on the NHS. ▶ NICE appears to make this draft recommendation because there isn't enough perfect data. ▶ At a time when new HIV diagnoses are increasing in some populations, this recommendation does not align with efforts to end HIV by 2030. ✅ Go to the link below and add your comments by October 17th. Make your voice heard to expand options for #PrEP.

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Very timely webinar from The Health Foundation on public attitudes to the NHS. Great to join as a panelist and share some reflections about what may happen politically in the next few weeks and beyond. A few quick reflections: 1. The NHS is always an important public issue during a general election. But that doesn't mean that politicians will want to discuss and debate it at length. The Conservatives will try and focus on other issues (particularly economic recovery and security). Labour will want to signal their support for the NHS and high level intentions but avoid too much substance which could come wrapped with unwanted spending commitments... 2. Whatever the outcome, the next Government will need to take a very different approach to what we have seen with regards to health policy, where the playing field has been quite narrow for a long time (e.g. hospital waiting list + GP access targets). This will require building public trust and have two main ingredients (1) a clear baseline assessment of how the health+care system is performing and where the challenges are + (2) a public conversation on the choices this presents + the journey that is needed to deliver it 3. The challenge as ever will be how do you manage the short term pressures and issues (strikes, performance, winter etc), whilst building out this long term journey and public engagement. To deliver this will require a Government structure across no 10/HMT/DHSC/NHS that supports this with the right levers and operating model in place. This will require both senior leadership and serious skill to build successfully 4. The tendency historically in such circumstances has been to build another NHS Plan. But the NHS is not an island - and the evidence of the last decade is clear on this. Instead build a health plan, in which the NHS is a strong component. This is both important for substance and signalling that our health is bigger than just the NHS 5. Finally and as part of all this there is no need to restructure the NHS AGAIN but rather mould and build a delivery framework that brings different organisations together to deliver the aims and objectives set We are about to see a period of healthcare policy where there will be greater direct political leadership over the health+care system. Some may see this as a bad thing given low levels of trust in politicians and their tendency for short-termism. But with the right approach, leadership and statecraft, politicians can deliver and drive positive health policy change (....and it has been done before). The situation is critical and now demands it, but will they be bold enough? We will soon find out #futurehealth #healthpolicy #nhs #generalelection #healthfoundation

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An excellent blog here showing the link between culture and performance. The points around how to improve both are at the same time simple and challenging for teams on the treadmill.

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Public affairs types - I've a question. If you were wanting to establish what the baseline level of awareness of your charity/issue in this new parliament was, so you could measure the impact of different campaigns & engagement activities over time - - what questions would you ask? - what channel/s would you use? - how often would you review? - what would you do with the information? I've some ideas about how I intend to go about these, but thought asking around was a good idea - to sharpen my own approach, and to share out loud some of what lots of us in the field are wrestling with while the rest of the world has just realised there's been a change of government! Our questions are in ideation at the moment, but cover:- - do they know who we are, and what do they know about us - what their interest in ending poverty is, and how connected are they with the necessary resources to do so (local churches & charities addressing the issue on the ground, lived experience perspectives) - to what extent they think addressing poverty should be a priority for the Government Channel - the major polling firms run MP panels which while pricey can be effective (especially if you're super smart in your question writing). Would you use other channels, though? Writing directly to offices so you have real data and not a sample? Having established question sets for each parliamentary engagement whether in westminster or in constituency, via public affairs team or other departments? Planning to review annually as a minumum and after any major campaign activity (perhaps on a restricted question set) - would you go more often? Information - primarily to inform strategic planning, resource allocation, coordination of various teams and departments' own contribution to CAP's policy & advocacy work. Not really planning to try and generate any PR type headlines - but is that aiming too low? Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

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📢Will you support the ongoing case for more funding?📚 The Pharmacy Advice Audit is gathering vital evidence about the informal advice you provide, showing policymakers and others the fantastic work you do. 🗓️Take part by 28th June to make a difference 👉 cpe.org.uk/adviceaudit

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Interested in funding your digital care system? As an NHS Assured supplier, Care Control can help! Access funding to transition from paper to digital care planning in just a few simple steps. Download our guide today to learn how and start transforming your care services. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to enhance efficiency and empower your care team. https://zurl.co/3cGn #DigitalTransformation #CareControl #NHSAssured

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Plans to update the NHS Constitution are due to be announced today. The Constitution is important as it sets out rights for patients, public and staff. It outlines NHS commitments to patients and staff, and the responsibilities that the public, patients and staff owe to one another to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively. All NHS bodies and private and third sector providers supplying NHS services are required by law to take account of the constitution in their decisions and actions. We are expecting an eight week consultation on the proposals when they are published later today. In the meantime, DHSC has in effect launched the Constitution proposals on the back of a press release sent out under embargo yesterday for this morning. The full detail that will be outlined in the consultation document is due at some point today. While we await the detail, there's been a lot of media coverage of the headline proposals - exactly what the government would have hoped for. This isn't a tactic unique to this government but we're seeing this approach used more frequently ahead of key policy changes. It helps those putting forward the proposals avoid detailed scrutiny until the full detail is provided, and by then the media will have largely moved on. It would be interesting to know what the Government Communications Service and others make of this, but it's a trend we should be challenging as communications professionals. In the meantime, here is NHS Confederation holding response while we await the full details. #NHS #Comms #PR https://lnkd.in/ebcRzhXq

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For any stakeholder group, there are very few times as nerve-racking as waiting for a call from a member of Government, or a Department of Health bureaucrat, on Budget night. In one short phone call, you can find out if your months, or sometimes years, of advocacy will be rewarded. Lung Foundation Australia CEO Mark Brooke shares the story of their long journey to Australia’s $264 million National Lung Cancer Screening Program and shares advocacy insights on how to achieve a win win for health consumer groups and government. #communicationscience #advocacy https://lnkd.in/gAGrKkz3

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With Ministers in post for over four months now, it’s great to see so many campaigners getting the chance to put their case to government. Last year I was asked back by a former civil service colleague to help train her team on presenting to Ministers. Here were my tips: 1. Signpost the structure. Ministers get jumpy if they don’t know what’s happening or how long you’re going to talk for. Prepare a pithy opening and propose what you’d like to use the time for “I’d love to give you the background for 5 mins and then we can discuss your views and ways forward? Does that work for you Minister?” 2. Be brief. This seems obvious but you’d be amazed how many people totally blow their shot by waffling on or (worst case) talking over the Ministers. Ministers want to talk through things, not be lectured! 3. Tell a story. As well as the above, try and frame it in a way which flows and is easy to remember. The Minister probably has many many other meetings that day - what will make yours stand out? What will motivate them to ask their officials about it going forward? 4. Think politically, because Ministers will. That means in the people you reference, the partner organisations you highlight, the arguments you deploy, the polling you set out. Be wary trying to convince a politician to do something by highlighting evidence or arguments from people they don't agree with or respect. You’re speaking to someone steeped in politics and you can’t ignore that even if you aren’t yourself. 5. Be confident but tactical. Most Ministers I’ve met don’t like pushovers - so if they challenge your arguments be prepared to defend them! But know when it’s pointless and avoid arguing over things that are irrelevant or not a big deal. 6. Be ready for follow ups. The meeting is just the first step! Do you have a good follow up if asked? What evidence do you have? Have you engaged with the private office and officials? Ministers won’t be able to do things alone - you need to work with the machine too to make them happen. 7. Plan the choreography. One of the easiest ways to lose Ministers’ attention is to keep handing over between lots of people presenting or (even worse) to interrupt each other regularly. Bring a small number of people, minimise handovers, and make them as seamless as possible. I hope that was interesting and let me know any I’ve missed 🙂

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