Press Releases

17 May 2017 Following Ian Paterson’s abhorrent actions, the President and Vice-Presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) have issued an open letter today reassuring the public that rogue doctors should now be caught by modern rules governing medical practice. However, they warn there is no room for complacency and the RCS today calls for a review by the next Government of how safety standards and transparency can improve, particularly in the private sector.

11 May 2017 NHS England performance data published today for March 2017 shows the number of delayed days for transfers of care rose 7% from 184,855 in February 2017 to 199,260 delayed days in March 2017.

11 May 2017 Knee arthroscopy should not be performed in almost all patients with degenerative knee disease, say a panel of international experts in The BMJ today. The experts say that the surgery does not, on average, result in a lasting improvement in pain or function - and they say further research is unlikely to alter this advice.

28 Apr 2017 Nottingham crown court has found surgeon Ian Paterson guilty of seventeen counts of wounding with intent, and three of unlawful wounding, after carrying out unnecessary operations.

13 Apr 2017 NHS England performance data published today for February 2017 shows that there has been a 39.3% increase in the total number of patients waiting over 18 weeks for planned treatment since February 2016.

06 Apr 2017 Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of NHS England, has announced his resignation. Sir Bruce became Medical Director of the NHS in 2007, a role which was moved to NHS England in 2013, following reforms by the then Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley.

31 Mar 2017 Two-and-a-half years on from the publication of the NHS Five Year Forward View, NHS England have published Next Steps On The Five Year Forward View, a new plan which sets out what has been achieved to date and the changes which will take place across the health service in key areas.

31 Mar 2017 The General Medical Council has today published a report investigating the flexibility of postgraduate training. It found doctors faced considerable barriers to transferring from one specialty to the other, often requiring them to repeat training they have already undertaken. It also found that postgraduate training is slow to adapt to advances in science and technology.

23 Mar 2017 A freedom of information (FOI) request made to all NHS commissioning groups (CCGs) shows that several have adopted policies which attempt to ration weight loss surgery to the super-obese, and ignore official advice on who should be eligible for surgery.

21 Mar 2017 New analysis by the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons shows there been a 24% rise in the number of tooth extractions performed on 0-4 year olds in hospitals in England over the last decade.