The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published its response to the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) January 2026 report on clinical negligence costs, accepting the committee's recommendation to provide an operational plan for tackling rising costs by Autumn 2026. The PAC had concluded that DHSC had failed to address increasing costs despite repeated warnings. Clinical negligence, defined as a breach of duty of care causing patient harm, gives rise to legal liability for NHS bodies, with compensation and associated legal costs managed through indemnity schemes administered by NHS Resolution, which covers NHS trusts, foundation trusts and general practitioners in England, while private providers are generally responsible for their own claims. Drawing on evidence from the National Audit Office, the report noted that total payments for clinical negligence rose from approximately £0.6bn in 2006–07 to £3.1bn in 2024–25 and are expected to continue increasing, placing pressure on NHS finances. The government acknowledged concerns regarding both the financial impact and the experience of patients navigating the claims process and confirmed its commitment to reforms to address these issues.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has progressed the Mental Health Bill to its Second Reading in the House of Lords, marking a significant step towards modernising mental health care in the UK. The proposed legislation aims to reform the Mental Health Act by enhancing patients' rights and decision-making power in their treatment. Key provisions include the introduction of Advance Choice Documents, mandatory care and treatment plans, and the prohibition of using police and prison cells for mental health detentions. The Bill also addresses concerns regarding unnecessary detentions of individuals with learning disabilities and autism, limiting detention periods for those without co-occurring mental health conditions. Additionally, new discharge processes will be implemented, requiring clinicians to seek second opinions and develop safety management plans, thereby improving protection for patients, staff, and the public.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has commenced consultations with Community Pharmacy England (CPE) regarding the 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 funding contractual framework for community pharmacy. This initiative forms part of the government's Plan for Change and forthcoming ten year health plan, which aims to shift care provision from hospitals to community settings. The government has previously expressed its intention to utilise the expertise and training of pharmacists' to offer additional services to patients in their local communities. The consultation seeks to address the sector's historical underfunding and establish a sustainable financial foundation for the sector going foreward. Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, emphasised the government's commitment to collaborate with CPE on a package of funding  that reflects the vital role of community pharmacists in local healthcare delivery.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have launched Healthcare Goals, a collaborative initiative modelled on the Vaccine Taskforce approach. The programme, which received over £235m in government funding, aims to tackle challenges in dementia, cancer, mental health, obesity, and addiction. In 2023, DHSC and DSIT appointed world-leading experts as Chairs to guide the direction and progress of each Healthcare Goal, building on the initiative's 2022 launch. The project brings together industry, academia, the third sector, and the NHS to advance disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring through innovative products and technologies.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) have announced that care leavers will receive free NHS prescriptions, dental care and eye tests until their 25th birthday. The reforms also include steps to improve safeguarding by ensuring GPs are better informed when patients are in care. Additional support will be trialled through paid NHS internships, a guaranteed interview scheme for eligible care leavers applying for NHS jobs, and a three-year pilot to strengthen mental health support by improving coordination between social workers and NHS mental health teams.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) have announced a £126m funding increase for early years support in England, aimed at improving access to pregnancy support, infant feeding advice, parenting classes, and mental health services. This investment, part of the government's Plan for Change, allocates £57m to 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation in 2025 to 2026. This funding will support the Start for Life programme, providing £36.5m for mental health support, £18.5m for infant feeding services, and £2m to improve access to local services. The government has also extended funding for the Start for Life programme until March 2026. This follows the £69m announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 to establish a network of family hubs, which will provide infant feeding advice, parenting classes, and perinatal mental health services, among other areas of support.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have announced plans to establish a Firefighters Concordat on Health and Wellbeing. This initiative aims to provide firefighters in England with consistent, regular health checks and tailored, research-backed support during and after service, recognising the unique physical and mental health risks they face. The concordat commits to prevention-first approaches, funding new research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and improving early diagnosis and support for a range of health risks. It will also build on the 10-Year Health Plan. The Local Government Association (LGA) has welcomed the agreement, while stressing that fire and rescue authorities will need adequate funding to deliver better long-term outcomes, including investment in facilities to reduce contamination risks.

The Department of Health and Social Care and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have published the Better Care Fund (BCF) framework for 2026 to 2027, establishing formal planning requirements, national conditions for expenditure and legal framework for integrated care boards and local authorities. The framework introduces new arrangements requiring health and wellbeing boards, integrated care boards and local authorities to more closely align plans for integrated health and social care services to neighbourhood health services development, including intermediate care. Concurrently, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published its consultation response implementing a new approach to allocating Disabled Facilities Grant funding to local authorities in England from 2026-27, with transitional protections in place. The reforms introduce a more evidence-based allocation methodology intended to align funding with local need, enabling local authorities to better meet their statutory duty to provide adaptations. Both frameworks require collaborative plan development and agreement by health and wellbeing boards, with the changes taking effect from April 2026.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has jointly published three impact assessments for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, following amendments by the House of Commons Public Bill Committee. The publications include a general impact assessment, an equality impact assessment and a European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) memorandum. The assessments (which apply to England and Wales) evaluate the Bill's potential impacts on the economy, equality and human rights.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England have announced plans to introduce an 'innovator passport' system over the next two years. The digital system, delivered through the MedTech Compass platform, will enable healthcare technology assessed by one NHS organisation to be implemented across other NHS bodies without requiring repeated compliance assessments. The initiative forms part of the government's 10 Year Health Plan and aims to streamline technology adoption processes across the NHS. The system will operate as a centralised platform for NHS organisations to access information about assessed healthcare technologies and their supporting evidence.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England have launched Jess’s Rule across general practitioner (GP) practices in England to help avoid missed or delayed diagnoses and minimise preventable deaths. The initiative requires GPs to adopt a ‘three strikes and rethink approach’—reconsidering their assessment if, after three appointments, no substantiated diagnosis has been made or symptoms have escalated. Jess’s Rule provides GPs with guidelines to reflect, review and rethink where a patient’s condition remains uncertain. This may involve arranging face-to-face consultations where previous appointments were remote, conducting physical examinations, ordering diagnostic tests, or seeking second opinions and specialist referrals. By embedding this as standard practice across England, the measure aims to prevent delays, reduce health inequalities and secure earlier diagnoses, especially for young people and patients from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England have published findings from the world’s largest healthcare AI trial, involving more than 30,000 NHS staff across 90 organisations, demonstrating that Microsoft 365 Copilot could save around 400,000 staff hours a month—an average 43 minutes per employee per day—and deliver significant annual cost savings. The AI tool automates administrative tasks such as note-taking, meeting summaries and email management, freeing staff to focus on patient care. The initiative, forming part of the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and Plan for Change, supports the NHS’s digital transformation and coincides with a 2.7 percent rise in acute-trust productivity. Microsoft Copilot Chat is now available across the NHS, extending use to more than 50,000 staff.