The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced the reallocation of NHS funding as part of its forthcoming ten-year health plan, which aims to reduce health inequalities through structural reform. Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, confirmed that £2.2bn, previously allocated for deficit support, will be redirected to frontline services in deprived areas, including working-class communities and coastal towns. Deficit support funding will be phased out from 2026–27 and replaced by a new financial accountability regime. Implementation will be supported by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation in consultation with the British Medical Association.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that the government, in collaboration with life sciences company, Oxford Nanopore, will create the world’s first real-time surveillance system to monitor the threat of potential outbreaks of bacterial or viral diseases, as well as antimicrobial resistance. This new technology will help to rapidly diagnose infectious diseases and cancers, detect potential pandemics and biological threats, and prevent the spread of diseases. It will also allow the government to achieve its aim of shifting the NHS from analogue to digital as part of the 10 Year Health Plan.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced the renewal of the Women's Health Strategy, to be published next year as part of the 10 Year Health Plan. The renewed strategy will identify specific barriers in healthcare access and establish concrete actions to address inequalities in women's healthcare across England. The announcement follows the introduction of Jess's Rule, which requires GPs in England to reconsider diagnoses when patients present three times without identification of a condition or when symptoms worsen. Additional measures include a new cervical cancer plan for England targeting elimination by 2040, the provision of free emergency hormonal contraception through NHS pharmacies, and the inclusion of menopause questions in NHS Health Checks. The strategy development will incorporate responses from the 10 Year Health Plan consultation and aims to create systematic changes to address longstanding barriers in women's healthcare provision.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced new action to tackle ethnic and other biases in medical devices following the publication of an independent report on equity in medical devices, which was commissioned by the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, in April 2022. The report identied potential biases in these devices and recommended how to tackle them. The DHSC has also published the government’s response to an August 2022 call for evidence which was used to inform this final report. The government has indicated that it fully accepts recommendations from the independent review and has made a series of commitments, including ensuring that pulse oximeter devices used in the NHS can be used safely across a range of skin tones, removing racial bias from data sets used in clinical studies, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) now requesting that approval applications for new medical devices describe how they will address bias.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced an additional £7m in funding for Early Support Hubs across England to expand mental health services for young people. The funding will enable 24 existing community-based hubs to deliver a further 10,000 mental health and wellbeing interventions over the next 12 months for individuals aged 11–25. Early Support Hubs provide drop-in mental health support without the need for referrals or appointments, including counselling, group work, therapeutic support and specialist advice. The hubs aim to prevent the escalation of mental health conditions and reach young people who may be less likely to engage with traditional NHS or school-based services. Findings from the programme will inform the government’s plans for the rollout of Young Futures Hubs and the future delivery of open-access mental health care.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), together with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has announced the appointment of Baroness Blackwood as Chair of the Health Data Research Service (HDRS). Backed by up to £600m in funding from the government and Wellcome, the HDRS aims to provide approved researchers with streamlined access to NHS data through a secure, single access point to national-scale datasets. The initiative is intended to accelerate medical research while maintaining safeguards for data security, privacy and ethical oversight. These include the use of controlled research environments, encryption protocols and synthetic data techniques. HDRS has been approved as a government company, with incorporation work in progress and recruitment underway for a chief executive officer. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have agreed in principle to participate in this UK-wide initiative.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced new measures on baby formula marketing and retail practices following a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) market study that found families were influenced by unverifiable packaging messages to choose more expensive products. The changes include updated guidance for retailers confirming baby formula can be purchased using loyalty points and vouchers and action on product display practices intended to save parents up to £500 annually. The measures form part of the government's child poverty strategy and involve enforcement coordination between UK, Scottish and Welsh governments with local authorities.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced new restrictions on junk food advertising aimed at children, including a ban on television adverts for less healthy food and drink before 9 p.m. and a complete prohibition on paid online advertising. The measures are expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets each year, prevent around 20,000 cases of childhood obesity and deliver approximately £2bn in health benefits over time.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed that the government will introduce a Statutory Instrument to exempt brand advertising from forthcoming restrictions on less healthy food and drink advertising on TV and online under the Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/1266. Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health and Prevention Ashley Dalton stated that, while the policy aims to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy products, the change will ensure industry clarity and allow time for consultation. The legal implementation date has been moved to 5 January 2026, though advertisers, broadcasters and platforms have voluntarily committed to observing the restrictions from 1 October 2025 under the Voluntary Industry Agreement on Less Healthy Foods.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced the launch of a call for evidence reviewing how the duty of candour is honored, monitored and enforced in social and healthcare settings. The government aims to improve patient safety by reviewing how patients and family members are kept informed when things go wrong amid concerns of inconsistency in application. The DHSC is seeking views across the health and care sector including, patients and service users, families and caregivers, registered providers, health and care professionals, registered managers and health and social care regulators. The call for evidence closes on 29 May 2024.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced a consultation on proposed changes to regulations relating to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The proposed amendments include removing the expiry date of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/2936 and replacing it with a five-yearly review, treatment in a sports ground or gymnasium, temporary cultural and sporting events and sporting activities exceptions and the introduction of a new requirement to notify the CQC of the use of restraint, segregation and seclusion in mental health units. The consultation closes on 21 June 2024.

In a written statement made by Karin Smyth MP, Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced revised delivery timelines for National Health Service (NHS) Pension Scheme remediable service statements. The NHS Business Services Authority will implement a phased approach extending deadlines from three to 20 months beyond the original 1 April 2025 deadline. Extensions vary by member class, with retired members receiving statements between July 2025 and December 2026, while active and deferred members' statements are due by September 2025. The revision affects over 1 million scheme members across eight different categories.