The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has opened consultation for the rule changes that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will check. The 3 changes the department wants to make include: replacing the end date of the regulations with a review date; healthcare at sports events and cultural events if someone gets hurt; and reporting when someone with a learning disability is restrained. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 27 September 2024.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published a consultation, seeking views on the content of the DHSC's group accounting manual (GAM), which applies to DHSC bodies for their annual reports and accounts. The GAM provides guidance to DHSC bodies when preparing their annual reports. The consultation closes on 9 March 2024.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched a consultation on proposed regulations and guidance aimed at combatting modern slavery in NHS procurement. The draft National Health Service (Procurement, Slavery and Human Trafficking) Regulations 2024 seek to ensure that NHS supply chains and business activities are free from ethical and labour standards abuses. The consultation invites views from public bodies, suppliers and the public on various aspects, including implementation strategies, impact assessment, risk management in procurement frameworks and support mechanisms for public bodies to fulfil these new duties. This initiative aligns with the government's stance that the NHS has a crucial role in addressing modern slavery through its procurement practices. The consultation closes on 13 February 2025.

The Department of Health and Social Care has outlined its expectations for local authorities commencing from the 2026–27 financial year. The focus is on radically improving the quality of adult social care, empowering individuals with greater choice and control over their services, and strengthening the integration between health and social care systems. Additionally, the publication details a new methodology for calculating notional allocations to support local budgets over the next three years and describes how ongoing data collection and local engagement will track progress towards these critical objectives.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched a consultation on proposed updates to the NHS Constitution for England. The proposed updates include embedding the commitment for patients and their family members to initiate a rapid review from outside their initial care team in acute and specialist settings where the patient's condition is deteriorating; ensuring that health systems work together to understand the needs of different groups and reduce disparities in access, experience and outcomes; strengthening the responsibility on patients to cancel or reschedule appointments and strengthening the responsibility on the NHS to clearly communicate appointment information; clarifying that patients can expect physical and mental health care to be person-centred, co-ordinated and tailored to their needs and reinforcing the NHS's commitment to unpaid carers. The consultation closes on 25 June 2024.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published the 2024 report on the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 (MMDA 2021). This report outlines all regulations made and in force under sections 2(1), 10(1), 15(1) and 19(1) of the MMDA 2021 during the reporting period of 27 July 2021 to 27 July 2023. It includes feedback and responses from a six weeks consultation period which sought views on how the regulations are operating and recommendations for improvement. It also includes an outline of the aims of forthcoming legislation planned under the MMDA 2021 currently in progress or made outside of the current reporting period.

The Department of Health and Social Care has updated the Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) Directions page by adding The Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) Directions 2026 and removing The Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) (Amendment) Directions 2025 and The Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) Directions 2025. The 2025 Directions come into force on 1 April 2026 and apply in relation to England. The Directions require NHS England to establish, operate and, as appropriate, revise four directed enhanced service schemes—the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service Scheme, the Learning Disabilities Health Check Scheme, the Violent Patients Scheme and the Minor Surgery Scheme—setting out eligibility, contractor obligations, payment arrangements and contract variations.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published its counter-fraud strategy for 2026–29, setting out its approach to tackling fraud, bribery and corruption across the health and social care system in England. The strategy supports the 10 Year Health Plan and aims to build a sustainable health and social care system by protecting taxpayers’ money, safeguarding patient care and building trust. It sets a target of preventing, detecting and recovering £600 million of fraud over the three-year strategy period, supported by annual counter-fraud action plans. The strategy focuses on four priority areas: prevention and detection, building people and culture, whole system approach and enforcement and recovery. It includes increased use of fraud risk assessments, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify fraud risks, embedding secure by design principles, strengthening compliance with GovS 013: counter fraud, enhancing oversight of arm’s length bodies, increasing recovery of detected fraud, seeking greater legal powers to recover funds and reviewing strategy effectiveness and fraud threats annually.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has completed its review of the Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance and has set out the actions to be taken to ensure the Code remains fit for purpose in light of developments in genetics and insurance.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published UK Clinical Research Delivery programme key performance indicator (KPI) data to March 2026, showing that the average time to set up a commercial interventional clinical trial has decreased from 169 days to 122 days, meeting the Prime Minister's 150-day target set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan. The data also shows that: (1) 78% of commercial contract clinical trial of investigational medicinal products (CTIMP) studies recruited their first participant within 150 days of applying for regulatory approval, against a 95% target; (2) 99% of Combined Review applications received regulatory approval within the 60-day target, with Research Ethics Committee reviews taking a median of 29 days to reach an outcome in 2025; (3) 82% of open studies met recruitment timelines and targets, exceeding the 80% benchmark and (4) 62% of studies recruited their first participant within 30 days of opening to recruitment, against a 90% target. In addition, average monthly recruitment to clinical studies reached 86,151 participants, with 154 new studies added to the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network (RDN) portfolio. The KPIs measure trends in regulatory and study set-up times, research delivery performance and overall clinical research activity volume across the UK.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published a fact sheet outlining plans in the Health Bill to simplify and strengthen patient safety arrangements in England. The bill would transfer the patient safety investigation functions of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), while retaining existing ‘safe space’ protections for information shared during investigations. The government says the change would reduce duplication, improve coordination and strengthen the impact of safety recommendations. The proposals follow a 2025 review led by Dr Penny Dash, which found overlap across the patient safety system and recommended greater consolidation. The bill would also extend the time limit for certain CQC prosecutions relating to unsafe care or unregistered activities from three years to five years. The government says this would allow more complex cases to be fully investigated and improve access to justice for affected families.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published the final report of the independent review of children's hearing services in England, chaired by Dr Camilla Kingdon. The review, commissioned by the Secretary of State, found that nearly 300 children have been harmed by failed or delayed diagnosis, with systemic failings identified across children's hearing services over many years. The report makes 12 key recommendations grouped into three themes: addressing immediate areas for improvement with NHS England's Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme, placing services on secure footing through commissioning and staffing reforms, and applying lessons to similar at-risk services to prevent future crises. Key recommendations include requiring professional registration for all audiologists working in the NHS, implementing improved governance arrangements for audiology services, developing model commissioning contracts with key performance indicators, and establishing regional incident response processes for widespread patient safety concerns that do not meet national incident thresholds. The review conducted over 100 interviews with clinicians and stakeholders, held focus groups with parents and carers, and received over 450 responses to its call for evidence.