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Andrew Fenton

@fentonaw.bsky.social
679 followers 892 following 175 posts

Population Health & Inequalities with NHS SCW. Tweet on health & inequalities, cat pics, Port Meadow views. Runner & occasional triathlete. www.tumblr.com/fentonaw

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Reposted by Andrew Fenton
Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Despair. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog about how politics is stuck whilst violence intensifies, how ‘the first lie wins’ in constructing political narratives, and how Brexit ruptured the 'cordon sanitaire'. Long and depressing read: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/06/desp...
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Royal College of Emergency Medicine @rcem.ac.uk · 08/06/2026
The estimated number of deaths linked to long waits in English Emergency Departments has surged almost tenfold over the last 10 years. This shocking statistic is from our State of Emergency Medicine in England report, which has been published today.
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Well maybe there's a silver lining to the current political chaos - Wes Streeting resigns as Health Secretary; but most of the damage is already done or well underway.
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
At the @thekingsfund.bsky.social Health Inequalities conference. Andy Burnham was to have been the keynote speaker, but for some reason has pulled out 😳
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The proportion of the NHS budget spent on general practice has fallen to its lowest point in at least 10 years - figures in response to parliamentary Qu from @laylamoran.bsky.social. Fell from 9.2% in 2019/20 to 8.3% in '24/25. questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques... via @hsj.co.uk
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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steve the skeptic @policyskeptic.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
The single, most damning, criticism of Wes Streeting is this: (from www.hsj.co.uk/daily-insigh...). The evidence all says more managers is good for the NHS, but we'll ignore that because the public don't like it.
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Wes Streeting at the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk this morning - very positive and confident over the rate of improvement to NHS performance; waiting lists, A&E waits, GP access & satisfaction. "Waiting times falling for first time in 15 years" - but doesn't comment on rate of change (modest)!
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Wes Streeting at the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk puts great emphasis on NHS modernisation (against opposition), patient power, technology, and prevention. "The job of listening to patients can't be farmed out to an arms length body" ie HW @davewwest.bsky.social @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social
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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
@youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com nailing it again.
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David Buck @davidjbuck.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Great to see this published, though it's all change and for health inequalities, sticking the course is key despite institutional upheaval (again)... bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1...
bmjopen.bmj.com
From policy to action: a document content analysis reviewing the adoption of the healthcare inequalities programme in local health system plans in England
Objectives This analysis aimed to explore how local health system strategies and plans seek to tackle health and care inequalities and address national policies. Specifically, the analysis considered ...
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
How have ICSs set out to address healthcare inequalities in their system-strategies and Joint Forward Plans? New paper out in BMJ Open, by authors from NHS South, Central and West, Dr John Ford of @qmul.bsky.social, Solutions for Public Health, and NHS England. bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1...
bmjopen.bmj.com
From policy to action: a document content analysis reviewing the adoption of the healthcare inequalities programme in local health system plans in England
Objectives This analysis aimed to explore how local health system strategies and plans seek to tackle health and care inequalities and address national policies. Specifically, the analysis considered ...
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Dr Steve Taylor @drstevetaylor.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Helpful to explain what £169/patient/year pays for (this is £40 less than 2015 in real terms funding & only £123 is patient care) 380million appts in GP practices - half with GPs But there is more to General Practice than just appts @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social
Iceberg of work in GP practices
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
On Yom Kippur many Jewish people in Britain have their phones off to mark the holy day. As it ends at 723pm, some will hear the tragic Manchester news for the first time. At that time, please join many of us to send a message of solidarity to British Jews.Thanks Together coalition for proposing.
To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: you are not alone.

We will not let hate or those who spread it win.

We stand with you.
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Strangely muted response to this new report from the @healthfoundation.bsky.social on Labour's First Year on NHS / Health policy, largely critical (with good reason) and the first think-tank to come out highlighting lack of coherence and disruptive reorganisation. www.health.org.uk/publications...
health.org.uk
Labour’s first year
Our report looks at Labour's record so far and offers an overall assessment of government's reform agenda on the NHS and social care.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
The far-right is in its pomp. We will have to fight for our values like never before. iandunt.substack.com/p/encounteri...
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Ben Barr @benjaminbarr.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
A country divided by health inequalities. Solving the UK regional health divide. bmj.com/cgi/content/... @felly500.bsky.social @jesstud.bsky.social @ipprnorth.bsky.social @clesthinkdo.bsky.social
bmj.com
Regional health divisions in the UK
Coordinated action is needed to resolve inequalities People in the poorer areas of the UK are dying on average nine years younger than those in more affluent areas.1 This divide, which is the fourth ...
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Shiny tech, health equity, and deliverability of the 10 year health plan Fit for the Future, some personal reflections and selected links to post-plan commentary, inc great posts by @samfr.bsky.social & @jessrmorley.bsky.social & reflecting @policyskeptic.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/posts/fenton...
linkedin.com
Shiny tech, health equity, and deliverability of the 10 year health plan Fit for the Future - some personal reflections and selected links to post-plan commentary. | Andrew Fenton
Shiny tech, health equity, and deliverability of the 10 year health plan Fit for the Future - some personal reflections and selected links to post-plan commentary. Mark Golledge Jessica Rose Morley, ...
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Excellent analysis here from @samfr.bsky.social on the 10yr-health plan. The benefit of having some distance from the inner workings of the NHS & think-tanks in its sphere is apparent. In summary: willing the NHS to improve with enthusiasm is not a remedy to deep short & long term challenges
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Andy Cowper @hpiandycowper.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
I highly recommend Jess Morley’s analysis of the NHS Ten-Year Plan: www.linkedin.com/pulse/nhs-10... Great use of Taylor Swift lyrics!
linkedin.com
NHS 10-Year Plan: I Think I've Seen This Film Before, and I Didn't Like the Ending
The long-awaited NHS 10-Year Plan has finally arrived—eight years to the day since I first joined the Department of Health and Social Care. Calling it a "plan" might be generous, given the delivery ch...
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Labour launched its NHS 10 year plan this week. Many have already written about it, esp on health care delivery. My latest post looks at the plans on the social determinants health - some good news, some gaps. The devil is in the delivery and reducing poverty. open.substack.com/pub/christin...
open.substack.com
Is it "Fit for the future"? The NHS 10-year plan and the social determinants of Health
Labour released its 10-year NHS plan this week - in this post I have a look at whether and how it deals with the social determinants of health
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Will the 10 Year Health Plan favour tech-driven Bio-Medicalisation? - follow the money to see where trade-offs are made in the 10YHP, with primary & community-centred care at risk of domination by technophile models. www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-yea...
linkedin.com
Will the 10 Year Health Plan favour tech-driven Bio-Medicalisation?
The #10YearPlan for the NHS is eagerly awaited and much trailed, with a number of forerunning announcements already made - such as reform of GP funding to help target more deprived communities, the cl...
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
the most basic, enduring plea from medicine: stop obsessing over tech solutions for tiny marginal returns when we haven't even mastered the basics of 19thC public health reform, let alone anything more sophisticated.
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
"Not for the first time then, health services will see significant funding increases without it feeling like a bonanza for the people who run or receive services." Siva Anandaciva in @thekingsfund.bsky.social blog with analysis of the Spending Review www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...
kingsfund.org.uk
What Does the 2025 Comprehensive Spending Review Mean For Health And Care | The King's Fund
Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, Siva Anandaciva unpacks the numbers to explore what they mean for health and care.
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Chris Ham @chrisham.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
its time to take prevention seriously and fully engage people in keeping healthy and using services wisely - this must be at the heart of the 10 year NHS plan. The road for increasing spending on a sickness service is running out
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
This by @shaunlintern.bsky.social describes well the perilous situation the NHS is in and the scale of the challenge to secure improvement, but like the Andrew Rawnsley piece in the Observer there is strangely no mention of the NHSE abolition and the major cuts and reorg of ICS, risking disruption.
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The Health Foundation @healthfoundation.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
What happened to the government’s health mission? Good health isn't just built in hospitals but shaped by living conditions - from adequate income to secure housing. Alex Kennedy outlines the need for a cross-government plan to improve health and reduce health inequalities⬇️ bit.ly/3TorQHg
'Creating a cross-government plan for health may not all be plain sailing: it will require difficult decisions. But to duck those decisions is a choice too – and one that is unlikely to end well.' Alex Kennedy, Policy and Engagement Manager in Healthy Lives
at the Health Foundation
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National Voices @nationalvoices.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Our research is set to have a significant impact on NHS translation and interpreting service provision via @england.nhs.uk's new Improvement Framework. The emphasis on cultural sensitivity, digital exclusion and community partnership will be vital for high-quality services. 👉 tinyurl.com/yh63x3cb
tinyurl.com
The impact of real-word experiences in shaping translation and interpreting services
National Voices’ research into marginalised communities in need of translation and interpretation services is set to have significant impact on NHS service provision.
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Paula McGowan OBE @oliverscampaign.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
#Oliverscampaign @NHSEngland has published its Patient safety healthcare inequalities reduction framework designed to address unfair & avoidable differences in patient safety outcomes across population groups Olivers story has been included in appendix 1 www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/pa...
england.nhs.uk
NHS England » Patient safety healthcare inequalities reduction framework
Purpose This framework sets out 5 principles to reduce patient safety healthcare inequalities across the NHS. It outlines opportunities for implementation that local teams and ICBs can take up, as wel...
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Helen Salisbury @helensalisbury.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
'Just cutting a budget without a well thought-out plan doesn’t magically improve efficiency, and it’s very likely to disrupt the healthcare you were trying to deliver.' www.bmj.com/content/389/...
bmj.com
Helen Salisbury: Austerity and efficiency in the NHS
If you eat less you get thinner and have to tighten your belt. Of course, this isn’t always good for you—it depends on what your waist measurement was to begin with. A new round of belt tightening for...
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Truly shocking. 700,000 people already in poverty to be pulled even deeper by record cuts to disability support. Internal government figures lay bare the real extent of the cruel damage these cuts will inflict. 1/4 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
Disability benefit cuts to hit 700,000 families already in poverty, DWP forecasts show
Exclusive: Internal government forecasts obtained by the Guardian reveal ‘truly shocking’ effects of planned cuts
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The King's Fund @thekingsfund.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Welcome to all delegates joining us at our event today #KFHealthInequalities. Today's topics include: ✅ prevention ✅ from ‘power over' to ‘power with'. ✅ tackling racism and discrimination in the NHS ✅ empowering place-based partnerships buff.ly/qZ5T8LI
buff.ly
Health Inequalities Conference | The King's Fund
Join our in-person event to hear about the impact health inequalities are having on the nation's health and the ways to tackle them. Book your ticket today.
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Stephen Frost @sfrost.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
“If all SUVs were replaced with passenger cars, the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed in car crashes would decrease by an estimated 17% in the USA and by 8% in Europe. The number of child pedestrians and cyclists killed in car crashes would decrease by 27% in the USA and by 14% in Europe.”
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Mike Brannan @brannanm.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Exciting opportunity as Health Inequalities Programme Manager for Barking & Dagenham Place HI prog (until Dec 2026) Coproduced across LA,NHS & VCSFE, programme incl 10 workstreams developing & testing new approaches Closes 14/5 Please share! www.lbbd.gov.uk/council-jobs...
lbbd.gov.uk
| London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
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Ross Lydall @rosslydall.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Alarming research reveals the scale of the danger posed to pedestrians and cyclists - especially children - by "supersize" SUV cars www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...
standard.co.uk
'Supersize SUVs much more likely to cause fatal injury to cyclists and pedestrians'
Sports utility vehicles account for more than half of new cars bought in UK
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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Delighted to have authored this report, launched today, busting one of the biggest myths in British politics. The public doesn't see action on public health as 'the nanny state'. In fact, they want bolder action - incl among key swing voters. This has major implications for policy & politics. 🧵
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Charlotte Augst @charlotteaugst.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
The power of politics to do good. Who would have thought it. It is so often about holding your nerve in the face of entirely predictable, self interested opposition.
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Dr Steve Taylor @drstevetaylor.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
‘There is simply no conception (within NHS England) of how pivotal GPs are to the cost-effective performance of the health service - let alone to holistic patient care’ So says the ever-insightful @pwhitakerwriter.medsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/hea...
newstatesman.com
NHS England has no idea about GPs
Reform will only happen when the organisation confronts how lamentably wrong-headed it has been.
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Trisha Elliott @trishaelliott.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Another editorial from this week’s @bmj.com. By Kate Pickett and David Taylor Robinson. A wealth tax in the UK could raise £60bn a year to tackle widening inequalities. Perhaps we can no longer afford NOT to do it? Link here: www.bmj.com/content/389/... #MedSky #Inequalities #SDOH #WealthTax
The UK's health and social care services are increasingly strained by rising demands and widening health
inequalities. The government has decided to cut welfare benefits for people with disability,' with the minister for intergovernmental relations defending the cuts by saying you can't "tax and borrow your way out of the need to reform (the] state." This is in the world's sixth largest economy, where private fortunes continue to grow. Could taxing wealth be a viable approach to address these critical challenges and promote equity across the population?
In simple terms a wealth tax is a tax on a person's or a business's assets, such as their cash and bank holdings, land, and other real estate. There are many ways to tax wealth, including one-off windfall taxes (for example, on a bank or fossil fuel profits) and annual taxes on assets."
Proponents argue that wealth taxes are more equitable and reduce inequality, and are therefore justifiable in terms of social justice alone, that they are a counterweight to unfair economic advantages and excessive influence of the wealthy in politics.
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Ydays post: The new silent majority mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-... When the 2 main parties promote socially conservative policies and argue against funding better public services, that can mean that a social liberal and economic centre or left point of view struggles to get much airtime
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
The new silent majority
The term silent majority, in both the UK and US, was once used for voters who were socially conservative and also, it was assumed by the po...
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Ben Goldacre @bengoldacre.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
SUVs increase the odds of killing in a collision. They're high at the front, your children get dragged under then crushed to death. They're also too big for parking spaces. They shld just be treated like vans, subject to lower speed limits, higher parking charges. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Please, for the love of God, stop buying supersized cars | Arwa Mahdawi
Why would anyone want a car that’s too big for parking spaces, or that’s a menace to other road users? Arwa Mahdawi has a theory
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Tony Robertson @tonyrobertson82.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Nearly 90% of doctors warn that health inequalities are harming patients www.rcp.ac.uk/news-and-med...
rcp.ac.uk
Nearly 90% of doctors warn that health inequalities are harming patients
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Action on Smoking Health (UK) @ashorguk.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Tobacco companies rake in millions from addiction, illness, and loss. MPs say it’s time they paid for the damage. 📖Read the latest report from the APPG on Smoking and Health, which calls for a polluter pays levy to fund a smokefree country. ash.org.uk/resources/vi...
ash.org.uk
A Roadmap to a Smokefree Country: No one starts, everyone stops, no profit in tobacco - ASH
A Roadmap to a Smokefree Country – published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health in April 2025 – sets out the urgent actions needed to end smoking in a generation, cut health in...
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Faculty of Public Health @fphuk.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
The FPH is deeply concerned about the announced £4.8 billion cut to disability and health-related benefits. This cut comes at a time of rising poverty and directly undermines the government’s aim of tackling health inequalities and child poverty. www.fph.org.uk/news/fph-res...
fph.org.uk
FPH response to Government's disability and health-related benefit cuts
The Faculty of Public Health is deeply concerned about the risk of growing poverty and health inequity, following the UK Government’s announcement of £4.8 billion cut to disability and health-related ...
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 31/03/2025
‘Pacific, temperate, egalitarian, avowedly non-violent, the epitome of unimpeachable, quietist radicalism: if the police can do this to the Quakers, what could they do to you?’ James Butler on last week’s Met Police raid on a Quaker meeting house in Westminster: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...
lrb.co.uk
James Butler | As the Met bruised in
Last Thursday evening, more than twenty Metropolitan police officers – some armed with tasers – broke down the doors...
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steve the skeptic @policyskeptic.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
I'm afraid the FT has succumbed to the incorrect consensus about why NHS A&E performance is so awful: on.ft.com/4c97ESf ...
on.ft.com
Can the NHS do away with ‘winter pressures’?
European countries offer England evidence of how to navigate seasonal strains without big disruption to services
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Sue Pritchard @suepritch.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Love this visualization. Along with a critical economic analysis of who’s actually benefiting from this food and land use system (ie big ag and big food corps) it’s clear. If we fix food properly, we can fix many global crises.
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Andrew Fenton @fentonaw.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Good observations from @policyskeptic.bsky.social - you can't crowdsource solutions to the NHS, it needs working the problem with robust analysis as well as engagement.
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steve the skeptic @policyskeptic.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
I have a big worry that the NHS 10-year plan is trying to derive the strategy from consensus views of the solutions. It should be driving the solutions from robust analysis of the problem and trying to get a consensus around them...
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