Feature Articles

In her recent report, Next Steps for Integrating Primary Care, Dr Claire Fuller looked at whether faster same-day access to urgent care for people with one-off problems could free up capacity for others with long-term conditions and those who need more personalised continuity of care. In this feature article, Christine Grey explores the report’s findings and its recommendations for tackling “inadequate access” in primary care.

Employees organising together and disrupting their employer’s business has a long history in the UK, and this is not the first time our streets have seen picket lines and placards. However, summer 2022 seems to have brought with it a large amount of discontent.

When people are your biggest asset as a business, making sure they have the right skills is a top priority. Employers have two options to fulfil this need: grow their own, developing existing employees, or hiring in talented people who have what you need now. Option one is a slow burner, and as far as option two goes, UK employers are currently seeing a “recruitment crisis” with a lack of available quality candidates. So, what can employers do?

Barrister Robert Spicer looks at how the courts have ruled in recent cases of violence in the workplace relating to employers’ duty of care.

NHS England (NHSE) published its new and updated Freedom to Speak Up Policy at the end of June, presenting an opportunity for organisations to review and refresh their Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) arrangements, which apply to all primary care, secondary care and Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in England. Organisations providing these NHS healthcare services are required to adopt the national policy as a minimum standard to help normalise “speaking up” and to ensure all matters raised by staff are captured and considered appropriately. Christine Grey investigates.

In the UK, the minimum statutory requirement for paid holiday each year is 5.6 weeks — this can include public holidays and is capped at 28 days. There have been significant changes to the law surrounding holiday pay in recent years, with regulations now stating that regular overtime and commission payments need to be included.

The Health and Care Act 2022 has introduced 42 Integrated Care Systems across England, abolishing clinical commissioning groups and transferring their commissioning powers to the new bodies. In this feature, Deborah Bellamy explores what this will mean for health and care services.

Following strikes held on 21, 23 and 25 June, which caused widespread disruption throughout the rail network, further strikes have been planned by the RMT and Aslef trade unions. These will affect travel once again, and this time with strikes planned for 30 July and 20 August 2022 (both Saturdays), weekend workers will for the first time be significantly impacted.

Employers in the UK don’t typically have to worry too much about how to manage staff during periods of extremely high temperatures. Indeed, there is an abundance of information available on making alternative arrangements for rain and snow, but with temperatures set to reach almost 40 degrees next week, employers will need to put measures in place to keep teams cool and comfortable. There could be added issues if staff can’t get to work or, in some cases, if they pull a sickie to make the most of the warm weather. As such, it’s best to be as prepared as possible.

At the beginning of 2022, we wrote about the legal changes we expected to see in the coming year, based on various government announcements and proposals. Now that we are into the second half of the year, it is time to take stock and ask: what has happened so far, what are we still waiting for, and what does it seem likely we’re not going to get (for now, anyway)?