Nick Kituno (kituno.bsky.social)
@journo_kituno
Followers
2K
Following
8K
Media
306
Statuses
6K
@HSJnews correspondent | NHS workforce and the North West of England | Sometimes tweets about sports | e: nick.kituno-at-hsj-dot-co-dot-uk
London, England
Joined June 2017
With @LawrenceDunhill leaving, I’m now covering the North West of England: Greater Manchester; Cheshire & Merseyside; and Lancashire & South Cumbria. I still cover workforce nationally for @HSJnews. Happy to have background chats moving forward. Email in bio, DMs open.
0
5
19
Exclusive: Nearly 1m ‘corridor care’ cases in past year Data obtained by HSJ reveals true scale of corridor care for first time One in five A&E attendees ended up in a corridor at some trusts Story: https://t.co/zwutPC2dRU
2
6
3
Resident doctors in England will strike from 17 to 22 December, @TheBMA has confirmed.
1
1
1
Resident doctors in England are balloting for renewed industrial action, @BMAResidents have announced. New ballot runs from 8 December until 2 February 2026. Current mandate ends on 7 January.
0
2
0
A significant government reversal after unveiling the reforms last year. https://t.co/vz3vtoPq55
gov.uk
Ministers have unveiled the Employment Rights Bill to help deliver economic security and growth to businesses, workers and communities across the UK.
NEW - government poised to water down flagship workers rights bill, ditching day one rights to unfair dismissal but reducing qualifying period from two years to six months. But in concession to unions, government will remove provisions for up to nine months probation.
0
0
0
NEW - government poised to water down flagship workers rights bill, ditching day one rights to unfair dismissal but reducing qualifying period from two years to six months. But in concession to unions, government will remove provisions for up to nine months probation.
15
16
56
£800m to be moved from future DHSC budget to cover redundancy costs, Budget docs reveal Full details from yday:
hsj.co.uk
Government will reduce the Department of Health and Social Care budget by £800m in a single year to fund NHS redundancies, official documents reveal.
1
2
2
Chair has just asked (jokingly) if anyone has read the 1000 pages of papers for the meeting. Two people had. He says there is a need to streamline.
Watching the first meeting of a new cluster of ICBs. First thoughts - the number round the board table is massive (25? with others online). Not sure a board of that size contributes to good governance.
3
9
21
Resident doctor strikes expected to cost £0.5bn so far this year, OBR says Says this & medicines row are main emerging pressures on DHSC budget https://t.co/mnQs6lQb9E
1
2
0
Rougly 4.5% increase per year on health and care spending. Inflation likely to take that down to around 1-2 per cent in real terms. Way below the historic trend. Looks pretty austere elsewhere, and many of the resulting problems will wash up on the NHS shores
3
10
16
NEW: Government accused of ‘weakening’ spend on service at ‘breaking point’ Mental health spending will only rise in line with inflation under new NHS England proposals, @HSJnews has learned, in what sector leaders have described as a “weakening” of funding protections
hsj.co.uk
Mental health spending will only rise in line with inflation under new NHS England proposals, HSJ has learned, in what sector leaders have described as a "weakening" of funding protections.
0
3
2
Latest strike data (published at the weekend) shows 86,181 staff in England were absent from work during the November resident doctors’ strikes. Figures have reached their highest since February and March 2024, but still considerably lower than 115,681 in January last year.
1
7
7
CEO leaves ICB after just five months, from @zoetidman A sad development for Cathy who was a great chair in West Yorkshire & something of a personification of the NHS's current dilemma: Deficit & waiting list recovery, versus reform and partnership https://t.co/dEb0Fxivy6
hsj.co.uk
The chief executive of an integrated care board with major financial problems has been replaced unexpectedly after five months.
2
3
8
Treasury still refusing any additional ££ for departures - but will allow NHS to overspend & pay back in future yrs via @mimilaunder
Thousands of redundancies given go-ahead in NHSE and ICBs
0
3
1
We’re at 34 comments (and counting) after the piece went live this morning. Pretty polarised and wouldn’t be surprised if we reach 50 next week.
1
1
1
.@NHSEngland has said the staff flu vaccination campaign is a “national priority and needs leadership from the top”. Trusts told to improve uptake by at least 5% compared to last year, with vaccines made available from 1 October until 31 March. Letter: https://t.co/IDHsIKjrbF
1
1
0
Something that will also worry leaders heading into winter is the drop in flu vaccine uptake among frontline healthcare staff. Latest @UKHSA figures show uptake has fallen from 77% in 2020-21 down to 38% in 2024-25 (see graphic below). ( https://t.co/yPPrZx44Mq)
On flu season, Mackey: “As an operational person, you really want flu to be vertical. You want it to be quite bad but over quickly. “But this will probably be quite a long one… so we will just have to stay really focused on safety in all aspects.” #KFAnnual
1
2
2
Sir Jim Mackey, head of NHSE, has warned that this winter will be “ one of the toughest ever faced” - he said fears of a long drawn out flu season are becoming reality. He added that “from December through to March our hospitals will be at capacity”
101
71
144
Mackey: “We’re also a little bit worried. I’m a bit worried just because I’ve been around this a few times. About the way we can actually do that in a value-for-money way… When we unbundle, we’re going to have to make sure that the gearing works, so that it is actually
1
0
1