James Illman

NHS England has hit its 65 per cent waiting list for 2025-26, but experts said the "majority of the improvement" in March was driven by a "record" spike in "unreported removals".

Twenty-one trusts delivered their entire 2025-26 elective improvement in March alone, analysis shows, prompting concerns about the "fragility and sustainability" of the NHS's waiting list recovery.

Elective recovery and returning the NHS to meeting the 18-week standard by 2029 is the government's main performance priority. The Recovery Watch newsletter tracks prospects and progress against this goal. This week, by bureau chief James Illman.

Three trusts were paid more than one million pounds for removing patients from their waiting lists through "validation" exercises last year, HSJ can reveal.

The managing director of one of England's worst-performing trusts is leaving after just six months, in a move her boss acknowledged could raise "understandable questions".

Former NHS England executive board member Chris Hopson has been appointed to a senior advisory role at a major communications consultancy.

Government's trust league tables are "actively obscuring" patients' understanding of their local services and should be scrapped, a think tank has recommended.

NHS England has made three senior appointments as it readies itself for absorption by the Department of Health and Social Care, HSJ can reveal.

Trusts will be assessed on how they communicate with their patients as part of a "national stocktake" designed to ensure the NHS delivers "five-star customer service", NHS England has announced.

Nearly 200 doctors at a major teaching hospital have told a "listening exercise" prompted by a major care scandal that they feared raising patient safety concerns.