New and updated items follow first.
Flu activity has decreased. The NHS said that Christmas gatherings may have caused a resurgence in flu and other winter viruses. But the week to 18 January 2026 has seen a further fall in hospital admissions. Nevertheless, people are still struggling with respiratory conditions, flu, breathlessness and wheezing, and services remain “extremely busy”. Risky A&E make-shift areas and corridor care, which are becoming the norm in hospitals across the country, are a big concern.
Latest reports; Week 12-18 January 2026:
- Flu activity decreased and is circulating at low levels
- COVID-19 activity remained stable and is circulating at baseline levels.
- respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity decreased slightly and is circulating at low levels.
- Norovirus continues to increase particularly in adults aged 65 years and over; children are also suffering badly with it.
On Friday 16 January there was a “deeply distressing incident” when a patient collapsed with a suspected heart attack in Broomfield Hospital’s A&E “which tragically resulted in the death of the patient”. Marie Goldman MP for Chelmsford was holding an urgent meeting about this with Hospital staff on Friday 23 January and the Secretary of State for Health was alerted to this incident. The Hospital immediately started an urgent investigation into this incident. There is now an independent investigation being carried out into the incident, led by another hospital not involved in the case in which the patient’s family is taking part.
We continue to monitor progress after the recent CQC report that the leadership of our local hospitals was inadequate, and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)’s investigation following the death of a 67-year-old woman, treated at Broomfield Hospital in 2023, which triggered the unusual step of asking for a systemic review of cancer treatment and diagnosis wait times at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust’s action plan commits to:
- Look at how it can better allocate resources and increase capacity to reduce wait time;
- Use new technology to improve efficiency by standardising and digitising processes, and specialist software to analyse cancer pathways and identify delays;
- Holding weekly meetings to track progress and ensure the longest waiting patients are prioritised; and,
- Implement a one-stop menopausal bleeding clinic which will offer scans and a consultant review at the first appointment to help with timely diagnosis.
The Essex Joint Committee, managing the transition to launch the Essex Integrated Care Board in April, held a meeting in public on Thursday 22 January. It was told that a Quality Summit was held on 12 December, and a series of follow-up meetings have been set by NHS England to ensure action continues to address the concerns raised by partners and stakeholders. Those meetings will seek assurance that the governance framework and delivery of key workstreams will evidence sustained improvement in outcomes and deliverables. The culture and performance of our hospitals must improve sustainably.
Pioneering Project to Launch First National Palliative Care Register for Children
Little Havens, the children’s hospice for Essex, in partnership with the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board, is leading a national first—the launch of an Electronic Palliative Care Coordination System (EPaCCS) specifically for babies, children, and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.
This pilot project will ensure that all professionals involved in a child’s care – across hospitals, community services, GPs and hospice teams – have access to the same up-to-date information, allowing for joined-up, responsive and compassionate care.
Currently used across the UK for adults, EPaCCS is recognised as the ‘Gold Standard’ for capturing data for patients with palliative care needs. However, there is nothing that exists for babies, children and young people who similarly have palliative care needs.
This project marks a significant step forward in paediatric palliative care and has the potential to be rolled out nationally, helping to shape the future of care for children with complex needs across the UK.
The benefits to families are significant, including faster access to symptom management, reduced repetition of medical history, and a clearer, more coordinated care journey. This also marks a huge step forward in reducing health inequalities and improving access to care.
The register does not mean a child is nearing the end of their life, nor does it predict how long the child will live. Children’s health can be unpredictable, and being on the register highlights that they can benefit from support from specialist paediatric palliative care services.
November saw the second biggest drop in the waiting list for 15 years outside of the early days of the pandemic, as new data shows staff faced record demand in 2025.
The waiting list fell by more than 86,000 in November to 7.31 million – and the milestone comes a year since the publication of the Elective Reform Plan.
The progress came despite the NHS’s busiest ever year, with 27.8 million A&E attendances in 2025 – up by over 367,000 on 2024, with 2.33 million attendances in December alone.
Separate figures show hospitals are continuing to battle the impact of flu, with an average of 2,725 patients in hospital with the virus each day last week along with a 57% rise in norovirus cases – leaving bosses warning that the health service is “still in the thick of winter”.
The NHS saw the highest ever number of ambulance incidents in December (846,263), taking the total number for 2025 to 9.31 million – another record year, and around 1,000 a day (365,174) more than the previous year (8.95 million).
Demand at A&Es remained high in December as winter pressures took hold, but NHS staff continued to see patients quicker. 73.8% of patients were seen within the 4-hour A&E target – 50,000 higher than a year earlier.
Thousands of men with prostate cancer will be offered a life-extending drug on the NHS within weeks.
For the first time patients whose prostate cancer has not spread will be able to receive the drug in England, known as abiraterone, as the health service widens access to the treatment.
Around 2,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the last three months whose cancer has not spread will get access to the treatment if it is of clinical benefit.
An additional 7,000 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and will be eligible for the drug, which stops the cancer spreading by starving the disease of the hormones it needs to grow, such as testosterone.
Research has shown that for these earlier stage patients, the survival rate after six years is improved – with trials showing that the proportion of men alive after six years on abiraterone was 86% compared to 77% on standard treatment (hormone therapy with or without radiotherapy).
Life-saving Jess’s Rule is to be advertised in every GP surgery. Jess’s Rule asks GPs to take a “fresh eyes” approach and think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to offer a patient a substantiated diagnosis or their symptoms have escalated.
- Posters raising awareness of the life-saving Jess’s Rule will be delivered to all 6,170 GP practices in England this week;
- Jess’s Rule makes sure GPs take a ‘fresh eyes’ approach with patients, making them think again to diagnose and catch serious illnesses earlier;
- The posters, co-designed with Jessica Brady’s parents, roll out nationwide as part of a major patient safety drive.
The initiative, announced in September 2025, is named in honour of Jessica Brady, who died of cancer in December 2020 at the age of 27. It will help avoid tragic, preventable deaths as GPs are supported to catch potentially deadly illnesses sooner.
More than 500 new ambulances are now being deployed across the country to boost NHS winter response and cut response times for patients in every region.
The NHS is now rolling out the addition of a vaccine to the routine childhood programme to protect against chickenpox. The combined MMRV vaccination means many thousands of children will gain additional protection against chickenpox for the first time in the UK. Just 2 doses of this vaccine will provide long-lasting protection again 4 serious diseases: measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (also known as varicella).
Parents and guardians are urged to check your children’s vaccination records. Almost one in five children starting primary school are not fully vaccinated against serious illnesses such as measles and polio. Ensuring vaccinations are up to date is a priority. Vaccines are free on the NHS, with catch-up appointments available through GPs and school programmes.
The Government has accepted the advice of the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) for the Spring 2026 Covid-19 vaccination programme. This spring, a COVID-19 vaccine will be offered to those in the population most vulnerable to serious outcomes from COVID-19 and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination. Vaccination will be offered in England in spring 2026 to:
- adults aged 75 and over
- residents in care homes for older people
- individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed.
This eligibility criteria is the same as in Spring 2025 and Spring 2024. It is similar to Spring 2023 and Spring 2022, with the addition of the younger age groups.
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