On this episode our team brings you the very latest news and analysis of the strike action hitting the NHS this week.

We cover how we got to this point, what NHS leaders are doing to mitigate patient harm and why some are even more worried about next week’s ambulance strike.

Send views, questions, and confidential tips about the strikes to our journalists via [email protected].

This week we bring you the latest on the hospital building programme, including confirmation that all new buildings must have single patient rooms. We discuss the staffing and safety challenges this will bring for trusts.

Also this week, more on NHS England’s plans to cut £1bn from maternity, cancer and primary care funds, plus Steve Barclay’s latest “attack” on NHS managers in the form of organograms.

“Rubbish” communications have been blamed by senior NHS leaders for causing a flood of people going to A&E with Group Strep A concerns, with calls to NHS 111 hitting record levels so far this winter.

We discuss the impact this is having on access to treatment and medicines and what should have been done to stop it.

Also we talk more about the creation of an elective recovery taskforce and a bigger role for the private sector in taking NHS patients. Plus, the latest on nursing and ambulance staff strikes due to start next week.

Hosted by Annabelle Collins and featuring Ben Clover and Nick Kituno.

Got a question for our expert team? Let us know on Twitter @HSJAnnabelle and we’ll answer it next week.

NHS England’s protracted bid to scrap the four-hour A&E target has finally been shelved by ministers, as we exclusively revealed last week.

Now the dust has settled, we unpick what happened, why it matters and whether there is still hope for reform in the future.

Also - why ICSs will have to wait until 2024 to receive commissioning budgets worth billions of pounds, amid concerns about financial risk.

Former Labour health secretary Patricia Hewitt has been charged with reviewing the role of integrated care systems by Jeremy Hunt.

Alastair McLellan predicts what changes the Hewitt review could bring and why its so important.

Also this week, Jack Serle explains how the NHS supply chain is failing staff and patients, a problem that has escalated this week with a joint letter sent from procurement chiefs to NHS England.

This week we bring you our reaction to Steve Barclay’s first major speech since returning as health and social care secretary, during which HSJ questioned him about his view on NHS funding. 

This week Annabelle and Dave are joined by Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, and we discuss what could be in store for the NHS in next week’s spending review.

We cover the huge financial and performance challenges facing leaders and politicians this winter and also how disinvestment in other public services is having a knock-on effect on the NHS.

Also - our thoughts on how Steve Barclay could - or should - approach his second stint as health secretary.

The fate of the “40 new hospitals” hangs in the balance with trusts hoping for a decision on funding by the end of the year.

This week we discuss the impact of the delays to the programme on the day-to-day running of NHS hospitals, and what chiefs must do to persuade the Treasury to allocate enough funding for all the planned projects.

We also take a closer look at the newly-built hospital in Liverpool and how its design is contributing to emergency care problems in the city.

New health secretary Steve Barclay is back, and he joins the NHS at a time when the health service faces its worst funding squeeze in many decades.

We discuss Mr Barclay’s initial priorities – which he revealed in his first stint as health secretary just two months ago – amid a worsening financial backdrop.

Also this week – a senior procurement chief claims life has never been this hard for his colleagues despite the pandemic having abated significantly. Is he right?

Featuring Nick Carding, Henry Anderson and Jack Serle.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt is now the most powerful person in the country. We discuss what some of his mini-budget reversals mean for the NHS and if the health service is safe in his hands.

Also this week – the NHS faces £7bn in additional inflation costs and something has got to give. But what?

Featuring Alastair McLellan, Ben Clover and Annabelle Collins.