Health Service Journal

About Health Service Journal

Health Service Journal - universally known as HSJ - is the leading news service covering policy and management in the National Health Service in England. Read by NHS chief executives, trust chairs, commissioners, civil servants, ministers and their advisers, it is the publication the health service's leadership reads to understand what is happening in Whitehall, in the regions and in their own organisations. Founded in 1892, it is one of the oldest continuously published health titles in the world, and it has chronicled the NHS from before its creation to the present day.

Now a digital-only publication edited by Alastair McLellan and based in London, HSJ combines breaking news with investigative journalism, analysis, rankings and a celebrated awards programme. It is owned by HSJ Information Ltd, having been acquired from Wilmington plc by Inspirit Franklin Holdings in June 2024. Below is a detailed profile of the title: its Victorian origins, its many reinventions, its ownership changes and its influence on the NHS.

Victorian Origins as the Poor Law Officers' Journal

HSJ was established in 1892 as the Poor Law Officers' Journal, serving the officials who administered the Victorian Poor Law - the system of workhouses and relief that was the forerunner of the modern welfare state. Its name changed with the institutions it covered: in 1930, after the passing of the Local Government Act 1929, it became the Public Assistance Journal and Health and Hospital Review; in 1948, the year the NHS was founded, it became the Hospital and Social Service Journal.

Further renamings followed the reorganisations of the health service: it became the Hospital and Social Service Review in 1963, the Health and Social Service Journal in 1973, and finally the Health Service Journal in 1986. Few publications can claim to have reported on English healthcare under so many different mastheads - or to have adapted so persistently to the changing shape of the system it covers.

The NHS Years in Print

For most of its life HSJ was a weekly print magazine, the indispensable trade paper of NHS management. In 2008 it had an average circulation of almost 18,000 copies, most of them by subscription - a remarkable figure for a specialist business title, reflecting the fact that virtually every NHS organisation of any size took it. Its journalism covered the great NHS stories of the late 20th and early 21st centuries: the internal market reforms, the rise of foundation trusts, the Mid Staffordshire care scandal, and the passage of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Its editors became significant figures in health policy debate. Peter Davies edited HSJ for 18 years before departing in 2002, looking back on a tenure that had spanned the scandals, eccentrics and endless restructurings of the NHS. His successor built on that legacy of authoritative, well-sourced reporting.

Ownership Changes

HSJ was for many years part of a group of business-to-business titles published by Emap. When Emap's publishing assets were acquired by the Guardian Media Group in 2008, HSJ came under Guardian ownership. In January 2017 the title was bought by Wilmington plc for 19 million pounds, as part of Wilmington's portfolio of professional information businesses.

In February 2024 Wilmington announced it was looking to sell the HSJ brand in order to align more closely with its core governance, risk and compliance portfolio. In June 2024 HSJ was sold to Inspirit Franklin Holdings Ltd. The title is now published by HSJ Information Ltd, based at The White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street, London.

Going Digital

In 2016 HSJ announced that it would go digital only, promising insight into every NHS sector and region that a weekly print magazine could never match. The transition was completed with the last print magazine in 2017; reflecting subscriber demand, the company devoted its efforts entirely to digital channels, and new subscriptions became available for online services only.

The digital HSJ publishes news continuously through the day, supported by a suite of email briefings - including the HSJ Weekly Catch-up, Daily Insight and expert briefings - and a mobile app for offline reading. Two major digital services were launched alongside the transition: HSJ Intelligence, a tool for analysing the priorities and performance of NHS commissioners and providers, and HSJ Solutions, described as the largest validated repository of NHS best practice ever assembled, built from the shortlisted and winning entries of the organisation's awards programmes.

Editorial Leadership

The editor of HSJ is Alastair McLellan, one of the most decorated editors in British business publishing. Under McLellan HSJ has been named Publication of the Year by the Medical Journalists' Association multiple times, with judges praising its standard of journalism and its extensive coverage of major legislation such as the Health and Social Care Bill. He has described his team as the strongest he worked with in decades in the job.

HSJ's correspondents and senior reporters have themselves won individual honours: the title's journalists have been named Journalist of the Year in both the professional-media and staff-consumer categories by the Medical Journalists' Association, recognised for investigative journalism, high-quality reporting and interrogative style. The newsroom is the largest team of expert NHS correspondents the title has ever fielded, producing what the company calls the broadest and deepest coverage in its history.

Investigative Journalism and Scoops

HSJ's reputation rests on investigative journalism that holds the health service's leadership to account. Its reporters have broken stories on failing trusts, regulatory interventions, financial crises in NHS organisations, and the performance of national bodies - stories that have triggered parliamentary questions, regulatory action and resignations. The title's coverage of poor care at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, and of the foundation trust regulator Monitor, won national journalism awards.

The publication's comment sections are unusually lively for a specialist title: its stories receive between 1,000 and 1,500 reader comments a month, an order of magnitude more than most professional publications, reflecting an engaged readership of NHS staff who debate its journalism fiercely.

Rankings, Lists and Influence

HSJ publishes some of the most influential rankings in English healthcare. Its annual lists of the most influential people in health - including the HSJ100 and dedicated lists recognising Black, Asian and minority ethnic leaders - are pored over in boardrooms across the NHS and are credited with pushing the diversity debate in health leadership. The lists aim to identify the personalities who will exercise the most power or influence in the English NHS and health policy in the months ahead.

Because its readership includes virtually the entire senior leadership of the NHS in England, HSJ's agenda-setting power is considerable: a story on hsj.co.uk in the morning is routinely being discussed in trust board meetings by the afternoon.

Awards and Events

The HSJ Awards are the largest healthcare awards programme of their kind in the world, celebrating excellence across the NHS and independent healthcare. Shortlisted and winning entries form the evidence base for HSJ Solutions, the best-practice repository. The organisation also runs a calendar of summits, forums and webinars bringing together NHS leaders, and its awards ceremonies are major fixtures of the health-service year.

The title itself has been named Business Magazine of the Year at the PPA Awards - the Oscars of the publishing world - with judges praising its strong campaigning journalism, and hsj.co.uk has been named health website of the year by the Medical Journalists' Association.

Readership and Subscriptions

HSJ's audience is the leadership of the NHS in England: chief executives, chairs, directors, commissioners, clinicians in management roles, civil servants and ministers. Subscriptions are institutional as well as personal, and the title's intelligence products are sold to NHS organisations and the companies that supply and advise them. Its journalism is read far beyond its subscriber base, however, cited daily by the national press, think tanks and politicians.

Official Website

The official website of Health Service Journal is hsj.co.uk, offering NHS news by sector, topic and region, expert briefings, intelligence tools and information about subscriptions, awards and events.