Chronic medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart failure and hypertension affect large numbers of people, including patients, carers, families and friends. As the population in England ages, growing numbers of patients will need help with managing complex, multiple conditions over sustained periods. Apart from the burden of ill-health, treating ...
This is the executive summary of a research summary which examines a key aspect of NHS staffing: that of the loss of experience from health services as older staff, who are valuable and much needed, leave early in ever-increasing numbers. With a workforce where about 150,000 of the one million ...
The NHS has undergone many reforms over the past decade. To test out where the reforms - and interactions between them - might lead the NHS, the King's Fund formed a partnership with Loop2, Monitor and Nuffield Hospitals to produce Windmill 2007. This initiative included a two-day simulation of a ...
This publication lays out the questions the government must answer if it wants to place patient choice at the heart of a taxpayer-funded health care system, including how extra costs will be met, whether patients are willing and able to exercise choice in their own best interests, and what kinds ...
Millions of people in the UK are living with long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes. Most of these people are leading full and active lives with only occasional contact with health professionals, by altering drug doses and adapting their lifestyles in response to subtle changes in symptoms. This paper ...
There is a level of public concern about the safety of maternity care in England, highlighted by a number of high-profile cases. The King's Fund set up an independent inquiry to establish how safe maternity services are and to make practical recommendations for change. This report of their findings is ...
Complementary medical practitioners may be a distinct minority in places such as Europe, North America and Australia, but in other countries the number of practitioners and the people who use their services are in the majority. Many practitioners practise without qualification or adequate training, and in response to this the ...
Agenda for Change is the most ambitious pay reform introduced into the NHS. In addition to simplifying the system of pay, its objectives were to improve the delivery of patient care as well as staff recruitment, retention and motivation. This paper examines progress in implementation based on interviews with key ...
Compulsory community-based treatment orders require patients at risk of harming themselves or others to comply with a set of conditions, such as taking their medication, while living in the community. The draft Mental Health Bill 2004 incorporates plans to introduce compulsory orders in England and Wales, but it is not ...
This publication summarises 'Prevention rather than cure'. Failure to address avoidable ill health will put huge pressures on the future NHS while deepening health inequalities. This discussion paper asks why, until recently, helping people to stay healthy has had so little emphasis, and what mechanisms and incentives are needed to ...