General practitioners make over 9 million referrals each year, triggering many billions of pounds of expenditure. There is also significant variation in the quality and rate of referral between GPs and GP practices. As the NHS faces a prospective funding gap of £14-£20 billion and GPs take the lead for ...
The NHS is facing a significant financial challenge and needs to make substantial improvements in productivity if it is to provide high-quality services without additional funding. Spending on mental health accounts for around ten per cent of the overall health budget and so the mental health sector has a key ...
This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform the Inquiry panel. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the panel. and Better management of people with long-term conditions has been a key priority of the NHS since the early 1990s. At that time it was recognised that if people with long-term conditions were managed effectively in the community, they should remain relatively stable and enjoy a quality of life free from ...
This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform the panel of the Inquiry into the Quality of General Practice in England. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the panel. and General practice plays a central role in ensuring patients receive a timely and accurate diagnosis, either directly from a GP or from an appropriate specialist as a consequence of a GP referral. Failure, or delay, in correctly identifying and referring patients who need secondary care can have profound clinical consequences. ...
Since internal markets were created in the NHS, commissioners have purchased health care on behalf of patients and the public from a variety of competing providers. Commissioning was intended to drive improvements in the quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of services, but has so far largely failed to achieve these objectives. ...