Anna Coote is the Director of the Public Health Programme at the King's Fund. and This is a summary of the report of the same name. The NHS is more than a provider of health services. It is the largest single organisation in the UK. Its potential impact on health, the environment, and the social and economic fabric of our lives is vast. Claiming the ...
Patient choice, particularly the choice of hospital, has been at the heart of health policy for a number of years. The aim of this policy is to create competition, which in turn drives improvements in quality; for this to work effectively, patients have to make their choices on the basis ...
The briefing warns that unless additional funding is found, a growing black hole in NHS finances could have significant consequences for patient care. Although there are opportunities for the NHS to improve productivity, the briefing argues that initiatives to reduce spending on agency staff and increase financial control will not ...
Until now, most efforts to promote integrated care have focused on bridging the gaps between health and social care or between primary and secondary care. But the NHS five year forward view has highlighted a third dimension – bringing together physical and mental health. This report makes a compelling case ...
This briefing summarises The King's Fund's response to proposed government amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill. and We welcome the report of the NHS Future Forum and the government's response to its recommendations. The amendments proposed by the government respond to many of the concerns that we and others have raised and will significantly improve the Bill. It now offers a more promising approach to addressing the ...
In January 2006 the Department of Health published Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services. It is the government's seventh White Paper on health since coming to office in 1997 and, after several years of reform aimed at the acute hospital sector, it represents what ...
The 2006/7 Operating Framework, published at the end of January 2006, sets out the Department of Health's priorities for the NHS in England over the next financial year, a year which the document expects to be 'challenging'. It is aimed primarily at NHS managers and their counterparts in local government. ...
The need for reform and a sustainable funding settlement for social care has never been more urgent, with local government and NHS finances under significant pressure and demand for services increasing as the population ages. The government must move quickly to bring together its response to the Dilnot report and ...
The King’s Fund welcomes the Care Bill as an important stepping stone to wider reform of care and support. By modernising the legal framework for social care and implementing the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission on social care funding, it will significantly improve the way the current system operates and ...