How are top-ups distinct from other charges in the NHS and why have they become such a contentious issue now? This briefing gives some background on the relevant legislation and guidance in this area. [Introduction]
This report brings together the findings and conclusions from three strands of research that addressed different aspects of the main research topic, which is the identification of successful strategies for sustaining reductions in waiting times. They are: identifying successful strategies for sustaining reductions in waiting times; the impact of waiting ...
The Wanless review Securing our Future Health, published by the Treasury in 2002, concluded that the United Kingdom would need to spend substantially more on health care and that fundamental reform would be needed to enable those resources to be used effectively. Five years on, The King's Fund has commissioned ...
Investment in the NHS has increased significantly under the Blair government. Spending will soon reach the EU average, but when we catch up with our European neighbours, what then? Assuming that pressures to spend more will continue, but that marginal health returns on extra investment are likely to diminish, this ...
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 ...
The need to wait for health care has been a feature of the NHS since its inception. When Labour came to power in 1997, total numbers of patients waiting stood at 1.3 million: the highest since the NHS began in 1948. The government announced its 'war on waiting' and pledged ...
Because the NHS was founded to provide equal access to all on the basis of need rather than the ability to pay, price was eliminated as a method of bringing demand for services into line with supply. This means that the Government has to make decisions about the amount of ...
In recent years, new health care delivery initiatives have emerged that promise to overcome some of the long-standing difficulties that hinder the various parts of the NHS from working efficiently and effectively together. These include national service frameworks, care pathways and NHS Direct. However, their full implications have yet to ...
Since its beginnings, the NHS has had a close relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. While not an official public-private partnership (PPP) there has been, in effect, an implicit PPP for pharmaceutical research and provision. This partnership has been an undoubted economic success. However, the interests of users of the health ...
The War on Waiting for Hospital Treatment (Harrison and Appleby 2005) examined the government's record on reducing the number of people on waiting lists for elective care in England, and the time they had to wait. This briefing provides an update on that analysis. The waiting times targets currently in ...