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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
The Cancer Plan has achieved impressive results since it was published in 2000. However, demographic trends, new treatments, increasing survival rates and reforms in the NHS have altered the context in which cancer services operate. Cancer Research UK commissioned this paper to explore how cancer policy should evolve in response ...
A range of factors contribute to whether patients feel they have good access to general practice care, including practice location, opening times, ease of arranging appointments, and speed of access. Performance by access criteria is now part of the quality-monitoring system for general practice. But patients still complain of trade-offs, ... and This paper was commissioned by The King's Fund to inform the Inquiry into the Quality of General Practice in England. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the panel.
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 ...
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 ...
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 briefing examines the recent history of the quality and safety, financial and economic regulation of health care providers in England. It describes the new regulatory machinery that is being introduced and considers how the relationship between these different regulatory systems may develop in the future. [Introduction]