Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) have been developed by NHS and local government leaders in 44 parts of England. The plans offer a chance for health and social care leaders to work together to improve care and manage limited resources. But will they succeed where other initiatives have failed? Despite ...
Although its budget was protected in the 2010 Spending Review, the NHS faces the tightest financial settlement in its history. To avoid reducing quality and making significant cuts to services, it needs to find £20 billion in productivity improvements by 2015. Reductions in the prices paid to hospitals for treating ...
This paper seeks to take a dispassionate look at the potential lessons for the development of economic regulation in health care that can be learned from the experiences of both countries that have already implemented it and those of other market sectors in the United Kingdom. It will be essential ...
In this report, we focus on what needs to be done to strengthen commissioning in the NHS, through an analysis of the problems with current commissioning arrangements. We begin by examining what is meant by ‘commissioning’ in the English NHS.
Quality has been at the centre of recent NHS policy, and the NHS Next Stage Review highlighted the role of information and measurement in supporting quality improvement, particularly in relation to patient safety, clinical effectiveness and patient experience. It is therefore important to be clear how quality can be measured ...
Since the 1950s, the NHS has been looking at ways of improving care coordination. Lord Darzi’s NHS Next Stage Review introduced a new concept, that of the integrated care organisation (ICO). Since then, the Government has begun piloting schemes that offer different models of integrated care. This report, published jointly ...
The aim of this report is to provoke and encourage thinking about the wide range of ways in which patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) data can be used to inform decisions. It draws on Bupa’s example to discuss how providers can use PROMs data to improve clinical performance. It also offers ...
With the Budget set to confirm that the NHS is facing the most significant financial challenge in its history, new analysis from The King’s Fund shows the extent of the productivity gap it needs to address.
Despite the increasing popularity and use of complementary practice, it is difficult to assess its effectiveness. Lack of research - and lack of agreement on research methods - has led to criticism from branches of conventional medicine. The King's Fund set up an advisory group, chaired by Professor Dame Carol ...
Maternity professionals are doing more to ensure safe care is delivered reliably to mothers and babies, but there are still significant barriers impeding their progress. This report is based on the outcome of a series of regional events held with midwives, obstetricians and risk managers as part of the Safer ...
Produced as part of the Point of Care: Seeing the Person in the Patient report. It contains interviews and focus groups, and the transcripts from the recordings which were analysed to produce this final document.
Healthcare-associated infections are a major concern to patients and the public as a result of both high rates of infection across the National Health Service (NHS), and media coverage of outbreaks at individual hospitals. The government has put in place a range of policies designed to reduce healthcare-associated infections in ...
This is the third paper in a series, Kicking Bad Habits, on how people can be encouraged to adopt healthier behaviour. Information-based health campaigns are a major part of the government's health promotion strategy. A £75 million marketing programme has been recently announced to encourage healthy behaviour in children. This ...
Lord Darzi's report, NHS Next Stage Review, attempts to open a new chapter in the story of 'quality' in the English NHS: how to move on from a centrally driven performance management regime - with its focus on driving activity and meeting targets - to a more sophisticated strategy that ...
This is the report of a seminar commissioned by the working party set up by the Department of Health at the end of February 2007 to review the implementation of new arrangements for the regulation of pharmacy in the United Kingdom. The seminar was held at the King's Fund on ...
Under the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000), all public bodies, including NHS organisations, are legally obliged to produce a 'race equality scheme' explaining how they plan to eliminate racial discrimination and promote equal opportunities. This paper examines PCTs' race equality schemes to find out what PCTs are doing to address ...
This study explores health care professionals' views about safety in maternity services. It identifies aspects of care that are less safe than they should be, possible ways to improve safety and potential obstacles to achieving these improvements.