This book is described as being a 'reflective tour of where the NHS is coming from, the world it is likely to face in the 1990s, and some ways in which we could strengthen it'. It covers demography, social and environmental stress, medical developments, public expenditure constraints, and likely themes ...
This paper explains initially why health authority management should introduce ethnic monitoring systems and deals in later sections with how members and managers should use the data to measure and improve their authority's equal opportunity performance. The bulk of the paper is, however, addressed to personnel and other officers who ...
This report reviews the performance of health services in Sweden, Holland, West Germany, Canada and USA. The main aim has been to identify the countries' studies, to draw parallels with the UK, and to establish the lessons, if any, from abroad. Chapter one traces the origins of the Prime Minister's ...
This edition of the annual publication contains articles on hospice care, job-sharing in the NHS, research ethics committees, day surgery, resource allocation, optical services, cost effectiveness in the NHS, long-term care insurance and hospital care at home.
This background paper marks the 40th anniversary of the NHS not so much by celebrating past achievements but by addressing some of the issues which are critical to the establishment of an effective agenda for health in the 1990s and beyond. Areas covered are the health debate including financial reform; ...
Public, political and professional pressures have led to a greater interest in quality assurance in the NHS, but there has been no national policy or framework prescribed. The development of, and approach to, quality assurance has therefore varied widely between districts and between regions. This report aims to reflect managerial ...
The development of a network of services and support for people with A.I.D.S. is a challenge for voluntary agencies, for the NHS and for local authorities. There is a consensus that services should, as far as possible, be provided to enable people to be cared for in their own homes. ...
In encouraging innovation and experimentation in health authorities the idea of a development agency for the N.H.S. has been explored under the aegis of the Royal Institute of Public Administration. This report examines the development agency model, setting out the case for an agency, presenting a range of critical appraisals ...
The Task Force was established in 1986 to help health authorities to implement equal opportunities policies for all racial groups in the health service. This 'model' policy has been created from a number of policies sent to the Task Force by health authorities, using those sections which seem most suitable ...
This book questions how much the public really knows and cares about the standard of care and about the priorities for expenditure on and within the health and social services; how well informed are people (including health services staff) about the facts and figures of these services and about the ...
This report contains the findings of a survey of ex-national trainees who are not currently working in the NHS. A surprisingly large number of trainees left the Service before reaching senior positions. Not only did this represent a waste of the money and manpower which had gone into their training ...
The aim of the seminar was to identify the importance of clarifying the role and relationships of functional managers and unit administrators if the strengthening of administration at operational level was to be achieved. Functions represented were confined to general administration, catering, domestic management and works. Organisational principles, the development ...
Reuse of single use equipment raises many issues, including legal and ethical ones. This report is the proceedings of a King's Fund conference. The following topics are covered: 1. General perspectives of the various groups involved; 2. Clinical issues; 3. Legal and ethical implications; 4. Technical issues; 5. Economic issues; ...
This study arose from an invitation from the King's Fund to study the job of the district administrator in the NHS and to find out what it is really like. 41 senior administrators were interviewed and eight of them observed at work for three days. The findings show wide variation ...
This report discusses the special problems of managing health services. It compares the development of management training in the NHS with that of other public services, with an analysis of the role of universities, the DHSS and the NHS authorities; and outlines a future strategy.
This report makes observations which it hopes will be of use to the Royal Commission. There are five observations on the `Royal Commission on the National Health Service': morale in the National Health Service; the role of the district; management training; the role of the volunteer; community health councils. The ...
This book explains - in simple and clear language - the value and use of statistical information as an important management tool. The author shows how the content, organisation and presentation of data can illuminate the goals which an authority sets itself and the way it intends to achieve them. ...
This book aims to stimulate discussion and action about the serious difficulties facing the NHS in industrial relations. It aims to help the development of more effective industrial relations which the NHS badly needs and looks at how improvements might be made realistically within the current framework of management. Chapters ...
The author has written an invaluable record of the events surrounding the introduction of the National Health Service by researching among contemporary documents. The scope of the account is limited to England and Wales, and there has been no attempt made to assess and judge the emergent NHS from the ...
This report contains the findings of a survey of chief officers on management teams in the NHS in England and Wales. The survey, carried out in 1981, was part of an initiative by the King's Fund to develop a management education programme for the most senior officers in health services ...
During 1984, the King's Fund and the National Association of Health Authorities agreed to set up a joint working party, under the chairmanship of Lady McCarthy, to review the present system of pay determination in the NHS and to make recommendations for reform. This report covers the present Whitley Council ...
This project paper has been produced from a working seminar for senior management in the NHS. This seminar was to discuss with experts in the field of pay determination and the problems of pay in the NHS. The first section of the report outlines aims and assumptions. Further sections deal ...
This short book has been prepared to mark the first five years of Community Health Councils' (CHCs) existence. They came into being in 1974 when the NHS underwent a major administrative reorganisation. Nothing quite like them had ever existed before in the form of a special statutory body with the ...
Race and Employment in the NHS is based on a conference organised by the King's Fund and the Polytechnic of the South Bank which examined the practical steps that health authorities and managers should take to ensure equal opportunities for people from ethnic minority groups. This booklet describes ways in ...
This project paper summarises the results of a survey of youth training in the NHS. The survey looked at the extent of involvement by the NHS in the Work Experience on Employers' Premises (WEEP) Scheme sponsored by the Manpower Services Commission and at the youth training being undertaken more generally. ...
The first section of this paper examines the need and demand for dental health. It discusses how treatment is provided in the United Kingdom and how the National Health Service is meeting the need. Objectives of dental health services are defined and positive steps towards their attainment suggested. The latter ...
In June 1979, the King's Fund arranged a two-day seminar for nurse managers to consider the Thwaites Report "The Education and Training of Senior Managers in the National Health Service." Following the seminar, a group of senior nurse managers and educators with a responsibility for management training met regularly at ...
Section one of this report deals with consumer involvement in the NHS. It covers the areas of complaints procedures, the role of community health councils, the voluntary contribution to the NHS, the Wolfenden Report and patient participation in general practice. The second section concentrates on community health councils (CHCs), presenting ...
The decision making process in area health authorities is often slow. This is because of the absence of formal management arrangements, the complexity of the consultative machinery and consensus decision making. The case for speedy decision making in the NHS is discussed, expectations and reality are compared and possible remedies ...
In July 1978, the King's Fund held a conference to discuss the report Education and Training of Senior Managers in the National Health Service, commonly referred to the Thwaites report after the chairman of the working party. This publication is not just an account of the conference, but a personal ...
The basis of the project paper reports a study of area management teams carried out in England by Rockwell Schulz between January and March 1981. Perceptions of consensus management are discussed with a study of the roles of individual team members and the influence of others such as local authorities, ...
The purpose of the Centre Lunch Talks has been to invite some distinguished person to speak for half and hour on a topic related to health and welfare services with the aim of stimulating new thought or action.
These papers complement a wide variety of material made available to the Commission on health service finance. The first paper discusses the alternative models of financing health services. The second paper describes one of those models as used in the NHS: health service charges. The third paper discusses efficient management ...
The Royal Commission on the NHS made an early decision to consider the objectives of the NHS, what they should be and how far the NHS does and may succeed in reaching them. The first paper is a personal statement by one of the members of the Commission. The second ...
The paper begins with a background study on hospitals in the National Health Service by the Secretariat of the Royal Commission on the NHS. Hospital types and numbers are investigated including district general hospitals, community hospitals, teaching and specialist hospitals, followed by a discussion of specific aspects of the hospital ...
This paper presents an analysis of the factors underlying the conflict over the pay beds issue which erupted in 1974-76; a conflict which some consider to have been one of the precipitating reasons for the appointment of the Royal Commission. The first section of the paper sets out the basic ...
This study complements a wide variety of material made available to the Royal Commission on manpower planning in the NHS. The first paper, by Alan Williams, is a consideration of some of the manpower problems facing the Commission within a general theoretical context. The second, by the secretariat, describes existing ...
The purpose of the seminars was to inform staff in Great Britain about health services in Europe. This document contains the transcripts of talks given by English-speaking representatives from European Community countries who spoke about the planning and organisation of health services in their respective countries.
Increasing expectations of social service departments and the need for social work to establish itself as a new and independent profession has led to friction within the NHS. Although the NHS is not the largest customer for social service departments, many patients and clients are the same people. Services have ...
This project paper has been compiled as a result of workshops and conferences on unit management held at the King's Fund College and King's Fund Centre, February 1980 - February 1982. The challenge for management at unit level is to improve efficiency, monitor standards, simplify decision-making processes and carry out ...
In evidence to the Royal Commission, a frequent complaint was that the reorganised structure with its principle of consensus management had led to massive delays in decision-making. Previous studies have examined the process of decision-making through interviews with a sample of NHS staff. The paper reproduced here explores the feasibility ...
Among the initiatives launched by the Steering Group was a study involving five district health authorities to review the operational information required about doctor-patient relationships and contacts, and to develop effective ways of collecting the data required. Participants undertook a comprehensive review of the organisational structures and management arrangements which ...
The purpose of the conference was to discuss the report of the King's Fund Working Party on The Organisation of Hospital Clinical Work (KF Project paper no. 22). Discussion centred on the main recommendation that medical work should be performed by fully-trained doctors. The implications were: a reduction in the ...
This paper contains the results of part of a study relating to the information flow in and out of and within the district office. No attempt has been made to prescribe in detail a total system but it is hoped that the general principles and approach described will assist district ...
This publication contains proposals formulated by members of a workshop held in June 1983 about the development of a district policy for the introduction of information technology with particular emphasis on the implementation of computerised departmental information systems.
The NHS is a vast and complex organisation, never out of the public eye and now the focus of major political argument. The author examines the way the NHS works and the incentives that motivate everyone concerned - the general public, the health professionals and managers, and the government. There ...
This report examines the history of the series of policy initiatives concerning the use of land and buildings in the NHS. It considers the political and managerial intentions which lay behind the 1983 Ceri Davies report, and charts the extent to which the series of proposals which it produced have ...