If the health of the population is to improve significantly, patients need to be engaged in managing their own health. The increase in availability of information, developments in new technology, and changes in public attitudes mean that patients want to interact differently with health services. These developments present a challenge ...
This review assesses how far the investment and accompanying reforms since 1997 have transformed the NHS in England into a high-performing health system. The review focuses on England because health policy has now diverged from that in the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has drawn on ...
NHS spending in England may have more than doubled in real terms since 1999/2000, but the prospects for future funding now look bleak. Although there is consensus that the NHS faces a tough financial future, there is no agreement about just how cold the financial climate will be. Starting with ...
In 2006 a pilot programme was launched in partnership with six NHS trusts, supported by their charities, and two Marie Curie Cancer Care hospices to improve Environments for Care at End of Life. The objective was to see whether the King's Fund run Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) could be ...
The pace of change and reform in the NHS has been relentless as government and those who work in the NHS seek ways to improve the service. The King's Fund set up an expert working group to examine how effective the current incentives were in achieving this aim. The group ...
Ensuring that you are measuring the things that matter most to patients is an essential component of a successful strategy for improving patients' experience. It is important to choose methods that are fit for purpose. This paper provides a brief guide to these to help trust boards and other interested ...
Primary care trusts (PCTs) spend around 75 per cent of the NHS budget in England. How do they decide on their spending priorities? This paper examines the data collected by the Department of Health on the amounts PCTs spend on the 23 programmes of care based on medical conditions such ... and An update to the briefing "Local variations in NHS spending priorities" published in 2006.
Workforce planning for the NHS is a large undertaking. The NHS in England employs approximately 1.3 million staff, 70 per cent of recurrent NHS costs relate to staffing, and more than £4 billion is spent annually on staff training. Securing a sufficient number of staff with the appropriate skills and ...
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is acknowledged as a world leader in its field, yet the prevailing media image of NICE is as a controversial mechanism for denying patients expensive new drugs. Teresa Poole looks at how NICE appraises new and existing drugs through clinical and ...
The policy of offering patients a choice in where they receive hospital treatment was intended to create competition between providers, encouraging efficiency and responsiveness to patients’ preferences and ultimately to drive up the quality of care. So has the policy met those aims? Since January 2006, patients requiring a referral ...
Recognising the significance of mental health in terms of both expenditure and the overall health of the population, the King's Fund commissioned a review. This report presents current and projected needs for mental health services and their related costs. It gives details on a number of specific disorders, including depression, ...
Practice-based commissioning (PBC) has been a major strand of NHS policy since 2005. There continues to be a high level of commitment to the policy among GPs, but many still remain hesitant about its impact to date and unsure if its potential will be fulfilled. In 2007, The King's Fund ...
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]
How can we ensure that patients in hospital are treated with respect and compassion? The Point of Care programme has been set up to transform patients' experience of care in hospital, and to enable health care staff to deliver high-quality care. Based on existing research and qualitative studies with patients ...
Primary care trusts (PCTs) provide a broad and complex range of community-based services. However, the commissioning and management of these services have been a challenge for the NHS and in particular for PCTs. As PCTs provide community health services, there is a potential conflict of interest for their role as ...
Government health policy has been encouraging a shift in the balance of care from hospital to community settings. The Department of Health commissioned The King's Fund, in partnership with Loop2, to undertake a simulation-based project entitled SeeSaw to understand how this shift in care could be achieved. This report outlines ...
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]
Social and technological changes are challenging doctors, causing many to rethink their role, the way they practise and the nature of their professionalism. What does the future hold? The Royal College of Physicians and the King's Fund convened ten events around England and Wales where doctors and other health professionals ...
As part of Lord Darzi's review of the NHS, each strategic health authority (SHA) outside London was commissioned to produce a report outlining their 'vision' for care in their region over the coming decade. This briefing provides a thematic summary of some of the key features of the nine SHA ...
In recent years, NHS boards have often been preoccupied with financial performance, but they also have to engage with the quality of clinical care. A programme of work developed by The King's Fund, in partnership with the Burdett Trust for Nursing, has focused on the role of nurse executives in ...