In July 2007 Professor Lord Ara Darzi, a surgeon and health minister, started a wide-ranging review of the NHS in England and the final report is due to be published before the 60th anniversary of the NHS on 5 July 2008. This briefing provides the background of the review and ...
The current system for funding adult social care in England has been criticised as unfair, complex and financially unsustainable. There are significant local variations in who is eligible for what kinds of support and a host of complicated local and national rules that apply to the funding of different elements ...
The challenges facing the NHS at present are the same core challenges that face all organisations, commercial or otherwise: the delivery of an effective and efficient service with limited resources. While commercial organisations may additionally seek to make profit from this process, the differences in ownership, objectives and structure between ...
It has long been recognised that engagement of employees with their work and organisation is a factor in their job performance, but the research evidence for this has been steadily increasing over recent years. In this article we summarise this evidence along with the theories underlying it,
paying special attention ... and This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform its review of leadership in the NHS.
This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform its review of leadership in the NHS. and One of the major consequences of the failures in quality of care and patient safety in the NHS, exposed by the public inquiries such as those relating to Bristol Royal Infirmary and Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, has been the Department of Health’s initiatives to improve the governance and leadership ...
In response to the commitment to clinical leadership, The King’s Fund instigated a project to determine the impact leadership programmes have on individuals and the system. Junior doctors who had completed or were currently on leadership programmes were interviewed in order to determine their experiences and aspirations for the future. and This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform its review of leadership in the NHS.
In early 2009 The King’s Fund conducted a survey of primary care trusts (PCTs) in England, examining the use of external support for commissioning, and eliciting views on the world class commissioning programme. The survey revealed that PCTs are increasingly turning to external organisations, and the private sector in particular, ...
This research paper was commissioned by The King's Fund to inform the panel of the Inquiry into the Quality of General Practice in England. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the panel. and Recent government guidance, "End of Life Care Strategy: Promoting High Quality Care for All Adults at the End of Life" and "Guidance on Cancer Services: Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer", has raised the profile of end-of-life-care (EOLC). However, historically care has been poorly organised, with large ...
This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform the panel of the Inquiry into the Quality of General Practice in England. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the panel. and This paper assesses the barriers to providing high quality clinical leadership in general practice, what general practice can do to develop leadership capacity, and ways to measure the extent and quality of clinical leadership.
This is the fourth paper in a series, Kicking Bad Habits, on how people can be encouraged to adopt healthy behaviour. The paper considers the influence of an individual's motivation and confidence in modifying their health behaviours. While there is good evidence, in theory, that they are two key determinants ...
This briefing paper argues that an additional £3.2 billion a year is required to reverse the impact of government cuts to the public health grant and ensure that it is re-allocated according to need. The grant enables local authorities to deliver vital public health services, such as obesity programmes, drug ...
Under the Health and Social Care Act, the NHS Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will be accountable for improving health and treatment outcomes in the NHS.
We've produced two slide sets to help CCGs make the best use of measurement to support them to commission for improved outcomes.
Croydon Primary Care Trust has been piloting the practical use of the Combined Model on behalf of the King's Fund and Health Dialog since May 2006. It has developed a package of care called virtual wards that is offers solely to people at highest predicted risk. Part of the PARR ...
This is a joint project commissioned by Essex Strategic Health Authority on behalf of the 28 strategic health authorities, the Department of Health and the NHS Modernisation Agency and undertaken by the King's Fund, in partnership with Health Dialog and New York University. This review informed the project to develop ...
This paper was commissioned by The King’s Fund to inform the panel of the Inquiry into the Quality of General Practice in England. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of
the panel. and There is evidence that a good-quality therapeutic relationship improves both patient satisfaction and professional fulfilment, saves time, and increases compliance with prescribed medication. Yet the subtle and intangible elements that underpin a strong therapeutic relationship are difficult to define and to measure. To inform its work, the Inquiry into the ...
In response to growing concerns about the safety of maternity services in England, the King's Fund has set up an independent inquiry with the aim of identifying obstacles to the delivery of improvements in the safety of maternity services and robust strategies for overcoming them. There is already a substantial ... and This background paper summarises what is currently known about the safety of maternity services in England. The paper begins with some background information on trends in numbers of births, place of birth and changes in maternity services. Data is then presented on the type, incidence and causes of adverse outcomes ...