Maternity services - in common with the rest of the NHS - need to focus on new ways of working to maintain and increase levels of safety and quality of care within the resources available. There are particular pressures on maternity services because of the rise in birth rates and ...
The coalition government wants to encourage health care providers to consider employee ownership, and the development of mutuals, with the aim of creating 'the largest and most vibrant social enterprise sector in the world' (Department of Health 2010a, p 36). These plans are part of a broader programme of public ...
The impact of funding cuts to the NHS has been widely reported and discussed, but less attention has been given to social care - and, most importantly, to the inter-relationships of health and social care. Social care funding has increased in real terms for the past decade, but there has ...
Local accountability has been a significant policy issue within the NHS generally. However, primary care trusts are in the main accountable to the centre and there have been calls to review this. This paper discusses a range of options for reforming the relationships between PCTs and their public. It explores ...
First introduced into health care in the 1980s in the United States, and later developed and championed by Monitor in England as part of its function to support good financial and performance governance in foundation trusts, service-line reporting (SLR) and service-line management (SLM) are one approach to informed clinical leadership ...
The health and social care system is currently tackling three inter-related challenges: coping with rising demand and reduced funding; handling NHS restructuring; and transforming social care. How can these challenges be seen as an opportunity to achieve fundamental change to the system? The Routes project, a simulation exercise created by ... and The Routes project was commissioned by The King's Fund in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association.
Studies in many industries, including health care, suggest that leadership is a critical element in organisational performance. Collins (2001) suggests that disciplined, hard-working leaders are essential to moving organisations from 'good' to 'great'. Such leaders help companies to recruit the right leadership team, develop an effective strategy and create a ...
General practitioners make over 9 million referrals each year, triggering many billions of pounds of expenditure. There is also significant variation in the quality and rate of referral between GPs and GP practices. As the NHS faces a prospective funding gap of £14-£20 billion and GPs take the lead for ...
The NHS is entering a period of acute financial pressure and needs to find up to £20 billion in productivity improvements over the next few years. There are particular challenges for the many hospital trusts that enter the 'cold' financial climate with deficits and legacy debt. Reconfiguring Hospital Services: Lessons ...