The need to wait for health care has been a feature of the NHS since its inception. When Labour came to power in 1997, total numbers of patients waiting stood at 1.3 million: the highest since the NHS began in 1948. The government announced its 'war on waiting' and pledged ...
This report draws on recent research with vanguard sites in England, conducted in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists. It finds that where new models of care have been used to remove the barriers between mental health and other parts of the health system, local professionals saw this as ...
This is one of a series of case studies exploring how individuals living in London have used the King's Fund Millennium Awards scheme to make a real difference to the health of others in their communities. While working at a west London community centre, Imo Akpan recognised a reluctance among ...
Written as a contribution to the government's current listening exercise, this paper sets out the challenges facing the NHS and identifies the reforms we believe are needed to meet these challenges. We offer suggestions for revisions to the current Health & Social Care Bill and future policy development but we ...
The government's proposed reforms to the health and social care system include clear aspirations for the voluntary and community sector as a provider of health services, a source of support for commissioning and a partner in tackling health inequalities. However, the reforms also present a number of challenges and risks. ...
Variations in health care in the NHS are a persistent and ubiquitous problem. But which variations are acceptable or warranted - for example, variations driven by clinical need and informed patient choice - and which are not? The important question is how to promote 'good' variation and minimise 'bad' variation. ...
This paper has been written as a contribution to the work of the NHS Future Forum and in support of the government's espoused aim of placing integrated care at the heart of the programme of NHS reform. Integrated care is essential to meet the needs of the ageing population, transform ...
This report reveals that two-thirds of the PCTs responding to the survey had not yet carried out any assessment to identify patients who might need support in making choices about which hospital to go to. A similar proportion had not commissioned any new services to support the introduction of patient ...
This paper, the first in a series of WSDAN briefing papers, looks at how telehealth and telecare innovations are being used in health and social care. It considers the range of innovative approaches that have been developed, giving some practical examples. It identifies some of the key challenges to the ... and WSD Action Network has been commissioned by the Whole System Demonstrator Programme at the Department of Health and through the Department of Health's Policy Research Programme. The Network is hosted by The King's Fund and DH Care Networks on behalf of the Department of Health.
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 ...