Health Management and Policy Alert

Workforce planning in the NHS

The King's Fund - 
The NHS workforce is the primary driver of future health costs. Given the substantial changes in population demographics and health care needs, the workforce needs to be fit for purpose. That means responding to immediate needs and financial pressures while adapting to deliver the future care models outlined in the NHS five year forward view. Getting the right balance requires a robust understanding of the nature of workforce pressures locally and nationally and what can be done to address them in the short and the long term.

• Report
• Blog
• The King Fund Publications

 

Caring into later life: the growing pressures on older carers

Age UK - 
A new analysis by Carers UK and Age UK shows the number of carers aged 85 and over in England has risen by a staggering 128% in 10 years to over 87,000. Figures also show that 55% of these over 85s are caring for 50 or more hours each week.

• Report
• Press release

 

Facing the future: together for child health 2015

Royal College of General Practitioners - 
This set of standards says that in order to deal with these pressures, and to improve child health outcomes, not only do unscheduled care services need more investment but there also needs to be a shake-up of how services are designed, with more children being cared for outside the hospital, in the community and closer to their home.

• Standards
• Supporting documents
• Press release

Insights from the clinical assurance of service reconfiguration in the NHS: the drivers of reconfiguration and the evidence that underpins it – a mixed-methods study

National Institute for Health Research - 
The objectives of this research are to determine the current pressures for reconfiguration within the NHS in England and the solutions proposed. We also investigate the quality of evidence used in making the case for change, any key evidence gaps, and the opportunities to strengthen the clinical case for change and how it is made.

• Report
• Summary
• Abstract

Do higher primary care practice performance scores predict lower rates of emergency admissions for persons with serious mental illness? An analysis of secondary panel data

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) - 
Serious mental illnesses (SMIs) are associated with poor outcomes, high costs and high levels of disease burden. Primary care plays a central role in the care of people with a SMI in the English NHS. Good-quality primary care has the potential to reduce emergency hospital admissions, but also to increase elective admissions if physical health problems are identified by regular health screening of people with SMIs. This study aimed to test whether or not better-quality primary care, as assessed by the SMI quality indicators measured routinely in the Quality and Outcomes Framework, is associated with lower rates of emergency hospital admissions for people with SMIs, for both mental and physical conditions and with higher rates of elective admissions for physical conditions in people with a SMI.

• Report
• Summary
• Abstract

Economic cost of the health impact of air pollution in Europe: clean air, health and wealth

World Health Organization (WHO) - 
This study reports on the economic cost of the public health impacts of ambient and household air pollution, with particular reference to the countries of the WHO European Region. The economic analysis finds that the annual economic cost of premature deaths from air pollution across the countries of the WHO European Region stands at US$ 1.431 trillion and that the overall annual economic cost of health impacts and mortality from air pollution, including estimates for morbidity costs, stood at US$ 1.575 trillion.

• Report
• WHO publications

Head, hands and heart: asset-based approaches in health care

Health Foundation - 
This report summarises the theory and evidence behind asset-based approaches in health care and wellbeing and gives details of six case studies, describing these approaches in action. It sets out some of the opportunities and challenges in adopting asset-based approaches for improving health and wellbeing and explores some of the key principles for developing health assets and the evidence and mechanisms of impact on health outcomes of asset-based projects in the UK.

• Report
• Summary
• Health Foundation publications

Emerging practice in outcome-based commissioning for social care

Institute of Public Care -
This discussion paper is a progress report exploring the lessons learnt from a variety of approaches taken by councils to “outcome-based commissioning” in adult social care (sometimes called 'payment by results').  It considers some of the opportunities and risks that arise from taking this approach. It puts the emerging practice in social care in a context with other developments within the public sector; explores current practices in social care from a small number of councils and looks at the advantages and risks in taking this approach. It suggests that this approach could deliver better outcomes for people at a lower cost if the transaction costs can be limited. 

• Discussion paper
• Institute of Public Care - publications

Health in the 2015 general election: an analysis of party manifestos

Nuffield Trust -
This briefing provides analysis of and commentary on the manifesto pledges of the parties that have made up the opposition or government in the most recent parliament – the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties. The briefing focuses specifically on the parties' pledges regarding the NHS in England.

• Briefing
• Nuffield Trust - publications

Quarterly monitoring report: issue 15

The King's Fund -
This report examines the views of finance directors on the productivity challenge they face, as well as some key NHS performance data to see how the NHS is performing. As the NHS begins a new financial year and we move from one parliament to another, it is clear from the performance on key headline targets and standards and from our latest survey of finance directors that the NHS will face huge challenges this year.

• Report
• The King's Fund - press release