Health Management and Policy Alert

Are young children healthier than they were two decades ago? The changing face of early childhood in the UK

Nuffield Foundation - 

This review explores the significant developments in young children’s health over the last 20 years, focusing on seven fundamental indicators. While the review identifies improvements across these indicators, progress has recently stalled—and in some cases the situation has deteriorated. However, we conclude with evidence of policies that work and demonstrate the potential to reduce inequalities and improve the life chances of many young children.

• Report
• Press release

Children and young people’s mental health

House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee - 

This report calls for urgent action to prevent mental health services slipping backwards as a result of additional demand created by the pandemic and the scale of unmet need prior to it. MPs found that despite progress in numbers of young people receiving treatment, it was unacceptable that more than half with a diagnosable condition pre-pandemic do not receive the mental health support they need.

• Report
• Press release

The Health and Social Care Committee’s Expert Panel : evaluation of the government’s progress against its policy commitments in the area of mental health services in England

House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee - 

This report evaluates government progress to deliver commitments on a wider range of mental health services in England. Its overall rating against progress on nine commitments in four policy areas is ‘requires improvement’. The areas evaluated are: workforce; children and young people’s mental health; adult common mental illness; and adult severe mental illness.

• Report
• Press release

Integrating health and social care: a comparison of policy and progress across the four countries of the UK

Nuffield Trust - 

The integration of health and social care has been a long-standing policy priority in each country of the UK. However, there is limited evidence these policies are delivering the results expected of them. This report looks at the impact of integration across the four countries and compares the policies and approaches each one has trialed to deliver their goals.

• Report
• Press release

An independent appraisal of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard

Civitas - 

The NHS seeks to monitor and control diversity and equality through a programme known as the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) – it is based on a series of statistical indicators pertaining to outcomes between white and non-white minority groups. However this paper argues that closer inspection of those indicators reveals ‘they do not withstand methodological scrutiny’.

• Paper
• Press release

Challenges in implementing digital change

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) - 

Digital change, on which government estimates it spends around £20 billion each year, offers a real opportunity for the government to transform its ways of working and how it provides services to citizens. However, the PAC is concerned by the number of complex, large-scale digital programmes they continue to see fail and the impact this has on important government services and taxpayers’ money. For example, failures in NHS England’s efforts to transform primary care services potentially put patients at risk of serious harm.

• Report
• Press release

Framework to support inter-hospital transfer of critical care patients

NHS England and NHS Improvement - 

This document sets out principles to which units and systems should adhere, to maintain equitable and safe access to critical care for both emergency and urgent planned care patients.

• Framework
• More detail

Post-acute organisational audit report

Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) - 

Based on data from 664 post-acute services, this report describes the organisation of post-acute stroke care in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Jersey as of 1 April 2021. Overall, the report found some improvements when compared to 2015, including the fact that 99 per cent of services have access to an occupational therapist, physiotherapist and rehab assistant (95 per cent in 2015).

• Report
• More detail

A year like no other: the eighth SSNAP annual report

Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) - 

Based on data from April 2020 to March 2021 (during the Covid-19 pandemic), the report aims to identify which aspects of stroke care need to be improved and how these beneficial changes can enhance outcomes for patients and families during this challenging period. Overall, the report found that, even during the Covid-19 pandemic year, many teams were still able to improve the quality of care through the implementation of evidence-based interventions. However, it also states there is an ongoing need to ensure that such improvements are sustained over the longer term, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.

• Report
• More detail

What might ‘levelling up’ mean for the NHS?

Nuffield Trust - 

There has been much talk about levelling up over the past few months, with a white paper on how it will be achieved now expected in the new year. With different parts of the country facing unique issues when it comes to delivering health care, this long read describes five issues that could affect levelling up within the NHS.

• Long read