Health Management and Policy Alert

What do NHS managers contribute?

NHS Confederation - 

This long read examines the contribution that NHS managers make and why investment in management and leadership is essential in securing productivity, quality and reform.

• Long read 

 

Elective recovery plan: what you need to know

NHS Confederation - 

On 8 February 2022, NHS England published the national Delivery plan for tackling the Covid-19 backlog of elective care. The long-awaited plan sets some clear ambitions and targets to recover the now substantial backlog of care, which sits at the highest number of people waiting to receive planned NHS care since records began in 2007. This briefing summarises the key points from the plan and analyses what it means for our members.

• Briefing

 

The long goodbye? Exploring rates of staff leaving the NHS and social care

Nuffield Trust - 

This explainer takes stock of what is known and not known about the numbers of employees leaving the NHS and social care, and the reasons that are given for why staff move on. The explainer follows Nuffield Trust's recent updates to the NHS staffing tracker, which monitors and analyses key workforce targets and trends within the health service.

• Explainer 

 

Ethnic inequalities in healthcare: a rapid evidence review

NHS Race and Health Observatory - 

This review into ethnic inequalities in healthcare has revealed vast inequalities across a range of health services. Some of the largest inequalities were found for mental healthcare where treatment for Black groups was particularly poor. The review also found there was a lack of research into specific areas including how outcomes may differ for ethnic minority babies in neonatal healthcare settings, where just one study was found to investigate health disparities in the care of ethnic minority new-born babies.

• Review
• Press release

Joining up care for people, places and populations: the government's proposals for health and care integration

Department of Health and Social Care -
This white paper sets out measures to make integrated health and social care a universal reality for everyone across England regardless of their condition and of where they live. It sets out plans to join up care for: patients and service users; staff looking for ways to better support increasing numbers of people with care needs; and organisations delivering these services to the local population.

• White paper
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Under pressure: managing fiscal pressures in the 2020s

Resolution Foundation -
This report assesses the demands on the state in the 2020s; considers what we can learn from the strategies employed to deal with past spending pressures; and evaluates these and other strategies available to governments over the next decade as they seek to manage existing and emerging fiscal pressures. It finds that the 2020s are set to be a decade in which the spending pressures from ageing intensify and health care costs continue to rise.

• Report
• Resolution Foundation - publications

The state of integrated care systems 2021/22

NHS Confederation -
This report is based on the views of system leaders, gathered through a national survey and interviews with a range of stakeholders. It sets out areas where leaders feel they have progressed well and where improvements are needed. It concludes that there is a risk that if integrated care system leaders are not given sufficient time and space they will not be able to deliver the changes to health and care services that the pandemic has demonstrated are needed.

• Report
• NHS Confederation - publications

Flexible working: raising the standards for the NHS

NHS England and NHS Improvement -
The NHS People Plan 2020 puts people at the front and centre of the NHS, including those working in primary and community care. This guidance sets out a preliminary definition and set of principles for flexible working. The definition aims to support the shared and common understanding of flexible working that is needed to achieve fair, equitable and consistent practice. The principles aim to form a foundation for flexible working, and organisations are encouraged to innovate and test out approaches to support the embedding of flexible working.

• Guidance
• The NHS People Plan
• NHS England and NHS Improvement - publications

NHSE/I delivery plan for tackling the backlog of elective care

NHS Providers - 

Delivery plan for tackling the Covid-19 backlog of elective care sets out NHS England and NHS Improvement's ambitions to restore activity and performance to pre-pandemic levels. This includes expanding capacity, a reduction in waiting times, and transforming the delivery of care to reduce the elective backlog. This briefing provides a summary of the document and includes NHS Providers’ view.

• Briefing
• More detail

Does the cap fit? Analysing the government’s proposed amendment to the English social care charging system

Institute for Fiscal Studies - 

This briefing note considers the effects of the government’s proposed amendment to the Care Act, which would mean that means-tested support does not count for an individual’s progress towards the social care cost cap.

• Briefing note
• More detail