Health Management and Policy Alert

Coronavirus Act 2020 two years on

House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee - 

This report sets out concerns about Parliament’s lack of ability to scrutinise and amend emergency provisions in the Coronavirus Act over the last two years and draws out the lessons that can be learned in legislating for future emergencies.

• Report
• Press release

NHS Disabled staff experiences during Covid-19

NHS Employers - 

This report outlines the working experiences of NHS disabled staff during the first wave of the pandemic, access the key findings and recommendations.

• Report
• More detail

Building public understanding of health and health inequalities

Health Foundation - 

This long read draws on polling and recent research to explore the reasons behind public attitudes towards health and health inequalities. It looks at how public health professionals can use communications techniques to improve public understanding of evidence about health inequalities.

• Long read

Access to and delivery of general practice services: a study of patients at practices using digital and online tools

Health Foundation - 

This briefing examined data from 146 GP practices in England using the askmyGP online consultation system between 1 March 2019 and 30 September 2021. The analysis found that that ten per cent of patient care requests made to GP practices indicate a preference for a face-to-face consultation. Recently, the increasing use of online consultations systems such as askmyGP caused concern about the risk of digital tools creating inequalities by making it difficult for some patients to access care. However, the analysis shows that patients often choose remote over face-to-face consultations and that GP practices can mitigate the risk of digital exclusion via a blended approach.

• Briefing
• Press release

Principles for the first year of system regulation

NHS Confederation - 

The health and care bill offers the legislative framework to accelerate integration and partnership working. However, if regulation and oversight arrangements are overly burdensome and not fit for purpose, there is a risk that leaders of integrated care systems will be inhibited in progressing towards integration, partnership working and driving the improvements in care the pandemic has shown are needed. This report sets out a set of principles that should drive the actions of regulators over the first year of system regulation and oversight.

• Report

Virtual wards and Covid-19: an explainer

Nuffield Trust - 

'Virtual wards' have existed for a number of years, but Covid-19 has led to further research and pilot schemes exploring their use. How have they been used during the pandemic and what does the future hold? This explainer provides some answers.

• Explainer

Impact assessment of the implementation of Section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014 and fair cost of care

County Councils Network - 

This report, commissioned from LaingBuisson, analyses two key aspects of the government’s adult social care reforms: proposals to allow private payers (self-funders) to ask councils to arrange care on their behalf at lower local authority rates and the intention to introduce a new ‘fair cost of care’, which aims to increase care fees paid by councils to make the care market sustainable. The study concludes that that the government’s allocation ‘seriously underestimates’ the amount of new funding required and could cause a ‘severe sustainability risk’ to care homes across the country. Widespread care home closures could leave councils struggling to find beds for those who require care and trigger a deterioration in the quality of care between local authority and private placements.

• Report
• Press release

Inclusive Britain: the government’s response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

HM Government - 

This is the government’s response to the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which was published in March 2021. The Commission was established in July 2020 to review inequality in the UK, with a particular focus on education, health, employment and criminal justice. Its report included 24 recommendations for government, other public bodies and the private sector. 'Inclusive Britain' sets out over 70 actions in response to these recommendations, grouped under three main themes: trust and fairness, opportunity and agency, and inclusion. Together, these actions set out an inclusion strategy for Britain.

• Government response
• More detail
• Report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

Genome UK: shared commitments for UK-wide implementation 2022 to 2025

Department of Health and Social Care -
The shared commitments set out how the genomics community across the UK will collaborate during 2022 to 2025 to progress the government’s vision for genomic healthcare. The Genome UK strategy was published in 2020 and set out a vision and aspirations for how genomic health care would be transformed over the next ten years. The shared commitments are a collection of high-level implementation commitments agreed between the UK government and the devolved governments, across the three pillars and five cross-cutting themes of the Genome UK strategy to support its UK-wide implementation.

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

 

The government’s response to the Health and Social Care Committee report: children and young people’s mental health

Department of Health and Social Care -
This is the government’s response to the 25 recommendations made by the Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) in its report published in December 2021. The government welcomes the HSCC report. The recommendations related to rising demand for services, future funding, access to mental health services, mental health support in schools, the importance of community-based and digital mental health support, the role of inpatient care, and self-harm and a public health approach to suicide.

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