Health Management and Policy Alert

Digitally enabled collaborative work needs organisational capacity to succeed

The King's Fund - 

Working collaboratively with technology means making time and space to connect with colleagues. Toby Lindsay and Pritesh Mistry make the case for slowing down to think and talk through change.

• Blog

Waiting on the waiting list, but what for?

The King's Fund - 

Media coverage tends to imply that the waiting list in England is mainly made up of those waiting for hospital admission. But this doesn't tell the whole story. Saoirse Mallorie explores what the data can tell us about what people are waiting for.

• Blog

Has Brexit affected the UK’s medical workforce?

Nuffield Trust - 

This long read looks at how the numbers of doctors in the NHS who come from the EU and the European Free Trade Association has changed since the Brexit referendum in 2016 and whether certain specialties face particular problems.

Long read

Mind the gaps: understanding and improving out-of-hours care for people with advanced illness and their informal carers

Marie Curie - 

This research states that terminally ill people are struggling to access essential care at home during evenings and weekends, which the charity warns, means people are dying in pain. Amongst the findings is that out-of-hours emergency department attendance increases in frequency as death approaches, and is more common among people living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas.

• Report
• Press release

What does the autumn statement mean for public services?

Institute for Government -
This report sets out the impact of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s plans on four service areas: the NHS, schools, the criminal justice system and local government. It warns that while frontloading funding in protected areas shields them from the damaging ‘austerity 2.0’ feared, this is still unlikely to enable key services like the NHS to return performance to pre-pandemic levels this parliament. It also suggests that unless historic pay cuts are addressed, it may not be enough to improve recruitment and retention or avert widespread strikes.

• Report
• Institute for Government - publications

Directly bookable appointments: guidance for practices

NHS England -
This guidance sets out requirements for online appointment booking following changes to General Medical Services, Personal Medical Services and Alternative Provider Medical Services contractual arrangements that came into effect in England from October 2022.

• Guidance
• NHS England - publications

The evolving role of county authorities in integrated care systems

County Councils Network - 
This report analyses the new systems which replaced Clinical Commissioning Groups this year from the perspective of councils. The study, commissioned by the County Councils Network, is based on a survey and interviews with local authorities in county areas and senior health officials. The report finds that local government is spending more time with NHS colleagues, with 80 per cent of council respondents saying they have increased their time working with health partners since the inception of ICSs. Local authorities also report being cautious about pooling further resources with the NHS at a time when finances are stretched. It recommends that the government and health service review the level of centrally imposed targets on ICSs, particularly in shared policy areas with local government, which could help move towards a culture shift that gives greater prominence to prevention.

• Report
• County Councils Network - news

 

Supporting our NHS people through menopause: guidance for line managers and colleagues

NHS England -
This guidance helps NHS organisations, line managers, and those working in the NHS understand more about the menopause, how they can support colleagues at work and those experiencing menopause symptoms.

• Guidance
• NHS England - publications

NHS staffing shortages: why do politicians struggle to give the NHS the staff it needs?

The King's Fund -
The King’s Fund and Engage Britain commissioned Bill Morgan, a former Conservative special adviser, to explore what can get in the way of ministers taking meaningful, long-term action to address NHS workforce shortages. The resulting report focuses on the role of politicians in workforce planning and delivery. It sets out the scale of the workforce crisis and the impact that it has, and the causes – identified in the report as difficulties in workforce forecasting, a tendency to train too few staff in the UK, and the insufficiently strategic use of international migration to compensate. It also considers the political reasons around why it has historically been so hard to fix and considers three factors that could contribute to tackling the current shortages.

• Report
• The King's Fund - publications

The health and care workforce: planning for a sustainable future

The King's Fund -
In response to the newly published report on NHS staffing shortages, our Director of Policy, Sally Warren, explores the wide range of actions needed to support workforce planning and service delivery in our latest long read.

• Read it now