Health Management and Policy Alert

Building community health and care capacity: reflections from other countries

Nuffield Trust -
Changing services so that more care is provided in community settings and people can leave hospital when they are fit for discharge has been a policy aim for decades. This analysis finds that other countries have been on the same mission and have had more success. It looks internationally at how performance in England compares and how other countries have succeeded in building up community health and care services to understand what might be learned.

• Nuffield Trust - publications

Harm caused by delays in transferring patients to the right place of care

Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch -
This national investigation seeks to examine the systems that are in place to manage the flow of patients through and out of hospitals and considers the interactions between health and social care systems. It finds that issues relating to patient flow affect ambulance crews’ ability to hand over patient care to emergency department (ED) staff. It also finds that EDs are routinely at, or exceeding, their maximum capacity and this has an impact on their ability to provide safe care. This report brings together the findings from the investigation’s three interim reports and provides an update since they were published.

• Report
• Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch - publications

Implications of the NHS workforce plan

Institute for Fiscal Studies -
In June 2023, NHS England published its long-term workforce plan. The plan aims to increase the number of staff employed by the English NHS from around 1.5 million in 2021–22 to between 2.3 and 2.4 million in 2036–37. This report examines the potential implications for NHS funding.

• Report
• Institute for Fiscal Studies - press release

A strategy for the care workforce

 

This report, developed with care workers and their trade unions, foregrounds care workers voices and experiences to spotlight current challenges across the care economy. It lays out the critical building blocks of a care workforce strategy that are common to childcare and social care. The proposals are aimed to ensure all care workers in England are valued and supported, as a key means of addressing the current staffing crisis and improving access to and quality of social and childcare services.

• Report
• More detail
• Press release

Home improvement: a triple dividend – Part one: boosting the British economy

Demos -
This report presents a case for a comprehensive nationwide programme to address the poor quality of the UK’s homes. It finds that 3.5 million homes in England are a threat to their occupants’ health and safety, and have the highest associated health and care costs in Western Europe. This briefing, produced in partnership with the Centre for Ageing Better, explores the economic opportunity that lies in shaping a home improvement policy that provides safe, energy efficient homes for a growing and ageing population. It concludes that by investing in homes pressure on health and social care services could be reduced.

• Report
• Demos - publications

 

Inequalities in disability

Institute for Fiscal Studies -
This analysis looks at differences and inequalities in the prevalence of disability and the degree to which health limits functional capabilities in the UK. This commentary studies differences in the prevalence of disability between education groups, regions, date of birth cohorts and genders. While there are a number of ways in which disability may affect outcomes, this commentary focuses particularly on employment as an outcome.

• Report
• Institute for Fiscal Studies - publications
• Institute for Fiscal Studies - press release

Exploring the earnings of NHS doctors in England

Nuffield Trust -
This briefing looks at how doctors’ pay in England has changed over time, how it compares to other salaries in the wider economy, and how it compares with what doctors in other countries are paid.

• Nuffield Trust - briefing

Creating better health value: understanding the economic impact of NHS spending by care setting

NHS Confederation - 

This research (commissioned by the NHS Confederation and conducted by Carnall Farrar) examines where the greatest returns on investment from spending in the NHS can come from to impact the wider domestic economy. It shows that when high levels of funding are ploughed into primary and community care the economic gains are significant. In the five years between 2015 and 2019 those localities in England that most increased NHS spend in primary and community care experienced far higher gross value added (GVA) growth in their areas than those that spent the least on these services.

• Report
• Associated briefing
• Press release

Cancer waiting times review – Models of care and measurement: consultation response

NHS England - 

This report sets out the wide-ranging support received through the national consultation on the proposed new standards for cancer care, and highlights some of the key considerations raised to support their successful implementation. It also sets out the final policy recommendations, and the next steps required by both the NHS and Government to implement them.

• Consultation response
• More detail

Social needs among people living with mental health difficulities

Centre for Mental Health - 

The NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit (MHPRU) at University College London (UCL) and King’s College London (KCL) reviewed research about how mental health services can best support the social needs of people living with mental health difficulties. This briefing paper summarises their findings and explores the policy implications.

• Briefing
• More detail