Health Management and Policy Alert

Evidence to Module 3 of the Covid-19 Public Inquiry relating to the use of the private hospital sector to support the pandemic response

Centre for Health and the Public Interest -
This research was carried out with the aim of understanding the nature of the contractual relationship between the NHS and the private hospital sector during the first year of the pandemic, including the amount of public money spent on the contract. The report seeks to assess the role played by the private hospital sector in treating NHS patients at a time when many NHS hospitals were overwhelmed.

• Report
• Centre for Health and the Public Interest - publications

Covid-19 and the nation’s mental health: a review of the evidence published so far

Centre for Mental Health - 

Covid-19 was an unprecedented global health emergency unlike anything else in living memory. While the pandemic’s immediate impact was on physical health, it also had a profound impact on people’s mental health. This report explores what is known about those impacts, and how they have affected mental health services in the UK, four years on from the start of the pandemic.

• Report
• Press release

Module 1: the resilience and preparedness of the United Kingdom

UK Covid-19 Inquiry -
This report contains the results of the first investigation into the nation’s resilience and preparedness for the Covid-19 pandemic. Key recommendations include a simplification of civil emergency preparedness and resilience systems, holding a UK-wide pandemic response exercise at least every three years and the creation of a single, independent statutory body responsible for whole system preparedness and response.

• Report
• UK Covid-19 Inquiry - news

Still waiting: is it just England that still has a backlog problem?

Nuffield Trust -
The NHS wasn’t the only health system that experienced severe disruption of care during the pandemic, but how quickly have waiting times in England recovered in comparison to other nations? This long read looks at how waiting times have changed in England and in other countries since the peak of the Covid-19 crisis.

• Nuffield Trust - publications

Great government: public service reform in the 2020s

Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) - 
This report examines the state of the state by focussing on the challenges facing the NHS, schools, and the justice system in the UK, which the next government will need to address, and sets out a plan for progress. It suggests that even if the next government matched previous rates of improvement, it would take nearly ten years to recover levels of access in the NHS, up to seven years to return to our previous performance on the education attainment gap and a decade to clear the courts backlog.

• Report

UK Covid-19 Inquiry public hearings: module 2, week 7 (27 November - 1 December)

NHS Providers - 

This briefing summarises the proceedings most relevant to NHS trusts and is the seventh in the series of weekly briefings on the Inquiry’s public hearings on module 2.

• Briefing
• More detail

UK Covid-19 Inquiry public hearings: module 2, week 6 (20 November - 23 November 2023)

NHS Providers - 

This week the Inquiry heard from witnesses including Sir Patrick Vallance, Professor Sir Chris Whitty and Professor Sir Jonathan Van Tam. The Inquiry heard evidence on the timing of lockdowns, difficulties in getting data on NHS capacity, and the interactions between government and its scientific advisors. This briefing summarises the proceedings most relevant to NHS trusts, and is the sixth in the series of weekly briefings on the Inquiry’s public hearings on module 2.

• Briefing
• More detail

Engaging the private sector in delivering health care and goods: governance lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies - 

Engaging the private sector in delivering health care and goods requires a sound understanding of how to align resources with the strategic priorities of a health system. This report for policy-makers analyses governance evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic. It explores a selection of case studies that describe real-life private sector engagements in service delivery, procurement of personal protective equipment, and advance purchase agreements for Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

• Report
• Press release

UK Covid-19 Inquiry public hearings: module 2, week 5 (6 November - 9 November 2023)

NHS Providers - 

This guide (produced with Browne Jacobson LLP) is designed to support NHS acute, mental health, community, specialist, and ambulance trust boards focus on the considerations that enable well-governed provider collaboration. The guide includes considerations relevant to partnership at any level of population, although it focuses more on collaboration at scale. This practical guide reflects the legal framework for collaboration and NHS England policy, as well as building on the experiences of trusts.

• Guide
• More detail

UK Covid-19 Inquiry public hearings: module 2, week 4 (30 October-2 November 2023)

NHS Providers - 

This briefing summarises the proceedings most relevant to NHS trusts and is the fourth in the series of weekly briefings on the Inquiry’s public hearings on module 2.

• Briefing
• More detail