Health Management and Policy Alert

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

Learning the lessons: the unequal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic: voices of people and communities

National Voices -
This report captures the findings from an engagement exercise held by National Voices about how communities and groups were affected differently by both the Covid-19 virus and the measures to control it. It finds that the pandemic response exacerbated existing, deep-rooted inequalities across the UK, and compounded the disadvantages experienced by people from minoritised communities, by disabled people and by people living with long term conditions.

• Report
• National Voices - news

Health security from the ground up: 5 lessons for the future of the UKHSA

Reform - 

This paper explores the shortcomings in the English response to Covid-19 and presents five policy ideas which would help strengthen the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and improve the UK’s resilience in the face of future health crises.

• Paper
• More detail

Not by choice: the unequal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on disempowered ethnic minority and migrant communities

Doctors of the World - 
This report argues that too many of the policy decisions that were made during the Covid-19 health emergency either did not understand the evidence on inequality or ignored it, and that this was particularly true for ethnic minorities and migrants.

• Report
• Doctors of the World - news

The Covid-19 Inquiry

Institute for Government - 

This explainer sets out what is the Covid-19 inquiry; what powers does it have; and what is its purpose and scope.

• Explainer

Growing problems, one year on: the state of children’s health care and the Covid-19 backlog

Nuffield Trust -
A previous report showed that although the direct effects of Covid-19 on children and young people had generally been milder than for older groups, the impact of the pandemic was huge, with waiting lists for children and young people's care growing rapidly and mental health a serious concern. This report investigates whether there have been improvements in the state of health and care for children and young people. It finds that, rather than diminishing, the problems facing children and young people’s health care have worsened in many cases.

• Nuffield Trust - publications

Free personal protective equipment scheme

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 
This guidance outlines the details of the extension of the free personal protective equipment scheme which aims to protect frontline health care staff, the elderly and vulnerable and reduce pressure on the NHS. 

• Guidance