Health Management and Policy Alert

Building back health and prosperity

Health Devolution Commission -

This cross-party commission believes there is now a fundamental choice to be made between greater centralisation of NHS and social care services or a comprehensive health devolution approach which incorporates national entitlements and targets but embeds the delivery of an integrated NHS, social care and public health service within broader, powerful, democratically led local partnerships.

• Report
• More detail

Delivering integrated care at neighbourhood level: developing shared working practices

Community Network - 

This briefing forms part of a series published as part of the Neighbourhood Integration Project. The project focuses on how long-standing local partnerships have resolved the operational challenges that so often hold back the integration agenda. A member survey carried out by the Community Network found that the need to develop shared working practices was one of the four main barriers to more joined-up care at the local level. This briefing focuses on how organisations in Devon, Hull and Worcestershire have found ways to overcome this barrier and establish agreed ways of working across their local partnerships.

• Briefing
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Time to be radical? : the view from system leaders on the future of ‘system by default’

NHS Confederation -
The NHS Confederation’s ICS Network conducted a poll to assess the direction of travel systems themselves would like to see, beyond the emergency response to Covid-19 and towards a possible future vision. The results of the poll are outlined in this report.

• Report
• NHS Confederation - publications

Re-thinking local

Local Government Association -
This discussion paper sets out how, with the right funding and powers, councils can grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not just recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemics but to go further and address the inequalities the virus has exposed, develop a green recovery, address skills gaps and rebuild the economy so that it benefits everyone.

• Report
• Local Government Association - publications

The structure of the NHS in England

House of Commons Library -
This briefing provides an overview of the funding and accountability relationships within this NHS in England, and an introduction to the roles of key organisations including NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission. It also highlights some key health policy issues, including patient safety, funding, and the integration of health and social care.

• Briefing
• House of Commons Library - publications

Evaluation of the Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) programme: final evaluation report

Centre for Health Economics, University of York - 
Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) is an approach to joining up health and social care, and other services where appropriate. This report outlines the findings of an independent evaluation of IPC and finds that whilst IPC costs more than standard care, it resulted in positive patient experience and increased social care quality of life.

• Report
• Press release

The health of the nation: a strategy for healthier longer lives

All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity - 
This report aims to help set the UK on a clear path to achieve the government's goal "for everyone to have five extra years of healthy, independent life by 2035." It proposes policy and cross-sector collaboration to narrow the life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest.

• Report

The multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment

Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) - 

A joint targeted area inspections of ‘the multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment’ took place between September 2018 and May 2019. Ofsted, together with the Care Quality Commission, HMI Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and HMI Probation, examined how well children’s social care, health professionals, youth offending services, the police and probation officers are working together in a local area to help and protect children. This report calls on professionals to give sexual abuse a higher priority in local areas, through improved training and awareness-raising of the problem. More needs to be done to prevent the sexual abuse of children in the family environment and when it does happen, agencies must work better to protect and support victims and families.

• Report
• Press release

Building resilience: how local partnerships are supporting children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing

Local Government Association - 

Too many children and young people nationally do not receive the support they need to improve their mental health and wellbeing. The purpose of this research, commissioned from Isos Partnership, is to explore some of the factors which are contributing to this nationally challenging context, and to develop an evidence base for how local government and its partners can work most effectively together to deliver a coherent and joined-up offer of support for children and young people’s mental health.

• Report
• Press release

How will we know if integrated care systems reduce demand for urgent care? Establishing fair benchmark levels for the blended payment system

The Strategy Unit - 

For the 2019/20 financial year the National Tariff Payment System (NTPS) for emergency care moved from a fee-for service arrangement to a blended payment system. The blended system encourages the provider to moderate activity growth by providing financial incentives for effective demand management. However there is currently scant detail surrounding crucial aspects of the NTPS scheme. Failure to address this issue may not only lead to the inappropriate distribution of resources across the health system; it could result in tens of millions of pounds being diverted away from urgent care.

• Report
• More detail