Health Management and Policy Alert

Tackling inequalities faced by minority groups in mental health through the Personalised Care Programme

Race Equality Foundation -
People from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority communities facing mental illness or distress encounter barriers in accessing personalised mental health care, including Personal Health Budgets, essential for their safety and recovery. This report by the Association of Mental Health Providers, NHS England, and the Race Equality Foundation aims to provide solutions to these disparities and offers key learnings to change this.

• Report
• Race Equality Foundation - news

NHS hospital care: who is waiting and what are they waiting for?

Nuffield Trust -
This analysis from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation reveals there are large differences between how long different groups of patients are waiting for NHS care in England. In particular, it shows how people from the most deprived areas are much more likely to say they are waiting for planned care, young people of Black ethnicity experience longer waits in A&E, and those waiting for gynaecological care face a hugely increased waiting list.

• Long read
• Nuffield Trust - press release

Public health and population health: leading together

The King's Fund -
The new government has made a commitment to halving gaps in health life expectancy and delivering a 10-year plan for health. To achieve this, ministers must call on and support the expertise of the existing public health family and the new emphasis on population health taking root in ICSs.

• Report
• The King's Fund - publications

The case for neighbourhood health and care

NHS Confederation - 

This report identifies the defining factors necessary to achieve effective, community-led health and wellbeing at the neighbourhood level. The report from the NHS Confederation, Local Trust and PPL, reflects the most recent research and evidence and confirms that any transformation of public services will not be successful unless it is accompanied by a more fundamental transformation of relationships between statutory services and communities, building on the best of what is happening in neighbourhoods today.

• Report
• Alternative format

Working better together in neighbourhoods

NHS Confederation - 

This report sets out the evidence for neighbourhood and community-based efforts to improve health and wellbeing. It finds a spectrum of different types of interventions, from those developed within and by statutory bodies, to those that have arisen entirely within communities themselves, often in a conscious response to gaps within, or perceived failings of, the local services upon which all communities rely. This report shows what can be learnt from these experiences to build a better set of co-ordinated, neighbourhood-based responses to improving health and care, working together.

• Report
• Alterntive format

Neighbourhood working in a nutshell

NHS Confederation - 

The insights shared in this briefing stem from a joint project from the NHS Confederation and Local Trust to promote and test community-led approaches to health and wellbeing in some of England’s most deprived neighbourhoods. The project has explored a range of case studies which, together, build a picture of the current landscape of neighbourhood working in England. Deliberately diverse, the 14 examples cover a range of communities, geographies and ways of working.

• Briefing

Paving a new pathway to prevention: leveraging increased returns on our collective investment

NHS Confederation - 

This report (produced together with Carnall Farrar) suggests that better targeting of existing money spent on prevention could deliver an extra £11 billion annual return on investment (ROI) and hold the key to the government achieving its goal of increasing the impact of prevention. The analysis also found that if the upper quartile ROI was achieved across all interventions, then the financial impact could be up to £22 billion per year – an increase from the £11 billion per year estimate that comes from the £5b per year of current spending.

• Report
• Press release

Towards a healthier workforce: interim report of the Commission for Healthier Working Lives

The Health Foundation -
This analysis shows that each year around 300,000 people aged 16–64 have left the workforce and report having a work-limiting health condition. Once out of the workforce, these individuals are nearly three times less likely to return to employment than those in good health. Drawing on insights from employers, experts and the public, the report highlights the need for a new approach to help people with health conditions remain in or return to work.

• Report
• The Health Foundation - news

Women's health economics: investing in the 51 per cent

NHS Confederation -
According to this report by the NHS Confederation, Create Health Foundation and London Economics, an additional £1 invested in obstetrics and gynaecology services per woman in England could generate an estimated £319 million return to the economy. This equates to a return on investment of £11 per woman in England for every additional £1 invested in obstetrics and gynaecology services. The report reveals the high costs to the economy of women being unable to work due to a range of conditions, including heavy and painful periods, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts, not being treated effectively.

• Report
• NHS Confederation - news

How costing teams are helping to reduce health inequalities

Healthcare Financial Management Association -  

Patient level cost data has significant potential as a way to understand the equity of healthcare provision, as it can be analysed by indices of deprivation, health conditions and treatments at a granular level. Costing practitioners have skills and experience in working with patient level data and can be a great resource for their organisation, using analytical prowess to develop increased benefit to patients. Working on health equity is also a good way to engage clinicians and address priorities, leading to greater awareness of how cost data can be used. This briefing shares the themes found by costing teams as they work with clinical and service colleagues to address health inequalities, illustrating the themes with practical examples.

• Briefing
• More detail