Health Management and Policy Alert

Is the use of privately funded health care on the rise?

The Health Foundation - 

This analysis explores trends in attitudes, activity and spending on privately funded health care. Where possible, it draws on data covering the whole of the UK, but some data sources exclude Northern Ireland or cover England only. While there may be some distinctive regional trends at play, The Health Foundation believes the findings generally hold true for the UK overall.

• Analysis

 

Virtual wards operational framework

NHS England - 

This framework supports consistency across the NHS and the relevant goals in line with the Year 2 urgent and emergency care (UEC) recovery plan and the 2024/25 priorities and operational planning guidance: maintaining virtual ward capacity and optimising occupancy so it is consistently above 80%.

• Framework
• More detail

Preparing the NHS for the AI era: a digital health record for every citizen

Tony Blair Institute for Global Change - 

This report proposes a digital health record (DHR) to drive improvements to health and care, and ensure that the NHS is ready for the artificial-intelligence era. Each person’s DHR would be the “single source of truth” for their health and care data – data that currently sit in silos across hospitals, GP practices, pharmacies and phones. It would be the fundamental building block of all modern health systems and open up a whole new way of generating health and delivering health care in the future.

• Report
• Alternative format

Frontline digitisation: creating the conditions for a digital NHS

NHS Confederation - 

Digital transformation is a significant enabler towards improved productivity and efficiency in the NHS. This report explores integrated care systems’ experience of frontline digitisation and highlights the reality, the common issues, challenges and areas of improvement to unlock the potential of a digitally responsive and modern NHS.

• Report
• Associated infographic

AI in health care: what do the public and NHS staff think?

The Health Foundation -

To help understand attitudes towards the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, the Health Foundation commissioned a survey, conducted in June and July 2024, of 7,201 nationally representative members of the public and 1,292 NHS staff members. It found that, on balance, support from both the public and NHS staff for the use of AI in health care, indicating a broadly receptive environment. However, the it found that around 1 in 6 members of the public and around 1 in 10 of the NHS staff surveyed think that AI will make care quality worse.

• The Health Foundation - publications

The reality of, and potential for, digitally enabled care in the community

The King's Fund -
Could digital technology help move care closer to home? This long read explores how community services use digital technology and what the future could – and should – hold.

• Long read
• The King's Fund - publications

 

Digital tools for online consultation in general practice

Health Services Safety Investigations Branch -
This report identifies that online tools are not always accessible and easy to use, and do not always allow general practices to collect the necessary information they need to make decisions about a patient’s care. It concludes that patient safety must be prioritised as online consultation tools in general practice continue to be implemented.

• Report
• Health Services Safety Investigations Branch - news

Review of suicides and gender dysphoria at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: independent report

Department of Health and Social Care - 

This is a review of data provided by NHS England (NHSE) on suicides by young patients of the gender services at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, based on an audit at the trust. The specific aim of the review (undertaken by Professor Louis Appleby) was to examine evidence for a large rise in suicides claimed by campaigners. It found the data do not support the claim that there has been a large rise in suicide in young gender dysphoria patients at the Tavistock.

• Report
• More detail

Learning from deaths: children with a learning disability and autistic children aged 4 - 17 years

National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) - 

This report draws on data from the NCMD to investigate deaths in children with a learning disability and autistic children, and to draw out learning and recommendations for service providers and policymakers.

• Report
• More detail

Keeping your integrated care system safer from cyber attacks

NHS Providers - 

This briefing from NHS Provider's Digital Integrated Care System programme shares five top tips and pose a series of questions to help ICS leaders ensure they are prepared and able to respond to cyber threats.

• Briefing
• More detail