Health Management and Policy Alert

NHS activity tracker: April 2021

NHS Providers - 
This report analyses the latest NHS activity figures across a range of services and sets out the trends in each clinical area. It highlights the scale of the backlogs caused by the ongoing pandemic and argues that multi-year financial support is required to help support the NHS to recover the backlogs.

• Report

Longer waits, missing patients and catching up

Health Foundation - 

This analysis looks at the impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on elective care in England. The waiting list has now reached the highest level since comparable records began, with more patients experiencing long delays in diagnosis and treatment.

• Analysis

Building back elective care: a new framework for recovery

NHS Confederation - 
This report warns that the NHS in England could face a hidden waiting list of nearly six million people who have not come forward or been referred for treatment yet due to the significant disruption brought about by the pandemic. It explores what lies ahead for the health service and patients, based on our modelling of referral-to-treatment waiting trajectories in 2021. It offers an outline policy framework for starting to reduce waiting lists in an effective, equitable and efficient way.

• Report
• Press release

Opportunities to repurpose medicines in the NHS in England

NHS England - 
The Repurposing Medicines Programme was established to identify and pursue opportunities to strengthen the evidence base, licencing, supply and cost effectiveness of un-licenced or off label medicines in current (or likely future) common use in the NHS. This report outlines the findings of the programme and the proposed future work programme.

• Report

Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all

Department of Health and Social Care -
This White Paper sets out legislative proposals for a Health and Care Bill. The proposals are designed to support the health and care system to work together to provide high quality health and care, so people can live longer, healthier, active and more independent lives.

• White paper
• The King's Fund - response
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Viral myths: why we risk learning the wrong lessons from the pandemic

Institute of Economic Affairs -
This report argues that there is no obvious measure of ‘Covid performance’ which would allow us to rank countries by how well they dealt with the pandemic. This paper claims that the best performers didn't do well because they have low public spending levels but because they have open economies, or that they did well because they have non-NHS-type health care systems. It puts forward the argument that an effective pandemic response is compatible with a variety of public spending levels, a variety of trade regimes, and a variety of health care systems.

• Report
• Institute of Economic Affairs - publications

Covid-19 recovery and resilience: what can health and care learn from other disasters?

The King's Fund -
What do communities need to be able to recover from Covid-19 and build resilience? This long read identifies key insights from people involved in disaster recovery around the world.

• Read it now

Can variation help to explain the rise in emergency admissions for children aged under five up to 2018/19?

Nuffield Trust - 

Children under the age of five accounted for ten per cent of emergency attendances and nine per cent of emergency admissions in 2018/19, despite representing less than six per cent of the population – what might some of the factors behind this be? This research considers some of the data and service-related issues that may be affecting this troubling observation. A further research appendix provides further charts and analysis that look at the issue in more depth.

• Report
• More detail

Assessment of NHS England (the NHS Commissioning Board) for 2019 to 2020

Department of Health and Social Care - 

This paper sets out the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s annual assessment of NHS England against its mandate and business objectives for financial years covering 2019 to 2020.

• Report
• More detail

Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond: Government response to the Committee’s second report of session 2019–21

House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee -
This report finds that the Covid-19 response has greatly accelerated the use of digital technology, has mainstreamed remote consultations and similar effects are being seen for remote monitoring. There has been greater flexibility and resilience in the workforce, as well as improved decision making and access to information through the better use of data and simplified information governance guidance. It concludes that these changes should be embeded and extended to support the health and care system’s recovery from the pandemic and ongoing resilience.

• Report
• House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee - inquiries