Health Management and Policy Alert

Pressures on the NHS

Institute for Fiscal Studies - 

This analysis assesses how the government’s new funding settlement compares with the pressures facing the health service. The new funding will likely be sufficient to cover Covid-19-related pressures on the NHS over the next two years, 2022−23 and 2023−24. However, the government’s new plans imply little in the way of additional virus-related support after that point, suggesting that the newly announced funding might be insufficient to meet virus-related pressures in the medium term.

• Report
• Press release

The NHS Long Term Plan and Covid-19: assessing progress and the pandemic’s impact

The Health Foundation -
This analysis looks at progress on the main pledges in the NHS Long Term Plan and the impact of Covid-19 on their delivery. It finds that the core principles set out in the long term plan remain as relevant now as they were before Covid-19, but their implementation has been derailed. The NHS now faces major delay, disruption and increased demands on services. It concludes that alongside the recent funding increase for the NHS, government must now work with the NHS to develop an updated strategy for delivering the NHS Long Term Plan. It also makes an appeal that reducing the NHS backlog should not come at the expense of addressing health inequalities already widened by Covid-19.

• Report
• The Health Foundation - publications

Organ donation and transplantation data for Black, Asian, mixed race and minority ethnic (BAME) communities: report for 2020/2021 (1 April 2016 - 31 March 2021)

NHS Blood and Transplant - 

This report provides information related to organ donation and transplantation within the white and Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in the UK. It finds the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the numbers of living donor kidney transplants that could be performed. In 2020/21 there was a comparable drop in both White and non-White deceased donors, but a 61 per cent decrease in the number of BAME living donors, compared to a 58 per cent drop overall.

• Report
• More detail

A system approach to the demand crunch

NHS Confederation - 

This briefing outlines NHS leaders' views on what must be done to ensure the NHS does not become overwhelmed. It outlines what we can learn now in order to plan well as a system for the winter, and highlights ten areas of focus for local systems.

• Briefing

Could NHS waiting lists really reach 13 million?

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - 

IFS modelling shows the scale of the waiting list challenge ahead for the NHS in England, as the millions who have missed out on care come forward, and the NHS is potentially hamstrung by infection control measures and the continued need to treat a high number of Covid-19 patients. The analysis shows that whether or not waiting lists rise as far as 13 million depends crucially on the ability of the NHS to expand its capacity and treat more patients than it did pre-pandemic. If that proves impossible, waiting lists could indeed rise to 13 million – or even higher.

• Analysis
• Interactive tool
• Press release

The untold heartbreak

British Heart Foundation - 

This report warns that waiting lists for life saving heart diagnosis and treatment could more than double within two years in England due to the pandemic. It estimates that the number of people anxiously waiting for heart care and diagnosis could peak at around 550,385 in January 2024 if the NHS doesn’t get enough investment and is under increased pressure from Covid-19 or a bad winter. Missed opportunities to prevent, diagnose and treat heart and circulatory diseases, an unprecedented backlog of people waiting for care, and a cliff-edge fall in research funding could amount to a loss of progress for a generation and lives cut short from treatable heart conditions.

• Report
• Press release

Improving non-emergency patient transport services: report of the non-emergency patient transport review

NHS England and NHS Improvement - 

This report sets out measures for improving an important element of travel to healthcare: non-emergency patient transport (NEPTS). These NHS funded transport services support those people whose medical condition or mobility constraint would otherwise be a major barrier to getting to treatment. The report draws on the findings of a national review, which has worked closely with the sector. The aim is to ensure that NEPTS is more responsive, fair and sustainable.

• Report
• Press release

Lessons from the 2000s: the ambition to reduce waits must be matched with patience and realism

The King's Fund - 

As a result of Covid-19 waiting times for NHS treatment, already an issue before the pandemic, have grown to historic highs – or have they? Richard Murray compares current waiting times to those seen in the 2000s – and asks what we can learn from the last time the NHS tackled long waits.

• Read it now

The role and functions of CCG medicines optimisation teams

Nuffield Trust - 

This report reflects on the crucial role and functions that clinical commissioning group medicines optimisation teams deliver in the existing healthcare architecture to improve patient care.

• Report
• More detail

Covid-19: preparing for the future - looking ahead to winter 2021/22 and beyond

The Academy of Medical Sciences - 
This report warns that a mix of Covid-19, influenza, and the respiratory virus Respiratory Syncytial Virus, could push the NHS to breaking point this winter unless action is taken. The report urges policy makers and the NHS to prepare by expanding Covid-19 testing, increasing the speed and uptake of the Covid-19 vaccination, and strenthgened financial and staffing support.

• Report
• The Academy of Medical Sciences - news