Health Management and Policy Alert

Hindsight 2020: lessons on setting targets in health and social care

Nuffield Trust - 

After the 2015 general election, the NHS and social care were set a number of targets on where they needed to be by 2020 (Shared delivery plan: 2015 to 2020). Now that year has started, this briefing looks at how they have fared over that time, looking at a sample of key targets. Which have been met, which are being missed, and which by now no longer exist? The briefing then looks at the lessons that need to be learned.

• Briefing
• More detail

Striving to deliver

NHS Providers - 

Trust leaders are warning that they are more concerned than ever before about the level of risk they will need to manage for patients and their staff this winter. This briefing is an assessment of readiness looking into the areas of concern facing the NHS and the extensive planning they and their local partners have put into place to mitigate this.

• Briefing
• Press release

National Vascular Registry: 2019 annual report

Royal College of Surgeons of England - 

This is the seventh annual report since the National Vascular Registry was launched in 2013. It contains comparative information on five major interventions for vascular disease: lower limb bypass; lower limb angioplasty/stenting; major lower limb amputation; carotid endarterectomy; and repair of aortic aneurysms, including elective infra-renal, ruptured infra-renal, and more complex aneurysms.

• Report
• More detail

Saving lives, improving mothers’ care: lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2015-17

MBRRACE-UK - 

This is the sixth annual report produced for the Maternal, Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcome Review Programme, run by the MBRRACE-UK collaboration. The authors analysed 2.3m pregnancies from 2015-2017 in the UK and Ireland. During that three year period, 209 women in the UK and Ireland died during their pregnancies or up to six weeks afterwards from pregnancy-related causes. This is equivalent to just over nine women per 100,000. The leading cause of maternal deaths in the UK is still cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, heart failure and heart rhythm problems, and there has been no reduction in maternal deaths from heart related causes for more than 15 years.

• Report
• More detail

NHS performance and waiting times: priorities for the next government

Health Foundation - 
This long read explores how the NHS in England is performing and sets out priorities for the next government. It calls for sustained investment in the NHS and social care to reverse lengthening waits. This will include filling existing staff vacancies and growing the workforce, investment in buildings and equipment, and stabilising the social care sector.

• Report

The political division index: pathfinding for British democracy

Demos -
This report looks to test the idea of a divided nation in order to find a path to a better public debate after Brexit. It maps the quality of the political debate as perceived by British voters on ten current political issues, including the NHS and climate change.

• Report
• Demos - projects

International comparisons of capital in health care: why is the UK falling behind?

The Health Foundation -
This analysis suggests that the UK is investing significantly less in health care capital – which includes buildings, equipment and IT – as a share of GDP compared to most other similar countries. As a result, the total value of capital in health care in the UK has fallen.

• Report
• The Health Foundation - press release

Analysis of inspection reports

General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) - 

The GPhC commissioned Solutions for Public Health to identify the key patterns, trends and themes in pharmacy inspection reports from November 2013 to August 2018. The analysis identified seven emergent themes which were associated with good and/or poor performance: governance; a proactive approach; efficient processes; responsiveness; customer and patient focus; added value; and lack of key knowledge and a failure to learn.

• Report
• More detail

Support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in England

National Audit Office - 
This report assesses how well pupils with special educational needs and disabilities are being supported. It examines how well education services and health and social care services work together in order to meet these needs.

• Report
• National Audit Office - press release

Department of Health and Social Care: assessment of NHS England (the NHS Commissioning Board) for 2017-18 and 2018-19

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 2017 to 2019.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications
• Department of Health and Social Care - news