Health Management and Policy Alert

Research for Parliament 2021

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) - 
This publication presents a horizon scan of 30 areas of change to help the UK Parliament prepare for the future. Amongst the wide range of issues explored are mental health and wellbeing in the context of Covid-19, health inequalities and the use of digital technologies in the delivery of health care.

• Reports

Coronavirus (Covid-19) testing for hospices

Department of Health and Social Care - 

This guidance sets out how hospices can access Covid-19 testing for staff and patients on-site, for staff visiting patients in their own homes, and for visitors to hospices.

• Guidance

 

Pandemic patient experience II: from lockdown to vaccine roll-out

Patients Association - 

In 2020, patients told the Patients Association about their experiences of living with health and care needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their testimony painted a bleak picture in many ways. This follow-up survey (drawing on 453 responses, submitted over February, March and early April 2021) finds that many aspects of their experiences are not much better, and some are worse. General practice services remains difficult for many, and patients overall do not regard remote consultations as an adequate replacement for in-person appointments.

• Report
• More detail

Devolved public services: the NHS, schools and social care in the four nations

Institute for Government - 

Since their creation in 1999, the devolved governments have chosen to fund and run public services in very different ways. While the way they also choose to compile data is a real obstacle to comparison, this report reveals the extent to which public service performance has diverged across the UK from 1999 to the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. All the devolved nations spend more than England but all three have higher rates of treatable mortality – deaths that could be prevented through timely and effective health care interventions – and by 2018 all three had lower maths and science results.

• Report
• Press release

Coronavirus (Covid-19) testing for hospices

Department of Health and Social Care -
This guidance sets out how hospices can access Covid-19 testing for staff and patients on-site, for staff visiting patients in their own homes, and for visitors to hospices.

• Guidance

Outpatient appointments intended but not booked after inpatient stays

Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch -
This investigation explores the patient safety risk of outpatient appointments which are intended but not booked following an inpatient stay. It also considers opportunities for building resilience into the process to ensure timely appointments. It concludes with two safety recommendations that are aimed at reducing the chance that patients will be lost after an inpatient stay and supporting the staff within trusts who are responsible for arranging appointments and tracking patients.

• Report
• Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch - news

Assessing England’s response to Covid-19: a framework

The King's Fund -
Learning the lessons from Covid-19 would allow England to better prepare for future pandemics, and understand the weaknesses and strengths of the health, care and public health systems. This framework sets out a structure to help untangle the complicated interactions between different elements of the response in England.

• Report
• The King's Fund - publications

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2018/19 update

Centre for Health Economics -
This report updates the Centre for Health Economics’ time-series of NHS productivity growth for the period 2017/18 to 2018/19. NHS productivity growth is measured by comparing the growth in outputs produced by the NHS to the growth in inputs used to produce them. NHS outputs include all the activities undertaken for NHS patients wherever they are treated in England. It also accounts for changes in the quality of care provided to those patients. NHS inputs include the number of doctors, nurses and support staff providing care, the equipment and clinical supplies used, and the facilities of hospitals and other premises where care is provided.

• Report
• Centre for Health Economics - publications

IGNITE Summit 2020: learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic to accelerate medical innovation

Northern Health Science Alliance - 

This report, published following the IGNITE Summit 2020 (a medical innovation summit), sets out a series of “key game changers” to help build a resilient, prosperous and pioneering world-leading health innovation system. The summit brought together a diverse group of leaders from across the country, and internationally, to focus on what the pandemic has taught us and how we can use that learning to optimise the UK’s medical innovation system moving forward.

• Report
• More detail

Women's Health Strategy: call for evidence

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) -

The DHSC is seeking views to help inform the development of the government’s Women’s Health Strategy. This call for evidence will run for a period of twelve weeks and is open to everyone aged 16 and over. The easiest way to participate in the call for evidence as an individual is by completing the public survey. Submissions are also sought from individuals or organisations who have expertise in women’s health, such as researchers and third-sector organisations. This consultation closes at 11:45pm on 30 May 2021.

• Call for evidence
• More detail