Health Management and Policy Alert

The unequal impact of Covid-19: investigating the effect on people with certain protected characteristics

NHS Confederation -
This report maps existing research into Covid-19 inequalities onto some of these protected characteristics, showing how the pandemic has interacted with them. It also showcases four case studies of how different health and care systems have put in place interventions to respond to these inequalities when designing their Covid-19 response. It focuses on a number of key areas including the impact of Covid-19 on: BAME communities; people with disabilities; and older and younger people.

• Report
• NHS Confederation - news

Tip of the iceberg: 12-hour stays in the emergency department

Royal College of Emergency Medicine - 
This report reveals that on average 1,047 patients waited 12-hours or more from their time of arrival every day in a major Emergency Department in 2021 in England, equalling a total of 381,991 patients experiencing these 12-hour waits in 2021.

• Report
• Royal College of Emergency Medicine - news

Delivering racial equality in medicine

British Medical Association (BMA) -
This report reveals the possibility of a major exodus of doctors of ethnic minority backgrounds, due to persistent and intolerable levels of racism faced at a personal and institutional level. Nearly one third of doctors surveyed have considered leaving the NHS or have already left within the past two years due to race discrimination, with 42 per cent of Black and 41 per cent Asian doctors in particular having considered leaving or having left.

• Report
• BMA - press release

Re:Birth summary report

Royal College of Midwives -
This project worked with representatives from across maternity care, including staff, advocacy groups and service users. It advises that midwives and obstetricians put the needs and wishes of women at the heart of all conversations about their care. It recommends that maternity staff should follow the five As: acknowledge, ask, affirm, avoid and annotate.

• Summary report
• Royal College of Midwives - press release

Addressing local inequalities through employment

NHS Employers - 

This series of case studies showcase how NHS and non-NHS partners are coming together to support people into work.

• Case studies

Tackling health inequalities through inclusive recruitment

NHS Employers - 

Approximately 60-80 per cent of health and wellbeing is attributable to the social determinants of health. Employment is one of the key determinants. There is an inherent and reciprocal link between health and work. Being in good work with fair pay and conditions improves people’s overall physical and mental health and supports quality of life; good health enables people to work, creating a virtuous cycle. This briefing gives information and prompts for NHS workforce leads to consider local approaches.

• Briefing

State of the nation: a comprehensive, retrospective view of NHS data

Wilmington Healthcare - 

This report looks at key data trends over the course of the pandemic, establishing how new trends in healthcare activity, patient numbers, disease burden, NHS operational practice, prescribing and regional variation have emerged. The report groups the data into six key areas: hospital episode statistics; demographic segmentation; therapy area analysis; referral to treatment; prescribing insights; and regional insights. Free registration is required to access the report.

• Report

 

Data saves lives: reshaping health and social care with data

Department of Health and Social Care - 

This strategy sets out the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s vision for how data will be used to improve the health and care of the population in a safe, trusted and transparent way. It: provides an overarching narrative and action plan to address the current cultural, behavioural and structural barriers in the system, with the ultimate goal of having a health and care system that is underpinned by high-quality and readily available data; and marks the next steps of the discussion about how we can best utilise data for the benefit of patients, service users, and the health and care system.

• Strategy
• Press release

Cancer services: government response to the committee’s twelfth report of 2021-22

House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee - 

The Committee’s report, published in April 2022, found there was a real risk that gains in cancer survival would reverse without significant additional efforts. MPs did not believe the NHS was on track to meet the Government’s 75 per cent early diagnosis target by 2028. The report concluded neither earlier diagnosis nor additional prompt cancer treatment would be possible without addressing gaps in the cancer workforce, but MPs found little evidence of a serious effort to do this. This government response says it was ‘premature’ for the Committee to suggest that progress on early cancer diagnosis was ‘off track’.

• Response
• Press release

Bringing baby home: UK fathers in the first year after the birth

Fatherhood Institute - 

This review of empirical evidence about UK fathers and fatherhood in the first postnatal year, explores who dads are; what they do as caregivers, and what influences this; what impact they have (on children and mothers); and how services engage with them. The review finds that NHS systems are not set up to engage with, assess and support new fathers, despite clear evidence that there is a strong case for routine engagement with them in the perinatal period.

• Report
• More detail