Health Management and Policy Alert

A wait on your mind?: a realistic proposal for tackling the elective backlog

Policy Exchange -
This research looks at the entirety of the patient pathway and proposes a package of policy recommendations. These range from how to best address the bottleneck in general practice and diagnostics, to the method of clinical prioritisation, the communication with the patient, the role for pre-habilitation, and then finally considers the policy framework which should underpin an expansion in elective care capacity over the medium term.

• Report
• Policy Exchange - publications

Attitudes towards and experiences of the NHS during Covid-19: views from patients, professionals and the public

The Richmond Group of Charities - 
This report is the third and final report from a collaboration with Britain Thinks to understand how the experiences and perceptions of patients, professionals and the public have shifted during the pandemic and what this might mean for the future of the NHS in England. It looks at the NHS across three areas: primary care; secondary care; and community care. It also examines four patient types: mental health; long term health conditions; cancer patients; and surgery patients. Additionally, it looks into what patients and the public understand about the term 'health inequalities'.

• Report
• The Richmond Group of Charities - news

Improving communication between health care professionals and patients in the NHS in England

NHS England -
This systematic review was undertaken by SQW. It aims to identify interventions that have previously demonstrated a positive difference to patient experience and clinical outcomes, while also reducing financial demands on the health system. The options identified needed to be interventions that policy makers, commissioners and service managers across the NHS could replicate accurately, with a reasonable return on their investment and at a manageable level of implementation risk.

• Report
• NHS England - publications

National Clinical Audit of Psychosis – national report for the Early Intervention in Psychosis Audit 2020/2021

Royal College of Psychiatrists - 

The National Clinical Audit of Psychosis aims to improve the quality of care that NHS mental health trusts provide to people with psychosis. This report provides national and organisation-level findings on the treatment of people by Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) teams in England, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on the services provided.

• Report
• More detail

GP Patient Survey: headline findings

NHS England and NHS Improvement - 

This survey, produced with Ipsos MORI, provides information on patients’ overall experience of primary care services and their overall experience of accessing these services. Data are weighted by age and gender so that results resemble the eligible registered list population of each practice and CCG. The latest survey consisted of around 2.41 million postal questionnaires sent out to adults registered with GP practices in England from January 2021 to the end of March 2021.

• Headline findings
• More detail

E4As guide for advancing health and sustainable development

World Health Organization Europe - 
This guide aims to help promote engagement with health and sustainable development among key stakeholders. E4As stands for: engage to assess, align, accelerate and account – a compilation of methods, diagnostic tools, guidance documents, processes and mechanisms to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Guide
• World Health Organization Europe - news

Admin matters: the impact of NHS administration on patient care

The King's Fund -
High-quality NHS admin processes can improve patient experience, help to address inequalities and promote better care. This long read suggests a framework for improving the quality of admin based on insight from patients, carers and NHS staff.

• Long read
• Related project reports

Supporting people with arthritis waiting for surgery

Versus Arthritis -
This report calls on local health systems to implement a package of support to improve the experiences of people with arthritis who are waiting for surgery. Those surveyed emphasised the importance of getting the right support to manage pain, distress, physical health, wellbeing and finances, as well as the need for good communication from health professionals.

• Report
• Versus Arthritis - press release

Shared decision making

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence -
This guidance advises that shared decision making should be part of everyday practice across all health care settings. It sets out ways for health care professionals to work with people using services to make decisions about their treatment and care, and to ensure this is best practice at an organisational level.

• Guidance
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - news

Happy to help: the welfare effects of a nationwide micro-volunteering programme

London School of Economics and Political Science - 

This paper estimates the wellbeing benefits from volunteering for England’s NHS Volunteer Responders programme which was set up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It found that active volunteers report significantly higher life satisfaction, feelings of worthwhileness, social connectedness, and belonging to their local communities. A social welfare analysis shows that the benefits of the programme were at least 140 times greater than its costs.

• Report
• Press release