Health Management and Policy Alert

How does the health and care system hear from people and communities?

The King's Fund -
People's lived experience is a powerful tool to improve existing services and identify new and better ways to meet their needs. This explainer looks at how the health and care system can listen and learn from the people and communities they serve and the sources of information available to them.

• The King's Fund - publications

Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic

Health and Social Care Committee -
This report finds that elective recovery plans are threatened by pressure on emergency care with a record number of 999 calls and waiting times in emergency departments at record levels. It concludes that tackling the wider backlog caused by the pandemic is a major and ‘unquantifiable’ challenge. It calls for a broad national health and care recovery plan to include mental health, primary care, community care, and social care as well as emergency care.

• Report
• Health and Social Care Committee - press release
• The King's Fund - response

Hidden health needs: the elephant in the NHS waiting room

Lane Clark & Peacock LLP -
According to this report, NHS waiting lists vastly underestimate the scale of unmet health need in England. It predicts that without intervention the level of need is expected to peak at 15.5 million in 2023 and still stand at 13.5 million in 2024. The analysis also reveals the parts of country that are likely to feel this demand strain more acutely.

• Report
• Lane Clark & Peacock LLP - press release

NHS backlogs and waiting times in England

National Audit Office -
According to this report, recovering elective and cancer care performance to the standards required will be a huge and lengthy challenge for the NHS, and there is a real risk that the waiting list for patients seeking elective care will be longer in 2025 than it is today. The report highlights how tackling the difficulties ahead will require extra beds and operating theatre capacity beyond the levels that were planned before the Covid-19 pandemic; managing the ongoing pressure on the NHS workforce, including long-standing staff shortages; and ensuring that existing health inequalities are not perpetuated or exacerbated.

• Report
• National Audit Office - press release

Misconduct in public office: why did so many thousands die unnecessarily?

People's Covid Inquiry - 
A panel of four, chaired by Michael Mansfield QC, heard evidence from over 40 witnesses including bereaved families, frontline NHS and key workers, national and international experts, trade union and council leaders, and representatives from disabled people’s and pensioners’ organisations. This report summarises the concerns raised, including NHS preparedness, government response, the impact on various population groups, the impact on frontline staff, inequalities and discrimination and more.

• Report
• People's Covid Inquiry

Making outcome-based payment a reality in the NHS: phase 2 practical considerations

Cancer Research UK -
This report sought to understand the extent of existing NHS data capture on these key outcomes and whether these data are in a form suitable for a national-level outcome-based payment (OBP) scheme. It found that the outlook on data availability for OBP is positive for clinical outcomes such as survival and disease progression, but that improvements are still needed to capture data on patients’ ability to return to normal activities and their long-term side effects - and to optimise and link these datasets to enable financial decisions. The research also explored wider practical considerations for implementing OBP schemes in the NHS and found that these mainly relate to agreeing the rebate process and achieving buy-in from clinical staff, Trusts executives, and national system stakeholders.

• Report
• Cancer Research UK - projects

Patient experience of NHS and social care service

QualityWatch - 

Using data from national patient surveys this analysis look at trends in patients’ experiences of NHS and social care services. QualityWatch is a Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation programme providing independent scrutiny into how the quality of health and social care is changing over time.

• Analysis

 

Untapped potential: district nursing services and the avoidance of unplanned admission to hospital

The Queen's Nursing Institute - 
This report describes how District Nurse Team Leaders have advanced skills in assessment, diagnosis and patient management which could be used to provide safe and effective care for people at home, preventing unnecessary hospital admissions. It argues that the NHS is failing to capitalise on the skills, knowledge and experience of District Nurses and instead is investing in new specialist teams of staff in the community, which may impact negatively on the continuity of care. At the same time, the number of District Nurses has fallen dramatically.

• Report
• The Queen's Nursing Institute - news

Timely access to care: principles for recovery

National Voices -
This report uncovers timely access to care is now the most pressing concern of people who live with ill health, disability or impairment. It finds that primary care, community services, mental health, elective and specialist care and urgent and emergency services are all impacted by delays, waits, service disruptions and cancellations. It concludes that rebuilding timely access to health and care needs to be top priority for all system leaders.

• Report
• National Voices - publications

Paying people who receive benefits: co-production and involvement

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) - 

This briefing for local authorities, charities and organisations that support people who use services and their carers, looks at how people and carers who receive state benefits can get involved in paid co-production, involvement, participation in health and social care, highlighting what they need to be aware of to avoid any loss of benefits.

• Briefing
• More detail