Health Management and Policy Alert

Veterans: access to health services

House of Commons Library - 

This briefing paper details the healthcare support available to armed forces veterans in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

• Briefing paper
• Briefing

The state of health care and adult social care in England 2023/24

Care Quality Commission - 

This annual assessment of the state of health and social care in England looks at the quality of care over the past year. It draws on inspection activity, findings from CQC’s national NHS patient survey programme and statutory reports, bespoke research into people’s experiences, insight from key stakeholders and evidence collected by the regulator throughout the year about the quality and safety of services in all areas of health and care.

• Report
• Press release

Mirror, mirror 2024: a portrait of the failing U.S. health system — comparing performance in 10 nations

The Commonwealth Fund - 

This report compares health system performance in ten countries. It provides analysis of 70 health system performance measures in five areas: access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes. The top three countries are Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, although differences in overall performance between most countries are relatively small. The only clear outlier is the U.S., where health system performance is dramatically lower.

• Report
• More detail

National review of maternity services in England 2022 to 2024

Care Quality Commission -
This report presents the findings from a recent national maternity inspection programme. It highlights common issues impacting on the quality and safety of NHS hospital maternity services across the country.

• Report
• Maternity improvement resources
• Care Quality Commission - press release

Assisted dying legislation will have a big impact on end of life care: what is the state of play for services in England?

Nuffield Trust -
With the subject of assisted dying much debated in recent months, this long read describes the main challenges facing palliative and end of life care in England, and discusses what legislation on assisted dying might mean for end of life care services.

• Nuffield Trust - publications

Sexual and reproductive health competency framework for nurses caring for women in prison

Royal College of Nursing - 

This competencies framework has been developed for nurses, midwives, and those supporting nursing teams, who provide sexual and reproductive health care to women in prison. It takes account of nursing teams who may have limited experience caring for pregnant women.

• Framework
• More detail

Time to care: findings from a nationally representative survey of experiences at the end of life in England and Wales

Marie Curie - 

This report sets out the findings from a national post-bereavement survey, the QUALYCARE survey, conducted
in 2023 across England and Wales. The aim was to describe the outcomes, experiences, and use of care services by people affected by dying, death, and bereavement in England and Wales. The report reveals that in England and Wales one in three dying people were severely or overwhelmingly affected by pain in the last week of life, with bereaved people reporting how difficult it was to get joined-up support from health and care professionals at home.

• Report
• Press release

Transfers of care toolkit

Professional Record Standards Body -
High volumes of patients are transferred every day between health and care settings. This toolkit concentrates on the PRSB eDischarge Summary Standard, which specifies the data to be shared between secondary and primary care to support the discharge of a patient from hospitals across the UK. It does not propose a one-size-fits-all approach and recognises that health and care services are organised in different ways across the UK.

• Toolkit

 

Collaborate to innovate: learning from NHS, charity and life sciences industry experience to build a culture of research and innovation in the UK

NHS Confederation - 

In recent years the UK has fallen behind in research, which means the NHS, healthcare professionals and the UK population risk reduced access to new treatments, diagnostics and state-of-the-art care. Although signs of recovery are starting to emerge, combining the resources and expertise of NHS, charity and life science industry partners is essential for changing this trajectory. This report, based on a roundtable discussion between the NHS Confederation, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (APBI) and health charity leaders, explores practical ways to boost UK research and engender a culture of innovation.

• Report
• More detail

Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people

The Cass Review -
Lead by Dr Hilary Cass, this independent review was commissioned by NHS England to make recommendations on how to improve NHS gender identity services and ensure that children and young people who are questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria receive a high standard of care, that meets their needs. The report describes what is known about the young people who are seeking NHS support around their gender identity and sets out the recommended clinical approach to care and support they should expect, the interventions that should be available, and how services should be organised across the country.

• Report
• The Cass Review - publications