A think-tank report said that extra funding for the National Health Service would be wasted unless action were taken to tackle its dysfunctional organization and poor management at all levels, up to Ministers themselves.
Source: Ian Smith, Building a World-class NHS, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Dec
A new book examined the political economy and politics of existing health policy in order to explain the underlying causes of problems in the National Health Service. The fundamental nature of health policy was dependent upon the prevailing regime in political economy. 'Policy overload', contradictions, and confusion had rendered the task of coherent implementation very difficult.
Source: Calum Paton, New Labour's State of Health: Political economy, public policy and the NHS, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Dec
A private member's Bill was introduced to require the provision of palliative care for persons suffering from a terminal illness.
Source: Provision of Palliative Care Bill, Jim Dobbin MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2006-Dec
The government published a report on progress made since the publication of the White Paper in January 2006 on health and social care community services, and on the action needed to deliver on commitments made in the White Paper.
Source: Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: Making it Happen, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Oct
A new book said that 'chaotic' change in the National Health Service was being driven by concealed agendas - including privatization of the NHS; obsessive interference from central government; and the selective use, if not abandonment, of evidence-based practice. Seriously flawed and damaging decisions were the result, affecting the population at large as well as those most vulnerable - older people with chronic and complex needs, people with physical or learning disabilities, and people with mental health problems. There was a 'scandalous lack of transparency and accountability' behind changes that threatened to destroy the NHS.
Source: Michael Mandelstam, Betraying the NHS: Health abandoned, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Oct
An article reviewed the theoretical and empirical economic evidence on choice in healthcare. It said that there was neither strong theoretical nor empirical support for competition: but there were cases where competition had improved outcomes.
Source: Carol Propper, Deborah Wilson and Simon Burgess, 'Extending choice in English health care: the implications of the economic evidence', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Oct
A report said that local authorities should take over the planning and commissioning of local health services. Councils were better at managing tight budgets, involving local people, and communicating decisions to communities; and they played a key role in other services such as social care and schools.
Source: Jon Glasby, Judith Smith and Helen Dickinson, Creating NHS Local: A new relationship between PCTs and local government, Health Services Management Centre/University of Birmingham (0121 414 7050)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Sep
A think-tank report examined the trends which threatened the principles of the National Health Service ? among them the over-professionalization of medicine, and rising chronic health problems due to diet, stress, and other kinds of abuse. It asked how the NHS might evolve to better need the real needs of the people who depended on it.
Source: David Boyle, Geoff Mulgan and Rushanara Ali, Life Begins at 60: What kind of NHS after 2008?, Young Foundation (020 8980 6263)
Links: Report | Young Foundation press release
Date: 2006-Sep
An article examined the context of policy-making on health by the Welsh Assembly. Although policy-making had been far-reaching, the implementation of policy had proved problematic. Social policy academics and politicians had underestimated the barriers to reform.
Source: Mark Drakeford, 'Health policy in Wales: making a difference in conditions of difficulty', Critical Social Policy, Volume 26 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Aug
The Secretary of State for Health published her response to a letter from the Prime Minister setting out priorities for her department at the time of a ministerial reshuffle in May 2006.
Source: Letter from Patricia Hewitt MP (Secretary of State for Health), 23 June 2006
Links: Text of response | PM letter
Date: 2006-Jul
A report set out the principles which ought to shape and inform the future of the National Health Service in Wales. It opposed the use of the private finance initiative (PFI) in the NHS. There should be no increase in input from the private sector in the delivery of NHS services in Wales.
Source: Informing NHS Recovery, British Medical Association Cymru/Wales (029 2047 4646)
Links: Report | BMA press release
Date: 2006-Jun
A report examined how the European Union had come to be so important in health policy, and the adaptation it had caused in the machinery of government and in the activities of major stakeholders - such as the Royal Colleges, unions and management organizations.
Source: Scott Greer, Responding to Europe: Government, NHS and stakeholder responses to the EU Health policy challenge, Nuffield Trust (020 631 8450)
Date: 2006-Jun
A think-tank report said that the National Health Service was heading towards a market-driven way of working. The government should admit this, and not attempt to place limits on the private sector's role. It also said that government plans to create a single regulator for adult social care and health should be scrapped because of the differences between the two sectors: social care was made up of more and smaller providers than health, and was also means-tested and locally accountable, unlike the free, universal National Health Service - making common regulation difficult.
Source: Nicholas Timmins (ed.), Designing the New NHS: Ideas to make a supplier market in health care work, King s Fund (020 7307 2591)
Links: Report | King's Fund press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Jun
The Prime Minister wrote to the Secretary of State for Health (following a Cabinet reshuffle), setting out policy priorities for her Department in the areas of: improving access to the National Health Service; restoring the NHS to financial balance; developing a personalized social care service; and developing a cross-departmental role on public health issues.
Source: Letter from Tony Blair MP (Prime Minister) to Patricia Hewitt MP (Secretary of State for Health), 15 May 2006
Links: Letter
Date: 2006-May
The Department of Health published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Departmental Report 2006, Cm 6814, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
An article examined the work of a small research team (Research into Practice) within the former National Health Service Modernisation Agency, and reflected on its experience of using collaborative and integrative approaches to research on health service practice and policy.
Source: Rose Gollop et al., 'Research into Practice: a model for healthcare management research?', Evidence & Policy, Volume 2 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-May
An article examined the government's 'consumerist' approach to healthcare modernization.
Source: Janet Newman and Elizabeth Vidler, 'Discriminating customers, responsible patients, empowered users: consumerism and the modernisation of health care', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
A group of 900 doctors said that the National Health Service was unsustainable in its existing form, and called for a move away from an entirely tax-funded system.
Source: Letter, 3 April 2006, Doctors for Reform (020 7233 3824)
Links: Letter | Briefing | DFR press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined the extent of, and reasons for, policy differentiation following devolution and in Wales in particular. It focused on the development of health policy.
Source: Michael Sullivan, 'Wales, devolution and health policy: policy experimentation and differentiation to improve health', Contemporary Wales, Volume 17 Number 1
Links: Abstract
>Date: 2006-Apr
The director of clinical governance for the National Health Service in England reportedly said that the government's claim to have successfully reformed the health service was "a deceit". He said that "throwing money at the problem" was not a solution, and called for a fundamental overhaul of National Health Service working practices.
Source: The Guardian, 4 April 2006
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A study examined the funding and operation of long-term care policy, in particular free personal and nursing care, in Scotland. It said that the Scottish approach had created a fairer system without undue extra public spending.
Source: David Bell and Alison Bowes, Financial Care Models in Scotland and the UK, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release | SE press release
Date: 2006-Feb
The Health Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to give patients more choice and control over the care they received, and to improve the quality of health services. It placed a legal duty on the National Health Service and its providers to have regard to the NHS constitution, which would safeguard the principles and values of the NHS, and set out the rights and responsibilities of patients and staff. The Bill included proposals to pilot direct payments to give patients greater choice and control over their healthcare.
Source: Health Bill [HL], Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 12 October 2009, columns 44-132, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2006-Jan
The government outlined four main elements to continuing National Health Service reform: more choice and a much stronger voice for patients; money following patients, rewarding the most efficient providers and giving the rest a real incentive to improve; more diverse providers, with more freedom to innovate; and a framework of regulation and decision-making that guaranteed quality, fairness, equity, and value for money.
Source: Speech by Patricia Hewitt MP (Secretary of State for Health), 10 January 2006
Links: Text of speech
Date: 2006-Jan
The government published a White Paper on improving community health and care services. The White Paper aimed to provide people with more choice and say over the care they received in the community, and much closer working and co-ordination between health and social care. This would include improved access to family doctors by increasing the choice of practices and extending opening hours; more support for people with long-term conditions; local partnerships between local authorities and primary care trusts to produce joint teams and common assessments; and a new generation of community hospitals and health centres to provide health and care services in the heart of the community.
Source: Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: A new direction for community services, Cm 6737, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: White Paper | Summary | Consultation responses | Hansard | DH press release | CPPIH press release | CHAI press release | BMA press release | King's Fund press release | NHS Alliance press release | MHF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
