The National Health Service chief executive set out the priorities for the NHS for 2007-08, giving a greater role for local NHS staff to decide and deliver on local health and healthcare improvement targets. He said that the NHS would return to a financial surplus in 2007-08, but that its accounting system was 'unsustainable and inconsistent'.
Source: The NHS in England: The Operating Framework for 2007/08, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release | NHS press release | Kings Fund press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
An article examined decentralization in the National Health Service (and the new foundation trusts, in particular). The evidence to date suggested that achieving the goals of better services, and increased local participation in planning and running services, was uncertain.
Source: Pauline Allen, 'New localism in the English National Health Service: what is it for?', Health Policy, Volume 79 Issues 2-3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
A report said that a scheme brought to England from the United States to reduce unplanned emergency hospital admissions for frail elderly people might not work as originally intended. Although popular with patients and carers, the scheme had no significant impact on rates of emergency admission, length of stay, or mortality.
Source: Ruth Boaden et al., Evercare Evaluation: Final Report, National Primary Care Research and Development Centre (0161 275 0611)
Links: Report | Summary | NPCRDC press release | BMJ article | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
An article examined decision-making within the advisory body on clinical medicine (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) regarding the adoption of health technologies, and whether it took place on a level playing field for different interests.
Source: Timothy Milewa, 'Health technology adoption and the politics of governance in the UK', Social Science & Medicine Volume 63 Issue 12
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
The Scottish Executive published a strategy for the development of modern, locally sustainable community hospital services that were responsive to local community needs in a wider range of settings than already existed.
Source: Developing Community Hospitals: A Strategy for Scotland, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Strategy
Date: 2006-Dec
Two reports by leading clinicians said that there was a need to change the way emergency care and heart and stroke services were delivered, to ensure that patients get the best care in the right place. The National Clinical Directors for emergency care and for heart disease and stroke, both said that traditional accident and emergency departments were not the only option when dealing with life and death situations.
Source: Roger Boyle, Mending Hearts and Brains, Department of Health (08701 555455) | George Alberti, Emergency Access, Department of Health
Links: Boyle report | Alberti report | DH press release | PM speech | BMA press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
The government announced that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce set up to assess the future of electronic National Health Service patient records. Following opposition to the compulsory inclusion of individuals' records, the government said that patients would be given a right of veto before their details were uploaded to the new system.
Source: Press release 18 December 2006, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Times report | FT report
Date: 2006-Dec
A discussion paper examined the governance of multi-agency partnerships in health and social care. It considered the wider literature on partnership working and the role of boards, drawing attention to the symbolic role of multi-agency governing boards, identifying key tensions and challenges, and summarizing some key academic models and frameworks.
Source: Jon Glasby and Edward Peck, We Have to Stop Meeting Like This: The governance of inter-agency partnerships, Integrated Care Network (01132 543804)
Links: Discussion paper | ICN press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A private member's Bill was published, providing that the appropriate authority had a statutory duty to ensure the provision of palliative care to every person with a terminal illness to such an extent as was necessary to meet all such persons reasonable requirements.
Source: Palliative Care Bill [HL], Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill
Date: 2006-Nov
A think-tank report said (based on a comparative study of health regulation in Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Catalonia in Spain) that the government needed to deliver a new system of regulation for the emerging National Health Service market if it were to protect patient services and manage potential and actual financial failure among hospitals and other healthcare providers.
Source: Richard Lewis, Arturo Alvarez-Rosete and Nicholas Mays, How to Regulate Health Care in England: An international perspective, King s Fund (020 7307 2591)
Links: Report | King's Fund press release
Date: 2006-Nov
Two linked reports called on the health sector to improve the dignity of isolated older people by expanding volunteer involvement, and to better train medical staff on the benefits brought by volunteers in supporting health treatment.
Source: Margaret Hughes, Healthy Options: Enhancing health services for older people, Community Service Volunteers (020 7278 6601) | Margaret Hughes, Pillars of Support: The impact of older volunteering, Community Service Volunteers
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | CSV press release
Date: 2006-Nov
An article reported a study of the development of specialist services for older people in the National Health Service in England. There were variations in the way that the service framework was being interpreted and implemented. In particular, there was inconsistency in the interpretation of the anti-ageism standard; some concluded that the strategy discouraged services exclusively for older people, others that it encouraged dedicated provision for them.
Source: Jan Reed, Margaret Cook, Glenda Cook, Pamela Inglis and Charlotte Clarke, 'Specialist services for older people: issues of negative and positive ageism', Ageing and Society, Volume 26 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Nov
The National Health Service Act 2006 and a linked Act were given Royal assent. The Acts were designed to consolidate a variety of legislation relating to the organization of the National Health Service in England.
Source: National Health Service Act 2006, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | National Health Service (Consequential Provisions) Act 2006, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO
Links: Text of Act (1) | Text of Act (2)
Date: 2006-Nov
A survey investigated the views of family doctors in England about the national information technology programme in the National Health Service. A majority of doctors believed that the programme had the potential to benefit clinical care: but they were increasingly critical of the project especially of its costs and of how it was being implemented. Nearly half of respondents said they would not, or were unlikely to, upload patient details without their specific consent.
Source: Survey of Doctors Views about the National Programme for IT, Medix UK (contact@medix-uk.com)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A review report outlined a strategy designed to give nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals a far bigger role in the delivery of healthcare in Scotland - through an increasing emphasis on anticipatory and community-based care.
Source: Visible, Accessible and Integrated Care: Report of the Review of Nursing in the Community in Scotland, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2006-Nov
An audit report said that the Scottish Executive needed to continue improving the way it managed information technology to support care in the National Health Service in Scotland: this would involve a major cultural shift for the NHS in Scotland, and a clear national strategy.
Source: Informed to Care: Managing IT to deliver information to the NHS in Scotland, Audit Scotland for Accounts Commission and Auditor General (0131 477 1234)
Links: Report | Summary | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Nov
The government began consultation on a code of practice governing the marketing and advertising of services by healthcare providers in the National Health Service.
Source: Code of Practice for Promotion of NHS Services, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document | TUC press release | BMA press release | UNISON press release | Personnel Today report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
An article examined the impact on, and use of, health services by international migrants (based on a survey of accident and emergency attenders in inner London). Recently arrived migrants were a diverse and substantial group, of whom migrants from refugee-generating countries and asylum-seekers comprised only a minority group. Service reorganization to ensure improved access to community-based family doctors, and delivery of more appropriate care, might lessen their impact on acute services.
Source: Sally Hargreaves et al., 'Impact on and use of health services by international migrants: questionnaire survey of inner city London A&E attenders', BMC Health Services Research, Volume 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Nov
The National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 was given Royal assent. The Act was designed to consolidate legal provisions relating to the organization of the National Health Service in Wales, and to separate them from those relating to England.
Source: National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act
Date: 2006-Nov
A report gave the results of the first national patient choice survey commissioned to assess the implementation of choice at primary care trust level. Only 30 per cent of patients recalled being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment. 75 per cent of patients who were offered choice were satisfied with the process and 5 per cent were dissatisfied.
Source: Report of the National Patient Choice Survey: May/June 2006 England, Statistical Bulletin 2006/, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
An article examined the policy issues raised by National Health Service independent treatment centres. It revealed 'policy paradoxes' - market, cultural, systems, structural, and political - that remained unresolved, with broader implications for other public sector services implementing policies aimed at maximizing consumer choice.
Source: Paul Bate and Glenn Robert, '"Build it and they will come" - or will they? Choice, policy paradoxes and the case of NHS treatment centres', Policy & Politics, Volume 34 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Oct
The government published a discussion document which asked how urgent care services (such as family doctor practices, National Health Service walk-in centres, and ambulance services) could improve co-ordination and deliver a better 'patient experience'.
Source: Direction of Travel for Urgent Care: A discussion document, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Discussion document | DH press release
Date: 2006-Oct
A paper discussed, from an economic perspective, the main intended and unintended incentives created by the new 'payment by results' system in the English National Health Service. It said that the success of the system would depend heavily on the ability of primary care trusts, strategic health authorities, the Department of Health, and other national agencies to effectively monitor and address the potential positive and negative impacts.
Source: Marisa Miraldo, Maria Goddard and Peter Smith, The Incentive Effects of Payment by Results, Centre for Health Economics/University of York (01904 433648)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on independent treatment centres. It said that the treatment centre programme, with some facilities run by the National Health Service and some by the private sector, had contributed to substantial reductions in the time that patients waited for treatment.
Source: The Government s Response to the Health Committee s Report on Independent Sector Treatment Centres, Cm 6930, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2006-Oct
The Secretary of State for Health said that she wanted to see more public sector providers in health and social care transformed into social enterprises, along the lines of NHS foundation trusts.
Source: Patricia Hewitt MP (Secretary of State for Health), Social Enterprise in Primary and Community Care, Social Enterprise Coalition (020 7968 4921)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Sep
A think-tank report said that the National Health Service was far too focused on the hospital as an institution, hampering work on public and preventative health issues.
Source: Howard Stoate MP and Bryan Jones, Challenging the Citadel: Breaking the hospitals' grip on the NHS, Fabian Society (020 7227 4900)
Links: Fabian Society press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
Researchers confirmed the potential of an integrated approach to multiple assessments for children with significant and complex health needs and/or disabilities; and the value of flexibility (rather than one particular model) in responding to local circumstances and needs.
Source: Janet Boddy, Patricia Potts and June Stratham, Models of Good Practice in Joined-up Assessment: Working for children with significant and complex needs , Research Report RW79, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2006-Sep
A series of articles examined partnership working in health and social care.
Source: Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 14 Issue 5
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2006-Sep
The government announced 11 new pilots designed to explore self-assessment for people with long-term needs. People with long-term health and social care needs would be able to assess their own support needs and apply directly for support from a range of services, such as equipment, home care, standard housing adaptations, and low-level preventative services.
Source: Press release 4 August 2006, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release
Date: 2006-Aug
A briefing said that wide variations in National Health Service spending might be denying patients fair access to drugs and treatment. Some English trusts spent four times more than others on certain diseases.
Source: Local Variations in NHS Spending Priorities, King?s Fund (020 7307 2591)
Links: Report | King's Fund press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Aug
A report set out the conclusions of a taskforce set up to promote a sound commercial relationship between commissioners of health/social care services and third sector providers, and help remove barriers to entry for all potential providers of health/social care. The barriers to third sector delivery were clear, and inaction on removing them could no longer be justified.
Source: No Excuses. Embrace Partnership Now. Step Towards Change! Report of the Third Sector Commissioning Task Force, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report said that the billions of pounds being spent on National Health Service hospitals and other medical units would not improve standards of care, reduce waiting times, or increase productivity. The NHS had spent a decade building over-large and expensive units. Instead the Department of Health should look to local managers to identify a new wave of manageable schemes which would be affordable and justified by local demand.
Source: Nick Bosanquet, Andrew Haldenby and Henry de Zoeten, Investment in the NHS: Facing up to the reform agenda, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | Reform press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jul
An article said that post-acute care for older people in a locality-based community hospital was of similar cost effectiveness to that of an elderly care department in a district general hospital.
Source: Jacqueline O'Reilly et al., 'A cost effectiveness analysis within a randomised controlled trial of post-acute care of older people in a community hospital', British Medical Journal, 29 July 2006
Links: Article | Abstract | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that a network of 'independent' sector treatment centres (private clinics set up to carry out minor surgery) had not brought major benefit to the National Health Service in England, and might be adding to its financial difficulties.
Source: Independent Sector Treatment Centres, Fourth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 934, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | CHAI press release | Kings Fund press release | BMA press release | BBC report | UNISON press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jul
A discussion paper outlined a governance framework to support partnerships between local councils and adult social care agencies. It called for the boundaries between the National Health Service and local government to be torn down, and powers devolved to community level to improve services. Neighbourhoods should be given their own budgets to spend on health and social care.
Source: Gerald Wistow, Improving Services, Improving Governance, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Discussion paper | Summary | LGA press release
Date: 2006-Jul
The government announced that it would develop a a new long-term strategy for improving end-of-life care for seriously ill adult patients.
Source: Press release 27 July 2006, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: DH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report said that the National Health Service had failed to make substantial savings by attempting to move patient care from hospitals into the community under its intermediate care scheme.
Source: Les Mayhew and David Lawrence, The Costs and Service Implications of Substituting Intermediate for Acute Care, Cass Business School/City University (020 7040 8600)
Links: Report | CASS press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the system of National Health Service charges - covering hospital parking fees and phone costs, eye tests, prescriptions, and dental care in England - was a "mess". It called for a review of the existing system. It suggested that prescription charging should be revamped, and parking made free for those who had to go to hospital for daily treatment.
Source: NHS Charges, Third Report (Session 2005-06), HC 815, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Citizens Advice press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report highlighted a trend towards better co-operation between the National Health Service and unpaid carers.
Source: Carers: Equal Partners, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272), Carers UK, Princess Royal Trust for Carers, and Crossroads Caring for Carers
Links: NHS Confederation press release
Date: 2006-Jun
The government began consultation on a framework setting out a single policy in England on who should receive National Health Service funding - whether fully funded NHS continuing healthcare or NHS-funded nursing care - and a standard process for assessing eligibility for these services, to help support consistent decision-making.
Source: National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care in England, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document | DH press release | Age Concern press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jun
The National Health Service (Wales) Bill was introduced. The Bills was designed to consolidate legal provisions relating to the organization of the National Health Service in Wales, and to separate them from those relating to England.
Source: National Health Service Bill (Wales) [HL], Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill
Date: 2006-Jun
A report said that the private healthcare sector was providing innovative services to the National Health Service that made a real difference to patient care and helped to cut waiting times, reduce length of stay in hospital, and save the NHS money.
Source: Independent Providers... Making a Difference in the NHS, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jun
An article examined the evidence on patients' willingness to travel to gain access to healthcare, and the implications for policy on patient choice.
Source: Mark Exworthy and Stephen Peckham, 'Access, choice and travel: implications for health policy', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 40 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jun
An audit report said that substantial progress had been made with the National Health Service information technology programme ('Connecting for Health'). Successful implementation nevertheless continued to present significant challenges, especially in three key areas: ensuring that suppliers continued to deliver systems that met the needs of the NHS, and to agreed timescales without further slippage; ensuring that NHS organizations played a full part in implementing the programme?s systems; and winning the support of NHS staff and the public in making the best use of the systems to improve services.
Source: National Programme for IT in the NHS, HC 1173 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | BMA press release | FT report | BBC report | Accountancy Age report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
The National Health Service Bill and a linked Bill were introduced. The Bills were designed to consolidate a variety of legislation relating to the organization of the National Health Service in England.
Source: National Health Service Bill [HL], Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | National Health Service (Consequential Provisions) Bill [HL], Department of Health, TSO
Links: Text of Bill (1) | Text of Bill (2)
Date: 2006-Jun
An article examined evidence-based policy making, using data derived from external evaluations of two of Scotland's national Health Demonstration Projects. Policy decisions were made on the basis of factors that went beyond research evidence, and suggested that both policy-makers and evaluators would gain from more explicit acknowledgement of what lay beneath the "veneer" of evidence-based policy making.
Source: Mhairi Mackenzie, Avril Blamey and Phil Hanlon, 'Using and generating evidence: policy makers' reflections on commissioning and learning from the Scottish Health Demonstration Projects', Evidence & Policy, Volume 2 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-May
An audit report in Northern Ireland said that, prior to the introduction of a new contract in 2004, the relationship between the work of consultants in the National Health Service and their private practice had been "overshadowed by a lack of clarity and a lack of accountability". Trusts needed to ensure that they capitalized on the opportunity provided by the new contract to meet modern standards and requirements of accountability.
Source: Private Practice in the Health Service, HC 1088 (Session 2005-06), Northern Ireland Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NIAO press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-May
The European Court of Justice ruled that United Kingdom patients forced to wait longer than they should for National Health Service treatment were entitled to reclaim the cost of being treated in Europe. The NHS could not refuse to refund costs if patients waited longer than clinicians advised, even if targets were met.
Source: Watts (Freedom to provide services), European Court of Justice (00 352 43031)
Links: Text of judgement | BBC report | Times report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A report examined how inclusive 'patient advice and liaison services' (PALS) were of children, young people, and parents. It said that more could be done to raise awareness of the services.
Source: Janet Heaton and Patricia Sloper, Access to and Use of NHS Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) by Children, Young People and Parents: User and staff perspectives, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York (01904 433608)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-May
A report said that people were getting better care despite National Health Service bed numbers falling by a third in the previous 20 years. Technological advance and better community care meant that patients could spend less time in hospital.
Source: Why We Need Fewer Hospital Beds, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272)
Links: Report | NHS Confed press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
The government announced that National Health Service patients were being given the right to free treatment in private sector treatment centres and foundation hospitals anywhere in England as part of a major extension of choice. It also published a progress report on the 'choose and book' service.
Source: Press release 31 May 2006, Department of Health (020 7210 4850) | Choice Matters: Increasing choice improves patients experiences, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: DH press release | Report | UNISON press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
An article examined how consumer information was related to attempts to improve the quality of healthcare in the non-market systems of England and Germany.
Source: Pauline Allen and Petra Riemer Hommel, 'What are third way governments learning? Health care consumers and quality in England and Germany', Health Policy, Volume 76 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
The Scottish Executive began consultation on how best to deliver health services to children and young people in Scotland.
Source: Delivering a Healthy Future: An action framework for children and young people s health in Scotland, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Consultation document | SE press release
Date: 2006-Apr
The government announced that the number of strategic health authorities in England would be cut from 28 to 10.
Source: Press release 12 April 2006, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2006-Apr
A report said that the foundation trust model should be at the heart of the National Health Service reform agenda ? with all trusts working within a more robust financial regime which tested their efficiency and effectiveness. But it said that there were "real doubts" about whether momentum would be sustained in the roll-out of foundation status.
Source: Foundation Trusts: Two Years On, Foundation Trust Network (020 7074 3200)
Links: Link removed
Date: 2006-Apr
A report said that the government was wasting millions of pounds on hospital projects that could be used on front-line healthcare, because of poor procurement practices.
Source: Buying the Best for the NHS: Ensuring smarter capital procurement, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report | CBI press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A breast cancer patient won a legal battle for National Health Service treatment with the drug Herceptin. The Court of Appeal ruled that that the primary care trust?s policy with respect to Herceptin was irrational, and therefore unlawful: but it also said that primary care trusts were entitled to ration access to the drug on financial grounds.
Source: The Queen on the application of Ann Marie Rogers v Swindon National Health Service Primary Care Trust, Court of Appeal 12 April 2006
Links: Text of judgement | Summary | NICE press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A think-tank report said that the logical conclusion of the government s health reform agenda was a significantly smaller and higher-quality National Health Service workforce. The reforms would mean greater emphasis on productivity and flexible working, resulting in the end of national pay bargaining, a reduction in the workforce of at least 10 per cent, and greater investment in staff of all levels.
Source: Nick Bosanquet, Andrew Haldenby, Henry de Zoete and Roger Fox, Staffing and Human Resources in the NHS: Facing up to the reform agenda, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article said that legislation imposing fines on social service departments for delayed transfers of older people from hospital did not address the underlying causes of the problem.
Source: Karen Bryan, Heather Gage and Ken Gilbert, 'Delayed transfers of older people from hospital: causes and policy implications', Health Policy, Volume 76 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
An article reporting a systematic review called for better home care and more family support to allow terminally ill cancer patients to die comfortably in their own homes.
Source: Barbara Gomes and Irene Higginson, 'Factors influencing death at home in terminally ill patients with cancer: systematic review', British Medical Journal, 4 March 2006
Links: Article | BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
A joint inspectorate report assessed progress half-way through the government's 10-year plan to improve services for those aged over 50. It said that although some services had improved, progress had been patchy and slow in other areas. The National Health Service and care services treated older people with a lack of dignity and respect, made worse by a lack of consultation.
Source: Living Well in Later Life: A review of progress against the national service framework for older people, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200), Audit Commission and Commission for Social Care Inspection
Links: Report | Summary | CHAI press release | DH press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
An official report recommended measures designed to ensure that paperwork in the National Health Service and adult social services was kept to the minimum, freeing frontline staff to focus on patient care.
Source: Making a Difference: Safe and Secure Data Sharing between Health and Adult Social Care Staff, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527) and Department of Health
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2006-Mar
The Welsh Assembly government published a 'national service framework' for older people.
Source: National Service Framework for Older People in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 3454)
Links: Framework | Summary | Framework (Welsh) | Summary (Welsh)
Date: 2006-Mar
An article said that the experiences in Northern Ireland of integrated health and social services had to date been overlooked or misrepresented. They could prove extremely valuable in gaining an understanding of the challenges and benefits of integrated arrangements.
Source: Deirdre Heenan and Derek Birrell, 'The integration of health and social care: the lessons from Northern Ireland', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 40 Number 1
Links: Abstract | UU press release
Date: 2006-Mar
An article said that the delivery of services through integrated health and social care teams did not result in a greater proportion of older people remaining living independently in the community.
Source: Louise Brown and John Cullis, ' Team production and policy for the care of older people: problems with theory and evidence', Policy Studies, Volume 27 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
A report said that the process of commissioning reform in the National Health Service presented significant challenges: but it also offered unrivalled opportunities for detailed analysis of the commissioning task, and for developing far-reaching plans to enhance the skills of the people charged with it.
Source: Elizabeth Wade, Judith Smith, Edward Peck and Tim Freeman, Commissioning in the Reformed National Health Service: Policy into practice, Health Services Management Centre/University of Birmingham (0121 414 7050) and NHS Alliance
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Mar
A report said that treatment centres run by the private sector had been responsible for pioneering innovative new clinical practices.
Source: Independent Sector Treatment Centres, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A report said that people being repeatedly admitted to hospital via casualty accounted for more than a million emergency admissions every year. Many of these people had conditions, such as chronic lung disease, heart disease and diabetes, which could be better managed outside hospital.
Source: Keeping People out of Hospital: The challenge of reducing emergency admissions, Dr Foster Ltd (020 7330 0400)
Links: Report | Dr Foster press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Feb
The Northern Ireland Executive began consultation on proposals to reduce the number of health and social service trusts from 18 to 5, in order to make administrative savings.
Source: Review of Public Administration: Consultation on Draft Legislation to Establish Five New Integrated Health and Social Services Trusts, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: Consultation document | NIE press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A report said that intermediate care services were not delivering their full potential because of a lack of integration with mainstream services and insufficient capacity.
Source: Intermediate Care National Evaluation Team, A National Evaluation of the Costs and Outcomes of Intermediate Care for Older People, Health Services Management Centre/University of Birmingham (0121 414 7050) and Leicester Nuffield Research Unit
Links: Summary | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Feb
The opposition Conservative Party said that it would reduce the level of National Health Service 'bureaucracy' by one-third from £4.5 billion to £3 billion a year by 2013-14. 'Substantial sums of money' could be saved by devolving decision-making closer to patients.
Source: Speech by Andrew Lansley MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Health), 5 October 2009
Links: Text of speech | Conservative Party press release | Telegraph report | Pulse report
Date: 2006-Jan
A private member's Bill was introduced to make improvements in palliative care, and outlaw euthanasia.
Source: Palliative Care for the Terminally Ill Bill, Jim Dobbin MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2006-Jan
The government published a report setting out clear priorities and expectations for progress on National Health Service reform and improving services to patients. It also detailed new rules on financial management, designed to ensure that the NHS recovered any overspend from 2005-06 and planned for a surplus in 2007-08.
Source: The NHS in England: The operating framework for 2006/7, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
An article used data from a detailed qualitative study of the introduction of practice-based commissioning to examine structural interests in the National Health Service. Changes since 2002 had systematically privileged 'corporate monopolizers', and this was under challenge from 'professional rationalizers'.
Source: Kath Checkland, Stephen Harrison and Anna Coleman, '"Structural Interests" in health care: evidence from the contemporary National Health Service', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 38 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
The government began consultation on plans for direct payments for healthcare – either a notional budget held by a commissioner, such as a doctor or primary care trust; a budget managed on the individual's behalf by a third party, such as a charity or user trust; or a cash payment to an individual and managed by them (a healthcare 'direct payment').
Source: Direct Payments for Health Care: A consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | DH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Jan
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the use of management consultants in the National Health Service and the Department of Health.
Source: The Government's Response to the Health Select Committee's Report on the Use of Management Consultants in the NHS and the Department of Health, Cm 7683, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report | Hansard
Date: 2006-Jan
From 1 January 2006, all eligible National Health Service patients in England had the right to be offered the choice of at least four hospitals or clinics when they needed to see a specialist for further treatment.
Source: Press release 3 January 2006, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
A think-tank report examined the future of personal budgets in health and social care – how personal budgets would affect the social and healthcare market; what prospective budget holders knew and thought about personal budgets; and how they would spend it and what difficulties they envisaged. It set out the likely challenges facing local authorities and service providers in delivering the personalization agenda, and made recommendations about how to make the transition successfully.
Source: Jamie Bartlett, At Your Service: Navigating the future market in health and social care, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Summary | Community Care report | Local Government Chronicle report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
An article examined the social care evidence concerning direct payments/personal budgets. It called for an extension of these concepts to the National Health Service: many of the challenges faced by the NHS were precisely those that social care had turned to more individualized funding to help resolve.
Source: Jon Glasby, Julian Le Grand and Simon Duffy, 'A healthy choice? Direct payments and healthcare in the English NHS', Policy & Politics, Volume 37 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
