The healthcare inspectorate said that sweeping changes were needed to specialist inpatient health services for people with learning difficulties in England. Patients were being deprived of human rights and dignity.
Source: A Life Like No Other: A national audit of specialist inpatient healthcare services for people with learning difficulties in England, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report | Summary | CHAI press release | DH press release | NHS Confederation press release | FPLD press release | GSCC press release | BMA press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Dec
An article compared elements of choice introduced under the market-orientated reforms in health systems in the United Kingdom and Sweden in the 1990s, and the recent patient choice policy in both countries. The reappearance of issues and solutions in patient choice policy in the English NHS and in Sweden signified limited learning from their own previous and cross-national experience, resulting in blurred and mutually exclusive policy agendas.
Source: Marianna Fotaki, 'Patient choice in healthcare in England and Sweden: from quasi-market and back to market? A comparative analysis of failure in unlearning', Public Administration, Volume 85 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Dec
A paper (by the children's rights commissioner for England) examined what needed to be done to ensure that all children and young people were supported to attain their full potential in life, by the delivery of effective, evidence-based, and needs-led health services.
Source: Albert Aynsley-Green, Reflections on Children, Child Health and Society, Nuffield Trust (020 631 8450)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Dec
A report said that access to palliative care services was inadequate and inequitable, with unacceptable variations in care between different areas, demographic groups, and illnesses. There was a particular disparity between services for patients with cancer and for those suffering from non-malignant conditions. The best care was excellent, but the worst might be non-existent.
Source: Palliative Care Services: Meeting the needs of patients, Royal College of Physicians (020 7935 1174)
Links: RCP press release
Date: 2007-Dec
The government published the operating framework for the National Health Service in 2008-09. The key priorities were: improving cleanliness and reducing hospital associated infections; improving patient experience, staff satisfaction and engagement; improving access through achievement of the 18-week target for referral to treatment, and better access to family doctor services; keeping adults and children well, improving their overall health, and reducing health inequalities; and preparing to respond in a state of emergency such as an outbreak of pandemic flu.
Source: The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2008/09, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Framework | Hansard | DH press release | Kings Fund press release | NHS Confederation press release | FPA press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Dec
An article used the example of the National Health Service to analyze the phenomenon of very rapid, repeated restructuring in public services. The existence of a growing community of managerially-minded professionals encouraged and channelled the political desire for rapid 'action'.
Source: Christopher Pollitt, 'New Labour's re-disorganization: hyper-modernism and the costs of reform – a cautionary tale', Public Money and Management, Volume 9 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Dec
A report provided an evidence base on the effectiveness of self-care support – such as information, self-care support devices, self-care skills training and self-care support networks – in the care of people with long-term health conditions, short-term ailments, and among those taking initiatives to stay healthy.
Source: Research Evidence on the Effectiveness of Self Care Support, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
An audit report in Wales said that the independence of vulnerable people and the treatment of others continued to be compromised by unnecessary delays in hospital, because the problem of delayed transfers of care had not been tackled effectively in a whole-systems way.
Source: Tackling Delayed Transfers of Care Across the Whole System: Overview report, Wales Audit Office (029 2026 0260)
Links: Report | WAO press release | WLGA press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
A report examined progress under the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. Serious health inequalities meant that those worst-off in society were far more likely to experience worse outcomes and ill-health throughout their lives. But 'major steps' had been taken towards turning around the way health services for children and young people were structured and delivered.
Source: Sheila Shribman, Children's Health, Our Future: A review of progress against the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services 2004, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the national programme for information technology in the National Health Service. It said that 'solid progress' had been made on the delivery of the programme, though it accepted that delays had occurred to the delivery of some parts of it. These delays were in many instances the consequences of taking longer over consultation and stakeholder engagement. Continuing effort was needed to engage with frontline NHS staff and to communicate the programme plans to the public.
Source: The Government Response to the Health Committee Report on the Electronic Patient Record, Cm 7264, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced plans for the involvement of private sector providers in the National Health Service. Some previously commissioned projects would be scrapped, and contracts originally meant to be worth about £6 billion for surgical treatments and diagnostic services were likely to amount to well under half that sum.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 15 November 2007, columns 78-81WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | DH press release | Kings Fund press release | UNISON press release | BMA press release | CBI press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2007-Nov
A report examined the scope for improving clinical effectiveness in the National Health Service. It said that staff needed to be empowered locally to take ownership of the agenda for promoting more effective practice.
Source: Report of the High Level Group on Clinical Effectiveness, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release | NHS press release
Date: 2007-Oct
The Scottish Government began consultation on proposals to introduce independent scrutiny of proposals for major changes in local National Health Service services. It set out key principles for independent scrutiny including: a presumption against centralization, a rigorous and robust examination of the evidence for service change, and a need to identify that a full range of options had been considered and examined.
Source: Independent Scrutiny: The independent examination of proposals for major change in NHS services – A public consultation, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Consultation document | SG press release
Date: 2007-Oct
An article examined the impact of the National Service Framework for Older People (NSFOP) on the experiences and expectations of older people, 4 years into its 10-year programme. If asked, older people did not perceive improvements as the result of a NSFOP: but nonetheless they did perceive improvements in systems.
Source: Jill Manthorpe et al., 'Four years on: the impact of the National Service Framework for Older People on the experiences, expectations and views of older people', Age and Ageing, Volume 36 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
The interim report was published of an official review (by the Health Minister Lord Darzi) into how to develop a National Health Service which would deliver effective, higher-quality services that were safe, personalized to individual needs, and equally available to all. It said that greater influence should be placed in the hands of local NHS staff and others working in partnership across the service, based on the best available evidence, using the latest technological innovations, and responding to the needs of local communities. It proposed a package to improve the accessibility and availability of family doctors, with the aim that at least half of all family doctor practices would open on Saturday mornings or on one or more evenings each week. Over 100 new family doctor practices would be created in the 25 per cent of primary care trusts with the poorest provision. New resources would be provided to enable primary care trusts to set up 150 health centres, run by family doctors, open 7 days a week, 8am to 8pm, and situated in easily accessible locations.
Source: Lord Darzi, Our NHS, Our Future: NHS Next Stage Review – Interim report, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | Summary | DH press release | NHS press release | BMA press release | NHS Confederation press release | Mind press release | Kings Fund press release | IHM press release | DHN press release | ADASS press release | Help the Aged press release | CBI press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Personnel Today report | Community Care report | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2007-Oct
Two bodies representing senior managers and clinicians set out a vision for a better, more innovative National Health Service that put patients at its heart and ensured that the leadership role of clinicians was fostered and adequately supported. There was a real chance to restore clinical leadership: but, in return, doctors should emphasize a positive way forward rather than focusing on existing faults.
Source: A Clinical Vision of a Reformed NHS, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272) and Joint Medical Consultative Council
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Oct
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 was given Royal assent. The Act was designed to tighten partnership arrangements between local councils and other public bodies, and deliver closer integration of health and social care. It placed duties on councils and named partners to co-operate in drawing up and having regard to local area agreement targets. Partners included primary care trusts, youth offending teams, police authorities, and local probation boards. Existing independent local patient and public involvement forums would be abolished.
Source: Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | DH press release | NHS press release | Involve press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report provided interim findings from a Department of Health programme designed to promote a sustainable shift in resources and culture away from institutionalized and hospital-based crisis care towards earlier and better targeted interventions for older people within community settings. There were early indications that the pilot sites were having a significant effect on reducing hospital emergency bed-day use when compared with non-pilot sites.
Source: National Evaluation of Partnerships for Older People Projects, Interim Report of Progress, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that the National Health Service was failing to offer sufficient out-of-hours family doctor care for severely ill patients. Existing services were 'inadequate and inflexible', and there was a need for better diagnostic facilities.
Source: Acute Medical Care: The right person, in the right setting, first time, Royal College of Physicians (020 7935 1174)
Links: RCP press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
An article said that replacing block contracting in the English National Health Service with activity-based funding had led to lower costs of price negotiation: but these were outweighed by higher costs associated with volume control, data collection, contract monitoring, and contract enforcement.
Source: Giorgia Marini and Andrew Street, 'A transaction costs analysis of changing contractual relations in the English NHS', Health Policy, Volume 83 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Sep
An article drew on the example of the relocation of a hospital to examine how those responsible for implementation within public services could exercise disproportionate influence over policy.
Source: John Greenaway, Brian Salter and Stella Hart, 'How policy networks can damage democratic health: a case study in the government of governance', Public Administration, Volume 85 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Sep
A special issue of a journal examined the information technology programme ('Changing Health') in the National Health Service.
Source: Journal of Information Technology, Volume 22 Issue 3
Links: Table of contents | LSE press release
Date: 2007-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs criticized a 'worrying lack of progress' in the £6.8 billion National Health Service information technology upgrade project, and raised concerns about the security of patients' electronic records. But it also said the system – an online database of 50 million medical records to be accessed across the NHS – had huge potential to improve care.
Source: The Electronic Patient Record, Sixth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 422, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Sep
Researchers sought to identify the factors that helped or hindered progress in making shifts in health and social care closer to the patient's home, and the lessons for the National Health Service from the experience of the field test sites.
Source: Chris Ham, Helen Parker, Debbie Singh and Elizabeth Wade, Getting the Basics Right: Final report on the 'Care Closer to Home: Making the Shift' programme, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (02476 475813)
Links: Report | Case studies
Date: 2007-Aug
A think-tank report said that local councils should be given a greater role in managing health services where primary care trusts were failing.
Source: Victoria Barbary, Primary Care Trusts: Tailoring Commissioning, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Report | NLGN press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
A discussion paper said that individual budgets should be extended to the National Health Service, in order to give patients more control over their care. A system of personalized budgets could operate in a similar way to the direct payment model used in social care.
Source: Jon Glasby and Simon Duffy, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: What could the NHS learn from individual budgets and direct payments?, Health Services Management Centre/University of Birmingham (0121 414 7050) and in Control
Links: Report | HSMC press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
A report examined social enterprise schemes in the National Health Service. It said that sustainability was always going to be a problem; and that there were important issues for staff in relation to pension entitlements, and other terms and conditions.
Source: Linda Marks and David Hunter, Social Enterprises and the NHS: changing patterns of ownership and accountability, Unison (0845 355 0845)
Links: Report | Unison press release | Kings Fund press release
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that measures imposed to stop so-called 'health tourism' were actually preventing vulnerable people living in the United Kingdom, including pregnant women, from accessing vital treatment.
Source: Project: London Report 2006, M?decins du Monde UK (020 7515 7534)
Links: Report | MDM press release | NAT press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined the problem of delayed discharges from hospital in England, and sought to identify best practice at sites with consistently low rates of delay. The government's reimbursement scheme appeared to have been largely helpful in the study sites, prompting efficiency-driven changes to the organization of services and discharge systems.
Source: Matt Baumann et al., 'Organisation and features of hospital, intermediate care and social services in English sites with low rates of delayed discharge', Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
The Health Secretary reportedly said that no further wave of independent sector treatment centres (after the first two waves) would be commissioned.
Source: The Guardian, 25 July 2007
Links: Guardian report | CBI press release
Date: 2007-Jul
The government published best practice guidance to health and social care organizations designed to promote a common approach to independence, choice, and risk as the basis for working practice - and to help people to achieve their potential without compromising their safety.
Source: Independence, Choice and Risk: A guide to best practice in supported decision making, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Guidance | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that the National Health Service should focus more on 'customer' service in order to improve performance and staff morale. A 'customer-focused workplace' would give staff greater confidence, and increase their ability to respond to patients' needs, as well dealing with the stresses and strains of working life.
Source: Great Expectations: What does customer focus mean for the NHS?, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272)
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined the relative importance attached to cost-effectiveness, equity, and access in the provision of health services. When these objectives clashed, one was often traded off against the others: but the reasons for such decisions were not always clear. A lack of data caused problems in working out the actual trade-offs that occurred.
Source: Paul Dolan et al., The Relative Importance Attached to Cost-Effectiveness, Equity and Access in the Provision of Health Services, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (020 7636 8636)
Date: 2007-Jun
The government published (following consultation) a new national framework for National Health Service continuing healthcare, designed to make funding decisions on who was eligible for continuing care fairer, faster, and easier to understand. It would create consistent access to fully-funded care, with clear national policies for deciding eligibility. It also abolished different nursing bands for free nursing care. It would be put into action by the NHS and local authorities from October 2007, and was expected to cost up to £220 million in the first year of operation.
Source: The National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Framework | Summary | DH press release | Consultation responses | Age Concern press release | Help the Aged press release | LGA press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report said that a clear set of rules for competition within the National Health Service was urgently needed, to ensure that all players ? commissioners, providers, public sector, and private sector ? could plan for the future, and that the emergent market worked in the interests of patients.
Source: Sarah Harvey, Alasdair Liddell and Laurie McMahon, Windmill 2007: The Future of Healthcare Reforms in England, King?s Fund (020 7307 2591), Monitor and Nuffield Hospitals
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | Monitor press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
A government report described the capital spending programme within the National Health Service, highlighting the ways in which it was being used to advance its policy objectives, in particular by: improving the patient environment and experience, in terms of more single rooms and better designed hospitals; modernizing services (trusts had to reassess how they shaped and configured their services and patient pathways), taking on board the provision of new information technology, new equipment, and new clinical areas; and improving access and offering better choice, by delivering a new generation of facilities giving patients more control over when, where, and how they were treated.
Source: Rebuilding the NHS: A new generation of healthcare facilities, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined the effects of the government?s model for public service reform on the community and voluntary sector. The government was in danger of missing an historic opportunity to take advantage of the expertise of the third sector to make lasting improvements to public service provision: large-scale use of the sector would require government to integrate, not fragment, the provision of public services.
Source: Steve Davies, Third Sector Provision of Local Government and Health Services, Unison (0845 355 0845)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-May
An article reported on the process of establishing the first joint health and social care evidence-based practice guideline (in dementia care). It addressed the methodological and procedural challenges of reviewing, meta-analyzing, and synthesizing knowledge for health and social care. It suggested that the process might be a model for future development of practice guidelines.
Source: Nick Gould and Tim Kendall, 'Developing the NICE/SCIE guidelines for dementia care: the challenges of enhancing the evidence base for social and health care', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 37 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-May
A report said that more than 16 per cent of National Health Service acute hospital trusts in England were still struggling to provide single-sex accommodation, despite a 1997 manifesto commitment by the government to eliminate mixed-sex wards.
Source: Privacy and Dignity: A report by the Chief Nursing Officer into mixed sex accommodation in hospitals, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | CPPIH press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
A report was published of a meeting which reviewed progress on implementing the government's White Paper on community health services. The meeting brought together members of the public who had participated in deliberative events on the White Paper prior its launch in 2006.
Source: Opinion Leader, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say ? One Year On, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-May
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to tighten partnership arrangements between local councils and other public bodies, and deliver closer integration of health and social care. It placed duties on councils and named partners to co-operate in drawing up and having regard to local area agreement targets. Partners included primary care trusts, youth offending teams, police authorities, and local probation boards.
Source: Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 22 May 2007, columns 1135-1250, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2007-May
A report by a committee of MPs criticized delays and cost rises in a multi-billion pound National Health Service information technology project designed to link more than 30,000 family doctors in England to nearly 300 hospitals by 2014.
Source: Department of Health: The National Programme for IT in the NHS, Twentieth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 390, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
A report recommended that 80 per cent of all National Health Service surgery should be done locally, with only the remaining 20 per cent of the more complex cases taking place at specialist centres.
Source: Ara Darzi (National Advisor on Surgery), Saws and Scalpels to Lasers and Robots - Advances in Surgery, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release | BMA press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Apr
A report said that National Health Service patients and users of social care services were often left struggling to find information about services that could support them. It urged the establishment of a single contact point in each local area, with trained staff to help people navigate the 'information jungle'.
Source: Danielle Swain et al., Accessing Information about Health and Social Care Services, Picker Institute Europe (01865 208100)
Links: Report | Picker Institute press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Apr
An article reported a study which found no evidence that walk-in centres shortened waiting times for access to primary care. It said that the results did not support the use of walk-in centres for this purpose.
Source: Ravi Maheswaran et al., 'Impact of NHS walk-in centres on primary care access times: ecological study', British Medical Journal, 21 April 2007
Date: 2007-Apr
An article examined research into the effectiveness of strategies for shifting specialist services from acute hospitals to the community. The policy might be effective in improving access to specialist care for patients, and reducing demand on acute hospitals: but there was a risk that the quality of care might decline, and costs might increase.
Source: Bonnie Sibbald, Ruth McDonald and Martin Roland, 'Shifting care from hospitals to the community: a review of the evidence on quality and efficiency', Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, Volume 12 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Apr
The Department of Health published its business plan for 2007-08.
Source: Department of Health Business Plan 2007-08, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Plan
Date: 2007-Apr
A report said that an increasing number of patients were going private to 'top up' National Health Service services, effectively meaning that healthcare was no longer free at the point of delivery. It blamed patchy provision of NHS services, long waiting times, and varied quality. It also pointed to the falling cost of private treatments due to advances in technology and increased competition between firms.
Source: Paul Charlson, Christoph Lees and Karol Sikora, Free at the Point of Delivery - Reality or Political Mirage? - Case studies of top-up payments in UK healthcare, Doctors for Reform (020 7233 3824)
Links: Report | DFR press release | Guardian report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2007-Apr
A paper said that the National Health Service should be given much greater freedom from government intervention. Instead of being run by the Department of Health, a governing board should be created, composed of health managers, clinicians, patients, and members of the public. A charter similar to that guiding the BBC should also be drawn up.
Source: Chris Ham, Jon Glasby, Edward Peck and Helen Dickinson, Things Can Only Get Better? The argument for NHS independence, Health Services Management Centre/University of Birmingham (0121 414 7050)
Links: Paper | University of Birmingham press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
The final report was published of an evaluation of the 35 children's trust pathfinders (2004-2006). It said that the pathfinders had acted as a catalyst for more integrated approaches to the diagnosis and provision of services for children; and had drawn together a variety of statutory and local services with the aim of enabling them to make a difference to the well-being of children and young people. (Children's trusts, or equivalent arrangements, are intended to promote co-operation between education, health, social services, and other partners.)
Source: National Evaluation of Children's Trust Pathfinders, Children's Trust Pathfinders: Innovative partnerships for improving the well-being of children and young people, Research Report 839, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Mar
The government announced that prescription charges in England would rise by 20p (3 per cent) on 1 April 2007, taking the charge for a single prescription item to £6.85. The increase was lower than the rate of inflation. Dental charges would also rise by less than inflation - by an average of 2.7 per cent.
Source: Press release 2 March 2007, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | Hansard | BBC report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report presented the findings of a review of self-assessment in health and social care needs by older people. 'Self-assessment' was widely advocated, but not clearly defined or understood. In terms of cost, self-assessment was likely to be cost-neutral. Self-assessment was not necessarily more user-centred than other approaches.
Source: Peter Griffiths, Roz Ullman and Ruth Harris, Self Assessment of Health and Social Care Needs by Older People: A multi-method systematic review of practices, accuracy, effectiveness and experience, National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R & D/London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (020 7612 7980)
Date: 2007-Mar
A literature review examined the evidence concerning the different partnership arrangements between the health and social care sectors since 1997. There was little evidence to suggest that partnership working had delivered service or health improvements.
Source: Bernard Dowling and Tim Doran, Reviewing Evidence of the Effectiveness of Different Partnership Arrangements, National Primary Care Research and Development Centre (0161 275 0611)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Mar
The government began consultation on proposals for future developments in the 'payment by results' system in the National Health Service - including tariff setting, coding and classification, expanding the scope of the system, and supporting health policies through financial reform.
Source: Options for the Future of Payment by Results: 2008/09 to 2010/11, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document | DH press release | BMA press release | NHS Confederation press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A think-tank report said that more babies were born in Britain at dangerously low birth-weights in 2006 than in 1989. It called for more financial support for at-risk women, better access to antenatal services, and one-to-one care for all newborns in intensive care.
Source: Louise Bamfield, Born Unequal: Why we need a progressive pre-birth agenda, Fabian Society (020 7227 4900)
Links: Fabian Society press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report highlighted the diverse range of social enterprises operating in emerging health markets, and their fresh approaches to service delivery. It said that the social enterprise model could empower health workers and patients to tackle deep-rooted issues faced by parts of the health sector, such as bureaucracy, low staff morale, and low patient satisfaction.
Source: Matthew Walsham, Christian Dingwall and Ian Hempseed, Healthy Business: A guide to social enterprise in health and social care, Social Enterprise Coalition (020 7968 4921) and Hempsons
Links: Report | SEC press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A report reviewed the evidence on the consequences of policies of decentralization, centralization, and devolution in the National Health Service.
Source: Stephen Peckham, Mark Exworthy, Martin Powell and Ian Greener, Decentralisation, Centralisation and Devolution in Publicly Funded Health Services: Decentralisation as an organisational model for health care in England, National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R & D/London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (020 7612 7980)
Date: 2007-Mar
Two reports (by the National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity Services) said that some English hospitals should be stripped of doctor-led maternity care and specialist children's services, and called for the creation of regional 'centres of excellence' instead.
Source: Sheila Shribman, Making It Better: For Mother and Baby - Clinical case for change, Department of Health (08701 555455) | Sheila Shribman, Making It Better: For Children and Young People - Clinical case for change
Links: Maternity Report | Childrens Services Report | DH press release | RCPCH press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Feb
A report examined how health and social care services could be better integrated on both a local and national level.
Source: Working Together for Well-being: From vision to reality, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000) and Inter Agency Group on Adult Social Care
Date: 2007-Feb
A report examined the effectiveness of new scrutiny machinery in the National Health Service.
Source: Patricia Day and Rudolf Klein, The Politics of Scrutiny: Reconfiguration in NHS England, Nuffield Trust (020 631 8450)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Feb
Researchers examined the potential contribution that 'third sector' organizations could make to the delivery of health and social care. The potential and scale of ambition among existing third sector providers was significant: half of them felt that there were services that they would be better able to deliver than existing providers.
Source: IFF Research Ltd, Third Sector Market Mapping, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | NHS press release | IMHAP press release
Date: 2007-Feb
A literature review evaluated existing research into the processes through which a wide variety of different groups with multiple or complex needs engaged, or did not engage, with services to resolve their problems.
Source: Ann Rosengard, Isla Laing, Julie Ridley and Susan Hunter, A Literature Review on Multiple and Complex Needs, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Date: 2007-Jan
A think-tank report said that patients kept in hospital longer than necessary were costing the National Health Service almost £1 billion a year. It called for bed numbers to be cut and savings invested in community services.
Source: Joe-Farrington-Douglas with Richard Brooks, The Future Hospital: The progressive case for change, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | IPPR press release | BMA press release | Community Care report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
The Welsh Assembly gave final approval to a plan to introduce free prescriptions in Wales from 1 April 2007.
Source: Press release 23 January 2007, NHS Wales (01443 233333)
Links: NHS Wales press release | Citizens Advice press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report by a committee of MSPs backed the general principles of the Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill - a private member's Bill designed to create directly-elected health boards.
Source: Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill, 1st Report 2007, SP Paper 712, Scottish Parliament Health Committee, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SP press release | BMA press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to tighten partnership arrangements between local councils and other public bodies, and deliver closer integration of health and social care. It placed duties on councils and named partners to co-operate in drawing up and having regard to local area agreement targets. Partners included primary care trusts, youth offending teams, police authorities, and local probation boards.
Source: Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 22 January 2007, columns 1144-1253, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | LGIU press release | Community Care report | FT report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs said that central government needed to keep closer control of big National Health Service building projects after 'incompetence' by local health managers caused the collapse of a £900 million scheme.
Source: The Paddington Health Campus Scheme, Ninth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 244, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
