The primary task of the health service is to improve people's health. A fundamental goal within this is to improve patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). But, while measuring and monitoring many aspects of its performance, the NHS does not routinely measure the impact of its care on patients' HRQoL. ...
Increased media and public attention to the potential costs of 'epidemics' such as obesity, the two Wanless reports on the future of the public's health and the recent public health White Paper 'Choosing heath' have all helped refocus priorities on a health promoting service rather than a 'sickness service'. However, ...
Increased media and public attention to the potential costs of 'epidemics' such as obesity, the two Wanless reports on the future of the public's health and the recent public health White Paper 'Choosing heath' have all helped refocus priorities on a health promoting service rather than a 'sickness service'. However, ...
The issues surrounding international recruitment and the migration of health workers have generated huge media attention. However, relatively little primary research has been done in this area. Based on a survey of international nurses in London, this paper reports on the country of origin, demographic profile, motivations, experiences and career ...
The Labour Party came to power in 1997 promising to 'save' the NHS. Since then, it has found unprecedented increases in funding for the health service, but Prime Minister Tony Blair has emphasised that the extra money must be linked to a 'step-change' in reform. This reform has taken four ... and This independent audit was commissioned by the Sunday Times and is published with their kind permission.
As part of its continuing efforts to reform the NHS, the government has introduced a number of incentives to help the health sector meet national targets and objectives for improving care. This paper examines whether these incentives are helping or hindering progress. Its findings are based on interviews with health ...
One in four NHS trusts in England ended 2004 in deficit. The impact of current NHS reforms will be to magnify financial imbalances at a significant number of trusts, with the risk that some of them will fail. But there is no real plan for dealing with failure in the ...
Foundation trusts, which were first set up in 2004, represent a radical departure from the way in which health services are held to account. The traditional accountability of NHS hospitals to the Department of Health has been replaced by a new accountability of foundation trusts to their members and their ...
Primary care has been the subject of a quiet revolution in recent years, with the ending of the monopoly of provision by independently contracted GPs and the introduction of a range of new targets and new forms of first contact care. Now it is poised for further radical change with ...
This research summary outlines recent King's Fund work on waiting times, supported by the Department of Health. The research set out to learn from three groups of hospitals: those that have proved able to sustain reductions in waiting times; those with variable performance and those with a poor record on ...