Barriers to mainstream health and social care services for London's minority ethnic communities include a complex array of poorly organised and delivered services, inadequate communication services for non-English speaking groups, direct staff insensitivity to users' cultural and religious needs, and institutionalised barriers that perpetuate discriminatory behaviour and poor practices. This ...
NHS Direct is a nurse-led telephone helpline which was launched in three pilot sites in 1998. An evaluation of the first three sites is still underway and, although preliminary results show high satisfaction among service users, it is too early to draw conclusions about the impact of NHS Direct on ...
This paper analyses the experiences of other city-wide authorities in the UK and internationally in improving health. It sets out which cities were studied and why, outlines the different ways in which Mayors work to affect change, identifies the available evidence of action to improve health in selected cities, and ...
The Greater London Authority, which provides London with its first directly elected Mayor, has important strategic powers and responsibilities that include a duty to improve the health of Londoners. This report considers how the GLA can best contribute to health improvement and to reducing health inequalities across the capital. It ...
This report provides a snapshot of user and public involvement within primary care groups (PCGs) in London, based on the views of their chief executives and lay members. It is the first output of a two year study conducted by the King's Fund Primary Care Programme which will describe and ...
The King's Fund has carried out an international survey of health initiatives by city-wide authorities and analysed the potential of the new Greater London Authority. In this draft version of priorities for action on health, the King's Fund states that the Mayor and GLA should: tackle health inequalities; regenerate deprived ...
This report describes environment and health in London using data that are publicly available. The authors have drawn on current international knowledge of the links between environment and health. The key points they make are that inner London is worse off than outer London, with higher unemployment, poorer housing, more ...
This publication is a summary of the full report of the same name. The1990s has seen fundamental changes in the field of primary care. Amidst the recent flood of white papers and ministerial announcements, the King's Fund and the Evening Standard set out to find what Londoners think of the ...
The NHS (Primary Care) Act 1997 made possible local contracts for general practice services and spawned Personal Medical Services (PMS) pilots. These are intended to make primary care services more sensitive to local needs and are therefore particularly useful in London where long-term infrastructural problems have proved intractable. The King's ...