This paper aims to help those planning and implementing major clinical service reconfigurations ensure that change is as evidence-based as possible. It investigates the five key drivers – quality, workforce, cost, access and technology – across 13 clinical service areas, and summarises the research evidence and professional guidance available in ...
In November 2011, The King’s Fund invited academics, practitioners, policy-makers and representatives from patient and voluntary organisations to discuss the care of very old frail people with complex health problems. Mindful of the work of others (NHS Confederation, the Local Government Association and Age UK 2012; The Mid Staffordshire NHS ...
This paper explores factors that might be driving the significant variation in use of hospital beds by patients over 65 admitted as an emergency. It considers the contribution made by patient-based (demand-side) factors, hospital (supply-side) factors, the availability of community services and resources, and broader system relationships (how care systems ...
The 23 vanguard sites chosen to develop the multispecialty community provider (MCP) and primary and acute care system (PACS) new care models have been working to pool budgets and integrate services more closely. Some are continuing to use informal partnerships, but others are opting for more formal governance arrangements. Commissioners ...
Consistent, reliable high-quality care is what all patients want and health workers aim to provide. However, the reality for most patients, particularly those in acute hospitals, often falls far short of the ideal. In the context of acute care, the risks of fragmentation and breakdown in care co-ordination are high, ...
As part of the Inquiry into the Quality of General Practice, The King’s Fund commissioned this research project to examine the management of acute illness (both minor and serious). In common with the other projects commissioned as a part of the Inquiry, the research team was tasked with examining: the ... and This paper was commissioned by The King's Fund to inform the Inquiry panel. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the panel.
This report looks at the reality of caring for acutely ill medical patients at the NHS front line and asks how care in hospitals can be improved. It comprises a series of essays by frontline clinicians, managers, quality improvement champions and patients, and provides vivid and frank detail about how ...
This independent report was commissioned by NHS England as part of a package of support provided to primary and acute care system (PACS) vanguard sites by The King’s Fund. The PACS model is an attempt to bring about closer working between GPs, hospitals, community health professionals, social care and others.
Although its budget was protected in the 2010 Spending Review, the NHS faces the tightest financial settlement in its history. To avoid reducing quality and making significant cuts to services, it needs to find £20 billion in productivity improvements by 2015. Reductions in the prices paid to hospitals for treating ...