The NHS is under financial pressure with growing demand for services. As the NHS reaches its 70th birthday, The King’s Fund has been exploring how the public views its relationship with the NHS. In March 2018, in partnership with Ipsos MORI, we carried out three ‘deliberative workshops’ to explore this ...
Leaders in today's NHS operate in a climate of extreme pressure. Staffing vacancies are rife, there are widespread challenges in meeting financial and performance targets and demands on services continue to increase. This report, written with NHS Providers, asks what can be done to support current leaders and encourage future ...
This report finds that the market for home care providers is extremely fragile, with squeezed margins and low fees forcing providers to leave. In 2017 providers handed back home care contracts in more than one in three local authorities, and some of the largest providers have withdrawn from the publicly ...
In early 2009 The King’s Fund conducted a survey of primary care trusts (PCTs) in England, examining the use of external support for commissioning, and eliciting views on the world class commissioning programme. The survey revealed that PCTs are increasingly turning to external organisations, and the private sector in particular, ...
Since internal markets were created in the NHS, commissioners have purchased health care on behalf of patients and the public from a variety of competing providers. Commissioning was intended to drive improvements in the quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of services, but has so far largely failed to achieve these objectives. ...
Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) have been developed by NHS and local government leaders in 44 parts of England. The plans offer a chance for health and social care leaders to work together to improve care and manage limited resources. But will they succeed where other initiatives have failed? Despite ...