'Free choice' - allowing patients being referred for non-urgent treatment to choose a hospital anywhere in England - begins in the NHS in England in April 2008. It is another milestone in a policy that aims, among other things, to use consumer pressure to improve the quality of hospital services ...
Emergency admissions to hospital are costly to the NHS and also cause disruption to planned health care. Considerable efforts have been made within the health service to reduce emergency admissions, but few primary care trusts have been successful, with some primary care trusts recording an increase. In order to successfully ...
The government’s health reforms propose radical changes to the structures and processes within the National Health Service (NHS) in England that have provoked unprecedented debate, protest and opposition. One of the core issues is how providers and commissioners of care will be held to account in the future if many ...
Based on interviews with eight of the 'first wave' integrated care systems, this report seeks to understand how they are developing and to identify lessons for local systems and national policy-makers.
As part of a joint learning network on integrated housing, care and health, The King's Fund and the National Housing Federation have produced a set of slides illustrating the connections between housing, social care, health and wellbeing.
This study commissioned jointly by the Institute for Government and The King’s Fund, explores the fate of one of the central provisions of the Health and Social Care Act, NHS England, established as a statutorily independent board with the aim of distancing politicians from the day-to-day running of the NHS. ...
In 2011, Wigan Council had to make unprecedented savings after significant cuts in funding from central government. Drastic measures were needed, including a radical reshaping of the relationship between the council and residents. This became known as the Wigan Deal. This report provides an independent critique of the Wigan Deal, ...
This paper explores how volunteers can provide support for the role of general practice, and the opportunities for organisations that currently support volunteering to work more closely with general practice.