Investment in the NHS has increased significantly under the Blair government. Spending will soon reach the EU average, but when we catch up with our European neighbours, what then? Assuming that pressures to spend more will continue, but that marginal health returns on extra investment are likely to diminish, this ...
The King’s Fund visited six services where consultants are delivering or facilitating care outside hospital. This report presents the findings from those visits as case studies. It identifies key characteristics and challenges to this way of working and seeks out evidence of the benefits to patients and the NHS more ...
This case study explores community virtual wards based in GP practices within South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Community virtual wards were first introduced by Devon Primary Care Trust in 2010 to proactively identify those at high risk of emergency admissions using a predictive risk tool and to ...
Social enterprises are businesses that deliver goods and services but in pursuit of primarily social objectives. The government is committed to supporting social enterprise in the economy at large and in its recent white paper has suggested that social enterprise models of service delivery can be part of the provider ...
This report, published jointly with the Nuffield Trust, looks at the current state of social care services for older people in England, through a combination of national data and interviews with local authorities, NHS and private providers, Healthwatch and other groups. It considers the impact of cuts in local authority ...
This report takes mental health services for adults in England as a case study and examines the relevance of this experience to current policy. It focuses on understanding the dramatic changes to mental health services and the factors that enabled that change to happen.
Millions of people in the UK are living with long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes. Most of these people are leading full and active lives with only occasional contact with health professionals, by altering drug doses and adapting their lifestyles in response to subtle changes in symptoms. This paper ...
This case study is part of a research project undertaken by The King’s Fund and funded by Aetna and the Aetna Foundation in the United States to compare five successful UK-based models of care co-ordination.
and This case study looks at the Sandwell Esteem Team, part of the Sandwell Integrated Primary Care Mental Health and Wellbeing Service (the Sandwell Wellbeing Hub) in the West Midlands. The hub is a holistic primary and community care-based approach to improving social, mental and physical health and wellbeing in the ...
There is a level of public concern about the safety of maternity care in England, highlighted by a number of high-profile cases. The King's Fund set up an independent inquiry to establish how safe maternity services are and to make practical recommendations for change. This report of their findings is ...
Our first report identified five key themes that the health and social care system must embrace to be sustainable and to ensure quality. This second report is intended to offer a clear strategic direction to achieve the transformational change that is so urgently needed. We have worked with The King’s ... and This article is the collective effort of ten of the leading health and social care organisations in the voluntary sector. The organisations worked with The King’s Fund to establish a common position.