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Bringing you the latest independent views on health and social care from The King's Fund, all of our reports and findings from our projects are available to buy or download.

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Are 'family and friends tests' useful: agree, disagree, neither, don’t know?

14 May 2013
John Appleby
Family and friends tests are an established method of obtaining feedback on performance for many private sector businesses. But how well is this sort of customer feedback suited to public services like the NHS?

The hospital bed: on its way out?

12 Mar 2013
John Appleby
John Appleby examines trends in the number of hospital beds and wonders how low we can go.

How long can we expect to live?

23 Jan 2013
John Appleby
John Appleby examines whether there is any end in sight to the global increase in life expectancy.

Viewpoint: The King's Fund on how general practice should change

5 Dec 2012
Anna Dixon

Why is there variation in the NHS?

9 Aug 2012
Candace Imison
Candace Imison discusses why there is variation in the NHS at all – after being asked why the NHS can't be more like Pizza Express.

Best foot forward: improving NHS organisations' carbon footprint

12 Jul 2012
Chris Naylor
The NHS’s carbon footprint is massive, so what can be done to improve the environmental sustainability of health care, asks Chris Naylor.

The NHS needs more than 'quick wins' to be sustainable

28 Mar 2012
Chris Naylor
Trusts must do more than adopt energy efficiency measures, argues Chris Naylor: a more fundamental approach to sustainability is needed.

Taking up the Dorrell challenge

23 Feb 2012
John Appleby
There remains a worry that the government's efficiency drive is still focused on short-term savings that may not ultimately deliver the benefits to patients it claims.

John Appleby on risking failure

23 Feb 2012
John Appleby
John Appleby looks at what role trial and error will play in the new NHS in light of Tim Harford's book, Adapt.

English NHS hospital activity: doing less (with less or the same)?

1 Feb 2012
John Appleby
John Appleby examines the numbers behind recent claims about activity in English hospitals.

Rooms for improvement

26 Jan 2012
Sarah Waller CBE, Claire Henry
The King's Fund's Sarah Waller and the National End of Life Care Programme's Claire Henry review the need for positive environments for end-of-life patients, carers and visitors.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: on target?

20 Jan 2012
John Appleby
The NHS has had some success in reducing its emissions, but John Appleby finds there is still a long way to go to meet government targets.

The NHS in England in 2012

21 Dec 2011
Chris Ham
Three issues have dominated debate about health policy in England during 2011: the Health and Social Care Bill, performance of the NHS and the quality of patient care. But what health policy issues will be high on the agenda during 2012?

Is the new NHS framework fit for purpose?

2 Dec 2011
Veena Raleigh, Myura Nagendran, Mahiben Maruthappu
Will the new NHS outcomes framework need a wider focus if the underlying goals of the NHS reforms - improving health care quality and outcomes in England - are to be achieved?

How satisfied are we with the NHS?

21 Mar 2011
John Appleby
More members of the British public than ever believe that the NHS is doing a good job, according to data analysed here by John Appleby. Which raises the question of why the government finds it lacking and is pushing for urgent change?

What's happening to waiting times?

25 Feb 2011
John Appleby
John Appleby assesses the effect of new NHS reforms on hospital waiting times in this BMJ article.

Does poor health justify NHS reform?

28 Jan 2011
John Appleby
Andrew Lansley claims radical NHS reform is necessary to drive up the UK's poor health outcomes compared with Europe. But is our record really so bad, questions our Chief Economist John Appleby?

Approaches to demand management: commissioning in a cold climate

28 Oct 2010
Candace Imison, Sarah Gregory
This write-up summarises presentations made at a seminar, which brought together commissioners, policy-makers, providers and others to consider some of the available evidence about demand management.

NHS needs waiting-time targets

22 Jun 2010
John Appleby
'Targets and terror' worked, and without them questions remain over whether the NHS can guarantee acceptable waiting times.

Helping patients choose: how to improve the design of comparative scorecards of hospital quality

18 May 2010
Anna Dixon, Tammy Boyce, Barbara Fasolo, Elena Reutskaja
In this article, we investigate how the public understand comparative quality information as presented on NHS Choices.

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